Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski

20 reviews

idajoh's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-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? No

3.5

It's a good fantasy book and it kept me engaged the entire time. However, all the stories were adapted into the TV-show (which is a good thing), but I wish there were some fresh stories for me to enjoy honestly.

The story is mainly told through dialogue which makes it a pretty quick and easy read. The action sequences, although few, are also very good at creating suspense while being believable. I will admig that I was a bit confused throughout most of them, but I just chalked it up to me being tired while I read most of the book.

The major downfall of this book is the extreme misoginy. No women in this book, except maybe Nenneke, is seen as something other than a sex object by all the characters. That includes Geralt. It was extremely off-putting and I'm glad that aspect was toned down in the TV series. At least Yennefer in the TV series had other redeeming qualities except her want of a child.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Misogyny, and Blood

Moderate: Infertility, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and Sexual harassment

bluejayreads's review against another edition

3.0

This was a weird reading experience because I'm already fairly familiar with the Witcher settings, concepts, and characters from the video games (I've never played them myself, but I've watched my husband play through The Witcher III twice). I think if I didn't have that context, it would have been a lot harder to follow this book. (Although to be fair, a large part of that is audio is not a good format to read this and the audiobook narrator was not the greatest.) The internet recommended I read this short story collection before jumping into the first novel because chronologically they're set before the novels, but they seem to be written for people who already at least a little bit understand what's going on. I'm still going to give the first book a shot, but I'm not sure The Last Wish is really the best place to jump into the Witcher books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, and Blood

Minor: Body horror and Incest

knerys's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Deadnaming, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Sexual violence, Suicide, and Torture

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: Gore and Blood

Moderate: Alcoholism, Vomit, and Alcohol

Minor: Body horror, Cursing, and Sexual content

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

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

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

booksthatburn's review against another edition

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: Death, Gore, Violence, and Blood

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

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

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

Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, Incest, and Rape

horizonous's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Death, Fatphobia, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, and Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Incest, Rape, Sexual content, and Torture

tilo's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

Bisher kannte ich die Welt nur durch die Videospiele und durch die Netflixserie. Letztere hatte mich dann überzeugt, die Buchreihe zu lesen und der erste Band ist sehr vielversprechend. Ich habe genau das bekommen, was ich erwartet habe: Interessantes Fantasysetting, mehr Hintergründe zur Welt und den Charakteren, vor allem aber sehr gut geschriebene Abenteuergeschichten. Am meisten beeindruckt war ich von den wahnsinnig gut geschriebenen Kampfszenen, die mich sehr inspiriert haben, da mir solche beim Schreiben meiner Geschichten schwer fallen und ich hier hilfreiche Strukturen erkennen konnte.
Wenn die weiblichen Charaktere in den Geschichten nicht stark dargestellt wären und vor allem keine eigene Ambitionen hätten, die nicht zwingend auf Männern gebaut wären, hätte mich der doch sehr präsente Sexismus der männlichen Charaktere gestört. Letztendlich wirkt es aber für mich eher so, als ob die Gesellschaft in dieser Saga eher auf Frauen herabschaut, auch wenn der Autor diese Ansichten nicht in seinen weiblichen Charakteren in die Tat umsetzt.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Rape, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Ableism, Drug use, and Sexual harassment

myladyreads's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.5

I loved this!  I read this because of the TV show, but I had no problem separating the TV show from the books.  I was picturing the TV characters as the characters in the books.  

I really enjoyed how some of the stories in this book were clearly based on classic fairytales. The stories did a good job of alluding to the stories without being direct retellings

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Minor: Body horror, Child abuse, Incest, Infertility, Rape, Sexual assault, and Blood