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idajoh'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
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.
Graphic: Misogyny, Body horror, and Blood
Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Rape, Murder, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Infertility
bluejayreads's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Violence and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual content, Blood, and Sexism
Minor: Body horror and Incest
kevin_the_intern's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Graphic: Sexual violence, Rape, Body shaming, Sexism, and Violence
bookishchef's review against another edition
2.0
Was it badly written?
Yeah. It mostly consists of dialogue. And pretty weird, clunky dialogue at that.
Was the romance incredibly rushed?
Yeah. Kind of suddenly happened.
Was it incredibly sexist?
YEAH
I read that infamous 'her nipples touched his eyelids' scene a few years ago, and Oh My God that set the bar so incredibly low. And yeah it's bad. It's a terribly written scene, and most women (although not all), including the main love interest Yennefer, were just there to be a pair of tits. A feisty pair of tits sometimes, but a pair of tits nonetheless. This single book has more descriptions of breasts than the entirety of A Song Of Ice And Fire.
Yet it still wasn't as bad as I expected. And I guess that's something. I definitely enjoyed some scenes and some of the jokes.
The Dutch audiobook did change some names and words into Dutch 'equivalents' that aren't really equivalent at all. This made the book feel even clunkier than usual, I think. Using 'neuk' instead of every 'fuck' doesn't really work in the Dutch language anymore, even if that is the literal translation.
For some reason they changed Dandelion's name into 'Ranonkel', which means Persian Buttercup, not Dandelion. Ranonkel is a godawful name. Why oh why did the translator do this?
Later translators hated their colleague's decision too apparently, because later in the series his name gets changed into 'Ridderspoor', which means Larkspur and is a little better (still a shit name though).
Jelle Amersfoort acted as the VA for the Dutch version of the audiobook. He read every male character with the same intonation though, and he would often cut off his sentences in weird places, as if he ran out of breath. This sometimes made it hard to distinguish between characters. I wouldn't realize Geralt had said something, instead of some other character, until a sentence ended with 'Geralt said'. Still, this was the first Dutch audiobook I ever read to the end. Usually, the VA is incredibly cringe (which might just be due the Dutch language itself), but I actually managed to listen to Jelle. So kudos to him.
2/5
Graphic: Blood, Violence, Ableism, Child abuse, Classism, Cursing, Misogyny, Alcohol, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Incest, and Fire/Fire injury
road24's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Cursing, Death, and Violence
Minor: Incest
ravenreader's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Misogyny, Fatphobia, and Body shaming
jessthanthree's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Sexual content, Animal death, and Violence
knerys's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Deadnaming, Genocide, Gore, Child abuse, Child death, Murder, Misogyny, Animal death, and Violence
Minor: Torture, Suicide, and Sexual violence
indianagranger's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Sexism, Racism, Xenophobia, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Violence, Misogyny, Infertility, Incest, and Death
Minor: Colonisation and Pregnancy
leona'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
3.0
For the most part, I really enjoyed these stories. I did watch the show first, which made me want to read the books, and these stories are all in the show other than one I believe. I actually really enjoyed the short story format, and I think they were well connected and structured together. I definitely preferred the stories from the second half of the book (which I will probably explain more later.)
I enjoyed most of the characters in this book, Dandilion was one of my favourites but I also liked Calanthe. Geralt is an interesting lead.
I enjoyed the worldbuilding and magic, although I'm hoping this magic will be expanded on in later books. I found myself really enjoying these stories.
But I would be remiss if I didn't mention The Last Wish's glaring flaw (although people will probably complain that I just 'didn't get it' or am wrong, this is an OPINION): this book - especially the first half - was so blatantly sexist and 'male-gaze(y)' at times that I was left with a bad taste in my mouth. I, like an idiot, bought the whole series because I was sure I would love it and it's cheaper to buy them all at once than individually, but I felt like I was dreading reading the others if they were all going to be sexist nonsense. Now, where's the proof?
Here's a cracker from Geralt, as he monologues to a woman who has taken a vow of silence:
'I wanted this girl, sobbing with gratitude, to kiss her saviour on the hands, and her father to thank me on his knees. In reality her father fled with his attackers, and the girl, drenched in the bald man's blood, threw up, became hysterical and fainted in fear when I approached her.'
Yep. This is Geralt's first kill after leaving Kaer Morhen, after he saves a young girl from being raped. And he's disappointed that she didn't thank him for his 'kindness' and hail him like a hero. Not to mention the sexualisation of a 14 year-old in the first story, as well as so many other random women walking around with their boobs out, or completely naked for literally no reason. Not to mention the sympathising of rapists like
The Last Wish is a book with strong female characters, Calanthe and Yennefer, for example, but it is also a book with so much random crap. However, I must say that I feel like the later stories did improve significantly, with still a bit of iffiness here and there.
I'm kind of nervous about reading the other books because I have seen such mixed reviews. Some people say Sword of Destiny gets worse, then I saw some reviews saying Blood of Elves is actually quite modern in terms of female representation. I also know that the series is meant to get considerably darker around the middle, which I'm a bit nervous about (yes I am a bit sensitive, sorry?). This is the first grimdark thing I have read really. Despite this, I am interested and do really want to carry on.
So yes, overall I'm rating this 3 stars.
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Sexism, Rape, and Misogyny
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, and Blood
Minor: Incest