Andrzej Sapkowski
The Last Wish

Dear friends of DeBaser, now that the good weather has returned, what's better than lounging with a good book while sitting under the umbrella or on a park bench? Of course, you have to find the right book first, nothing too serious or demanding (since the heat tends to boil the brain), but also not something that makes you lose faith in the intellect and cultural level of the average human being, like romance novels (probably the lowest point in literature) and such.

As an alternative to the usual mystery/thriller, I would like to bring to your kind attention a book from a genre often considered the pariah of literature, I'm talking about fantasy. It has many parallels with metal (and it's no coincidence that these two worlds often come into contact), both have awakened in me the interest to delve deeper into their respective arts and have been bridges to more "serious" and intellectually accepted shores. In fact, both genres tend to be snubbed and regarded with, if not disdain, a sort of paternalism: things for nerds and misfits, in bad taste, gaudy, full of stereotypes and banalities. Often there is a grain of truth in these accusations (especially if you look at the many clones that often do nothing but poorly copy the original), but if you look closely, you can also find many things of interest here.

All this preamble to tell you that if you like the fantasy genre, but even if you've always hated it for the reasons mentioned above, this book will be an excellent leisure companion, capable of entertaining you with a fresh and very fluid style, but also written with intelligence, irony, and a critical spirit towards the genre, which it enjoys repeatedly breaking the rules of, with here and there some glimpses of metaphysical-existential reflection and social critique. This "The Last Wish" is nothing more than a collection of short stories that serve to introduce the character and world of Geralt of Rivia, a mercenary witcher who deals with cleansing the continent of various and assorted monsters, more or less dangerous (originality, you might say, but read and you will see what I'm talking about, after all, I don't want to spoil too much and take away the pleasure of discovery from you). The protagonist's adventures will then continue for another book of short stories, culminating in a saga of 5 books, always maintaining good quality, actually reaching the best results in the last two. When I read it, the author hadn't yet, alas, been translated into Italian, so unless things have changed, you'll have to tackle the English version, but consider that in doing so, besides having fun, you'll also practice your language skills, because in this increasingly globalized and interconnected world, where do you want to go without at least muddling through some broken English? You'll combine business with pleasure, what more could you want from life?

If you're interested in learning more about the author or if, encouraged by this reading, you're looking for similar proposals, I have written an interesting deep dive of my own, which you surely have already read, right? For the very few, I'm sure, among you who have not yet done so, don't worry, you won't have to spend time and energy searching, as I've conveniently placed a link right here.

Happy reading!