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Andrzej Sapkowski: The last wish (2007, Gollancz) 4 stars

Geralt de Rivia is a witcher. A cunning sorcerer. A merciless assassin. And a cold-blooded …

Review of 'The Last Wish (The Witcher, #0.5)' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Translations haven't really worked for me that well in the past, so I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get through the first chapter, but I was actually pleasantly surprised by the competency of the writing.

What is ostensibly a collection of short stories, with some connective tissue starts strong, but I found myself growing tired of it near the end. It's a weirdly antiseptic book, all description and a minimum of internal monologue. It's hard to get a grasp on Geralt as he seems to act somewhat randomly and never getting to hear his thoughts means there is not a lot to hang his motivations on.

And the humour gets old fast.

And so does the weird sexism.

It has, however, made me appreciate the computer game a lot more, so I guess that is something...