Book Review
Title: The Last Wish (The Witcher Book 0.5) by Andrzej Sapkowski
Genre: Dark, Fantasy
Rating: 4 Stars
I have never read The Witcher books, watched the show or played the games but it seems like the kind of fantasy I will really enjoy and been as I own the first book I decided to give it a go. The opening to The Last Wish was interesting as we are introduced to Geralt, a Witcher, we don’t just fully understand what a Witcher is but it seems to be a cross between an assassin and a wizard, meaning he has both amazing physical skills and magic. He meets with Velerad, the Castellan of Wyzim regarding a striga who turns out to be the bastard child between King Foltest and his sister, Adda. Adda didn’t survive the birth of her daughter and the Witcher knows that for the child to become a striga a spell was cast upon her and he might be able to undo it. The King requests that Geralt tries to undo the spell without killing his daughter but he does say that if she turns out to be a hopeless case then he can kill her. Watching Geralt’s preparations for breaking the spell was interesting and he seems to be almost superhuman when he enhances his senses as he only needs to keep the girl outside of her tomb until sunrise then the spell will be broken. However, the striga is far stronger and faster than he expected but he does manage to make it until morning where the striga is beginning to change back into a girl but she is still part monster until Geralt bites her before fainting due to blood loss. When he awakes two days later, the princess has returned to her human self and seems to be recovering well, however, Velerad does ask why he bit her and gets no response.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, I was intrigued by the Voice of Reason sections in between chapters as these seem to contain parts of Geralt’s past. After leaving Wyzim, Geralt recovers from his wound at a temple of Melitele, where he ends up in bed with one of the Priestesses, Iola and under the care of another, Nenneke but do see that Iola upsets Geralt emotionally as she doesn’t remind him of Yennefer, although we don’t know who that is yet we must assume it is a previous lover of Geralt’s. After recovering Geralt continues to do his job as a Witcher and accidently stumbles upon two dead bodies which leaves him to the home of Nivellen. Nivellen is a human turned into a monster by a spell much like the striga princess but this was cast by a Priestess and can only be undo be specific means. He learns that Nivellen isn’t alone in his isolated home and that he lives there with Vereena who Geralt assumes is a rusalka, a type of vampire before leaving. However, it is his horse Roach, whose behaviour reminds Geralt of something forcing him to return to Nivellen’s home where he comes face to face with Vereena. It turns out that Vereena is a bruxa, the most dangerous type of vampire and she has been controlling Nivellen and Geralt seeks to stop her. She proves a deadly opponent for Geralt until Nivellen steps in a spears her but not enough to kill her, she does that herself dragging herself further onto the stake trying to reach Nivellen to kill him but Geralt kills her first. As soon as Vereena is dead the spell upon Nivellen is lifted but Geralt informs him it could have only been done by true love and their blood meaning that despite being a bloodsucking vampire, Vereena did love him and was willing to die for him in her own twisted way.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, I was enjoying seeing Geralt in his role as a Witcher but I wanted to know more about him and what exactly a Witcher is. After leaving the temple. Geralt ends up in a town where he meets with an old friend, Caldemeyn after slaying a kikimora and he is offered their spare room to stay in before he heads on his journey and Geralt gladly accepts but is wary of Caldemeyn’s wife, Libushe after his last visit. After realising there is no reward for the kikimora, Yspaden leads him to the home of a wizard, Master Irion who Geralt knows as Stregobor. Stregobor is in trouble as it turns out and wants Geralt’s help but knowing the kind of man Stregobor is and knowing he can’t trust what he is saying to be truth Geralt refuses. As he tells his story we learn Stregobor once stayed in Nehalenia and after some incident with the Curse of the Black Sun in which hundreds of young girls where killed he allied himself with the Queen, Aridea to kill her stepdaughter, Renfri who they suspected was a mutant. Creyden was ruled by King Fredefalk who wanted nothing done about the girl but Aridea sent Renfri off into the wood with a thug who was going to kill her but she manages to escape and has been hunting Stregobor down ever since. As Geralt doesn’t believe in the Curse or that the girls are mutants but he can’t deny the abilities that Renfri seems to have and so goes to meet her for himself. Renfri it appears can control people through her words and does have some gift of clairvoyance which makes it hard for Geralt to get a read on her but she claims that Stregobor is going to die the following day.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, it seems like a lot of these stories are being told by Geralt about his past to Iola but this might not be the case. I believe this is the case because Geralt tells Iola about growing up in Kaer Morhen and being raised by Vesemir not knowing his real parents and the experiments performed on him to make him a Witcher. However, we quickly transition to him meeting with Haxo in Cintra. He is being taken to the engagement party of Princess Pavetta, daughter of Queen Calanthe about a job he is going to be given. Geralt knows this isn’t a normal job as he is asked to change clothes and deprived of his weapons before the feast is to begin. Geralt keeps an eye on several people attending the feast including Drogodar, Coodcoodak, Eist and Mousesack. Mousesack is an interesting character as he seems to have some magic and communicates with Geralt silently throughout the feast although we don’t know what they are saying. The Queen explains to Geralt that her daughter needs to married an islander, the one in attendance is Eist’s nephew and the others need to be taken care of. Geralt explains that she has confused his job with that of an assassin but during the coded conversation that takes place he ends up agreeing. However, the feast is interrupted by Urcheon exclaiming that Princess Pavetta was promised to him fifteen years before by King Roegner after Urcheon rescued him. The Queen refuses to fulfil this promise but many in attendance including Coodcoodak believes that she should honour it as similar promises have been made and fulfilled in the past and those marriages prospered but those that weren’t honoured ended in disaster and Geralt knows that this is building to something but he can’t quite figure out what yet but he knows there is magic involved.
As we cross the halfway mark in the novel, it finally becomes clear that the Voice of Reason chapters are begin told in the present and everything else is flashbacks as we are introduced to Dandilion in the present as he visits Geralt at the temple and they discuss how they came to know each and become friends, then we go straight into a flashback of that moment. It turns out the world has been changing for a long time making the need for Witchers more and more obsolete and this is something that Geralt has struggled to come to terms with as he was raised for the purpose of being a Witcher and nothing else. While he is travelling in search of jobs and finding none, he is taken aside by Nettly who introduces him to Dhun and they explain that they are having a problem with a deovel or devil. Geralt and Dandilion go in search of the deovel and find that people have been making offerings to it which is why it has stuck around and caused such a nuisance of itself. However, when Geralt demands answers from Dhun and Nettly, he is introduced to an elderly woman and her trainee, Lille who are the only ones that know the ancient book, which contains knowledge on all the known creatures and how to deal with them. However, Geralt senses that there is something off about Lille and tries to get her to explain things to him but is forcefully advised by Dhun and Nettly not to engage her in conversation which only makes Geralt more curious. I was told these books had a lot of humour in them and it hasn’t really be apparent until now but the way Dandilion talks back to the deovel only to be pelted with iron balls was hilarious and made me laugh out loud. I really liked the fact that Geralt and Dandilion are complete opposites and yet seem to be very good friends because in some ways they are quite similar and every interaction they have together is funny, especially when Geralt is trying to get Dandilion to shut up.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, we continue to follow Geralt and Dandilion on their early adventure as they realise the deovel is a sylvan named Torque and he has been working the elves that were banished into the mountains by man to help them survive. On of these elves, Galarr orders that Geralt and Dandilion are tied up as they don’t want to leave any witnesses as it might endanger the community they have built in the mountains but Torque tries to stop them from killing the Witcher and his friend. Another elf arrives, one of a higher ranking named Filavandrel who explains to Geralt why they can’t leave them alive despite Geralt trying to explain that he isn’t human and he has integrated the best he can in order to survive. It isn’t a great way of living but he survives but the pride the elves have is immense and they can’t be reasoned with. Just as they are able to be killed Lille arrives and the elves address her as Dana Meadbh, the Lady of the Fields and beg her to come with them as they need her now but she has chosen to stay in the Valley of Flowers with the humans and the elves have to respect this choice as she is essentially a Goddess to them, and so Torque joined Geralt and Dandilion on their journey. However, we are snapped back the present where Nenneke points out that like the elves and plants that can no longer survive in the changing world, Geralt is sick too and seems to be becoming more and more human but he won’t let Nenneke or Iola do anything about it. We also gather here that his relationship with Yennefer has soured because she wants children but can’t due to being a sorceress and while there are exceptions to this she isn’t one of them. Despite his urging Nenneke won’t pass along the jewels to help fund the procedure that Yennefer wants because she knows it would be a wasted effort and it would only worsen the relationship between them. Nenneke does ask Geralt how he came to meet Yennefer and we are launched into another flashback. In this one, Geralt and Dandilion were fishing the absence of food and while trying to catch a fish, Dandilion hauls up what he believes is a Djinn’s jar but when it opens a monster emerges. While Geralt is able to exorcize the creature, something has been done to Dandilion making him vomit blood. At the gates to the nearest town, he is told he won’t be permitted until dawn so he wait with some elves, Chireadan and Errdil and a half-human, Vratimir. They inform him sorcerers are hard to come by in this town but a sorceress is staying at the home of Beau Berrant who might be able to help him and this sorceress is Yennefer.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, we see how Geralt and Yennefer met and how they came to be a couple but it doesn’t explain why their relationship has soured so badly or what his wish was. However, what we do know if in the present he is leaving Nenneke’s temple only to be stopped by the Order of White Rose, a group of knights and one in particular, Tailles felt insulted by Geralt’s behaviour and has challenged him to a duel but this duel has conditions where Geralt won’t be able to win. The duel is being overseen by Dennis Cranmer to make sure the rules are followed and essentially Geralt can’t refuse or he died and if he injures Tailles he dies. Geralt finds a way around this as he causes Tailles’ own sword to slash his face and Dennis upholds this as following the rules allowing Geralt to go free. As he stops to say goodbye to Iola and Nenneke, Iola has vision of death presumably Geralt’s and Nenneke tries to prevent him from leaving but he feels he has to and so he does. Overall, The Last Wish was essentially a collection of short stories about Geralt’s past tied together with him preparing for something in present. I will definitely be continuing with this series and I highly recommend the audiobook although I was a little disappointed that the book seemed to lack the smutty moments everyone constantly talks about in the games and show but there is always a chance that might appear in one of the later books.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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