My English "The Last Wish" review *Contains Spoilers*

[username_2060882]

Spoiler:There will be one of arthur's knights end spoilerWhat can i say, saga i really different to the first 2 books. You will be very positively surprised. Sorx for eng.

 

[wiedzmin93]

Spoiler:There will be one of arthur's knights end spoilerWhat can i say, saga i really different to the first 2 books. You will be very positively surprised. Sorx for eng.

Yes, I had an uncle who read them all in the original Polish and he used to talk about them all of the time...I know Sapkowski uses some of the legends, in what ways...I do not know.And your English is fine, I understood every word you typed! ;D

 

[macell]

Spoiler:There will be one of arthur's knights end spoilerWhat can i say, saga i really different to the first 2 books. You will be very positively surprised. Sorx for eng.

Many people were negatively surprised, including me so don't be so sure. I prefer the stories.

 

[username_2060882]

Stories are more positive, more funny. Saga is darker, deeper and hard to understand

 

[zimi]

Spoiler:There will be one of arthur's knights end spoilerWhat can i say, saga i really different to the first 2 books. You will be very positively surprised. Sorx for eng.

Many people were negatively surprised, including me so don't be so sure. I prefer the stories.

I like both: stories and saga.

 

[macell]

Stories are more positive, more funny. Saga is darker, deeper and hard to understand

Hard to understand? In what way?

 

[socchi]

Stories are more positive, more funny. Saga is darker, deeper and hard to understand

Hard to understand? In what way?

imo he meaned, that ij saga is much more threads, but i'm not sure

 

[MadYarpen]

well, saga is huge in fact, but i guess that if you are not an idiot, you can understand it. It is not poetry, where i used to think what the fuck is he talking about?! druggy, or what?!

 

[username_2060882]

Stories are more positive, more funny. Saga is darker, deeper and hard to understand

Hard to understand? In what way?

imo he meaned, that ij saga is much more threads, but i'm not sure

That's what i meant

 

[ashbery76]

Are big boobs a theme in the books?

 

[kelenthial]

Hmm I see somebody has deleted my post (probably due to recent changes)? Well, I won't be writing the same for a second time. Such a shame, really.

 

[username_2070576]

Hm, an interesting review and point of view as well. I for one have only read a translation of "The Lesser Evil" which was a short story from "The Last Wish". Even though the translation was poor (I'm sure the professional translation from Golancz is better, no matter how hard it is to translate idioms and things like that) I liked the story and also liked the refferences it made to Snow White. At first I despised Renfri, thinking her as a cold-blooded killer out for blood. When she explained her reasons however I realized that she was merely a product of her childhood and surroundings. I especially liked the part with the huntsman taking her into the woods, when she tells Geralt that the huntsman pitied her, not before raping and beating her however. Brilliant refference imo.Also, what you view as a cliche' can also be considered as a trope, something used in many, many works of fiction.

 

[koziasty]

I managed to read bits of the first book online some time last week.I DESPISED IT.Sadly, what works beautifully in Polish, with references to TV, poitics, history, "archaic" language, legends and what have you, is ever so hard to fully understand by a foreigner, especially when translation is done almost word by word, with no spark (or at least so i felt reading the fragments). I do recognise, though, that the language in the book is quite difficult to translate.And, as was said before, the story is build on cliches and well-known motifs - but sometimes takes an unusual turn. Didn't you like the devil story?Also, the Witcher (as in, the Witcher, the first story of the compilation) was the first story about Geralt ever, and was written some 20 years ago. Since then, I think, the style has evolved much. I would say, try and finish the first set of stories, but, seeing how bad the translation is, I won't.

 

[ausir]

Mind that while we Poles tend not to like the translation by Danusia Stok (which is a Pole, while ideally books should be translated by native speakers of the target language), many native speakers of English who haven't read the original tend to like it despite that. But yes, the language layer is much inferior in Stok's translation compared to the original.

 

[rhian]

I do not speak polish, hence I have no clue what the polish original is like.My native language is german, but I read The Last Wish in English. I really liked it and look forward for the other books being translated.That's that.I have read plenty of books in my life and this book was very refreshing and every line was a pleasure to read. I liked the flightiness of the dialoges - they gave everything a vivid amount of life and realism.I also have read the Shannara Saga and quite a bunch of the books simply pissed me off... when one after another died, just for the sake of letting the characters die.I was so angry when Alanon the druid died because some silly stone asp bit him grrrrrr or that girl who was put together from various mystical parts and in the end died to safe the land, or the girl who sacrificed herself to become one with Arboreal (or what that silver tree's name was again). Boy falls in love with girl, girl dies... very orignal ...Keepers of the Flame... first two books were great, the rest was just one whore-fest - who cheats on whom and who has most sex behind XYZ's back with whom. I really like smut in good fantasy stories.. but that book series could as well have been a soap about cheating wifes and husbands and whatnot... Just as an example.The Last Wish didn't bore me the slightest bit and not even annoy me. And after having read many books of known and famous authors, it's a rare thing to come by some good fantasy books

 

[phonix]

I have just finish The Last Wish, and i rather like it. Being danish my english aint that good, that i can see grama erros or sush, so to me it was quite a good read. I like the storyes, and found it funny that he take the old "The Buety and the Beast" and "Snow white" and do an very dark remake of them.Well its not the best book i have read this year, but it was quite good after my taste, and i hope more of the books will be translatet to english, especial the 5 that is one long story.

 

[ausir]

There are no grammar errors in the translation, it's just that the English used by the translator is much more bland compared to the Polish used by Sapkowski. A native speaker translator might have done a better job with making the language more lively.