The Witcher Books

I knew The Witcher is a popular video game series. I also knew that it’s going to be on Netflix in December, starring Henry Cavill. But, I didn’t know that it was originally an award winning novel series. The books in the series were originally written in Polish. I am impressed by how the translations were masterfully done.

The Last Wish is a collection of short stories of The Witcher’s adventures. It did good in introducing the fascinating world of The Witcher. Each story gradually acquaints the readers with Geralt, the protagonist of the story, his interesting character and his unique profession. He’s not the only witcher around. Apparently, there’s a whole troop of them. One thing I like about this book is the familiar references it uses from fairy tale lore. From a cursed man-beast living in a mansion, to a woman with seven little companions, to a genie in a bottle (the title of the book might have given this away).

The Blood of Elves, on the other hand, is the first full-length book from the series. The author, Andrzej Sapkowsi, first wrote two short stories books before switching to the novel format. There are six of them on top of the former two. This one is a little bit draggy. It only has seven chapters. It also focuses less on Geralt and more on Ciri. I lose interest at the middle and almost decided not to continue with the series, but Ciri's character development left me with wanting to know more by the end of this book. So, I am having the next book, Time of Contempt, in my To Read List.