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A review by trin
The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski
2.0
The very first page of this book centers around an image straight out of one of those vaguely porny fantasy calendars -- She entered very carefully, moving silently, floating through the chamber like a phantom; the only sound was that of her mantle brushing her naked skin. Ho boy. I basically knew right away that this was not for me. But so many people love these books! Alas, I could not shake the feeling of vague to intense ickiness that Sapkowski's attitude toward women evoked in me.
I've read way worse things: there are a lot of female characters in this book, and some are even interesting! But there is a relentless attention to women's sexuality as a metaphor for evil, a plot point revolving around how sorceresses are all ugly women who use magic to beautify themselves but in the process shrivel their reproductive organs to nothing (jesus fuck, so much to unpack there), and lots of gratuitous female nudity. For example, at one point the main dude is fighting one of said formerly ugly/now reproductively shriveled sorceresses, and Sapkowski takes care to note that during the battle, her dress rips and her breast pops out. Imagine if every time a female author wrote a fight scene she had the male characters' balls bounce free of their pants. Yeah.
So -- general ick vibe, but that actually wasn't this book's biggest sin, in my mind. Simply put: I never came to care about Main Dude at all. He was just so...neutral. Okay morals. Okay fighting. He's just...okay.
Man no one is sadder than me that this didn't work out because I really wanted to read the fanfic. :(
I've read way worse things: there are a lot of female characters in this book, and some are even interesting! But there is a relentless attention to women's sexuality as a metaphor for evil, a plot point revolving around how sorceresses are all ugly women who use magic to beautify themselves but in the process shrivel their reproductive organs to nothing (jesus fuck, so much to unpack there), and lots of gratuitous female nudity. For example, at one point the main dude is fighting one of said formerly ugly/now reproductively shriveled sorceresses, and Sapkowski takes care to note that during the battle, her dress rips and her breast pops out. Imagine if every time a female author wrote a fight scene she had the male characters' balls bounce free of their pants. Yeah.
So -- general ick vibe, but that actually wasn't this book's biggest sin, in my mind. Simply put: I never came to care about Main Dude at all. He was just so...neutral. Okay morals. Okay fighting. He's just...okay.
Man no one is sadder than me that this didn't work out because I really wanted to read the fanfic. :(