October Book Study - The Last Wish

Hello, and welcome to the F/SF Book Study.

This thread is for discussion of The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski.

***Spoilers*** will be streaking through this thread unpredictably. You have been warned.

If anyone wants to compare to previous book studies:

2008:
Ender's Game (August)
Lies of Locke Lamora (September)
A Deepness in the Sky (October)
A Fire in the Deep (November)
Storm Front (December)

2009:
I Am Legend (January)
The Onion Girl (February)
Lord of Light (March)
Small Gods (April)
Beggars in Spain (May)
The Once and Future King (June)
Foundation (July)
The Graveyard Book (August)
Neuromancer (September)

Thank you to Broken Fingers for starting the book study!

Cheers

-----------
Here is the list, compiled by Fingers, of possible discussion topics. Feel free to tackle something off the list or come up with your own points.
-----------
First of all: Did you enjoy the book? Why or why not?
What was your impression of it?
And I’ll list some of the possible things we can discuss:
The Beginning:
- How effective was the opening hook?
- How effective was the first sentence? The first paragraph? The first page? The first chapter?
- When were you pulled into the author’s world? By the end of the first chapter?
- If not, when?
- How do you think this was accomplished? Or why do you think it wasn’t accomplished?
- What would you have done to change it/make it better?
- If you were an editor, what would your reaction be to the first chapter?
- Why do you think the average reader liked it so much?
And more…
The Protagonist:
- What did you like/dislike about the protagonist?
- How did the author introduce the protagonist?
- How did the author get you to become invested in the protagonist?
- What was different about the protagonist as opposed to other protagonists? What was the same? Did the author make the protag distinguishable? If so, how?
- What techniques did the author use to show the protagonist throughout the story?
- What were some of the characteristics the author gave the character and how did they work/not work?
The Characters:
- Did the author make the characters come alive for you?
- How did he/she do this?
- How were they described?
- How were they distinctive?
And more…
The Setting:
- Was the author’s world convincing?
- Did he/she make you feel you were there? How?
- What about the setting did you like? Not like?
- What would you have done differently?
And more….
The Plot/Story:
- Did you enjoy it? Why or why not?
- Was it different or similar to other plotlines in the genre? How?
- Was it believable? Predictable?
- Were there any twists, turns or surprises?
- Would you have thought of it? How does it compare to your own plotline of your WIP?
- Did it pull you through or did you have to wade through it?
- How was this done or how do you think it should’ve been done?
- If you were buying stories for a publisher, and this manuscript hit your desk (not knowing what you do now about its sales) would you have bought it or expected it to be successful?
- Why do you think the buying public enjoyed it so much?
- What variations, if any, would you have added to the storyline/plot?
And more…
The Style:
- What did you think of the author’s style of writing? Like it? Hate it?
- How much do you think this had to do with the success of the book, if any?
- What type of POV was used? How effective was it? Would the book have turned out different if the POV were done differently?
- How removed was the author from the story or how intrusive?
And more…
The Structure:
- How did the author unfold the story?
- Were the beginning, middle and end equally strong?
- How effective was the way the author gave you all the information?
Was it straightforward? Suspenseful? Predictable? Surprising?
- Could it have been done another way?
- Was it a linear structure or did the scenes jump around? How did this add/detract from the story or your enjoyment of it?
And more…..
The Theme:
- Was there any? What was it?
- Did you think it had an impact on your enjoyment of the story?
- Was it blatant or subtle?
- Do you think the average reader registered this?
- Do you think it may have affected him/her or contributed in any way to the success of the book?
And more…
Conflict:
- What was the main conflict?
- How was it handled?
- Was it a large part of the story or did the author keep it lying under the surface?
- What other conflicts did the author use in the story and when? (Internal and external.)
- What purpose did they serve?
- Would the story have been as enjoyable with less conflict? More?
- What types of conflict could’ve added to the story? Which conflicts subtracted from the story?
And more…
Dialogue:
- Was it realistic?
- Was it readable?
- How did the author handle ‘tags’?
- Was there a lot of dialogue or a little?
- Were there dialects? Slang? Profanity? Vulgarity?
And more…
The Ending:
- Was it satisfying? Why or why not?
- Did it come as a surprise or did you see it coming from page two?
- Would you have ended it the same?
- Was everything resolved?
- Would you be able to write a sequel?
- Would you buy another book from this author?
And more….
_____________

I'm so excited And I don't know where to start. I suppose with a question. Since Geralt has a conscious, why did he slay those ppl in the tavern when he came to town about the Striga? Did he go into battle mode and lose it? That's the only theory I can come up with.

More from me later

That's possible- that we're seeing an evolved Geralt from several years of writing that didn't quite get fully smoothed out. There is one overall story connecting all these and I should look again to see if the writing is stronger in those (but the translator factor muddies the water there.)

The monologue chapter is just silly unless you go back and read it after the destiny-child chapter. And then you have to read Blood of Elves, which I have between rereadings, to fully appreciate the set up.

It was definitely something different though, and pulled me into an amazing world. I hate hate hate time jumps, but this book kept me rolling forward.

Well, we're about to get lose our sticky, but I've been meaning to post more for weeks

ELMontague said:

Alright, finished it. I liked it as a character development exercise, but it felt like that, not really a whole story. It felt to me more like the build up to another book. If that makes any sense. It stands on it's own, but it's not fully coherent.

And, by the way, I loved the way he took all our favorite fairy tales and turned them on their head - Snow White leads a gang of cutthroats. Hah, that was fun.

Click to expand...

I agree and disagree with it not being a whole story. There was a lot of tie in, and The Voice of Reason ended well, but it was disjointed. Compared to The Blood of Elves, which ends with nothing resolved after a few chapters of random development (that's just the end though, not the whole novel), this one left me feeling like I'd finished. Even with the whole 'you will die a violent death' prophecy.

As for fairy tales, I'd totally missed that! Well, I got the beauty and the beast thing, but I was oblivious to the rest and caught up with the Polish/other mythology.

An interesting note- Apparently the English translation had to take out a ton of political jokes since they wouldn't make sense outside of Poland. I can see how this book would do well with those jokes woven in.

Etola said:

Thinking back on this, I wonder if this is because "The Voice of Reason" is, chronologically, the last story, and the one immediately preceding it is the episode of the Striga. All the other stories took place before those, during earlier parts of Geralt's life. The priestess was making a big deal that Geralt wasn't himself, that his biting the striga's neck was strange, etc. Perhaps, then, the author wrote him as more violent during the striga episode because Geralt <i>had</i> become more violent, whereas during "earlier" stories he is much more thoughtful and careful.

Does that make sense?

Click to expand...

Ah, very observant. At least he kept his head when fighting that young punk, because that was awesome the way he dealt with those soldiers.

One character I really liked is Nenneke, the priestess. She's far more down to earth than most priestess characters and can speak her mind without being a cantankerous wench (except that scene where she and Geralt are talking of Yennefer. That was overkill imo, and not at all what I'd expect from her character). But all in all she was a refreshing change in a book full refreshing concepts.

(Though, I do have to say, another less than refreshing moment was the 'Here's a rant on politics/war from an angry elf', heh.)

Anything else catch your eye?

Well, I've just finished re-reading A Question of Price (in English. I'm also reading the original Polish, but sometimes I read ahead in English b/c I can't help myself in wanting to pick out all the little details and nuances.) I've also finally read Hans My Hedgehog and really liked the similarities there

Someone mentioned the back cover blurb (Orbit English Edition) being off kilt, though perhaps that was in another thread in SFF as I didn't see it when skimming over this old thread:

Geralt de Rivia is a witcher. A cunning sorcerer. A merciless assassin.

And a cold-blooded killer.

His sole purpose: to destroy the monsters that plague the world.

But not everything monstrous-looking is evil and not everything fair is good. . . and in every fairy tale there is a grain of truth.

Click to expand...

It always struck me that the last paragraph is the key there, but it's very subtle for a back cover blurb. Aside from the one place he kills men in a tavern inexplicably, he's far from merciless or cold-blooded. It's the legends that portray him as such: As the Butcher of Blaviken (The Lesser Evil which is the Snow White and Seven Dwarfs spin off.)

So not only are the monsters not as they seem, but Geralt is not the monster he seems.

Even the true monsters (Rusalkas, Strigas, etc) which Geralt hunts are defended by Stregobor the wizard (The Lesser Evil, again) as 'the last representatives of dying species' which must eat to survive.

On page 200 is perhaps the section that most inspired the back cover blurb?

Duny in A Question of Price, to Geralt:

When I found out who you were, there in the hall, I hated you and thought very badly of you. I took you for a blind, bloodthirsty tool, for someone who kills coldly and without question, who wipes his blade clean of blood and counts the cash. But I've become convinced that the witcher's profession is worthy of respect. You protect us not only from the evil lurking in the darkness, but also from that which lies within ourselves. It's a shame that there are so few of you.

Click to expand...

On a final note, going back to The Lesser Evil: It ends with Geralt very upset, and Renfri very dead. I should note that when Geralt hypnotizes her the night before, she says 'I'm cold' and he seemingly panics and snaps her out of it (that is my interpretation of him suddenly stopping the trance and shouting her name- if she's cold in a trance could she go into death right then and there?). Anywho, she's dead and he's standing on a square of blood, just as Renfri predicted. Stregobor comes out and is all excited to do an autopsy. Geralt forbids it, and even threatens Stregobor. This is a woman he slept with and who had questions about her own humanity. He shared something with her, and if the autopsy revealed her for a mutant, a dark servant, then what does that say about him?

Anyone else read or reread this book recently? Any details you enjoyed?