The Last Wish
Andrzej Sapkowsi
Orbit, May 2008, $6.99
ISBN: 0316029181
Geralt de Rivia enters Vizima where after a barroom brawl in which he leaves three dead, he meets the king 's castellan Velerad, whose monarch King Foltest needs his help. Seven years ago, recently crowned as the ruler, Foltest impregnated his sister. She and their opffspring died during childbirth. Now his daughter has awakened as a striga mass killing anyone in her way. Foltest say he will kill Geralt if he harms his daughter, who if she fails to return to her coffin within three rooster crows she will become human. However, if she remains a striga he is to kill her with his silver sword that slays magical beings.
THE LAST WISH is actually a compilation of six Voice of Reason short novellas ( The Witcher , A Grain of Truth , The Lesser Evil , A Question of Price , The Edge of the World , and The Last Wish ) that served as the base to the Witcher video game. The above paragraph is the opening gamut to the adventures of Geralt de Rivia the Witcher with each subsequent tale building from previous escapades. Geralt is consistent throughout as a cold blooded killing sorcerer whose adventures are fun to follow due to his strange code of ethics while hunting monsters many of whom hide as beatific humans afflicting his plane with their evil.

Harriet Klausner