The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski

Lately I've been playing the computer game The Witcher, which is based on Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski's The Last Wish. My nice little enhanced edition came with an excerpt from The Last Wish. Though the book is translated from Polish and therefore at times a bit awkward, it has this quiet intensity that caught me off guard. Like having that quiet, clumsy geeky kid you knew in high school mosey up to you suddenly, grab you by the neck and fling you down the hallway. I was so intrigued by this feeling that I promptly went out and bought the actual book.

And I'm glad I did. I've never really experienced a book quite like The Last Wish. First of a... Read More

Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski

Blood of Elves is one of those books that makes you go 'Hrm.' As in, "Hrm, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this..." It got pretty mixed reception among English readers, but I at least had the advantage going in of being somewhat aware of how different Blood of Elves would be.

It's not likeThe Last Wish. While The Last Wish was a series of vignettes, Blood of Elves is a straightforward novel, set around a young girl named Ciri who was promised to the Witcher guild, and the growing racial unease in Sapkowski's world. I knew that ahead of time, so I didn't have to worry about nasty surprises. Actually, I was pretty intrigued by the idea, once I realized that Ciri's back story (the tale of how she was prom... Read More