--- product_id: 14543746 title: "The Last Wish: Introducing the Witcher" price: "67 kr" currency: DKK in_stock: false reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.dk/products/14543746-the-last-wish-introducing-the-witcher store_origin: DK region: Denmark --- # The Last Wish: Introducing the Witcher **Price:** 67 kr **Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Last Wish: Introducing the Witcher - **How much does it cost?** 67 kr with free shipping - **Is it available?** Currently out of stock - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.dk](https://www.desertcart.dk/products/14543746-the-last-wish-introducing-the-witcher) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Geralt the Witcher—revered and hated—holds the line against the monsters plaguing humanity in this collection of adventures, the first chapter in Andrzej Sapkowski’s groundbreaking epic fantasy series that inspired the hit Netflix show and the blockbuster video games. ★ The New York Times bestselling series ★ Over Fifteen Million Copies Sold Worldwide ★ World Fantasy Award Winning Author ★ David Gemmell Legend Award Winning Author ★ Named One of the Greatest Book Series of All Time by Forbes 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 hunter. Yet he is no ordinary killer. His sole purpose: to destroy the monsters that plague the world. But not everything monstrous-looking is evil and not everything fair is good . . . and in every fairy tale there is a grain of truth. Witcher collections The Last Wish Sword of Destiny Witcher novels Blood of Elves The Time of Contempt Baptism of Fire The Tower of Swallows Lady of the Lake Season of Storms Crossroads of Ravens Hussite Trilogy The Tower of Fools Warriors of God Translated from original Polish by Danusia Stok Review: A rich fantasy series with a world full of moral and political ambiguities like in our own - There was a video game called "The Witcher" that was fun and thought provoking. I didn't play through "The Witcher 2," but I saw the trailer for "The Witcher 3" and my interest was rekindled. I decided to read the books that the video games were based on. They were great! They are about Geralt of Rivia, a witcher (mutant monster fighter) in a European folklore fantasy setting. It was interesting reading the books after playing the video games. "The Last Wish" is a collection of short stories contained within a frame narrative, and the first story is about Geralt curing a striga's curse. This story was also shown at the start of the video game. The video game's representation of that event matches the short story play by play. Similarly, the quote from the "Witcher 3" trailer is taken, almost verbatim, from another short story. In general, the video game felt very faithful to the books. The setting, the tone, the character, and the philosophical issues were all similar to those seen in the books. The character of Geralt is wonderful, and the game does him justice. That is to say, if you liked the video games, I highly recommend the books. The books, however, are better than the video games. The setting is analogous to our own. The moral dilemmas that the books raise are meaningful ones that people grapple with all the time. The protagonist is noble, if damaged, and the storytelling is great. Before I extol the virtues of the books, however, I will say that the writing style is not my favorite. Sapkowski leaves a lot unsaid. It sometimes isn't clear when the book is transitioning from a short story to a frame narrative, for instance. This also means that dialogue also contains a lot of implicit actions. I am used to a writing style where dialogue has exposition interspersed, so I expect a conversation to happen in a mostly synchronous manner without much time passing between one person talking and another, but Sapkowski often has a significant passage of time. That's not to say that it's unclear -- I can usually figure out what was done based on the dialogue, but it does often take some rereading. Geralt also likes to leave things unsaid (while he does have long monologues, he just as often makes his point with no words or few words), so this could also be a perverse instance of the medium matching the message. Now the virtues. While the setting is European folklore inspired fantasy, I think that it matches our setting more closely than a lot of books set either in our world or a world very close to ours. In Sapkowski's world, humans invaded a continent inhabited by many other sentient species and conquered them (and most of those sentient species had done the same thing a few millenia past). Now, there are attempts at a tentative peace. Witchers themselves come from an older age when monsters were rampant and threatened survival. Now, more often than not, the threat is not some stark monster, but human greed with a benevolent mask. Cities provide protection from natural threats, but people don't know how to deal with the intercultural exchange that comes from living with many other different people or with the anonymity that comes from living with many other people in general. Centralized power has helped the sciences and arts flourish, but it has also led to corruption and war, and despite growing resources, many people still are poor. The world is bigger than most people know, and most people aren't experts in the world around them, so most people have a hard time separating myths from reality. A person has to work to make money to live, and a person also has to comport themselves so that they can sleep at night. That's a pretty good description of Earth in the twenty first century. Europe exploited or colonized much of the world (and many of the people that it conquered were simply the conquerors on a more local scale), but the world is now attempting a tentative peace. We still carry the legacy of an age where we had to fight for mere survival (witness, for example, the popularity of guns) even though the struggles we face today are things like neocolonialism. A country that was founded on the notion of freedom and immigration has become nativist and struggles with pluralism. People, lost in the crowd, fall through the cracks, so children get left behind, and mentally ill people become homeless. Most people in the most prosperous nation on Earth don't think that the government is working well, and it has been at war for 214 years since 1776. With knowledge all around us, it's hard to tell myth from reality. And we have to make money to live and live so that we can sleep at night. But how? Most of our age old wisdom is what got us into this mess! Who do we treat with compassion, how do we identify monsters, and what do we do when we find one? One of the reasons that I like the books better than the video game is that the books feature moral dilemmas more strongly. One of the first short stories, "The Lesser Evil," features two parties trying to convince Geralt to help them against the other. His response to both: "Evil is evil... Lesser, greater, middling... Proportions are negotiated, boundaries blurred... if I'm to choose between one evil and another, then I prefer not to choose at all." While most of the time in the video games is spent killing monsters, most of the time in the books is spent musing about philosophy, politics, and why Geralt refuses to kill things that most see as monsters. People invent many monsters, according to Geralt, because then "they seem less monstrous themselves." Some of the moral dilemmas are confusing. In one story, Geralt kills a group of people who are preparing to massacre a village, and he feels guilty about it because he might have been able to avoid anyone dying. In another story, Geralt kills a group of thugs (rather than disabling them, which would have been easy), but never indicates that he felt remorse. This isn't an issue of ambiguity, but rather a lack of attention to some issues. His stance on most issues, like pluralism, is fairly consistent at least. Sapkowski also uses framed narratives to great effect. In framed stories, we often read of Geralt saying that he can't do something because of the Witchers' code, but in a framing story, he says, "I have at times hidden behind a code. People like that. Those who follow a code are often respected and held in high esteem. But no one's ever compiled a witcher's code. I invented mine. Just like that. And keep to it. Always -- Not always." Geralt is tormented, and framed narratives allow him introspection. All in all, "The Last Wish" is great, and I'm happy to keep reading more books in the series! Note that "The Last Wish" is the first book, and the next book is "The Sword of Destiny," which is only available as a fan translation, and not "The Blood of Elves." Review: I found a few things to appreciate even though I am not really into short stories - I help moderate a discussion board about fantasy books and some of the people there just raved about this series, so I decided to check it out. I am kind of ambivalent about the book after having finished it. I think part of my problem is that I am just not into books of short stories. They can't seem to keep my attention. There is no hurrying through my evening tasks or shirking house cleaning to pick up the book again to see what happens next. I think I just prefer longer, more connected narratives. There are hints of something else going on in this book, but it sort of feels like a disjointed series of continuing adventures. If you are more of a fan of short stories than I am, you will probably not have this hang up. (Sometimes, the number of stars I give a book is reflective of how quickly or how slowly I finish it. I let this one sit for a couple of weeks halfway through.) The other thing is, this reads a lot like other sword and sorcery novels and stories I've read (which is honestly not many, mostly some Elric of Melnibone books -- it doesn't help that the protagonists share certain characteristics of physical appearance). I appreciate the place of sword and sorcery in the overall scope of fantasy literature, but it is not really my cup of tea. It is not something I reach for often. The pace, the magic, the creatures, the battles, the sidekick (Geralt of Rivia's Dandilion and Elric's Moonglum are not exactly the same, but one immediately reminds me of the other due to their places next to the heroes) -- they are all present. There were definitely some things I liked. It is interesting to see a voice in fantasy who is not from the Anglo-Saxon world. (It seems like most of the authors I read are from the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, or New Zealand.) The author is still European and you get that sort of flavor running through the stories. This book is heavily influenced by European folk and fairy tails and mythology. (I would not call it a copy or even an adaptation. I just feel like some elements are borrowed and adapted to fit.) These influences make the reader assume things about the setting that help to fill in the details of the world without beating you over the head with them (and without infodumping). I do like that, and I think it is necessary, because you can't really develop a world deeply in a short story format. But by triggering the use of shortcuts in the reader (we've all read fantasy with small villages, sorcerers, bards, evil creatures, etc.), the setting is developed. It is hard to assess the writing since this is translated into English. Certainly I could understand everything that was going on, so on that level, the translation worked. There was a quality to the writing in this book that reminded me of the few other translated works of fantasy fiction I've read (by Sergey and Marina Dyachenko, for example). I don't know if that is a result of how translators work or because of the natural cadence of Slavic languages, but I find it really well-suited to telling a story with folk tale/fairy tale influences. I am definitely going to continue the series though, and here's why. First, through dropped hints here and there, we are getting a tantalizing peek at what was done to make the protagonist of these stories, Geralt of Rivia, into a "witcher" (basically a non-sorcerer with some magical abilities and good fighting abilities who goes around freeing townspeople from disruptive magical creatures and the like). I love mysteries like this and they will draw me in every time. I will put up with short stories just so I can find those little clues about the past. Second, I am curious to see how Geralt's adventures would translate to a full-length novel. I think the potential is definitely there. Third, I really like the social undercurrents surrounding witchers. People can be quite prejudiced against Geralt -- until they need help from him. Geralt is not always treated nicely and yet he maintains a strong moral code throughout. He is loyal to his friends and does try to avoid trouble (though it sometimes finds him anyway). I am curious about how the social undercurrents contributed to the decline of witchers as a profession (it seems there are few or none left, aside from Geralt). After writing this and thinking for awhile, I've decided to go with 3.5 stars (which I rounded up to 4 for my rating). I decided that although short stories and sword and sorcery are really not my things, I did like the author's approach to world building and structuring society, I love the mystery surrounding Geralt's past, and I thought the language worked well with the sort of story that was being told. Those are not things I often find myself remarking upon in other books, so the author clearly did several things right here, and those deserve to be acknowledged. ## Images ![The Last Wish: Introducing the Witcher - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/816PBiN8q5L.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A rich fantasy series with a world full of moral and political ambiguities like in our own *by S***G on September 27, 2013* There was a video game called "The Witcher" that was fun and thought provoking. I didn't play through "The Witcher 2," but I saw the trailer for "The Witcher 3" and my interest was rekindled. I decided to read the books that the video games were based on. They were great! They are about Geralt of Rivia, a witcher (mutant monster fighter) in a European folklore fantasy setting. It was interesting reading the books after playing the video games. "The Last Wish" is a collection of short stories contained within a frame narrative, and the first story is about Geralt curing a striga's curse. This story was also shown at the start of the video game. The video game's representation of that event matches the short story play by play. Similarly, the quote from the "Witcher 3" trailer is taken, almost verbatim, from another short story. In general, the video game felt very faithful to the books. The setting, the tone, the character, and the philosophical issues were all similar to those seen in the books. The character of Geralt is wonderful, and the game does him justice. That is to say, if you liked the video games, I highly recommend the books. The books, however, are better than the video games. The setting is analogous to our own. The moral dilemmas that the books raise are meaningful ones that people grapple with all the time. The protagonist is noble, if damaged, and the storytelling is great. Before I extol the virtues of the books, however, I will say that the writing style is not my favorite. Sapkowski leaves a lot unsaid. It sometimes isn't clear when the book is transitioning from a short story to a frame narrative, for instance. This also means that dialogue also contains a lot of implicit actions. I am used to a writing style where dialogue has exposition interspersed, so I expect a conversation to happen in a mostly synchronous manner without much time passing between one person talking and another, but Sapkowski often has a significant passage of time. That's not to say that it's unclear -- I can usually figure out what was done based on the dialogue, but it does often take some rereading. Geralt also likes to leave things unsaid (while he does have long monologues, he just as often makes his point with no words or few words), so this could also be a perverse instance of the medium matching the message. Now the virtues. While the setting is European folklore inspired fantasy, I think that it matches our setting more closely than a lot of books set either in our world or a world very close to ours. In Sapkowski's world, humans invaded a continent inhabited by many other sentient species and conquered them (and most of those sentient species had done the same thing a few millenia past). Now, there are attempts at a tentative peace. Witchers themselves come from an older age when monsters were rampant and threatened survival. Now, more often than not, the threat is not some stark monster, but human greed with a benevolent mask. Cities provide protection from natural threats, but people don't know how to deal with the intercultural exchange that comes from living with many other different people or with the anonymity that comes from living with many other people in general. Centralized power has helped the sciences and arts flourish, but it has also led to corruption and war, and despite growing resources, many people still are poor. The world is bigger than most people know, and most people aren't experts in the world around them, so most people have a hard time separating myths from reality. A person has to work to make money to live, and a person also has to comport themselves so that they can sleep at night. That's a pretty good description of Earth in the twenty first century. Europe exploited or colonized much of the world (and many of the people that it conquered were simply the conquerors on a more local scale), but the world is now attempting a tentative peace. We still carry the legacy of an age where we had to fight for mere survival (witness, for example, the popularity of guns) even though the struggles we face today are things like neocolonialism. A country that was founded on the notion of freedom and immigration has become nativist and struggles with pluralism. People, lost in the crowd, fall through the cracks, so children get left behind, and mentally ill people become homeless. Most people in the most prosperous nation on Earth don't think that the government is working well, and it has been at war for 214 years since 1776. With knowledge all around us, it's hard to tell myth from reality. And we have to make money to live and live so that we can sleep at night. But how? Most of our age old wisdom is what got us into this mess! Who do we treat with compassion, how do we identify monsters, and what do we do when we find one? One of the reasons that I like the books better than the video game is that the books feature moral dilemmas more strongly. One of the first short stories, "The Lesser Evil," features two parties trying to convince Geralt to help them against the other. His response to both: "Evil is evil... Lesser, greater, middling... Proportions are negotiated, boundaries blurred... if I'm to choose between one evil and another, then I prefer not to choose at all." While most of the time in the video games is spent killing monsters, most of the time in the books is spent musing about philosophy, politics, and why Geralt refuses to kill things that most see as monsters. People invent many monsters, according to Geralt, because then "they seem less monstrous themselves." Some of the moral dilemmas are confusing. In one story, Geralt kills a group of people who are preparing to massacre a village, and he feels guilty about it because he might have been able to avoid anyone dying. In another story, Geralt kills a group of thugs (rather than disabling them, which would have been easy), but never indicates that he felt remorse. This isn't an issue of ambiguity, but rather a lack of attention to some issues. His stance on most issues, like pluralism, is fairly consistent at least. Sapkowski also uses framed narratives to great effect. In framed stories, we often read of Geralt saying that he can't do something because of the Witchers' code, but in a framing story, he says, "I have at times hidden behind a code. People like that. Those who follow a code are often respected and held in high esteem. But no one's ever compiled a witcher's code. I invented mine. Just like that. And keep to it. Always -- Not always." Geralt is tormented, and framed narratives allow him introspection. All in all, "The Last Wish" is great, and I'm happy to keep reading more books in the series! Note that "The Last Wish" is the first book, and the next book is "The Sword of Destiny," which is only available as a fan translation, and not "The Blood of Elves." ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ I found a few things to appreciate even though I am not really into short stories *by S***O on December 14, 2016* I help moderate a discussion board about fantasy books and some of the people there just raved about this series, so I decided to check it out. I am kind of ambivalent about the book after having finished it. I think part of my problem is that I am just not into books of short stories. They can't seem to keep my attention. There is no hurrying through my evening tasks or shirking house cleaning to pick up the book again to see what happens next. I think I just prefer longer, more connected narratives. There are hints of something else going on in this book, but it sort of feels like a disjointed series of continuing adventures. If you are more of a fan of short stories than I am, you will probably not have this hang up. (Sometimes, the number of stars I give a book is reflective of how quickly or how slowly I finish it. I let this one sit for a couple of weeks halfway through.) The other thing is, this reads a lot like other sword and sorcery novels and stories I've read (which is honestly not many, mostly some Elric of Melnibone books -- it doesn't help that the protagonists share certain characteristics of physical appearance). I appreciate the place of sword and sorcery in the overall scope of fantasy literature, but it is not really my cup of tea. It is not something I reach for often. The pace, the magic, the creatures, the battles, the sidekick (Geralt of Rivia's Dandilion and Elric's Moonglum are not exactly the same, but one immediately reminds me of the other due to their places next to the heroes) -- they are all present. There were definitely some things I liked. It is interesting to see a voice in fantasy who is not from the Anglo-Saxon world. (It seems like most of the authors I read are from the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, or New Zealand.) The author is still European and you get that sort of flavor running through the stories. This book is heavily influenced by European folk and fairy tails and mythology. (I would not call it a copy or even an adaptation. I just feel like some elements are borrowed and adapted to fit.) These influences make the reader assume things about the setting that help to fill in the details of the world without beating you over the head with them (and without infodumping). I do like that, and I think it is necessary, because you can't really develop a world deeply in a short story format. But by triggering the use of shortcuts in the reader (we've all read fantasy with small villages, sorcerers, bards, evil creatures, etc.), the setting is developed. It is hard to assess the writing since this is translated into English. Certainly I could understand everything that was going on, so on that level, the translation worked. There was a quality to the writing in this book that reminded me of the few other translated works of fantasy fiction I've read (by Sergey and Marina Dyachenko, for example). I don't know if that is a result of how translators work or because of the natural cadence of Slavic languages, but I find it really well-suited to telling a story with folk tale/fairy tale influences. I am definitely going to continue the series though, and here's why. First, through dropped hints here and there, we are getting a tantalizing peek at what was done to make the protagonist of these stories, Geralt of Rivia, into a "witcher" (basically a non-sorcerer with some magical abilities and good fighting abilities who goes around freeing townspeople from disruptive magical creatures and the like). I love mysteries like this and they will draw me in every time. I will put up with short stories just so I can find those little clues about the past. Second, I am curious to see how Geralt's adventures would translate to a full-length novel. I think the potential is definitely there. Third, I really like the social undercurrents surrounding witchers. People can be quite prejudiced against Geralt -- until they need help from him. Geralt is not always treated nicely and yet he maintains a strong moral code throughout. He is loyal to his friends and does try to avoid trouble (though it sometimes finds him anyway). I am curious about how the social undercurrents contributed to the decline of witchers as a profession (it seems there are few or none left, aside from Geralt). After writing this and thinking for awhile, I've decided to go with 3.5 stars (which I rounded up to 4 for my rating). I decided that although short stories and sword and sorcery are really not my things, I did like the author's approach to world building and structuring society, I love the mystery surrounding Geralt's past, and I thought the language worked well with the sort of story that was being told. Those are not things I often find myself remarking upon in other books, so the author clearly did several things right here, and those deserve to be acknowledged. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Introducing Geralt of Rivia, the White Wolf. *by B***D on June 1, 2017* 2019-11-13: (5 star) It's been one day longer than three years to the day since I last read this. I just noticed that. Totally unintentional, but kind of funny nonetheless. Anyhow, I'm back in the world of the Witcher for my second read. The impending TV show from Netflix had me all hyped up and I decided to revisit this collection, and read the next as well if I ended up enjoyed it more. Which I did. A lot more, actually. I don't know why that is. Probably it was just a mood thing, which is so often the case with entertainment, but I also think that reading it the first time around while simultaneously playing the video game (The Witcher 3) was a mistake. You'd think it would actually be a good idea, but the games and the books don't share continuity. The games are set further down the timeline than the books, and are their own story which doesn't infringe upon the story line in the books. So I think that essentially following two different stories at once about the same characters threw me off. I really enjoyed this collection this time around though, and settled on 5 stars after deeming more of the stories as being worthy of 5 stars than 4. The Last Wish is a collection of six short stories surrounding The Witcher, Geralt of Rivia, and they are intersected by a frame story (entitled The Voice of Reason) that follows Geralt's time with his friend Nenneke at Melitele's Temple. Geralt, while outwardly appearing to be a vicious, dangerous, and ill-tempered man--well, more than appearing, he is those things--is also a thoughtful, inquisitive man, with a complicated past; often of good humor. Each of these six stories offers us a view at who The Witcher is, where he comes from, and the manner of man he is. The world is changing. And these days, for a man whose job it is to hunt monsters for pay, it is a tough pill to swallow that humans are often capable of as much monstrosity as the monsters themselves. Maybe even more so. I am going to list out the six stories below, and say a bit about each of them. THE WITCHER: In which Geralt is called upon to deal with a striga at the palace of Foltest, king of Temeria. An excellent introduction story. A GRAIN OF TRUTH: In which Geralt is welcomed into the house of Nivellen, a most interesting host. But as Geralt soon learns, Nivellen does not live alone. This story is in my top three, and I felt like it did a great job of showcasing Sapkowski's writing chops. The man is very descriptive at times, and sets a nice scene. The translation did not bother me so much this time around either, for whatever reason. THE LESSER EVIL: In which Geralt visits the town of Blaviken (a name of some infamy for Witcher fans) and battles with choices, and, well, lesser evils. One of the most important stories of the collection when it comes to characterization of our White Wolf, and definitely in my top three. A QUESTION OF PRICE: In which Geralt is invited by Queen Calanthe of Cintra to the banquet of her daughter Pavetta on her fifteenth birthday. This story rounds out my top three, and very well may be my favorite of the bunch. But you know, as I type this, my top three is less certain. Because the next story is darn good too. THE EDGE OF THE WORLD: In which Geralt is traveling with Dandelion near the supposed edge of the world, the end of civilization, and struggling to find work, when a man tells them of a devil making mischief on his property. This story also serves as our first look at the elves, the Aen Seidhe. THE LAST WISH: In which Geralt and Dandelion (let's be honest, mostly Dandelion) accidentally unleash a Djinn after a fishing mishap. This story serves as our introduction to Yennefer of Vergerberg, and Triss Merigold is also briefly mentioned. And that's it. There you have it. A really nice collection of stories to introduce Geralt of Rivia, The White Wolf. '“Evil is evil, Stregobor,” said the witcher seriously as he got up. “Lesser, greater, middling, it’s all the same. Proportions are negotiated, boundaries blurred. I’m not a pious hermit. I haven’t done only good in my life. But if I’m to choose between one evil and another, then I prefer not to choose at all."' 2016-11-12: (3 star) I decided to pick this up because I've just started playing 'The Witcher 3', and thought it would be interesting to play and read simultaneously, regardless of the separation of plot. I'm glad I did, this was a fun read. It is a series of short stories following Geralt of Rivia, a Witcher - monster slayer for hire. I think that this book actually suffered from my reading it directly after The First Law trilogy, which I enjoyed immensely. It didn't quite live up to the hype I'd built up from that series. That and I feel that the translation (this series was originally written in Polish) is a little clunky here and there. All in all, its a short, fun read and I'll continue the series somewhere down the line. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.dk/products/14543746-the-last-wish-introducing-the-witcher](https://www.desertcart.dk/products/14543746-the-last-wish-introducing-the-witcher) --- *Product available on Desertcart Denmark* *Store origin: DK* *Last updated: 2026-05-16*