Reviews with content warning for Body horror - The Last Wish

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.

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booksthatburn's review

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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.

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ok7a's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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horizonous's review

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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tilo's review against another edition

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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.

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myladyreads's review

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adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I loved this! I read this because of the TV show, but I had no problem separating the TV show from the books. I was picturing the TV characters as the characters in the books.

I really enjoyed how some of the stories in this book were clearly based on classic fairytales. The stories did a good job of alluding to the stories without being direct retellings

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