Sapkowski's first book into the Witcher universe, The Last Wish, is an enthralling and addicting set of short stories surrounding Geralt of Rivia, a man who was genetically engineered to hunt and kill monsters. But in a fantasy universe, with so many different intelligent species-other than humans-what really is a monster? This is the essence of Sapkowski's writing: monstrosities, evils, humanity. But each story touches on a whole other litany of ideals; such as love, science, power and royalty, money, and many more. I think Sapkowski's strongest part of his writing is his incorporation of fairy/folk tales. I don't know much about Polish folklore, but the atmosphere of the Witcher universe is amazing. It felt very Grimm; magical and dark at the same time without being depressing or too fantastical. The way he writes the action, the sword fights, is like a movie. It's brutal and sweeping in movement like I could feel the slash of Geralt's blade. Together, these create an enchanting sense of adventure. This book, and I can only assume the rest of the Witcher series, is the fucking picture of the word 'adventure'.

My only major gripe is something other reviewers (mostly women) have pointed out already. The way women are written is... A little off? It didn't bother me, personally, other than a line or two, but I can tell that for someone who isn't "used to" medieval-age-inspired-fantasy books (for better or for worse), especially from before 2000 and written by a man, would find it very off-putting. I felt Sapkowski used the gross attitudes toward the women in the story more to show and develop how nasty the men in this novel are, especially considering Geralt himself is really just horny and doesn't do anything explicitly concerning (from my memory). But, perhaps there are better ways of framing that than a kind of Game of Thrones-esque "Oh no, the woman got assaulted! Doesn't that suck?" All-in-all, it did not significantly impact my enjoyment of The Last Wish, but it did still knock down my rating a bit. I am curious to see if that changes at all going forward with Sapkowski's newer novels.