The Last Wish
The first short story collection of The Witcher: seven stories inside a frame story.
The Last Wish is the first short story collection in Andrzej Sapkowski's The Witcher series. Published by SuperNowa in 1993, it was preceded by 1992's Sword of Destiny, but is officially considered the first entry in the series. The collection contains seven short stories interspersed with a continuing frame story: Geralt of Rivia, after having been injured in battle, rests in a temple, and each flashback to recent events in his life forms a short story.
Quick Facts
- Author
- Andrzej Sapkowski
- Original title
- Ostatnie życzenie
- Translator
- Danusia Stok
- Country
- Poland
- Language
- Polish
- Series
- The Witcher
- Release number
- 1
- Genre
- Fantasy
Lore & Background
In "The Witcher", King Foltest of Temeria offers a reward to anyone who can lift the curse on his daughter, who was born as a striga. In "A Grain of Truth" Geralt meets the cursed Nivellen and the bruxa Vereena, and in "The Lesser Evil" the events at Blaviken earn him the name "the Butcher of Blaviken". In "A Question of Price" he invokes the Law of Surprise at the court of Cintra, gaining a right to claim Princess Pavetta's unborn child.
Reader's Guide
In the title story, Dandelion hauls up an ancient sealed vase and releases a genie, and Geralt seeks help in the city of Rinde from the sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg, who heals Dandelion but wants to capture the genie and harness its power. Geralt realizes that the genie is bound to him, and uses his final wish in an unknown way that saves Yennefer. The Last Wish was first published in English on 7 June 2007 by Gollancz, and in 2003 it won the Premio Ignotus for Best Anthology.
More in Storylines & Media
Elsewhere in The Witcher
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