"The Last Wish" is a collection of stories about Geralt Rivia, the Witcher, whose occupation is to deal with monsters. This is a frame story in which other stories are the memories that the protagonist recalls as he recovers from a nearly fatal wound.

Readers who enjoy dark fantasy, fables, and fairy tales will love this book. The author retells some well-known fairy tales with ingeunity, such as "Beauty and the Beast" , "Sleeping Beauty," "Rapunzel", and "Snow White", and he also offers unique twists on ancient Eastern European legends such as the strigoi and rusalka, jinn, and even the Fair Folk, Fae or Elves. Some stories are pretty scary, and some are fairly humorous. Some have a little of both. All are written with loving care, with emotional depth, and plenty of action scenes.

I can't put my finger on it, but this one wasn't a five star read for me. I think part of it's that I'm so sick of the Dark Man storyline. I just want him to be dealt with so we can move on. It was cute, how the Fables are forming a Team of heroes to fight the Dark Man, but it wasn't a strong enough concept to hang the story on. Also I didn't find the leads as compelling as Snow and Bigby are. I do like the twist with Fran Tottenkinder, but she's less present in this book as well. I just wasn't feeling this like I have past books. It's still really good, just not as good.

I can freely admit that I was just happy to have more Bigby and Snow, and that's a huge part of my generous rating. But this was genuinely good. It's very dark and noir. There is some bad language and sexual situations, and the killer is really depraved. Convincing as a murder mystery set in Fabletown can be. The examination of class distinctions and the vulnerabilities of certain groups in society is prescient and delivered in a way that is far from preachy.

I liked the flashback to when Bigby first goes 'straight' and ends up on a little village called Salem during a very important time of history. Sturges interjects content from The Crucible, including John Proctor, and gives a plausible look into the situation and someone who might have helped engineer the situation. Ichabod Crane is the temporary acting mayor. A nastier little bureaucrat couldn't be possible. His hands are dirty since way back. Unfortunately, Bigby has to take orders from him. Bigby's only friend and secret love Snow expects him to play nice, when 'nice' isn't really his thing, and certainly not 'politics'.

I love how this series takes popular and lesser-known fairy tales and integrates them into an ongoing story. The sad tale of Donkeyskin takes on an even deeper poignancy in this story when it's related to a missing persons case that Bigby takes a personal interest in. There's even Mister Toad from The Wind in the Willows and so involved in the mystery.

I am Team Snow/Bigby for reals, and so even though this is a prequel and it's not written as a romance, I can see the spark and the chemistry between them from a mile away. But also that they respect each other. Frankly, Snow seems more open and friendly with Bigby than she did in the first Fables episode, Fables, Vol. 1: Legends in Exile.

I'm absolutely thrilled my library had this, and I'm hoping they continue to get it! I should try to get a copy of the video game.

Overall rating: 4.5/5.0 stars.

I liked this quite a bit. It follows the superspy motif perfectly, with a solid foundation of fairy tales and folklore. It's a fun read and definitely for fans of spy thrillers. Cinderella's arch nemesis is someone very familiar, but never seen in this particular way. I can't say anything more without it being an absolute spoiler. I absolutely love the cover art by Chrissie Zullo. Her style is so distinctive. Just her artwork makes these worth checking out. A lovely adjunct to the Fables series, and this falls in shortly after Fables, Vol. 15: Rose Red.

Huge Warning! Do not read this if you haven't read the later volumes of Fables. I made that mistake, and there's a pretty huge spoiler. I had accidentally spoiled myself already on the DC.Wikia website, but that doesn't make it any better. That aside, this was good. Kind of a freaky story. About one of Cinderella's Mice turned Human carriage drivers who becomes acquainted with the pleasures of human woman, with long-lasting consequences.

Cinderella is like a female version of Bond, in ways I don't really like. But overall, I like her lethal abilities and her spycraft. I find it really cool that her helpers are the non-human fables, like the three blind mice. Some aspects of this are pretty dark, but readers of the Fables and Fairest series should not find that surprising.

Good, but not my favorite of this series, and not on the level of Fables.