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A review by ladyarchaeopteryx
Der letzte Wunsch by Andrzej Sapkowski
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