Where to Start with Andrzej Sapkowski: A Reading Guide

Andrzej Sapkowski (born 1948) is the Polish fantasy novelist who — beginning with short stories published in the 1980s and collected in The Last Wish (1993) — created Geralt of Rivia and the Witcher world, one of the most original and most widely adapted fantasy settings in contemporary popular culture. The Witcher series draws on Slavic mythology and Eastern European folklore rather than the usual Anglo-Saxon or Norse influences, and deconstructs classic fairy tales through a morally complex lens that refuses easy heroism. The series has been adapted as one of the most successful video game franchises in history (CD Projekt Red’s Witcher series) and as a Netflix television series. Sapkowski is the most internationally recognised Polish writer of the twentieth century.

Where to Start: The Last Wish (1993/2007)

The essential starting point — and the best introduction to both Geralt of Rivia and Sapkowski’s distinctive approach to fantasy. The Last Wish is structured as a framing narrative (Geralt recovering in a temple, talking with the priestess Nenneke) with a series of interlaced stories: his encounters with a cursed prince who transforms into a striga at night, with a djinn, with a beauty called Renfri who is also known as a bandit, with a Snow White variant in which the dwarfs are bandits and the Queen has legitimate grievances, and with his first encounter with Yennefer of Vengerberg.

Each story is a fairy tale retelling stripped of its moral clarity. The monsters are not simply evil; the humans are not simply good; the Witcher’s role is to solve a problem, which frequently means determining whether the ‘monster’ is actually the problem — and if so, whether Geralt is willing to be the solution. The storytelling is efficient and the moral questions are genuinely interesting. The Last Wish establishes Geralt’s voice (dry, sardonic, tired), his world (morally complex, politically fractured, drawing on Slavic rather than Anglo-Saxon mythology), and his relationships (particularly with Yennefer and with the bard Jaskier/Dandelion).

Sword of Destiny (1992/2015)

The second collection of stories — and the introduction of Ciri, the child of destiny who becomes central to the novels. The stories here are somewhat more emotionally direct than The Last Wish and include the first development of the Geralt-Ciri relationship that drives the novels’ arc. Strongly recommended before starting the novel series.

Blood of Elves (1994/2009)

The first Witcher novel — the beginning of the continuous narrative arc that the two short story collections have been building toward. Ciri is now fully established as a character; Geralt’s responsibility for her is central. The novel is more densely plotted and politically complex than the short stories, introducing the full scope of the world’s political situation. Best read after both short story collections.

Why The Last Wish Is the Ideal First Book

For a reader new to Andrzej Sapkowski, The Last Wish is the ideal first book because it is the true entry point to his acclaimed Witcher saga and the fullest introduction to his distinctive gifts, the blend of dark fantasy, sharp wit, moral complexity, and reinvented folklore. The Last Wish is a collection of linked short stories introducing Geralt of Rivia, a monster-hunting witcher who navigates a morally grey world where the true monsters are often human. As an entry point it is the natural place to begin, for it precedes the main novels and introduces Geralt, the world, and Sapkowski’s tone before the longer story arc begins. It welcomes the newcomer with its inventive premise, its dark humor, and its morally complex storytelling, drawing the reader into the world that inspired the games and the screen adaptations. It is the recommended starting point and the best introduction to his gifts, so the new reader meets Geralt and his world from the beginning. For the newcomer, then, The Last Wish is the natural and ideal starting point.

What to Expect as a New Reader

As a new reader, you can expect The Last Wish to be a witty, dark, and morally complex collection of fantasy stories introducing Geralt of Rivia. You can expect a distinctive hero, for Geralt is a mutant monster-hunter for hire, world-weary, principled in his way, and caught between humans and monsters. You can expect reinvented folklore, for Sapkowski draws on fairy tale and legend and twists them into something darker, stranger, and more morally ambiguous. You can expect sharp wit and dark humor, which run through even the grimmest stories. You can expect moral complexity, for the world is grey rather than black and white, and the true monsters are often human. You can expect linked short stories that introduce the character and world before the novels proper. Expect, in short, a witty, dark, and morally complex collection of fantasy stories, an ideal introduction to Sapkowski’s saga.

Going Deeper After Your First Book

Once The Last Wish has introduced you to Geralt and his world, the natural next step is to continue with the second story collection and then the main Witcher novel saga, which tells a single sweeping story across several books and is best read in order. The saga develops the world, the characters, and the larger political and personal drama far beyond the early stories, building on the foundation the collections lay. Reading in sequence allows the saga to reach its full development. The reader who has enjoyed Sapkowski’s gifts can also appreciate how the books relate to the popular games and television adaptation they inspired, while recognizing the novels as the original work. His characteristic strengths, the dark fantasy, the wit, and the moral complexity, run throughout. Building your reading journey through Sapkowski is a matter of moving from The Last Wish through the second collection and into the novel saga in order. The reader who begins with The Last Wish will find one of the most distinctive and influential modern fantasy sagas to follow.

Reading Andrzej Sapkowski

Begin with The Last Wish — it is both the introduction to Geralt’s world and among the finest fantasy short story collections published in the past forty years. Read Sword of Destiny immediately after. Then commit to the five novels if you want the full arc; or stop after the two collections with a complete and satisfying reading experience. The Witcher world’s moral complexity and its Eastern European roots make it unlike most English-language fantasy; approach it on its own terms.