Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Last Wish, by Andrzej Sapkowski

10 reviews

pickledlettuce's review

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

This is really just a collection of short stories, but I don’t mind that. Had the feel of reading a pulp fantasy novel at times. We get a decent handle on Gerald’s character and some great lore. Will for sure continue with the series.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Cursing and Violence

The book definitely has a male gaze thing going on. To a somewhat weird degree.

appendices's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Sexism

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death, and Grief

Minor: Torture, Sexual content, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Vomit, Sexual violence, and Incest

aominechichi's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape, Alcohol, Incest, and Sexual content

draakedan's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Gore

Moderate: Alcoholism, Vomit, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual content, Cursing, and Body horror

burnt_milk's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.75

Fun and interesting in places. However. I got up to Renfri and I adore her but I'm so sick of how they write female characters. In-between complex discussions of monsterhood it rly has the gall to say 'Renfri was silent for some time, fiddling with a string of pearls wound three times around her shapely neck before falling teasingly between her breasts, their curves just visible through the slit of her jacket.' like what the hell? it takes me out every time and is more often than not entirely unnecessary. Apart from that some cool folklore concepts explored and I love the base concept of witchers and their roles in society, just hard to stomach the misogyny. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Classism, Racism, Rape, War, and Xenophobia

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, and Incest

katmahalia's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I will be completely honest and say I didn’t follow the plot of the short stories that closely because I listened to the audiobook while playing video games, but from what I heard I really enjoyed it. The pacing did not feel too slow as it can in fantasy adventuring stories, and the action never felt disjointed or separated from the plot. And I liked the whole the-princesses-are-the-monsters twist on fairy tale plots, it was a nice nod to the fact that every fairy tale and legend has a bigger story behind it. 

My only gripe: the love interests are not interesting or lovely, mostly just annoying. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Medical trauma, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Incest, Injury/injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Trafficking, Xenophobia, and Ableism

Minor: Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and War

booksthatburn's review

mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

THE LAST WISH is a prequel to the Witcher main series, a collection of stories from Geralt’s life before the events of THE BLOOD OF ELVES. Each story is based or at least inspired by a fairy tale or bit of folklore.

I didn’t get much of a sense of Geralt from these stories alone, but having read the first book of the main series his characterization here seemed consistent with that. The titular story, “The Last Wish” had really strong characterization with an early meeting of Yennifer. She’s really well-written here, and that story alone is enough for me to recommend this to anyone interested in the broader series.

As a collection of fairytale retellings, I enjoyed this. It approaches most of them from strange angles which meant they felt great and fresh as stories. My favorite is the one which is clearly inspired by Beauty and the Beast. Given the blend of magic and corrupted desires already present in the series, the fairy tales fit right into the world of the Witcher.

Because this a collection of short stories from Geralt’s life before the main series of books, it doesn’t quite work to analyze the ending or an overall plot. I suspect a re-read might make it clearer, but the framing between stories was confusing to me and it wasn’t until several stories in that I figured out that the start of each chapter strung together to create an narrative distinct from the individual stories. 

This is good for anyone looking for additional Witcher content, but I don’t work it works well on its own or as a first introduction to the character and the world.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Sexual content, Sexism, Ableism, Confinement, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Body horror, Excrement, Vomit, Cannibalism, Rape, Animal death, and Child death

Minor: Fatphobia, Sexual harassment, Incest, Torture, Suicide, and Animal cruelty

touchegiantsquid's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Incest, Injury/injury detail, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual content

bynarii's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, and Violence

Moderate: Rape and Sexual content

Minor: Sexual harassment and Alcohol

ok7a's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Sexism, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, Incest, and Rape