Despite that I am an avid video game player, I have not stepped into the Witcher Universe before last week. The coronavirus in full swing, I have been adding to my reading list and making progress through many on my list, and this was one of those. Overall, I gave this book a 4/5, and plan to finish the series in short order.
The Last Wish is 281 pages long, and that includes pages dedicated to the next book in the series, but they were so worth it. I have seen my fair share of negative reviews on this series but I do not understand them. The world Andre Sapkowski introduces immediately had me fixed and I finished the first book, well into the evening.
*Alert* Spoilers Below*
Geralt, our main character, is a ‘mutant’ of their world, designed to battle monsters of the realm.. This world includes everything from spriggas, to vampires, to bulbous oozes, which choose to inherit the dirtiest locations of town. Being a non-human, he is gifted with additional speed and strength over ordinary men but he consumes elixirs to heighten his hearing and reflexes even further, prior to battles or skirmishes. Close behind Geralt were Dandelion, a famous singing bard that, told many tales of Geralt and his many exploits over the years.
Early in this book, we discover that Geralt is somehow wounded, and slowly decaying according to his temple, healing friends, but there are many swaps backward and forward in time, telling his story until he meets his soul mate, Yennifer.
Yennefer and Geralt happen into each other after Dandelion and Geralt attempt to fish for their dinner. Accidentally, they fished up a type of Genie in a bottle that tried to kill Dandelion before he could make his wishes. On the edge of death, Dandelion is transported precariously to the next town, Rinde. Security at the entrance gates, tries to stop their passage until morning but seeing Dandelion’s condition, allow Geralt to leave him with them while he enters down and requests help from their local sorceress, Yennefer.
Yennefer, is a powerful sorceress, capable of lightning, and thunder and burning you to a clean crisp.She is not particularly, trustworthy, and seems more inclined to manipulate men to do her bidding, as opposed to actually loving caring for some one else, but she finally agrees to see to Dandelion’s condition.
She betrays Geralt, and he wakes up in a communal jail cell beneath the city. He is summoned before the local mayor about the same time Yennefer attempts to chain the genie to her will. Havoc ensues throughout the town as buildings are destroyed. Her magical spell bindings are not strong enough to truly bind him.After much toil between Yennefer and Geralt, he finally convinces her to abandon the binding and release the genie. A destroyed town blooms into their love for each other.
We do not find out why he is dying, but I hope it’s soon resolved next, in book 2. I look forward to the next 5-6 books in this world.
