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jewelkr's review
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
My adult kid gave me this book as a birthday present because we enjoyed watching the Netflix series together. This is one of the cases when the moving image production is better than the book. I'd like to say it's because the stories were written in the previous century by a boomer male and obviously men's opinions of women/people have changed so much since then but regrettably I can't - women's lives are still a full of inequity and fear. I will say that the people who produced the series addressed a lot of the absolutely disgusting misogyny in the book, as well as restringing the story in a cohesive manner and giving Geralt a personality. Reading one account after another of what a woman (always referred to as a "girl" by the author) looks like, whether she passes the male-imposed standard for attractiveness, the incredible, cliche'ed detail of their breast-enhancing, thigh-revealing, hip thrusting outifts (compared to the male characters of whom very little is said about what they wear), the sexualization of the fight scenes between the Witcher and his female foes (always thighs and breasts exposed during a viscous fight to the death), the opening scene of an actual girl sexually attacking the Witcher in his sleep as part of her priestess training - it was all so gross that I had a hard time processing the stories behind these disturbing revelations of what men think when they see women. The stories were interesting, although I was hoping for more of Geralt's back story, and you have to keep in mind that these stories preceded the Game of Thrones celebrity not to find them kind of hackneyed. Sadly, no matter what male writers imagine, women are always relegated to one of three roles - virgin or girl I'd like to have sex with, whore or in this case demon, and female bringing beverages to men. If we are imagining a different world, couldn't we fantasize something different for the women for change?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, War, Fatphobia, Kidnapping, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Body shaming, Death of parent, Body horror, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
idajoh's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
It's a good fantasy book and it kept me engaged the entire time. However, all the stories were adapted into the TV-show (which is a good thing), but I wish there were some fresh stories for me to enjoy honestly.
The story is mainly told through dialogue which makes it a pretty quick and easy read. The action sequences, although few, are also very good at creating suspense while being believable. I will admig that I was a bit confused throughout most of them, but I just chalked it up to me being tired while I read most of the book.
The major downfall of this book is the extreme misoginy. No women in this book, except maybe Nenneke, is seen as something other than a sex object by all the characters. That includes Geralt. It was extremely off-putting and I'm glad that aspect was toned down in the TV series. At least Yennefer in the TV series had other redeeming qualities except her want of a child.
The story is mainly told through dialogue which makes it a pretty quick and easy read. The action sequences, although few, are also very good at creating suspense while being believable. I will admig that I was a bit confused throughout most of them, but I just chalked it up to me being tired while I read most of the book.
The major downfall of this book is the extreme misoginy. No women in this book, except maybe Nenneke, is seen as something other than a sex object by all the characters. That includes Geralt. It was extremely off-putting and I'm glad that aspect was toned down in the TV series. At least Yennefer in the TV series had other redeeming qualities except her want of a child.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Body horror, and Blood
Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Rape, Murder, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Infertility
angelica02's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Sexism, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Rape, and Sexual content
mandaoof's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
So the world building concept is attractive. I love the show, so I'd thought I would read the books. But ohmygosh- the sexism, the sexual assault, casual groping by the protagonists laughed off as a character trait for that man, it is impossible to escape in this book. The author took the time to describe a literal child and her breasts after she gets turns back from a beast and then critizes her on how she looks ugly. Hell, a literal fourteen year old gets pregnant by an adult and it's played off as a good thing because it is 'destiny'. I don't think I am going to read the rest of the series, and if I do, I won't spend money to do so. Also- people on the internet write better sex scenes than this guy does for free.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Abortion
katmahalia's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
I will be completely honest and say I didn’t follow the plot of the short stories that closely because I listened to the audiobook while playing video games, but from what I heard I really enjoyed it. The pacing did not feel too slow as it can in fantasy adventuring stories, and the action never felt disjointed or separated from the plot. And I liked the whole the-princesses-are-the-monsters twist on fairy tale plots, it was a nice nod to the fact that every fairy tale and legend has a bigger story behind it.
My only gripe: the love interests are not interesting or lovely, mostly just annoying.
My only gripe: the love interests are not interesting or lovely, mostly just annoying.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Medical trauma, and Violence
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Trafficking, Xenophobia, and Ableism
Minor: Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and War
booksthatburn's review
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
THE LAST WISH is a prequel to the Witcher main series, a collection of stories from Geralt’s life before the events of THE BLOOD OF ELVES. Each story is based or at least inspired by a fairy tale or bit of folklore.
I didn’t get much of a sense of Geralt from these stories alone, but having read the first book of the main series his characterization here seemed consistent with that. The titular story, “The Last Wish” had really strong characterization with an early meeting of Yennifer. She’s really well-written here, and that story alone is enough for me to recommend this to anyone interested in the broader series.
As a collection of fairytale retellings, I enjoyed this. It approaches most of them from strange angles which meant they felt great and fresh as stories. My favorite is the one which is clearly inspired by Beauty and the Beast. Given the blend of magic and corrupted desires already present in the series, the fairy tales fit right into the world of the Witcher.
Because this a collection of short stories from Geralt’s life before the main series of books, it doesn’t quite work to analyze the ending or an overall plot. I suspect a re-read might make it clearer, but the framing between stories was confusing to me and it wasn’t until several stories in that I figured out that the start of each chapter strung together to create an narrative distinct from the individual stories.
This is good for anyone looking for additional Witcher content, but I don’t work it works well on its own or as a first introduction to the character and the world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Sexual content, Sexism, Ableism, Confinement, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Body horror, Excrement, Vomit, Cannibalism, Rape, Animal death, and Child death
Minor: Fatphobia, Sexual harassment, Incest, Torture, Suicide, and Animal cruelty
ladyarchaeopteryx's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The monsters are modern fantasy, but the world itself is classic medieval fantasy. That includes societal structures, and especially sexism. There's a lot of descriptions of women's bodies (always with specific attention on their boobs), and quite a few of the male characters have engaged in sexual harassment (even Rittersporn) - at least the hard cases (that aren't harrassment anymore, but assault) happen off-screen. And no one thinks that there might be anything wrong with it. At least Geralt, our main character and POV, is a decent human being.
The short stories are not chronological, but the Stimme der Vernunft interludes definitely happen last. And those interludes introduce the story that comes immediately after, and they also serve as an overarching story that bands the short stories and the whole book together, so that's cool.
Having read the first book now, I feel like the Netflix show really was very faithful to the book in their adaptation in regards to Geralt's storyline (don't know about the others yet). They gave Jaskier a bigger role, and I'm not complaining. In almost every short story I recognised the episode immediately, the plot points all happened (even if sometimes the way we got there was a bit different, but that's okay), and even some of the dialogue was verbatim. I love that I recognised so much from the show and that I had immediate pictures to put to the words.
The short stories are not chronological, but the Stimme der Vernunft interludes definitely happen last. And those interludes introduce the story that comes immediately after, and they also serve as an overarching story that bands the short stories and the whole book together, so that's cool.
Having read the first book now, I feel like the Netflix show really was very faithful to the book in their adaptation in regards to Geralt's storyline (don't know about the others yet). They gave Jaskier a bigger role, and I'm not complaining. In almost every short story I recognised the episode immediately, the plot points all happened (even if sometimes the way we got there was a bit different, but that's okay), and even some of the dialogue was verbatim. I love that I recognised so much from the show and that I had immediate pictures to put to the words.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual harassment
bynarii's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, and Violence
Moderate: Rape and Sexual content
Minor: Sexual harassment and Alcohol
addedeemus's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Murder
Minor: Rape, Child abuse, and Kidnapping
tilo's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Bisher kannte ich die Welt nur durch die Videospiele und durch die Netflixserie. Letztere hatte mich dann überzeugt, die Buchreihe zu lesen und der erste Band ist sehr vielversprechend. Ich habe genau das bekommen, was ich erwartet habe: Interessantes Fantasysetting, mehr Hintergründe zur Welt und den Charakteren, vor allem aber sehr gut geschriebene Abenteuergeschichten. Am meisten beeindruckt war ich von den wahnsinnig gut geschriebenen Kampfszenen, die mich sehr inspiriert haben, da mir solche beim Schreiben meiner Geschichten schwer fallen und ich hier hilfreiche Strukturen erkennen konnte.
Wenn die weiblichen Charaktere in den Geschichten nicht stark dargestellt wären und vor allem keine eigene Ambitionen hätten, die nicht zwingend auf Männern gebaut wären, hätte mich der doch sehr präsente Sexismus der männlichen Charaktere gestört. Letztendlich wirkt es aber für mich eher so, als ob die Gesellschaft in dieser Saga eher auf Frauen herabschaut, auch wenn der Autor diese Ansichten nicht in seinen weiblichen Charakteren in die Tat umsetzt.
Wenn die weiblichen Charaktere in den Geschichten nicht stark dargestellt wären und vor allem keine eigene Ambitionen hätten, die nicht zwingend auf Männern gebaut wären, hätte mich der doch sehr präsente Sexismus der männlichen Charaktere gestört. Letztendlich wirkt es aber für mich eher so, als ob die Gesellschaft in dieser Saga eher auf Frauen herabschaut, auch wenn der Autor diese Ansichten nicht in seinen weiblichen Charakteren in die Tat umsetzt.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Misogyny, and Sexism
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Murder, and Rape
Minor: Ableism, Drug use, and Sexual harassment