The Witcher: The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski.
WARNING:
THE BANDERSNATCH BLOG MAY CONTAIN INFORMATION AND OPINIONS THAT THE PUBLIC MIGHT FIND OFFENSIVE. PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL INFORMATION WILL BE CHECKED AND OPINIONS DO NOT REFLECT THE OPINIONS OF THE MAIN BLOGGER HERSELF.
Hey there Earthlings, Alternatives and Trollers. Put down that mouse and lend an ear. Welcome to The Bandersnatch blog where we talk weird, wacky and wondrous. I'm The Bandersnatch and I have no idea what I'm doing.
As you should know Tuesdays is book blog day were we talk about one particular book and pretty much run with it. Today's blog is on The Witcher: The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski.
The Witcher is a Series of six novels and a collection of 15 short stories, written by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The original story titled the Witcher came about after Sapkowski entered the 1985/86 short story competition posted in the magazine Fantastyka effectively making his debut as an author. Writing the short stories in the early 90's, Sapkowski would go onto write the novels in the late 90's with the last being published in 1999. The Stand a lone Prequel Season of Storms was later published in 2013. The books have gathered a cult following of sorts in Poland and in both Central and eastern European countries, having been translated into 37 languages and have sold over 15 million copies as of December 2019.
The Witcher series have been adapted for TV; The Hexer (Poland) and The Witcher -on Netflix, The Big Screen; The Hexer (Poland), a Comic-Book series and a Gaming series with over 50 million copies sold as of May 2020.
The Last wish is an anthology collection of short stories loosely connected chronologically within the world of The Witcher. Whilst published by Super Nowa in 1993, it's considered the first book within the overall series. The Last Wish eventually became a replacement of sorts to Sapkowski's Third-place winning entry to the Polish science and fantasy fiction magazine Fantastyka's short story competition of 1985/86. The Seven short stories: “The Witcher”, “A Grain of Truth”, “The Lesser Evil”, “A Question of Price”, “The Edge of the World”, “The Last Wish” and “The Voice of Reason” are all told within the overall story arch of Geralt of Rivia as flashbacks, with each flashback being each short story. In 2003, The last Wish won the Premio Ignotus for Best Anthology and on June 7th 2007, Publishers Gollancz published The Last Wish into English, the book has subsequently been published into other languages.
The Witcher
(Wiedzmin)
“The Voice of Reason” Part I - - In Ellander's temple of Melitele, a wounded Geralt is awakened from his slumber by Lola, a mute servant. The two make love and fall asleep together, with Geralt dreaming of his fight with the monster who wounded him.
The King of Temeria, Foltest, has offered a reward to anyone who can lift the curse on his own daughter (the result of an incestuous union with his late sister, Adda), who was born as a striga, and terrorizes the town every night. Foltest insists that his daughter not be harmed, but grants Geralt permission to kill her if the curse cannot be lifted. Geralt is unsure whether she can live a normal life even if the curse is lifted.
Geralt prepares to spend the night at the old palace which houses the Striga. Lord Ostrit, a magnate from Novigrad, tries to bribe Geralt into leaving. Ostrit wants to use the Striga as proof of Foltest's inability to rule, to support Novigrad's usurpation of Foltest. Geralt refuses, knocks out out Ostrit, and uses him as bait.
Geralt fights the striga, but, unable to subdue it, seals himself into its crypt, forcing it to spend the night outside its lair, lifting the curse. In the morning, Geralt approaches the seemingly-restored girl, but she attacks and wounds him. Geralt binds his wounds and faints, but regains consciousness in the temple, being told the princess is being cared for by the King, and Geralt has earned his award.
A Grain of Truth
(Ziarno prawdy)
“The voice of Reason” Part II – in the morning, Priestess Nenneke awakens Geralt and Lola, and insists Geralt take part in a trance with Lola, which would show them Geralt's future. Geralt refuses.
While travelling through a forest, Geralt comes across the corpses of a man and a girl with strange wounds. Tracing the corpses' path, the Witcher arrives at a seemingly deserted mansion. He notices a woman nearby watching him, who runs away.
Geralt approaches the house and its owner, a bear like beast named Nivellen, fails to scare him away. Nivellen allows Geralt to enter the house, which supernaturally obeys his commands. Nivellen relates that, as the leader of his late father's gang of bandits, he raped a priestess of a temple, who cursed him to be a beast before killing himself. The priestess told him how to lift the curse, but he has forgotten her words, which were related to a kiss from a woman.
Returning to his family mansion, he paid the daughters of local villages to stay with him. None lifted his curse, and eventually he gave up. Enjoying their company. Before departing, Geralt warns Nivellen that his newest relationship, named Vereena, may actually be a monster. Nivellen insists that he and Vereena are in love and is hesitant to break his curse, unsure if she would love him if e was an “Ordinary” human. Geralt Leaves.
Along the road, Geralt has a realisation and returns tot he mansion. He meets Vereena, whom Geralt identifies as a bruxa, a vampire-like monster. She loves Nivellen, but has been killing his other female companions, including the other girl and her father that Geralt had found. A fight ensues, and Vereena overwhelms Geralt, but Nivellen joins the fight and impales her. The bruxa confesses her love for Nivellen just before Geralt kills her. The confession breaks Nivellen's curse. Geralt confides that the old stories about a kiss from a maiden lifting a curse like Nivellen's contain “A Grain of Truth”: there has to be true love for the cure to work.
The Lesser Evil
(Mniejsze zlo)
“The voice of Reason” Part III – Two knights of the Order of the White Rose, Count Falwick and Sir Tailles, arrive. They are ordered by the prince of Ellander to chase Geralt, “the Butcher of Blaviken” out of town, Geralt promises to leave in three days. Insulted, Tailles challenges Geralt to a duel, and the knights promise to return.
On the eve of a festival, Geralt rides into the town of Blaviken with a monster carcass in tow. He seeks out Caldemeyn, the towns alderman, to get a reward for killing the monster. Caldemeyn refuses, but his guards direct him to the town wizard, Stregobor a mage Geralt had met previously. Stregobor claims that a supposedly cursed woman wants to assassinate him, and wants Geralts' Protection. Geralt refuses in disbelief and leaves.
Meanwhile, the assassin, named Renfri, has entered Blaviken with her band of mercenaries. Geralt meets her and she explains to Geralt that she is under protection from a king, which Caldemeyn confirms. That night, Geralt finds Renfri, who explains that Stregobor had previously tried to kill her out of superstition, and encourages Geralt to kill Stregobor instead. Geralt refuses, and pleads with Renfri to forgive Stregobor, to prove the superstition wrong. Renfri refuses, but implies she will leave town before spending the night with Geralt.
In the morning, on the day of the festival, Geralt realizes that Renfri lied, and will massacre the people of Blaviken to draw Stregobor out and kill him. Geralt finds Renfri's mercenaries in the marketplace, and kills them. When Renfri arrives, Geralt asks her to leave, but she refuses, so Geralt kills her as well. After the fight, Stregobor approaches Geralt, intent on performing an autopsy on Renfri's body to prove that the curse had affected her, but Geralt stops him. Stregobor leaves, and the townsfolk, believing Geralt murdered a group of innocent men, hurl rocks at him. Caldemeyn stops the villagers, but demands Geralt leave and never return. Geralt is now known as “The Butcher of Blaviken”
A Question of Price
(Kwestia ceny)
“The voice of Reason” Part IV - Geralt tells Lola his history as a Witcher.
Geralt is at the castle of Cintra, at the invitation of Queen Calanthe, attending the betrothal celebration for Crown Princess Pavetta. An unknown knight with his face covered enters. He introduces himself as Urcheon of Erlenwald and claims Pavetta's hand in marriage, promised to him by her father Roegner, whose life Urcheon had saved. Calanthe admits that he has a claim, but refuses to marry Pavetta to a stranger. She orders him to remove his helmet and tricks him to make him think it's past midnight when he can remove the helmet. To everyone's shock he has the face of a furry beast.
Geralt asks Pavetta whether she will agree to marry Urcheon. To the outrage of the other suitors, she accepts. The suitors attack Urcheon, but he is defended by Geralt and King of Skellige, Eist Tuirseach, who loves Calanthe. The attack provokes Pavetta, revealing her latent magical powers, which threaten to destroy the castle. Geralt and Eist's Druid Councilor, Mousesack, subdue her. When the princess approaches Urcheon, he transforms into a man named Duny. Pavetta and Duny have been seeing each other secretly, and have fallen in love. Calanthe agrees to their marriage, and having been saved from Pavetta's magical outburst by Eist, agrees to marry him. Thanking Geralt for saving him, Duny offers him whatever he asks. Geralt invokes the law of Surprise, the same law which gave Duny his claim to Pavetta's hand. Pavetta reveals she is pregnant, so Geralt has a right to claim the child. He leaves, showing no sign of wanting to do so.
The Edge of the World
(Kraniec swiata)
“The Voice of Reason” Part V - Dandelion, a poet and Geralt's friend, soon arrives. They discuss how the Witcher Profession is losing profitability in modern times
Geralt and Fanfelion fail to find work in Upper Posada, Geralt dismissing the locals' tales of monsters as superstition. Moving on to Lower Posada, the village elder, Dhun tells of a “Devil” whose mischief has become a problem, but under no circumstances should be killed. In the countryside, Geralt and Dandelion confront the “Devil”. Dandelion insults it, which provokes the devil to drive them away.
Back in the Village, the “Devil” is identified as a Sylvan by a local witch and her young companion, who had forbidden killing the Sylvan. In a second confrontation, Geralt and Dandelion are knocked out and taken to the hideout of Aen Seidhe elves, with whom the sylvan, Torque, is taking refuge.
The elves are angry with Geralt and Dandelion, but Torque reminds them that they agreed that nobody would be killed. The elves break Dandelion's lute, angering him and Geralt. When the elves Leader, Filavandrel arrives, he orders them executed, as any witnesses threaten the elven hideout. Whilst Geralt and Dandelion bargen for their lives, the legendary Queen of the Fields appears- she is the young witch from the village. While she and Filavandrel talk, Torque frees Geralt and Dandelion. Filavandrel releases them, declaring that he and Geralt will meet again. The elves five their lute to Dandelion as compensation.
the story ends with Geralt, Dandelion and Torque sitting around a campfire, wondering where to go next.
The Last Wish
(Ostatmie zyczemie)
“The Voice of Reason” Part VI – Geralt talks to Nenneke about Yennefer, a frequent visitor to the temple, and leaves a portion of his Striga payment for her. Nenneke asks how Geralt first met Yennefer.
Dandelion and Geralt are fishing, when the former hauls up an ancient sealed vase. Ignoring Geralt's warnings, Dandelion opens the vase, releasing a genie. He begins to recite three wishes, but the genie attacks him. Geralt banishes him with a local exorcism, and rushes Dandelion to the nearest city, Rinde, for medical aide. Visitors are not admitted after nightfall, forcing Geralt to spend the night in the guardhouse. Three other detainees- Elves Chireadan, his cousin, Errdil, and half-elf knight Vratimir- inform him that the city authorities have imposed heavy duties for spell casting, and mages are boycotting Rinde. As Such, there is only one spellcaster in the city- the sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg.
When Dawn breaks; Geralt goes to meet Yennefer. She agrees to help Dandelion, but aside, Chireadan warns Geralt not to trust her, Yennefer heals Dandelion, but demands to use him as bait to capture the genie and harness its power. Geralt refuses, but she paralyzes Geralt, who passes out and wakes up in a cell with Chireadan.
Chireadan tells Geralt that Yennefer enchanted him into rampaging through the town, punishing those who had previously insulted her. Geralt and Chireadan are brought before the town's mayor and head priest, but the proceeding is interrupted. There is chaos outside: Yennefer has lured the Genie to the town, and is trying to capture it. The genie is stronger than expected, and she is losing hold of it, threatening to destroy the town. Geralt tries to pull Yennefer to safety, but she refuses, although she offers to save Geralt. After a fight, Geralt realises that the Genie is bound to hum, who last held the seal to its urn. It granted his first wish by obeying the “Exorcism” (Which translated to the instruction “Fuck off”), granted his second by killing one of the guards beating him in prison, and is now awaiting his final wish/ Geralt uses his wish in an unknown way that saves Yennefer, and the genie escapes.
Under the rubble of the inn, Yennefer and Geralt make love.
The Voice of Reason
(Glos Rozsadku)
Geralt and Dandelion leave the temple, but are stopped by Falwick, Tailles and a company of soldiers. They are accompanied by Dennis Crammer, Dwarf captain of the Princes guard. The knights outline an unwinnable situation to Geralt, in which he must accept Tailles' challenge but not harm Tailles. Under penalty of death. Geralt accepts, but avoids punishment by parrying Tailles' sword so that it bashes Tailles. Dennis accepts the loophole and permits Geralt to leave. Falwick is outraged, but Geralt asks if the knight is willing to accept a challenge from Geralt. Falwick falls silent, and Geralt congratulates him for listening to “The Voice of reason”.
Before Geralt leaves, he accidentally touches Lola's hand, inducing a trance. Geralt, Lola and Nenneke see a bloody vision of Geralt's future. Geralt dismisses the vision, claiming to have seen it before. And says goodbye to Nenneke.
I received the Last Wish as part of a Witcher series box set for my birthday. As I'd already seen the Witcher S1 and S2 on Netflix, I'd already knew some of the stories outcomes, anyway I quite liked the book it gave me extra background to the Netflix show and fleshed out the characters and stories. As such I give the book an 8/10.
THE AUTHOR
Born
on June 21st
1948 in Lodz, Poland, Andrzej Sapkowski spend much of his childhood
in Nowa Sol, attending the Boleslaw Prus high school No21, eventually
going to the University of Lodz to study economics. Before becoming a
writer Sapkowski worked for a foreign trade company as a senior sales
representative. Sapkowski now lives and works as an polish fantasy
author, essayist, translator and trained economist. Described as the
Polish Tolkien, Sapkowski's work, which includes ten novels and eight
short stories, has much influence from Slavic Mythology. Which has
earned Sapkowski the Zajdel award five times. Poland's most popular
science fiction and fantasy award as well as several other awards
including the David Gemmell award, World Fantasy Live Achievement
Award and the Medal for Merit to Culture-Gloria Artis.
If you follow any creative artists, content creators or the like and cannot buy any of their Merch but consume their content keep an eye out for their Patreon and Ko-FI, donate a small amount if you wish, that will help the creative community thrive.
STAY SAFE, STAY INFORMED, STAY ALIVE.
If you wish to contact for whatever reason and/or work with The Bandersnatch blog the Business Email is:
WEBSITE BIBLIOGRAPHY:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Witcher
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Wish
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrzej_Sapkowski
https://www.instagram.com/thebandersnatchblog/?hl=en
https://www.tiktok.com/@thebandersnatchuk
https://ko-fi.com/thebandersnatchmama
Cashapp: £TheBand3rsnatch
And there you have it a decent book for those who love to read So we'll be leaving this here for today please leave a comment, share with others if you want or not, Don't forget We HAVE KO-FI! please consider becoming a KO-FI Donator today, the link is in the bibliography above. Friday is random blog day and remember keep it sensible in the comments all abuse will be tracked and reported to the appropriate people.
THIS IS THE BANDERSNATCH, I'M THE BANDERSNATCH AND REMEMBER STAY WEIRD, STAY WACKY, STAY WONDEROUS AND I'LL SEE YOU SOON...
Comments
Post a Comment