Turbulent winds howl as rain batters the weathered precipices. Wolves can be heard in the distance, likely feasting on a carcass less fortunate than they, while miles away regular farmhands sit around a table, guzzling Viziman Champion as they wager their own boots to break even in Gwent.
Away from it all, stood atop a sequestered crag, Geralt of Rivia patiently awaits the sunrise after completing his contract. The world is quiet here: “I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead,” Sylvia Plath writes in Mad Girl’s Love Song. “I lift my lids and all is born again.” Such is the case in The Witcher 3.
If you’ve recently finished the Witcher Netflix series, which revels in its confidently kitschy adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski’s illustrious saga, then you’re probably wondering where to go next. The Witcher was commissioned for a second season before its inaugural one even aired, but there will likely be at least a year between the two. But you’re already hungry for more: where’s all the good food?
The World of The Witcher with Henry Cavill, Anya Chalotra and Freya Allan | Netflix Watch on YouTube
Fortunately, you’ve got options. The first season of The Witcher is mostly derived from The Last Wish, which is the first short story collection in Sapkowski’s Witcher saga – chronologically speaking, at least. Sword of Destiny, the other short story collection, was published before The Last Wish, but the latter was specifically written to serve as a prequel collection. As a result, it’s where most people embark on their Witcher odysseys before eventually pressing on to Sword of Destiny and the five-novel saga that ensues from it (there’s actually a sixth novel, Season of Storms, but it’s set between the short stories of The Last Wish – however, it contains spoilers for later in the series, so it’s probably unwise to read that one with respect to chronology!).