The Last Wish: Introducing The Witcher

I have been waiting to read this book for so long! I watched my husband play the video games and made the comment that it would make a great book. He loving told me that there were multiple books and I quickly went hunting for them. To my dismay, they were not yet translated into English. I put the book on the back burner and continued reading. THEN, Netflix announced The Witcher as a new show. By then, the books had been translated into English and I jumped right in! I needed to get this post out as soon as I could; The Witcher premiers THIS FRIDAY!! I am dying.

I am not going to mess up this books synopsis with my rambling so here it is, right from the back cover! 🙂

Geralt is a Witcher, a man whose magic powers, enhanced by long training and a mysterious elixir, have made him a brilliant fighter and a merciless assassin. Yet he is no ordinary murderer: his targets are the multifarious monsters and vile fiends that ravage the land and attack the innocent.
But not everything monstrous-looking is evil and not everything fair is good…and in every fairy tale there is a grain of truth.

Like I said, I was dying to read this book when I found out Netflix had picked it up as an original. I loved it; once I figured out how to read it. That was the only problem with the book. Through the beginning, I was a bit lost. There are chapters but some chapters are named the same. I realized that all the chapters that are named the same are the same short story broken up by other short stories. For example: all the chapters headed with “The Voice of Reason” are the same story. The ones headed with “The Edge of the World” are the same story. Light Bulb! I felt a little silly that I did not pick up on that sooner but once it clicked, I enjoyed the book much more!

This book is old school fantasy and that is a genre that everyone can love. There is monsters, magic, sword fights and folklore. This was just short stories that introduce the world of the Witcher and all the people around him like Yennefer, Dandelion and of course Roach. In this book, you don’t meet Ciri nor does his quest with her start. This one is to help you build this world. The next book of short stories is The Sword of Destiny and then The Blood of Elves is the first full novel in the saga. I had to read and read and read to find out which order I needed to read them in. It goes as follows:

• The Last Wish
• The Sword of Destiny
• Blood of Elves
• Time of Contempt
• Baptism of Fire
• The Tower of the Swallow
• The Lady of the Lake
• Season of Storm

Friday, December 20th can’t come fast enough. One.. It is my anniversary with my amazing husband 🙂 ❤ Two.. The Witcher premiers. If we can’t agree on something to do, I guess we will just watch Netflix 😉

Rating: 4/5

Recommend? Heck Yes. Read it… Now.

Up Next: One Day in December by Josie Silver

While I’ve Been Away… Part 2

Well guys, I tried my best to keep up on this blog while in school but I just couldn’t. I’m done with semester now so this is the perfect time to update you on what I have been reading! There are only four books on this post so it won’t be as much reading as my last big blog purge. Just like While I Was Away, I will give a short description, thoughts, a rating and a recommendation. Hopefully you find something you like on here!

The Rumor by Elin Hilderbrand

A rumor can do great things. It can build or destroy; glorify or dishonor. On the island of Nantucket, you never know which way things will sway. When Madeline King hears a rumor about her best friend Grace and finds it to be true, she does only one thing: she allows this rumor to become the material of her newest novel. As more gossip makes its way around the island, Grace and Madeline try to set the record straight but more things come to light that only add fuel to the fire.

I really liked this book. It has the kind of gossip you only wish to hear. It was fast paced and surprising to read. There are some twists and turns you don’t see coming, some steamy (but wrong) romance, unethical business deals that could land someone in jail and lots of rumors. All these made for a really good book. I didn’t run into any slow spots and my attention was solely on finding out what was going to happen.

Rating: 5/5 🙂

Recommend? YES

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Claire Randall has found herself in a peculiar situation; Scotland 1743. How did she get there? All she did was touch one of the stones. She was just with her husband on their second honeymoon… in 1943. Claire must now find a way to fit into her new world while she tries to get back home. A friend who read her palm did warn her about this.. Two lives, two husbands, two times.

I picked up this book because I was in the middle of what us fans call a “Droughtlander”. I am patiently waiting for season 5 in February 2020. I had already seen all the seasons but knew I wanted to read the books and this one had been sitting on shelf for a while. I finally picked it up because I saw my husband watching the first episode and told him to wait for me! I liked the book but had to push through some spots. The book is very long so be prepared to hunker down with it for a while!

Rating: 4/5

Recommend? Yes.. If you like historical fiction or are having a case of the “Droughtlander”

Burning Moon by Jo Watson

Lilly thought she had it all; the perfect dress, the romantic venue, gorgeous flowers and the dreamy almost husband. That wish was shattered when he doesn’t meet her at the alter. Her friends worry about her, trying to make up for the loss she just experienced. Lilly has a way of getting over him… Go on their honeymoon to Thailand alone. She doesn’t quite go alone though; the cute stranger on the plane whisks her away from her despair and shows her that there are other, better, fish in the sea.

This is the first book in the Destination Love series by Watson. I read them totally out of order but it doesn’t matter much. The characters flow over into other books but the books are their own story. Again, this one is a great beach read. It is light, funny and causes you some second hand embarrassment. There were some slower parts but they quickly end and the story really gets going.

Rating: 4/5

Recommend? Yes.

Shining in Crimson by Robert S. Wilson

Apocalyptic America. Vampires and Humans have made a pact, a peace treaty. The Vampires are to remain in Necropolis (which was once Las Vegas) and the Humans are to supply them with their meals. Their food now consists of the blood of convicted Humans and this was death row. No chances, no jail cells, no waste. Its unconventional but works; crime rates are down all across the country and there is no impending war with the dead. That is until one delivery of Humans contains someone who escapes his sentence and remains on the run in the city of the dead. His only goal: survive.

This was my Halloween read for the year. It wasn’t as scary as I wanted it to be but it did the trick. Vampires are something to be feared in this book. That is what I liked best about it. The story line was interesting too; I liked how the author build America after the war with the vampires. The beginning was super slow but a few chapters in, the story picks up. It is a shorter book, only 200 pages or so; it goes by pretty quick. This one is the first book in the series and I am eager to read the other books. This one ends in a good cliff hanger!

Rating: 4/5

Recommend? Yes. Get you some real vampire books!

Up Next: The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski