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The Last Wish

By: Andrzej Sapkowski
Narrated by: Peter Kenny
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Editor reviews

Geralt of Rivea roams a world of wretched monsters and ruthless royalty. His combat abilities, combined with his wit and magic abilities, make him a much sought-after assassin. But when faced with moral quandaries and romantic endeavours, Geralt is challenged in a way that cannot be solved by his skill with a sword. 

The Witcher Saga has served as the source material for a wealth of adaptations, including a much adored video game franchise and a Netflix series. Whether you’re already a fan or are looking for your next fantasy obsession, The Last Wish is a perfect place to start. Rich with details and vivid world-building, the audio edition is made even more exciting by the rich, deep tones of narrator Peter Kenny. 

Summary

Introducing Geralt the Witcher - revered and hated - who holds the line against the monsters plaguing humanity in the best-selling series that inspired the Witcher video games and a major Netflix show.

Geralt of Rivia is a Witcher, a man whose magic powers and lifelong training have made him a brilliant fighter and a merciless assassin.

Yet he is no ordinary killer: he hunts the vile fiends that ravage the land and attack the innocent.

But not everything monstrous-looking is evil; not everything fair is good...and in every fairy tale there is a grain of truth.

Andrzej Sapkowski, winner of the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement award, started an international phenomenon with his Witcher series. The Last Wish is the perfect introduction to this one-of-a-kind fantasy world.  

©1993 Andrzej Sapkowski (P)2014 Orion Publishing Group

What listeners say about The Last Wish

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic...just one tiny thing...

I have been reading the first two Witcher novels on my kindle (Blood of Elves and Time of Contempt) and loving every second of them. I came to the books from playing The Witcher 2 on my games console (sadly not managed to upgrade so I can play The Witcher 3 yet) so I had a general idea of the characters of Geralt of Rivia and his friends. As a lover of fantasy and sci-fi novels already I naturally needed more backstory so delved into the books happily, only being disappointed at the time I switched my bedside lamp off and pressed play on an audiobook to fall asleep to, that I’d have to rejig my brain back into another story/world etc because I didn’t have any Witcher stuff on my Audible (and not being well off can’t really justify an audiobook of something I already have as a paperback or kindle. That aside though (as I realise that is an incredibly personal issue that most people wouldn’t have) I became more and more involved in the characters and world the more I read and I needed more.
Imagine my great joy when I realised that they released three volumes of short stories based upon Geralt of Rivia, in audiobook format, which serve as prequels to the first Witcher novel, Blood of Elves.
Imagine my even greater joy then, when I listened to the Audible samples and discovered that the narrator was absolutely fantastic, giving each character their own unique voice and style and really bringing out the personality of each individual character. The narrator does have a sightly unusual cadence, which I didn’t notice in the samples and I spent the opening five to ten minutes of Blood of Elves worried that it would bother me and I wouldn’t be able to continue but after that I was completely lost in the story and having now finished the first “prequel” ‘The Last Wish’ I can honestly say that I didn’t hear it again at all.
Brilliant fantasy series which I cannot recommend enough.

There is just one tiny thing though....

....his name is Dandelion!! (dan-dee-lion) 😂

73 people found this helpful

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fantastic Polish fantasy.

I am a fan of RPG videogame The Witcher and when I found out it is based on this novel, I did not hesitate to read it. it is very good. You meet Geralt of Rivia, a witcher whose job is to kill monsters.
This book is a collection of short stories telling tales of Geralt, his deals with politics ( unwilling but hard to avoid ) and the people who are friends in adventures ( Dandelion) and many lovers. Geralt is a mutated witcher and strange looking, but this only attracts women to him.
This book is for a more mature audience and should be the first one to read to get a glimpse of who the witcher is, but don't stop here. There are others to be read.

64 people found this helpful

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First chapter missing!

I listened to this having never read any Witcher book before and I experienced a chapter cutting off within the first two minutes!?!?! I then dicovered that apparently the first chapter of the book is missing from this audio recording, not good. Don't buy until they sort this out.

51 people found this helpful

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Surprisingly witty, funny and all round Amazing.

loved listening from start to finish. Had to stop listening at points due to the urge to burst out laughing at some of the wit but the humour is second to the amazing writing.

37 people found this helpful

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Cut Short and Missing

The Chapters cutoff mid word, and move on to a following chapter- in a different scene, story. Situation. No connections. As If there’s missing pages.

The book and story I’m sure are amazing but this recording is flawed hugely.

32 people found this helpful

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Big fan of the games, didn't disappoint

Having played the Witcher games and fallen in love with Geralt's character I thought I'd give the books a look in. This collection of short stories was a refreshing change of pace from the epic fantasy I often listen to, but didn't seem disjointed (which I often find a problem with collections) as they are all linked together nicely. Well narrated at a good pace - I usually speed up to at least x1.5, my only criticism is the accent used for Geralt, but very minor and subjective after all. Great listen.

24 people found this helpful

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Good performance of a decent story

Decent story elevated further by a good performance by the narrator. Would be interested in further takes set in this world

19 people found this helpful

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I mistook the stars reflected in a pond at night..

My comments are going to be about the whole series rather than one book in particular. The reason is they are all pretty much the same anyway and no spoilers are involved.
I eventually got around to listening to this series. This is the first set of books I have listened to without having read the books. I had high hopes having heard so much about them, the games and I really enjoyed the tv series on Netflix. Boy, was I disappointed! To coin the phrase used so often, "I mistook the stars reflected in a pond at night for those in the sky".
Narrated by: Peter Kenny I can't fault him for his story telling. I just wish there was more of a story to tell. Quite how any of these books became popular, I'll never know. They are a waffley, boring meander that at time goes no where and have side characters that are inconsequential and often add nothing to the story. Too much dialogue, too many names to keep up with, not enough excitement. I want a story to draw me in and keep me interested, to keep me wanting to listen or turn the page. Unfortunately, those moments during this whole series seem to be fleeting. I really wanted to like them, but at times found my self shouting, "Get on with it!" It got so bad at times I probably missed better parts because I had switched off mentally and when I came to I didn't care enough to go back and listen again. At times it really didn't matter any way because the story was concentrating so much on nonsensical dialogue that not much had actually happened and I hadn't missed anything of any consequence. I think the whole series could have been condensed into one or two very good books.

12 people found this helpful

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Not quiet what was expected

It felt more like a collection of disjointed short stories rather than a complete book per se. They fitted togeather and didn't all at the same time, that said I did enjoy it, the stories moved swiftly, maybe lacked some depth due to the lack of background or history, but as a bunch of short stories put together it works and is a light and easy listen. The narrator wasn't too annoying either and he did grow on me as the stories progressed. Give it a try you will probably surprise yourself and enjoy it. Looking forward to seeing how the next book progress's the storyline.

12 people found this helpful

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Not what I expected

What did you like best about The Last Wish? What did you like least?

There were a number of clever references to common folk law and fairytales which usually have a twist to them. This was an interesting concept for a fantasy book.
I did struggle with the style of writing, the book is almost a collection of short stories which are not told in chronological order. This certainly left me at times trying to understand what events had already happened and which had not. I would also mention that the chattering of the audiobook is not the best, it chapters at separate stories but does not sub chapter the individual "parts" as they are described by the narrator.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I would have changed the order of the individual stories and tried to make the chronology easier to understand.

Which character – as performed by Peter Kenny – was your favourite?

Some of the voices performed in this book were cleverly performed but, particularly the goat character was really annoying to listen to. Other than that it was a good performance.

12 people found this helpful

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  • Nell
  • 10-09-15

Spectacular Introduction to "The Witcher"

I absolutely love this book. It is full of rich detail and vivid imagery. I can imagine myself right alongside Geralt as he goes from one amazing adventure to the next. I don't want to give away spoilers, so I will just say that I couldn't put it down. The world is so believable, despite the high-fantasy setting. It's a world similar to our own, but with magic and an array of majestic or horrifying creatures. The world is dirty and rife with evil and corruption, but with enough glimpses of goodness and light to give you hope for the future (much like our own world).

I read this via "immersion reading". I read the Kindle version (and sometimes the paperback version) as I listened to Peter Kenny's incredible voice-over. He is a master storyteller. I loved his changing voices and the life he gave to each character on the page.

The only critique I have would be the chapter for which the book is named after. "The Last Wish" is a thrilling and action-packed chapter, especially towards the end. However, Peter Kenny spoke the dialogue of Yennefer and Geralt a little too plainly during the action sequences. There is so much happening I would have expected him to at least change his pitch a little. I read the chapter on my own without the voice-over and let my imagination do it justice.

Aside from that, I will still say that Peter Kenny did an excellent job. I will not hesitate to get an audiobook he voices in the future. I will also move on the other novels in the series, once the "Sword of Destiny" is released as an audiobook. I hope Peter Kenny is brought onboard once again.

Also, as I wrote in the Kindle review, I wholeheartedly recommend "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt" game. It's the greatest game I have ever played.

13 people found this helpful

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  • Rob
  • 10-09-16

A rich world explored through vignettes

What did you love best about The Last Wish?

I enjoyed the richness of the world, the sense of history, the previous world events and social changes.

What about Peter Kenny’s performance did you like?

I felt the narration did not distract from the story.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I found the audio a little disconcerting as the story jumps in time and location without preamble. In the book, there would be a new chapter to help you with the jump. At times I felt lost, particularly if I had taken a pause, it took me a while to figure out what was happening.

Any additional comments?

This is a great world, well described. That said, it is a little different in style from more common fantasy stories. I found the concept epic in nature, yet the scenes were more like stand alone short stories. Not a bad thing, just different.

6 people found this helpful

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  • Charles Meyer
  • 20-06-18

Dan-de-lion

Really enjoyed this story. Excellent narration. Loved the pronunciation of dandelion :) I'm onto the next book already and will be playing the games pretty soon.

3 people found this helpful

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  • Jakob
  • 08-08-16

Amazing

Second time I'm listening to this. I Love this series and Peter is doing an excellent job at reading it!

3 people found this helpful

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 14-01-20

Hard to follow for non English readers

It was hard to follow, I'm from Spain and I have a good English level, I've listened to many English audiobooks already and this one was specially difficult to follow. I found myself drifting off the narration too often. The story is ok, but not enough interesting to bare the uncomfortable narration. Overall I didn't enjoy it.

2 people found this helpful

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  • Albin
  • 31-05-16

Good story made great by Peter Kenny

Just like with any book, and especially a collection of short stories, there will be some dull parts. Some short stories were more slow than others, and some kept me up way past bedtime.

But even the slower stories came alive thanks to Peter Kenny's great storytelling and amazing voices. Thanks to him I bought the second collection of short stories as an audiobook rather than a paper copy because I can't imagine Geralt without the voice acting of Peter Kenny.

2 people found this helpful

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  • Anonymous User
  • 28-12-19

I don’t know

It’s not adding to my library book don’t know why or what is wrong is any one else having same problem

1 person found this helpful

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  • Keegan Ransome
  • 05-07-16

engaging

each story was quite engaging. i cant wait to see where this goes next. will be picking up the other books

1 person found this helpful

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  • AndreG
  • 17-06-16

Amazing narration, a must if you liked the games

At first I had trouble understanding the narration, but downloading it in high quality helped a lot!

I really like the voices the narrator makes, as always at first they are kinda weird but you get used to it so fast.

1 person found this helpful

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 02-02-16

A Brilliant Introduction Into "The Witcher"

If you could sum up The Last Wish in three words, what would they be?

Thrilling, brilliant, engaging

Who was your favorite character and why?

Who's everyone's favorite character? It's Geralt, of course! Before reading the book, I was under the impression that he would just be a Batman-like stoic hero, but he's far from it. Sure, he's a badass, he knows everything about killing monsters and all that you'd expect from him, but he's also a good listener, he's considerate and not condescending, he even demonstrates a sense of humor at a few occasions!

What does Peter Kenny bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

While it is, once again, the boring answer that everyone would go to, it's definitely the voice acting. While some of the characters were a bit hard to understand (if you listen, you'll know exactly who I'm talking about), he overall did a very good job giving each one a personality, to the point where I was honestly a bit disappointed when I learned that Peter Kenny didn't voice Geralt in "The Witcher" games. He nails the character!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

"Last Wish - The Beginning of The Witcher" Boring and obvious, but hey, that seems to be the theme of this review, so who cares.

Any additional comments?

Overall, I can't find much wrong with "The Last Wish" - it's just great from start to finish. Definitely a good read for anyone regardless of how familiar they are with the franchise.

1 person found this helpful