booksthatburn's Reviews (1.46k)

THE LAST WISH is a prequel to the Witcher main series, a collection of stories from Geralt’s life before the events of THE BLOOD OF ELVES. Each story is based or at least inspired by a fairy tale or bit of folklore.

I didn’t get much of a sense of Geralt from these stories alone, but having read the first book of the main series his characterization here seemed consistent with that. The titular story, “The Last Wish” had really strong characterization with an early meeting of Yennifer. She’s really well-written here, and that story alone is enough for me to recommend this to anyone interested in the broader series.

As a collection of fairytale retellings, I enjoyed this. It approaches most of them from strange angles which meant they felt great and fresh as stories. My favorite is the one which is clearly inspired by Beauty and the Beast. Given the blend of magic and corrupted desires already present in the series, the fairy tales fit right into the world of the Witcher.

Because this a collection of short stories from Geralt’s life before the main series of books, it doesn’t quite work to analyze the ending or an overall plot. I suspect a re-read might make it clearer, but the framing between stories was confusing to me and it wasn’t until several stories in that I figured out that the start of each chapter strung together to create an narrative distinct from the individual stories. 

This is good for anyone looking for additional Witcher content, but I don’t work it works well on its own or as a first introduction to the character and the world.

THE GRACE OF KINGS is the story of the shattering of one dynasty and the early forging of another. Two friends who take down an empire together become bitter enemies and are unable to walk away until one (or both) are utterly broken. 

The third person narration mostly follows Mata and Kuni, then Jia, as well as a smattering of other perspectives as is necessary for the particular scene. There are interludes where the gods are commenting on events and taking sides, I like how they made it unambiguous that the gods exist and are interested, but that the humans are the main actors. It made their small interventions feel more meaningful, while keeping unquestioned the agency of the main characters. 

Mata Zyndu is the last member of the Zyndu clan. Kuni Garu woos Jia Matiza and begins trying to improve his life by having literally any job in order to impress her parents. This doesn’t work very well (he strives to do the most interesting thing and very few available steady jobs can qualify as “most interesting”). He becomes a bandit early on in the narrative, which is how he meets Mata Zyndu. Jia is a source of stability for Kuni early on but eventually figures out how to claim more of a place for herself which isn’t as dependent on him for her story. 

Kuni and Mata have different approaches from the beginning of their acquaintance. Early on they’re able to coordinate their strengths to great effect, but once things start falling apart their differences make small misunderstandings large and their newly-competing political goals slowly remove pressure to reconcile. Mata has this larger-than-life physical presence and strong principles, but his rigidity starts to get in the way. Kuni is flexible but directionless, moving from one small goal to the next, checking in with his friends and confidantes.

Kuni and Jia are best described as having a series of long-distance relationships with each other. They stay consistently important in each other’s lives, but they have to figure out how to balance their relationship, Kuni’s drive to do dangerous things, and Jia’s need to have a life that’s more than hoping he’ll be able to come home. I’m very pleased with the solution they reach, it works well for the narrative and for the characters involved.

The worldbuilding is very detailed in terms of politics and political history of the region where the story is set. Early on there’s an entire chapter which details the most relevant portions of that history. I think it’s a good test for whether you’re likely to enjoy the rest of the story. It felt a bit dry, partly because it was a lot of information at once, but I enjoyed the detail of it and within a few chapters I was very grateful for that early context. Kuni and Mata become political players because war is political and they decided to fight the Empire. I like being given the context to have an idea what certain moves could implicate for other things in play before they’re spelled out in the text, and being given the political histories early on was great for that. 

The ending is fitting based on the flower motif and which flower is in the name of the series (it’s not the chrysanthemum). In particular I like how it allows for narrative stability at the very end while hinting at the shape of specific trouble to come.

I read this as an audiobook and I plan to read the rest of the series that way. It was easy to follow and I like the narrator.