The Witcher Books In Order - How Should You Read Them?

The Witcher series on Netflix has been a wild success. The games franchise also. Because of that, many people are reading, or rereading, the original Witcher books by Andrzej Sapkowski. But what order should you read The Witcher books in? By chronology of story or publishing date? Here’s a guide on The Witcher books in order of how you should read them.

First, a little about the books. The series follows a ‘Witcher’ - a monster hunter with supernatural abilities - called Geralt. He sweeps the land slaying beasts and conquering demons, before succumbing to his destiny - the protection of a child called Ciri. The whole story was sparked way back in the 80s by a short story that appeared in a Polish fantasy magazine called Fantastyk. People loved it so much, it turned into more shorts, then novels. Not until 2007 were they translated into English for the first time. 13 more years later and it’s a global smash hit (take heart authors hoping for a slow-burn success story for their own work).

So, the big question, what are The Witcher books in order?

The Witcher books in order of publishing date

I’m going to go off their original Polish publishing dates, rather than the translations, to keep with how Andrzej Sapkowski laid them out. These are The Witcher books in order of how they were first put out:

Sword of Destiny (1992) - Short Story Collection

The Last Wish (1993) - Short Story Collection

Blood of Elves (1994) - The Witcher Saga

Time of Contempt (1995) - The Witcher Saga

Baptism of Fire (1996) - The Witcher Saga

The Tower of the Swallow (1997) - The Witcher Saga

The Lady of the Lake (1999) - The Witcher Saga

Season of Storms (2013) - Stand Alone Novel

There’s a solid argument here that the order of release should match your reading order of The Witcher. Like Star Wars, it’s how the fans first fell in love with them, so it stands to reason you should take the same path. However, just like Star Wars, there are other opinions on how they should be consumed.

That brings us to an alternative way to read The Witcher books in order.

The Witcher Books in order of story chronology

As you’ve probably guessed, the order of release has meant that Andrzej Sapkowski has woven through some backstories, filled in gaps and set certain scenes. The order isn’t wildly different to the publishing dates (contrary to our favourite space wizard movies). However, here are The Witcher Books in order of actual story chronology.

The Last Wish

Sword of Destiny

Season of Storms 

Blood of Elves

Time of Contempt

Baptism of Fire

The Tower of the Swallow

The Lady of the Lake

The reason for this order is that in the initial short stories time does jump around a lot. In the Netflix series, this causes some confusion with a lot of viewers, which is understandable. While it’s not perfect, the better order is probably The Last Wish first. This is because the history and geography of the continent are set up best in Last Wish, as are the powers and escapades of Geralt. The stories of Sword of Destiny take place right before the main saga and introduce the key character of Ciri. Season of Storms is technically the last book to be published, but is set around this time as well. There’s an argument you could leave Season of Storms out altogether because it’s not central to the main arc of the other books. However, if you’re wanting the full scope of Sapkowski’s world it’s worth diving into.

So, there you have it. Two ways to read The Witcher books in order - by publishing date, or chronology.

If you’re wanting to get your hands on a box set, there are some good ones available on Amazon, or hunt them down at your local book store and support them instead.

If you’re wanting another dark fantasy read, you can also sign up to this newsletter for the first book in the Hellbound Trilogy.

Either way, happy reading and happy monster hunting.