The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski (Gollancz)

Just posted my review of The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski on FBS. The Last Wish is a mosaic novel compromising seven short stories alternated with a short scene, which bridges the several short stories. It sort of introduces the reader to the cast and setting. The seven short stories consisting of The Last Wish, vary themselves in tone but not so much in quality. Sapkowski is not a Terry Pratchett in style and does not attempt to be one. Rather he varies the light, ironic tone with a more melancholic one. The Last Wish is not meant as parody on other fantasy novels, there is no comedy for the sake comedy, and it is a novel that –despite the sometimes ironic tone- takes itself seriously.

In a nutshell, I did enjoy reading The Last Wish ; it was a very good introduction to his other works, which will be published by Gollancz in the UK from 2008 onwards. The novel also had some interesting takes on various fantasy clichés. Puzzling how these clichés differed from the usual archetype was quite the enjoyable thing to do when reading this novel I found. Because the writer did succeed into bringing something new to the table, the stories generally had a breath of fresh air to them, a breath of originality. That did make the novel both fun and challenging to read.

My own minor complaints were that setting was not entirely original (although the Slavic mythological elements left me wanting for more) and the translation had some occasional hiccups as well, but not nearly enough to disturb the suspension of disbelief.

In any case, if you’re curious, please check out my review of this novel HERE.