Scan barcode
md33's review against another edition
Graphic: Sexism and Misogyny
Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, Classism, and Incest
gmadz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Rape
morgiechristine's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
Moderate: Pedophilia and Sexism
Minor: Rape
mnstarr's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Rape, Death, Sexual violence, and Violence
onthesamepage's review against another edition
- 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
Caveat: I first got to know The Witcher through the games (I played all 3, and loved them), and then I watched the first 2 seasons of the adaptation. This means I went into this book with expectations and an element of fondness/nostalgia, which definitely impacted my reading experience in a positive way.
I'm still only giving this 3.5 stars.
The thing is, I don't think this series aged particularly well. It falls under that brand of fantasy written by men, where they feel free to create a universe where women are consistently abused because "that's how things used to be in the past". Never mind that this is a fantasy world. The stories are full of misogyny. Even capable women don't escape it. Instead of focusing on their strength or prowess on the battlefield, characters like Calanthe predominantly seem to be valued for her "hand and bed". Yennefer, one of the strongest sorceresses, gets the "let's show some nudity in a random fight scene just 'cause" treatment.
Looking past that, the world building remains extremely vague, and I question how much I would've understood about the tension between elves and humans without the knowledge I already had about the setting. I don't think most things are explained very well.
You do, eventually, get a sense of who Geralt is as a character, although even that I found disappointing, since the book seems to portray him as someone who has no issue killing humans to prove to some lord that he should be hired, or as someone who would potentially "mount a striga", as a priestess suggests. He didn't do the latter, but he definitely did the former, and I guess I prefer the version of Geralt that sees the shades of grey in every decision, and finds life in all its forms to be worthy of treating with respect.
I did find the book easy to read, and enjoyed some of the minor details like Geralt discussing theories with Roach.
Graphic: Misogyny
Moderate: Incest, Physical abuse, and Rape
jnorris9785's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Rape, Pedophilia, and Violence
khymihr's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Violence and Misogyny
Moderate: Classism, Death, Rape, and Gore
ellahoward_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Murder and Violence
Minor: Death, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, and Sexual content
drachendingsi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Misogyny
Minor: Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, and Infertility
poisonenvy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The Last Wish is a book consisting of seven short stories that follow the witcher, Geralt. One of the stories, "The Voice of Reason" is used as a framing device for the other six stories. So, there's no overarching plot in this book in particular, just a few episodes to give us an idea of Geralt's life as a witcher and to set up some other plot threads further down the line.
So, let's start:
The Prose: The prose in this novel is... not great. I don't know if it's the fault of the translator or not. I suspect it's a mix of both, but a lot of the awkwardness of the prose does seem to be in line with the stilted nature that some translations end up taking on.
Luckily, I read the majority of this book on audio, and Peter Kenny does an excellent job at narrating it. With his narration, a lot of the awkwardness of the text on paper seems to disappear (even if he pronounces Dandelion in... a way that I absolutely would not).
The Storytelling: While some of the later stories in the book are better for this, the first like, three, are pretty much exclusively told through dialogue? A lot of telling, very little showing, and it makes for some kind of frustratingly boring stories.
The Sexism: It's not much more egregious than a lot of 90s fantasy, but I just don't have the patience for that sort of thing anymore. Behind, the sympathetic rapist! Marvel at the pregnant 14 year old (but it's okay, because she's totally in love with the man who's likely in his mid-30s at the youngest who knocked her up). Look in awe as literally every single woman in this book wants to sleep with our macho protagonist whether it makes sense or not (though, lbr, if he looks like Henry Cavill maybe it does make sense no matter what the greater context of the story is. Even if he does act like a prepubescent boy any time a woman is naked around him, even if she is invisible).
The Plot: Like I said, there isn't much plot in this novel. It's very episodic in nature. BUT! I'm intrigued by the plot that it's setting up.
The Pacing: This is hard to place, really. Again, most of the early stories are told through dialogue, which makes them feel unbelievably slow.
The References: I enjoyed the occasional sprinkling of classic fairy tales in here. Seriously, it made me smile every time I noticed one.
I did very much enjoy The Last Wish, however. There were parts that were funny enough that I smiled at them. I'm not sure if <i>all</i> the funny parts were actually meant to be funny -- it's kind of a tonal shift from a lot of the rest of the book? -- but I'm going to give Sapkowski the benefit of the doubt in this.
Anyway, I enjoyed this book enough that I'm going to continue the series. I've got several of the books signed out from the library. I haven't decided yet if I like the series enough to actually purchase the rest of the books in it, nor am I sure if I'll see it through to the end of book eight. But I'm having fun with it.
Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, and Sexism
Moderate: Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, and Infertility
Minor: Incest