I just finished reading Andrzej Sapkowski's
The Last Wish, the first (sort of) book in The Witcher series of novels.
While I've been aware of the Witcher series for some time, I'd never actually partaken of any of its media prior to now, not having played the games nor having watched the Henry Cavill series. In the case of the former, it's because I've largely grown out of video games; for the latter, it was because I had a vague impression that I wanted to read the books rather than watch the live-action adaptation, since the books are—as a general rule—(almost) always better, and so are how I prefer to form my first impression.
(Apparently this is more of a guideline than a rule for me, as I've seen the totality of Tom Cruise and Alan Ritchson's takes on Jack Reacher without ever having read any of Lee Child's novels...and yet still picked one up when I came across it in a
Little Free Library the other day).
Having read this through, I'm quite impressed. Sapkowski's protagonist, Geralt of Rivia (the eponymous witcher—i.e. professional monster slayer—after whom the series is named) cuts an interesting archetype. While his stoicism, perseverence in the face of both moral and mortal danger, and refusal to compromise on his beliefs are all archetypal in their presentation, Sapkowski never overcompensates for this by having Geralt lapse into angst or introspection. It wouldn't have taken much for Geralt to turn into another Byronic hero a la Drizzt Do'Urden, quietly resigning himself to a sense of isolation even as he performs a job that he knows must be done all while still nursing a faint hope that perhaps one day he might find fulfilling companionship. Instead, Geralt comes off as more down-to-earth, willing to engage in the irregular bouts of laughter when something seems ridiculous and the ocassional fling with a beautiful woman. It's a nice change from wistfully envying those who have a normal life and bemoaning fate for not having one.
On a slightly more technical note, I can't help but notice that Geralt also seems to exist as an archetype opposite that of the "spell-less ranger" which every so often sweeps through the D&D(-adjacent) community. Unlike Aragorn, Geralt uses magic regularly as part of his fighting style, along with various minor magical charms and trinkets.
What's interesting is that he's apparently the only one who does so. While the book makes it clear that there are other witchers—though it establishes early on that even among them he's special (witchers being made by taking young children and inducing artificial mutations that make them tougher, faster, and have sharper senses than ordinary humans, with Geralt having taken to the process better than most)—we never see one in the course of this story (or rather, any of the stories herein, as this is actually several tales told within a framing narrative).
The result is that Geralt is, essentially, a gish/red mage/magic knight-style character in a world where everyone else is either a mundane fighter or a full-on wizard or cleric. His magic lets him dance rings around the former, and his fighting prowess lets him overwhelm the latter...mostly, as Yennefer, the seductive enchantress who's set up as his love interest near the end of the book, showcases.
As for the world itself, it's notable how little we see of it here, and yet how much is suggested. Sapkowski is smart enough to understand that place names and politics are only as important as how well they serve as backdrops, i.e. how they set up the state of things that Geralt has to work within. To that end, being told a little goes a long way; I've often heard it said that bad GMs who dump too much information about their setting on their players are "frustrated novelists," but the implication that all of that worldbuilding belongs in a novel is put to the lie here. I've
ranted before about writers who go too far in avoiding exposition, but Sapkowski is a person who knows how to do that without compromising the integrity of his work.
All in all, I can understand why this series became a hit, and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what becomes of The Witcher.
