Who is this Sapkowski fellow then, you ask? He doesn’t exactly sound like the sort of author I usually read, but let me tell you one thing right from the start: get used to it, cos this polish bloke can write your socks off. He’s been a bestseller in Poland for over 20 years and is, by all accounts, one of their most celebrated authors. “The Last Wish” is his first book to be translated into English and if the rest of his “Witcher Saga” is anything like it, I know that I’ve discovered a new favourite of mine.

“The Last Wish” is a 280 pages long short story collection, all featuring the witcher, Geralt, as their main character. Each story is loosely connected to the framing story, “The Voice of Reason”, which appears alternately after every short story.

A witcher is a genetically altered man whose destiny is to roam around the fairy tale country teeming with elves, dwarves and dragons and look for employment. His job? To kill or chase away the monsters that are pestering the local population for money. This sounds pretty generic, but Sapkowski possess the genius to turn these stories into very profound and witty experiences that often plays brilliantly on well known myths and legends. I have to admit that some of the allusions went a bit over my head, but that is maybe to expected when the writer comes from a different culture than my own.

Each of the stories provides vital backdrop history about Geralt and/or his companions, which will come in handy when Gollancz publishes the first novel, “Blood of the Elves”, next fall. Unfortunately they’re not publishing the second short story collection, called “The Sword of Destiny”, before they see how well “The Last Wish” does. I will either way be eagerly looking forward to reading a real novel, seeing as I normally enjoy those better than short story collections.

But this particular collection (or “Mosaic novel”) was hugely enjoyable for me, and I’d recommend it to every fantasy reader out there. “The Last Wish” is one of the best books I’ve read this year and you’d be remiss to not check it out. 8 / 10.

Not convinced? Read Dylanfanatic’s and Wert’s reviews of “The Last Wish” and find out why this book should come high up on your Christmas wish-list (it should at least come last just for the puns sake…).