The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski

“I manage because I have to. Because I’ve no other way out. Because I’ve overcome the vanity and pride of being different, I’ve understood that they are a pitiful defense against being different. Because I’ve understood that the sun shines differently when something changes. The sun shines differently, but it will continue to shine, and jumping at it with a hoe isn’t going to do anything.”

– The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski

I really, really loved the first season of The Witcher, but once it was announced that Henry Cavill was dropping from the show, I lost a little bit of interest, mostly because I’m not usually a fan of major lead changes. When the show first came out, I tried to find the books and at the time, they were impossible to get copies of. I was so frustrated, but Orbit has since reprinted them, and I can find them in abundance. I picked up The Last Wish and was immediately drawn in. This book is a collection of stories that introduce Geralt as the Witcher, and it’s such a well-built world full of magic and monsters. I love it. 

Each story tells a different story of Geralt coming up against monsters and evil and him overcoming it. We see a King beg Geralt to cure the curse on his daughter, which has left her as a striga, terrorizing the local town in ‘The Witcher.’ In ‘A Grain of Truth’, Geralt follows a trail of corpses only to uncover a strange, haunted looking manor inhabited by a part man-part beast name Nivellen who is more than what he seems. In ‘The Lesser Evil’, both a wizard named Stregobor and an assassin, Renfi, try to rope Geralt into taking their side and helping them kill the other. Geralt refuses both of their proposals but is drawn into the drama and conflict that unfolds between the two anyway. These tales are followed by “A Question of Price” and “The Edge of the World,” both wonderful stories also. I particularly love “The Edge of the World” because it features the bard, Dandelion, a close friend of Geralt’s (whether he likes it or not).

But my favorite story in this collection is the last one, “The Last Wish,” which is the story of how Geralt meets the sorceress Yennefer. If you’ve seen the show, you know who Yennefer is, and I was dying to read the story of how they met as originally written by the author. The story follows Geralt and Dandelion who are fishing one day when Dandelion ‘catches’ a vase holding a djinn. The djinn injures Dandelion to the point where he may never be able to sing again. Desperate to find a way to save him, Geralt seeks out a great sorceress, Yennefer in an attempt to save him.  I loved what unfolded between the two characters.

It’s been long enough since I’ve seen the show that the storyline for many of these stories was familiar to me, but new enough that I was able to enjoy them again with fresh eyes. I think this collection is a great introduction to the world of The Witcher, and to Geralt himself. It’s full of magic, monsters and darkness, but there are threads of hope and love woven throughout it as well. I am so eager to keep reading more in this series and world. Regardless of whether or not you watched the show, this is one series you do not want to miss!