Book 7/196: Poland

The Last wish is part of the Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowskij, and is the Polish edition to my project of reading the world. The series inspired a cult videogame, which I intend to purchase and try out as well.

Genre: Fantasy

Summary:

Geralt is a witcher, which means he basically is a fairytale assassin, who hunts down monsters. In this novel, he is presented with a range of tasks, meeting all kinds of people and creatures. He is very skilled at what he does, but not everyone likes a witcher. In these adventures, we learn of the world he inhabits, and discover some alternative truths to fairy tales as we know them.

Verdict:

First of all, I had no idea, when I bought this, that it ‘doubled’ as a popular or even cult video game. It says so on the cover, but all I read was fantasy key words and a polish author’s name, so I figured this could be the Polish entry. I ended up reading it in nearly one sitting, as I just could not put it down.

I loved the setting, the changing scenery that just effortlessly was painted in my mind and I enjoyed getting to know the main character – Geralt – who also serves as a likeable anti-hero to the stories in which he participates. It is very fluid, albeit there are numerous fairy tales in the novel, all bound together by Geralt and his hunt for jobs. Hunting monsters.

I never really realized how much I enjoy reading things that are so fictional and magical, until I came across this book. Sure, I like Harry Potter, but this is another universe entirely. What really struck me with this book, wasn’t just the reimagined stories about beloved characters like Snow White and other such princesses and creatures. No, what really hit the jack-pot with this one, was that it was so funny that I laughed out loud several times, to the amusement of people around me.

The language in this thing is so clever and encompasses such a dry, sarcastic type of humor that I appreciate enormously. I want more of these books and Andrzej Sapkowskij is definitely an author whose books I’ll keep an eye out for. It was a funny, exciting, actionpacked and realistic fairytale read, and I’m smiling just by writing about it. If that ain’t a good book, I don’t know what is!