Books somewhat similar to The Last Wish?

+
Books somewhat similar to The Last Wish?

I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for sci fi, fantasy books, preferably one with a protagonist as cool as Geralt (although it is hard to top someone who has cat like eyes and can control his pupil dilation) that are as great as The Last Wish? Any recommendations any of you can give would be fantastic!

Thanks in advance.
 
Well if you were German or able to read German, I would suggest Kaltfeuer (Coldfire) to you, but sadly they haven't been translated and aren't as easy to find even in German (amazon.de still has some).
 
This probably belongs in the Community section.

You should be more specific. There are many ways to describe a short story collection like The Last Wish, making it difficult to identify similar works. For example, what did you like about it and what are you expecting to find in other collections or novels?

Some areas or conflicts of interest might be:

- Discussions on ethics and morality vs practicality and rise to power.
- A world with oppressive social structures and the struggle for freedom and survival.
- A bleak and crude world where injustice and pain are commonly found.
- Characters with elaborate personalities that aren't simply "good" or "evil".
- Realistic approach to supernatural phenomena. Scarcity of magic, crude mutations, etc.
- A witty, sarcastic protagonist that more than often overcomes challenges with intelligence over swordfighing.
- A reluctant protagonist that questions his place, tasks and the extent of his influence in the world.

and so on and so forth.
 
Oh, I actually misread your post. I thought, you were just asking for some good fantasy or sci-fi. I didn't see, that you wanted it to be like in a short story format. ^^
 
If you want a low fantasy novel like the witcher try Farseer.

The main character is an assassin with psychic, magicalpowers
 

Vojtas

Forum veteran
Northwain said:
I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for sci fi, fantasy books, preferably one with a protagonist as cool as Geralt
Have you read The Sword of Destiny? It's a second anthology of Witcher-y short stories.
 
AserPik said:
Perhaps some David Eddings? A number of his series are amazing.
I just wanted to write Elenium - quite good trilogy, also Tamuli, but both not comparable to Witcher ;)
 
You could try to read Conan. He's the "archetype" of low fantasy heroes like Geralt and he only appears in short stories (except for one novel "The hour of the dragon").
I am very sure that we would not have Geralt as he is if it wasn't for Conan.
 
I second the Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb. It's one of the best book series I've ever read. Characterization is empasized, those characters feel alive! Medieval setting, kings, assassins, some (little) magic. Not so trivial plot. It's not a childish book series, either, so if you're looking for something similar to the Witcher there's a big chance you'll enjoy it.

This series and the Witcher series are my two favorites.
 
Elric Saga by Michael Moorcock. Elric of Melnibone was also known as the White Wolf. They've got some similarities and a lot of differences too but it's a good read.

You might also try the Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks. Durzo Blint is pretty damn cool.
 
So i started to read the Farseer trilogy recently, finished the first book (~600 pages, that's roughly two Geralt books combined) and i am a third into the second one (Royal Assassin) and so far i see only few differences, although significant differences to the Witcher saga.

First of all the protagonist is a child first and only later/now an adolescent (15+). I guess there will be another time skip before the trilogy ends, but i'm not sure. Geralt on the other hand is right from the start "an old man" compared to that, he has already much life experience and has already seen some shit. But you can easily compare Fitz to Ciri, at least in the emotionally aspect, even though Ciri had it much worse.

Furthermore Fitz is a minion for the king, while Geralt has no boss at all. In generally Fitz is nothing compared to Geralt (so far). He has many faults, is often anxious and well, behaves like a child.

The whole story is heavily focused on politics and the characters involved in them, Fitz is just a part of it. "The Last Wish" and "Sword of Destiny" are focused on "what witchers are doing", politics are just a tiny part of it, at least in the short novels books. The whole Witcher saga is more about the characters and their journey, literally. The political affair and war is just the context of it.

Also the Farseer world is apparently without any monsters or such mythical creatures (so far?). If there are any, they are unknown to the public, but this is just a marginal note.

So if you like me expect a bad ass character like Geralt, you kinda get disappointed like me, because so far he is just a boy with corresponding problems.

Can anyone tell me if that changes in this trilogy?
 
The first trilogy was for me a little disappointing, Fitz is such a whiny little berk and never takes advantage of any situation or shows any spark of iniative, I just couldn't empathise with him. He survives through luck and happenstance all along. The first and second books of the second trilogy is much better, but again nothing to write home about.
 
Hmm, i kinda feared it. I thought it would change in the 2nd book after the events of the 1st book, but nothing changed yet.

Blothulfur said:
[...], I just couldn't empathise with him.

I also have a hard time to do so. Yes, he is an adolescent, so yeah, i understand why he does certain things, but if he doesn't change at all, it could be annoying in the end.
 
For a good fantasy proactive protagonist i'd recommend Sparrowhawk from the first Wizard of Earthsea book, the Robert E Howard Conan books get a second recommendation as well.

Edit: Oh and you might want to stick some David Gemmell in there, Jon Shannow is like Geralt but with guns. A peacekeeper for a world that has fallen, Shannow plies his guns across the broken earth while searching for a Jerusalem that never was, and practising a faith that has been forgotten.

Gemmell's writing really varies though, from the sublime to the ridiculous.
 
Top Bottom