You’ve probably seen the white hair. Maybe you’ve heard the gravelly voice of Henry Cavill or spent eighty hours guiding a digital version of Geralt through the monster-infested swamps of Velen. It’s everywhere. But it’s funny—ask a random person on the street "is The Witcher a book" and you’ll get a surprising amount of hesitation.
Some people think it started as a video game. Others swear it was a Netflix original series that just happened to spawn some tie-in novels later.
They’re wrong.
The truth is, Geralt of Rivia was alive and kicking—mostly kicking monsters in the face—long before CD Projekt Red ever wrote a line of code or Netflix cast a single actor. It all started in Poland. It started with a fur salesman named Andrzej Sapkowski who decided to enter a short story contest in a magazine called Fantastyka. The year was 1986. He didn't even win first place. He came in third. But the readers? They went absolutely wild for it.
So, yes. Is The Witcher a book? It’s actually a whole series of them, and if you haven't read them, you're missing the weird, philosophical, and deeply cynical heart of the entire franchise.
The Short Story Era: Where It All Began
Before there were sprawling novels, there were the short stories. This is where most newcomers get tripped up. If you go to a bookstore looking for "The Witcher Book 1," you might see Blood of Elves. Don't buy that first. Seriously. You’ll be lost.
Sapkowski started by subverting classic fairy tales. He took the stories we all grew up with—Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, The Lesser Evil—and chewed them up. He spat them out as gritty, morally gray deconstructions. In the world of the books, the "monsters" are often just misunderstood creatures, while the "knights in shining armor" are usually the real villains.
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The first two books you actually need to read are The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny. These aren't standard novels. They are collections of short stories linked together by a "frame" narrative. In The Last Wish, Geralt is recovering from injuries in a temple, and his memories form the chapters. This is where you meet Yennefer. This is where the "Law of Surprise" ties Geralt’s fate to Ciri. It's essential. Without these, the later novels lose their emotional weight.
The Saga: When the Story Gets Big
After the short stories became a cult phenomenon in Poland and Eastern Europe, Sapkowski shifted gears. He wrote a five-book saga.
- Blood of Elves
- Time of Contempt
- Baptism of Fire
- The Tower of Swallows
- The Lady of the Lake
This is the "main" story. It’s not just about killing griffins for a handful of crowns anymore. It becomes a massive political epic. We’re talking about the Nilfgaardian Empire invading the Northern Kingdoms, secret lodges of sorceresses pulling the strings of kings, and a young girl (Ciri) who basically has the power to destroy or save the entire multiverse.
It’s dense. It’s complicated. It’s also surprisingly funny in a dry, "I’m too old for this" kind of way. Sapkowski’s dialogue is sharp. He loves to have characters sit around a campfire and debate the ethics of neutrality for twenty pages while a war rages in the background. It’s a vibe.
Why the Games Confused Everyone
If you’re a gamer, you probably know The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. It’s a masterpiece. But here’s the kicker: the games are essentially high-budget fan fiction.
Now, don't get me wrong. They are brilliant fan fiction. But they take place after the books end. The final book, The Lady of the Lake, has a very definitive—and somewhat ambiguous—ending for Geralt and Yennefer. CD Projekt Red basically said, "What if they survived?" and ran with it.
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Sapkowski famously had a bit of a rocky relationship with the games for a while. He famously took a flat fee for the rights instead of royalties because he didn't think the games would be successful. Oops. He later settled with the studio, but for years, he was the "grumpy old man" of the fantasy world who insisted that his books were the only "true" version of the story. Honestly? He’s kinda right. The games changed a lot of character motivations to make them work for a player-driven RPG. Book Geralt is much more talkative, much more prone to depression, and way more obsessed with philosophy than Game Geralt.
The "Season of Storms" Outlier
Just when everyone thought the story was done, Sapkowski came back in 2013 with Season of Storms.
Is it a sequel? No.
Is it a prequel? Not exactly.
It’s a "side-quel." It takes place during the timeframe of the short stories in the first book, but it was written decades later. It’s a standalone adventure. It’s fun, but it’s definitely for the fans who have already finished the main saga. It has these weird interludes that jump forward hundreds of years into the future, showing how the legend of Geralt has been twisted by history. It’s a meta-commentary on the franchise itself.
Reading Order: Don't Make This Mistake
If you're looking to dive into the books because you liked the show or the games, you have to be careful with the English publication dates. For some reason, the UK and US publishers released them in a weird order.
Follow this path:
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- The Last Wish (Short Stories) - Read this first. No exceptions.
- Sword of Destiny (Short Stories) - This introduces Ciri and is vital for the ending of the series.
- Blood of Elves (The Saga begins) - This is where the "novel" structure starts.
- Time of Contempt
- Baptism of Fire
- The Tower of Swallows
- The Lady of the Lake (The big finale)
- Season of Storms (Optional, read it last)
The Cultural Impact of the Polish Original
It is hard to overstate how big these books are in Poland. Geralt is a national hero. When President Barack Obama visited Poland in 2011, the Polish Prime Minister gave him a copy of The Witcher 2 video game as a gift. That’s how much the IP matters to the country’s identity.
The books are deeply rooted in Slavic folklore, but they also pull from Arthurian legend and Western fairy tales. This mix is what makes the world feel so unique. It’s not just another Tolkien clone. There are no orcs. There are no dark lords in high towers. Just people, monsters, and the messy, bloody reality of politics and prejudice.
The translation of these books into English was actually quite late. Most of the world didn't get to read them until the games had already started making waves. This created a weird feedback loop where people assumed the books were based on the games, which is a tragedy because Sapkowski’s prose (even in translation) is phenomenal. He has this way of describing a scene that feels visceral. You can smell the mud and the wet fur.
Final Verdict: Is The Witcher a Book?
Yes. It is eight books, to be precise.
If you only know Geralt from the screen, you are only getting half the story. The books explain why Geralt is the way he is. They explain the complex, toxic, yet beautiful relationship between him and Yennefer. They explain why Ciri is so incredibly dangerous.
Actionable Steps for New Readers:
- Start with "The Last Wish": Don't look at the publication dates on Amazon. Look at the internal chronology. The short stories are the foundation.
- Pay attention to the names: Sapkowski uses a lot of Polish and Germanic-inspired naming conventions. It can be confusing at first, but you'll get the hang of it.
- Look for the Orbit or Gollancz editions: These are the most common English translations. David French did the translation for most of them, and he does a great job of capturing the dry, snarky tone of the original Polish.
- Don't expect the games: Character personalities are slightly different. Dandelion (Jaskier in the show) is actually a brilliant poet and a bit of a philosopher in the books, not just a comic relief sidekick.
Stop wondering if it's a book and just go get a copy. Start with the story "The Witcher" in the first collection. By the time you get to the fight with the Striga, you'll know exactly why this series changed the face of modern fantasy.