The Last Wish

As many people I started reading this after watching the TV Show (but haven't played the game, yet).

I was scared that it would be too similar to I was already seen but to my surprise, even though some of the events tell the "same story" (on a sense), the events within them are pretty different from what I saw on TV. Different enough I would say.

I did enjoy it though it was short in length, but in exchange you don't necessarily need to continue reading the rest of the books if you don't want to (right away) because it contains a tale per chapter that even if they are a full story when read in full it doesn't put the reader in a position where it needs to read the rest right away.

I recommend it if you like the fantasy genre, is a light read, short and self-contained.

This collection of short stories introduces us to Geralt of Rivia, the Witcher. As inspiration for the video games by CD Projekt Red, they are a nice proof of how well they managed to adapt the tone and style of the books.

The short stories are set in the Witcher's dark world, where normal people are sometimes far far scarier than the monsters the Witcher gets paid for to kill them. In the collection of short stories, Grimm's fairy tales are picked up and re-told, and thus Snow White is hardly the damsel in distress, but a cast out princess who got terribly abused and has come for vengeance. Thus, we learn why the Witcher is the Butcher of Blaviken in the story The Lesser Evil.

We also get to see the first ever meeting between Yennefer of Vergerberg and Geralt, in The Last Wish, which is picked up again in Witcher 3 in a quest of the same name. I really enjoyed that.

If you like the games and would like to read about the world, this first book of the series is an excellent start.