The Last Wish : Introducing the Witcher - Now a major Netflix show
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Geralt is a witcher, a man whose magic powers, enhanced by long training and a mysterious elixir, have made him a brilliant fighter and a merciless assassin. Yet he is no ordinary murderer: his targets are the multifarious monsters and vile fiends that ravage the land and attack the innocent. He roams the country seeking assignments, but gradually comes to realise that while some of his quarry are unremittingly vile, vicious grotesques, others are the victims of sin, evil or simple naivety.
One reviewer said: 'This book is a sheer delight. It is beautifully written, full of vitality and endlessly inventive: its format, with half a dozen episodes and intervening rest periods for both the hero and the reader, allows for a huge range of characters, scenarios and action. It's thought-provoking without being in the least dogmatic, witty without descending to farce and packed with sword fights without being derivative. The dialogue sparkles; characters morph almost imperceptibly from semi-cliche to completely original; nothing is as it first seems. Sapkowski succeeds in seamlessly welding familiar ideas, unique settings and delicious twists of originality: his Beauty wants to rip the throat out of a sensitive Beast; his Snow White seeks vengeance on all and sundry, his elves are embittered and vindictive. It's easily one of the best things I've read in ages.'
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One reviewer said: 'This book is a sheer delight. It is beautifully written, full of vitality and endlessly inventive: its format, with half a dozen episodes and intervening rest periods for both the hero and the reader, allows for a huge range of characters, scenarios and action. It's thought-provoking without being in the least dogmatic, witty without descending to farce and packed with sword fights without being derivative. The dialogue sparkles; characters morph almost imperceptibly from semi-cliche to completely original; nothing is as it first seems. Sapkowski succeeds in seamlessly welding familiar ideas, unique settings and delicious twists of originality: his Beauty wants to rip the throat out of a sensitive Beast; his Snow White seeks vengeance on all and sundry, his elves are embittered and vindictive. It's easily one of the best things I've read in ages.'
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Product details
- Paperback | 288 pages
- 128 x 196 x 24mm | 260g
- 08 Jan 2020
- Orion Publishing Co
- Gollancz
- London, United Kingdom
- English
- 0575082445
- 9780575082441
- 266
Review Text
Like a complicated magic spell, a Sapkowski novel is a hodge podge of fantasy, intellectual discouse and dry humour. Recommended Time Magazine
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Captivating, often nerve-wracking, and truthfully . . . rip-roaring fun * Fantasy Hive * Refreshing and a lot of fun to read * Grimdark Magazine * There's lots of imagination on show, the writing has a strong voice, and the Witcher is an entertaining character * Mark Lawrence * Like Mieville and Gaiman, [Sapkowski] takes the old and makes it new . . . [a] fresh take on genre fantasy * Foundation * One of the best and most interesting fantasy series I've ever read * Nerds of a Feather * 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 * SF Book * Delightfully dry humour, mythology brimming with radical creatures and a group of interesting characters, The Last Wish is a great introduction to this universe * Fantasy Book Review * Character interplay is complex, unsentimental and anchored in brutal shared history * SFX * Like a complicated magic spell, a Sapkowski novel is a hodge podge of fantasy, intellectual discouse and dry humour. Recommended * Time Magazine *
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About Andrzej Sapkowski
Andrzej Sapkowski was born in 1948 in Poland. He studied economy and business, but the success of his fantasy cycle about the sorcerer Geralt of Rivia turned him into a bestselling writer and he is now one of Poland's most famous and successful authors, selling more in his own country than Stephen King or Michael Crichton.
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Our customer reviews
The Witcher is a stand out piece of fiction in the increasingly homogeneous fantasy scene.
Sapkowski's strength is in his episodic presentation of the narrative and his strong, vivid characters. Essentially, The Witcher is presented through a series of short-stories that deal with Geralt's life and the current political climate within the world. Each character has a strong, individual voice. Geralt is witty, intelligent, and strongly bound to his honour; Dandilion is a rogue and a womaniser who adds much humour to the novel; the list goes on.
Sapkowski's writing is well crafted and, I argue, has a slight postmodern edge. Rare skill from a pop fiction author; his novels are ones to read and re-read with delight.show more
by Stephen J
