Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have been a big fan of the Witcher books for a long time. I was fortunate to read them all in Russian translation. Here's the deal: the English publisher has skipped "The Sword Of Destiny" that chronologically follows "The Last Wish". The "Sword" introduces the new characters later seen in "The Blood Of Elves". I was deeply disappointed with such move. My wife has read the 1st book and loved it, but now she can't continue to "The Blood of Elves"! I was not surprised to find out that the "TBoE" has received much lower rating than the "TLW" on Amazon. People are all confused, it ruins the story flow. I have written to the Gollancz publishers an here's what they said: "... You probably are not aware that short story collections do not sell very well, and so it is often difficult for a mainstream publisher to put that sort of book out. We were lucky with THE WITCHER, first, because we published it as a novel, and second, because we had the launch of the computer game to back it up. We are currently in discussion with the author about what we do next, but please do urge your wife to read BLOOD OF ELVES..." Somehow I believe that Mr Sapkowski was pushed to follow the order of publishing against his will. And the statement that "short stories don't sell" has already been disproved by the success of "The Last Wish". Gollancz has done the readers and the author a very poor favor by omitting the "Sword Of Destiny". Recently I have found this petition [...] (if Amazon removes the link, just google "sword of destiny petition") that collects signatures to support the release of the "TSoD". I strongly recommend everyone to join in and add their name to it, the book really deserves to be read by the massive English-speaking audience.