And Matt is always happy to reply

So, anyone familiar with The Witcher? by Matt Cipher on 2015-05-20 10:41:00 UTC Reply

Two days ago The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt game was released, but I wonder how many people know about the books that started it all; "The Witcher" saga by Polish author, Andrzej Sapkowski.

Aside my humble self, is anyone else into this particular fandom? For those who need explanation: The series' main character - Geralt of Rivia - is a witcher: a professional monster slayer, working for the coin to protect the common folk from vampires, ghouls and strigas. It's a typical fantasy setting: fictional kingdoms, the Middle Ages, monsters and magic.

Sounds interesting. by Neshomeh on 2015-05-21 15:23:00 UTC Reply

Are the books available in English?

~Neshomeh could just go look it up for herself, but wanted to show interest and make conversation.

And Matt is always happy to reply by Matt Cipher on 2015-05-21 16:52:00 UTC Reply

Not all of them are, but I am willing to provide my own translation for anyone that's interested.

The entire saga consists of two collections of stories:
- The Sword of Destiny (1992; English: 2015)
- The Last Wish (1993; English: 2008)

(The stories contained in The Last Wish take place first chronologically, and many of the individual stories were published before The Sword of Destiny.)

After that, we have the Witcher Saga itself:

- Blood of Elves (1994; English: 2008)
- Time of Contempt (1995; English: 2015)
- Baptism of Fire (1996; English: 2014)
- The Swallow's Tower (1997)
- Lady of the Lake (1999)

Also, in 2013, Sapkowski released a prequel to Blood of Elves called Season of Storms.

As I said, I only read the Last Wish by [EvilAI]UBEROverlord on 2015-05-21 19:56:00 UTC Reply

It was pretty enjoyable. If you like Game of Thrones and similar tone stories, then I would recommend The Last Wish.

I'm a bit familiar by [EvilAI]UBEROverlord on 2015-05-20 18:40:00 UTC Reply

I played parts of the first game, still haven't quite gotten into it, but I did read The Last Wish. It was a while ago, but I did enjoy it.