Book Review: The Last Wish By Andrzej Sapkowski

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[{"type":"txt","id":"rich_1498466853867","data":"I remember hearing about The Last Wish sometime in 2006 when fan translations were hitting the obscure internet forums dedicated to gaming. You see, the story of Andrzej Sapkowski's fantasy series was being made into a video game titled The Witcher. The book series, which also came to be known as The Witcher Saga, was already famous in Poland, where author Sapkowski is based, where before the release of The Last Wish, fantasy was seen as childish and not worth a serious readers time. <\/p>While the elitism amongst book readers of the world might still exist in one form or another, I had heard from a Polish friend I had made on Yahoo! Messenger that it was quite a big deal that the saga was being used as an inspiration for the games, and insisted I read the books. And so I did, unsure what to expect as I picked up The Last Wish, a collection of short stories, and got myself acquainted with one of the most memorable characters in pop-culture in return: Geralt of Rivia, also known as White Wolf, and The Butcher of Blaviken. <\/p>"},{"type":"img","id":"img-uid-1498467650677","data":"5950cdd34e15a"},{"type":"txt","id":"rich_1498467719582","data":"Geralt of Rivia is a Witcher, a group of superhuman warriors trained from childhood for one purpose only: Killing monsters. For the world of which Geralt is but a mere speck of is infested with monstrosities of all kinds, drowners dragging fishermen and people near shores down into the dark depths of their watery graves, ghouls that feast on human flesh burrowing their way from underground wherever there was a battle or a corpse lying around, lesser vampires, the kind that cannot think for themselves but must feed on blood, out to bite any human's throat they can find, giant manticores, harpies and worse. <\/p>There was a need for a group that would exclusively deal with monsters for gold, or whatever local currency the locals could muster, and so Geralt, much like his brothers in arms, wandered town from town, looking for work and monsters to kill. <\/p>It is also this world that Andrzej Sapkowski effortlessly thrusts you in as you follow the adventures of Geralt of Rivia, a Witcher who had not yet met the people that would change his life forever. Sapkowski's paints a grim picture of the world infested with monsters and humans banding together and retreating to their homes, fear in their hearts, of monsters that would vary depending on the part of the world they were in and also whether if they were in a city or not. <\/p>But does everything seem as bad as it appears to be? The best part of the Saga, and indeed this book, is the way Sapkowski handles morality. A Witcher is supposed to be neutral, keeping his head out of conflict unless it directly benefits them, but the monsters he faces don't always have to be monstrous, and in many cases, Geralt has found, humans themselves turn more monstrous than actual monsters. <\/p>All these factors, the grey morality, the choices Geralt faces, especially during the incident that would earn him the nickname 'The Butcher of Blaviken', the world which feels oppressive, dark and extremely grim, the characters with Geralt's dry sense of humor and the others that make for the rest of the book's most memorable moments and the fact that it is presented in short story format, with each story being a different adventure adds to the overall experience; this is a book I would recommend to anyone in a heartbeat, it is your journey down the type of fantasy you don't often get to read. <\/p>"},{"type":"img","id":"img-uid-1498468679556","data":"5950d1fa54add"},{"type":"txt","id":"rich_1498468780248","data":"This is the world where knights in shining armours are usually the ones that are more likely to screw you over, than a 'mutant freak' like Geralt and the other Witchers, untrusted by common folk because of how they appear and the myth that a Witcher only draws his sword when he hears the chink of gold coming his way. <\/p>Of course, after the first game released, more Witcher books were translated, giving the world some of the best fantasy fiction we've seen in a while. The world is unapologetic, depressing even at times, there are no knights in shining armour, only Witchers, whom both the monster and men fear, although if you ask Geralt, sometimes the difference between a monster and a man is difficult to tell. <\/p>This is a fantasy book unlike anything you've ever read before, and we highly recommend that you read it as soon as possible. When you do finish the books, there's always the games to play, and such excellent games they are too! <\/p><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2u6D4T4\" target=\"_blank\">Click here<\/a> to buy The Last Wish! <\/p>"},{"type":"img","id":"img-uid-1498469217497","data":"5950d3b62ea27"}]

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