Publisher: Orbit
Author: Andrzej Sapkowski
Release Date: 5/1/2008
Pages: 384
MSRP: $7.99
Recommended Audience: Adult
The Good: Excellent characters, smooth writing, beautiful lore and fantasy world, gives fans of the game a lot of backstories
The Bad: Chapters start with broken flow, a lot of the great lore isn’t gone into in detail, two-thirds of the book are just tales of Geralt’s Witcher jobs
By now most gamers know who Geralt of Rivia is but for book bugs they may have no idea. Geralt is a witcher. A monster slayer for hire, but monsters are dying off and work is becoming harder to come by. Witchers are getting desperate and there aren’t many left in this world. The Last Wish is actually a book full of a few tales about Geralt’s adventures, but this is just the first half of the book. The last half explains the relationship between him and Yennefer which isn’t explained a lot in the games. This was also something I didn’t like about the book because I felt it was very choppy and uneven. There isn’t a continuous tale, but a series of them, and while this would be OK the last third of the book is a continuous tale.
Despite the odd pacing, the book has excellent characters, and fans the game will have the pleasure of getting to know them better. Favorite characters such as Dandilion, Nenneke, and Yennefer are in the book, but only Triss Merrigold is mentioned a few times. Remember the book was written before the game, so if you have played the game first reading about stuff that is in the game is pretty awesome, but you also get more detailed insight into what is in the game. There is a lot of action in the book, but it’s spread far between chapters, but there is a lot of talking in the book so fans of the game may not like this.
One thing I also didn’t like was how the author starts chapters. He jumps right in the middle of something and it takes a couple of pages to find out where you are, who’s talking about who, and what’s really going on, so some times you have to go back and re-read those pages once you do find out. The rest of the book flows very well though and the book is just easy to absorb thanks to the smooth writing.
I also wish Andrzej would have delved deeper into the lore and world of this book. A lot of prophecies, religions, and other worldly things are mentioned, but not explained. I wanted to know more about this great world, but it just concentrates on the immediate surroundings of what the characters are involved in. Some people may prefer this since some don’t like authors dredging on about lore, but some actually do like this.
Other than those few complaints The Last Wish is an excellent book with wonderful characters, good action, and an excellent backbone for fans of the game. Even people who don’t play games will love The Last Wish and what it has to offer for fantasy fans.
