The Witcher: The Last Wish Book Review

An Entertaining Fantasy Book

A while ago I read the first Witcher book, The Last Wish. I once played like 5 minutes of, The Witcher 2 game and watched the show on Netflix but, this book was really a proper introduction to what the series was about for me.

The Witcher: The Last Wish is a collection of short stories that follows a Witcher, Geralt. Geralt travels across the world fighting monsters and making a few friends along the way.

Ok I oversimplified the plot, but it really was a while ago since I read this book. I do remember some things about it though. The characters were well written, the pacing was pretty good, and it was fun reading about all the different types of monsters.

I haven't read many books in the fantasy genre, but I thought this book was pretty good for an outsider looking in. The Last Wish does a great job of establishing Geralt as a character and I got a pretty good sense of who he is. The other characters seemed to stand apart from one another and that was another plus in my book.

What I really liked about this book is that it's a collection of short stories but continuing one narrative. It almost felt episodic at some points. I could read a chapter a day and at that pace it had a natural feel to it. The book never really dragged.

The different types of monsters that Geralt would encounter was also pretty neat. Each creature had it's features that really stood apart from the rest and it kept the book fresh. There were some I liked more than others, but I didn't dislike any.

Even though this was an English version, this was my first introduction to Polish literature. I have to say I am interested in reading more and seeing what else Polish authors have to offer. I'm considering continuing The Witcher series as well. 

I don't have any really pressing negatives for this book and the ones that I do have are so minor that they have escaped my mind. If you're looking to read something fun in the fantasy genre, and you don't know where to start, The Last Wish might be a good pick.

final score: 4/5