The Witcher - Last Wish Novel Available in NA

Dhruin

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Not strictly about The Witcher but Tom Ohle dropped us a line with this press release, announcing the release of Sapkowski's The Last Wish fantasy novel in NA:
"People like to invent monsters and monstrosities. Then they seem less monstrous themselves.” – From The LAST WISH
Orbit is thrilled to announce the first U.S. publication of THE LAST WISH, the fantasy novel from internationally acclaimed Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski
Geralt de Riv is a Witcher – a killer-for-hire. Geralt possesses magical and alchemical powers, a deadly blade, and a mordant wit. He is a hitman sent after the creatures of myth and fairytale.
But the lines between good and evil are never straightforward. In a world rife with racism, terrorism, and corruption, every motive is suspect. Hired to rid the world of its demons, Geralt often find that the demons are less guilty then their prey.
THE LAST WISH is available in bookstores nation-wide on May 1st.
More information.
 
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I put this on order quickly when I heard the release date and just received the book last week. I am enjoying it very much. It is more a series of short stories, with occasional connections from one to another, but Geralt himself is a strong enough personality/thread to carry a reader through. Evidently Sapkowski has written several other books, so possibly an actual full length novel will be translated in turn (assuming this release does well)? It is a pleasure to see just how closely the game captures the tone/color of the stories, the opening cinematic is a note-by-note recreation of a great scene in this book. An odd but pleasurable thing- without even trying to, when reading Geralt's lines I immediately "heard" the voice actor from the English/American version of The Witcher. Considering that at first I didn't like his reading, to come all the way around to having that actor enhancing my enjoyment of the book was a nice surprise. For all here that have been enjoying the game and would like to spend a little more time in that universe, this is an easy recommend.
 
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Yes, I've read his other novels in Russian. They were VERY good, the fact that I read them before playing the game made the game all that much better. Its allways nice to play such games when you know all the background lore and already have a perfect understanding of each character in it. Reminds me of Betrayal at Krondor and the novels by Raymond E. Feist it was based on.
 
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I wonder how many people will be able to judge how good or bad the translation actually is ...
 
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It's hard to tell if the awkwardness of the language at times is caused by the translation or simply if it's Sapkowski's normal style - I would have said the same about Salvatore and Feist if I didn't already know they were American.
 
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I'm not sure what need there is to compare? The original will almost always be a mystery to the audience requiring a translation. For those like me who can't read it in its native language this is the book, for good or ill. While I'd be sad to hear that the english translation of Last Wish is just a pale imitation of his work, it still has to stand or fall on its own. I don't think it suffers by comparison to any current english language fantasy. The only other standard I can hold it to is the game, which I'm finding echoes this beautifully (though in a somewhat abbreviated fashion). I've really enjoyed reading it.

Very glad to hear that the novels were excellent, Sergius64, I hope it won't be long before some of those are available in NA as well. I am almost done with Last Wish and probably won't be able to resist an immediate re-read.
 
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As for the news title, "The Last Wish" is a short story collection not a novel.

It's hard to tell if the awkwardness of the language at times is caused by the translation or simply if it's Sapkowski's normal style - I would have said the same about Salvatore and Feist if I didn't already know they were American.

I've read both the original and the English version, and sadly, it's the bad translation. Sapkowski's command of the language is excellent and one of the best things about his writing. Unfortunately, the English translator of the books is a Pole, not a native speaker of English, so her language is rather bland.

As for the rest of the books, sadly, the English publisher is skipping "The Sword of Destiny", the second short story collection, which introduces some characters important to the novels, and heads straight to the first novel - "Blood of the Elves", which is to be published in the UK this September. The second novel is scheduled for next year. I was also told that the US publisher is also going to publish the novels.
 
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