orpheus_samhain (orpheus_samhain) wrote in sapkowski_cafe, @ 2007-08-22 14:04:00 |
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Current location: | Vyzima |
Current mood: | enthralled |
Current music: | PJ Harvey "C'mon Billy" |
Entry tags: | book: last wish |
BOOK REC: "The Last Wish" by Andrzej Sapkowski (Witcher saga I)
Title: The Last Wish
Author: Andrzej Sapkowski
Original title: Ostatnie życzenie
First Edition: Poland 1993, UK 07 June 2007
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Orion/Gollancz
This is the first book in the Witcher saga and was only recently released in English. One of my favourite series ever and I stumbled upon it in funny circumstances.
Everybody and their mother was talking about Witcher and Harry Potter at the time. I thought I would puke at another mention of them. I thought that I was well past fantasy books, as much as I enjoyed them earlier. One day on my way to work I noticed a strangely clad young man who was reading a book and was so engrossed in it that he stumbled on his way to the tram seat.
At first I thought that he was some metal fan but his outfit hinted at something medieval. Because I have a soft spot for books, Middle Ages and freaks who live their fantasies I wanted to check what piqued his attention to the point of not noticing his surroundings. When I came closer (OMG! She's stalking strangers!) I had a good view of the cover I already knew ('Oh, no! Not Witcher again!') AND the boy's gloves: they looked like ones the knights have been using. I smiled and I knew that I was defeated: I decided to read this damned saga.
The Last Wish is the first part of a 7-tome fantasy series, a set of short-stories which opens a Witcher saga. In 6 scenes we are getting to know the hero, excerpts from his past and we watch the plot creating.
The protagonist, Geralt of Riv, is a witcher. The witchers are very rare people who underwent (and survived) mutations as children and then murderous training to mould them into the monster slayers. The monsters are mostly the Older Beings, creatures 'from before the Great Conjunction', the native inhabitants of this earth. The witchers have limited ability to perform magic (only 'signs' - very simple spells combined with hand's movements), they can move very quickly, have cat-like eyes and can see in the dark, they are devoid of emotions and sterile. They have their own code of conduct that i.a. forbids them killing rational or harmless beings (except in self-defence).
The witchers are almost extinct and so are monsters. Geralt is the last witcher who ever exited the Kaer Morhen (Caer a'Muirehen in Older Tongue), the stronghold of wolf clan of witchers. There won't be another one after him and there is no need for any, either: the monsters that witchers were supposed to kill are no longer a threat for human kind, quite the opposite. There are also some other things that are changing, imperceptibly for common eyes. In this way there is introduced one of my favourite literary motifs: decadence, the end of the era. Old rules are being questioned and chaos ensues.
Geralt is a bitter person who knows better than to engage in personal conflicts, politics, honours and lofty goals. He knows that this is always followed by dependence on the protector, that one can be forced into things that are contrary to any code. He also doesn't rush to help oppressed people, despite his abilities, because it only brings more trouble. Everyone can mould their own fate and if bad things happen to them maybe they did something to deserve it? In some cases they did. Here we have another of my favourite motifs: destiny. What it is and can it be changed or avoided.
Geralt, as a witcher, is isolated from normal people: they fear him too much, a dangerous freak. He's always clad in black, he has white hair although he looks relatively young, his eyes are not like any other human's, he can move too fast for humans eyes to see and he's always, always carrying weapons with him - two swords: iron for beast and people and silver for demons. Everybody knows that he's more than capable of using them. He is also alienated from other witchers: his mutation didn't proceed as it should (his white hair being one of the side-effects, hence one of his nick-names: White Wolf). He barely survived and is flawed: he isn't completely deprived of human feelings. It doesn't go well with his profession. Because he is sterile he cannot have children (not that he craves it, but the choice was taken away from him). As a contract killer on the move he is not able to engage in any lasting relationship. Besides, who would want a homeless man smelling of blood, his only possessions being his clothes, a horse and weapons? Another kink of mine: forced loneliness with no prospects of satisfying the emotional needs with lifetime commitment.
He wanders from village to village, from town to town in search of a job for him. He has his price list, although he's not always able to name the proper amount. The monsters are too rare and there are many other volunteers being able to kill one. He doesn't need much money, he is alone, although it's hard to survive anyway. Sometimes he doesn't take the job because of his personal beliefs. He doesn't want to kill the creatures he considers harmless. Magical elixirs didn't turn him into a mindless killing-machine. The remnants of conscience sometimes mean more than so-called 'height of humanity', that so often manifests itself in a meaningless violence. He avoids violence yet none of his nicknames is undeserved. The Butcher of Blaviken - wonder how he got that one. Here we have another of my kinks: decency and scruples being an obstacle not a strength and a character fighting it.
In Sapkowski's prose you can find sharp wit, humour, irony and universal truths that are being filtered through non-existent worlds, fairy-tales and mythological creatures only to be presented before your eyes as the rules that are valid here and now. There are no easy solutions, the world isn't black and white, characters are flawed, their value is being proved in tests just like in real life.
The whole story revolves around well known European myth. I think it's easily recognisable but I'll leave this pleasure to you. The author is playing with well-known themes from fairy-tales in an unexpected way that is yet another thing that draw me to this series.
The books were written in language stylised on Old Polish, inspired mostly by Henryk Sienkiewicz's "Trilogy" and I wonder how the translation sounds to native British' ears.
If you're British or not: if you ever decide to read the story please let me know if you enjoyed it. I am truly curious.
The entire saga consists of:
1. The Last Wish* (Ostatnie życzenie)
2. The Sword of Destiny (Miecz przeznaczenia)
3. Blood of Elves* (Krew elfów) currently in translation
4. The Time of Contempt (Czas pogardy)
5. The Baptism of Fire (Chrzest ognia)
6. The Tower of Swallow (Wieża Jaskółki)
7. The Lady of the Lake (Pani Jeziora)
* official Gollancz translation, the rest is mine, may change
Translations: Czech, Russian, Lithuanian, German, Spanish, French, Slovak, Portuguese and now English.
x-posted from my LJ
Um... quick question:
In Polish original the name is 'wiedźmin' and it's non-existent male counterpart word for 'wiedźma' which means 'hag' or 'witch'. Does 'witcher' suggest that it's a male rather than female? I mean I was always told that suffix '-er' constitutes profession or a maker, not gender.