The Last Wish

The bestselling book which inspired season 1 of Netflix’s The Witcher

By: Andrzej Sapkowski, Danusia Stok - translator

Narrated by: Peter Kenny

Introducing Geralt the Witcher - revered and hated - who holds the line against the monsters plaguing humanity in the bestselling series that inspired the Witcher video games and a major Netflix show.

Geralt of Rivia is a Witcher, a man whose magic powers and lifelong training have made him a brilliant fighter and a merciless assassin.

Yet he is no ordinary killer: he hunts the vile fiends that ravage the land and attack the innocent.

But not everything monstrous-looking is evil; not everything fair is good . . . and in every fairy tale there is a grain of truth.

Andrzej Sapkowski, winner of the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement award, started an international phenomenon with his Witcher series. The Last Wish is the perfect introduction to this one-of-a-kind fantasy world.©1993 Andrzej Sapkowski

Critic reviews

Like a complicated magic spell, a Sapkowski novel is a hodge podge of fantasy, intellectual discouse and dry humour. Recommended

Character interplay is complex, unsentimental and anchored in brutal shared history

Delightfully dry humour, mythology brimming with radical creatures and a group of interesting characters, The Last Wish is a great introduction to this universe

Sapkowski has a confident and rich voice which permeates the prose and remains post-translation. I'd recommend this to any fan of Heroic or Dark fiction

One of the best and most interesting fantasy series I've ever read

Like Mieville and Gaiman, [Sapkowski] takes the old and makes it new . . . [a] fresh take on genre fantasy

There's lots of imagination on show, the writing has a strong voice, and the Witcher is an entertaining character

Refreshing and a lot of fun to read

Captivating, often nerve-wracking, and truthfully . . . rip-roaring fun

I will passionately say that The Witcher is a character that demands your attention in whatever format you desire. Whether it be the games, comics, books or audiobooks. In each you will find a complicated character that roams the world in a fantasy setting that is hard to beat.

A Brilliant Introduction Into "The Witcher"

If you could sum up The Last Wish in three words, what would they be?

Thrilling, brilliant, engaging

Who was your favorite character and why?

Who's everyone's favorite character? It's Geralt, of course! Before reading the book, I was under the impression that he would just be a Batman-like stoic hero, but he's far from it. Sure, he's a badass, he knows everything about killing monsters and all that you'd expect from him, but he's also a good listener, he's considerate and not condescending, he even demonstrates a sense of humor at a few occasions!

What does Peter Kenny bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

While it is, once again, the boring answer that everyone would go to, it's definitely the voice acting. While some of the characters were a bit hard to understand (if you listen, you'll know exactly who I'm talking about), he overall did a very good job giving each one a personality, to the point where I was honestly a bit disappointed when I learned that Peter Kenny didn't voice Geralt in "The Witcher" games. He nails the character!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

"Last Wish - The Beginning of The Witcher" Boring and obvious, but hey, that seems to be the theme of this review, so who cares.

Any additional comments?

Overall, I can't find much wrong with "The Last Wish" - it's just great from start to finish. Definitely a good read for anyone regardless of how familiar they are with the franchise.

Great performance

I played all games. This book is very nice background, as the games refer to it's events often. Very entertaining and not as predictable as I'd thought.

So gritty and realistic with fantasy mixed in

loved it so much, not at all what I expected. I think it's on par with George R. R. Martin epic saga. I started this book because of the game and stayed cause of the depth of characters, their motivations are so realistically realized. Give fire and ice a break a get inside the world of Geralt and company.

A promising start

After playing the games, this is the first book in the series I've read. I see where the inspiration for the games comes from, much of the dialogue and stories could be taken from a quest in the games. The narrator is really good, and it is a promising start, I plan to keep reading. The only negative here is that it all feels a bit meandering without a real arch, much like an arbitrarily picked snippet from the life of Geralt. This not a problem if you are familiar with the world and the characters, but as a newcomer I would have had a hard time getting into it with all the jumping around and without a clearer thread to follow in the narrative.

Exciting, well told, and even provoking in places

Just a great book. Peter Kenny's only fault is that ghosts get a bit annoying with their slow and breathy voices when they have a lot to say. Other than that I can't imagine anyone doing a better job of this book.