Netflix’s The Witcher adaptation has proved a big hit among the service’s audience, defying its middling critical reception. In fact, Parrot Analytics recently claimed that it’s the most in-demand TV show in the world.
That popularity has seen a huge resurgence in player numbers for all three of CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher games; in particular, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which just recorded its highest ever peak concurrent player tally. Now, the show’s popularity is also having a knock-on effect for author Andrzej Sapkowski’s books.
Both The Last Wish and Blood of Elves have made The New York Times’ list of best-selling books over twenty years since their initial release. The Last Wish, the collection of short stories on which Netflix’s adaptation is based, is up to number four.
Blood of Elves, meanwhile, which is the first of Sapkowski’s novels and likely the primary source material for Netflix’s already greenlit second season, enters the week at number 12 spot.
If you’re reading The Last Wish for the first time then you’ll notice that characters like Ciri aren’t actually featured. Netflix actually jumbled up the timeline of the books so that Ciri would be included in the first season, and to better highlight the origin of Yennefer of Vengerberg.