The Last Wish

The only thing I knew going into this book was that it formed the basis of the hugely popular Witcher video games. As someone whose gaming days peaked in the era of PS1, I was basically going into this book blind.

I have to say, this was a bit of a mixed bag for me.

The Good:

The prose, the world, and the dark twists on classic fairy tales were all spectacular. The English translation is excellent, and I would never have suspected the book was originally written in another language. Geralt and the whole concept of Witchers are both fascinating.

For those of you who enjoy audiobooks, Peter Kenny's narration is incredible.

The Bad:

One thing that often prevents me from enjoying fairy tale retellings is that they feel like a story you're hearing secondhand. All the plot points are there, the atmosphere is intriguing, but it's hard to actually feel like you can connect with the characters.

Unfortunately, The Last Wish has the same issue. I can count on one hand (with fingers to spare) the number of times we get to peek inside Geralt's head and see what he's thinking. If I were to pick a page at random and read an excerpt, I wouldn't have been able to tell that Geralt was the point-of-view character.

As someone who reads primarily for the characters, this made it hard for me to feel invested in the story.

Overall:

I'm glad I read the book, but I won't be continuing the series. From what I've heard, this is one of the best Witcher books, and it just didn't interest me enough to continue.