Like many people, I
really enjoyed The Witcher 3, and when a fellow of sound judgement
suggested giving The Last Wish (the first, I think, Witcher book, the
body of which the games are based upon) it seemed like a good idea.
The Last Wish is a
collection of short stories interspersed with a continuous
mini-storyline of Geralt recovering from a particularly grim wound.
Violence is fairly high, there’s a helping of strong language, and
sex is minimal and painted in a hazy watercolour rather than the
explicit detail some others prefer (personally, I think the hazy
approach is better).
The short stories are
often around 50-60 pages in length, covering a particular monster
contract or similar. As with the game, there’s an element of
complex morality woven into what might otherwise be straightforward
plots, which both elevates the story above the average and helps to
deepen both the character of Geralt himself and the world in which he
fights.
Writing style is a
little difficult to comment on neutrally because I have a lot of
Witcher imagery from the game to fill in any blanks there might be. I
found the writing easy to read, and also moreish, often reading
rather more than I’d expected. There’s no pat on the head and
slab of explanatory text, instead, knowledge about Witcher skills
(for example) is conveyed through actions more than words.
It’s a charming mix
of old school European fairytale and modern day grim cynicism.
The translation from
the original Polish is perfectly good with only occasional slips (a U
in ‘evaporate’, and one apostrophe was back to front, though I
suspect that was someone else’s minor mistake).
All in all, very
enjoyable and I intend to read more of this series in the future. I’d
give it four out of five.
Thaddeus
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