The Witcher- The Last Wish

[cornerofmadness]

The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I've had friends for years telling me about this series and then of course came the tv adaptation. Amazon claimed this was a great introduction to the series. Yeah not so much. While the misogyny isn't quite as prevalent as some reviews say, it is definitely there and it's right up front so yeah it was a bit much. These is definitely 90s era fantasy written for the male gaze.

Also this was a series of short stories that were hung together by an injury Geralt sustains necessitating him going to the temple where his friend is and they're basically telling stories as they are recovering.

I've already forgotten most of them because they were not very memorable, a lot of people acting stupid and mistreating Geralt and Witchers in general. Dandelion, his bardic best friend is only in the last few and came across as no loss because he's the James Bond/Dan Fielding/Name a Womanizer trope, laughing at nonconsensually pinching a young priestess's butt. Eye roll.

The last Wish short story was interesting (maybe because Dandelion's idiocy reaped its own reward) because the resolution was clever (up until it ends in unlikely sex but again written for the male gaze).

It didn't really make me want to run out and read more. Maybe the actual novels are better? I mean this thing is well loved and well awarded.



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