So coming back to this:
I've since played Witcher 3 (for like 130 hrs), and am listening to "the Last Wish" on audiobook while I exercise. I am really enjoying the world so far.
Also, as Netflix has released more promo for this show, I feel I may have been unfair in my dismissal. Henry Cavil's talk about how he researched the character sounds really promising. The more clips I see, I think the better the show looks.
There's a 11 min interview with the showrunner on YouTube where she talks about why she chose to introduce the three characters simultaneously, instead of the Geralt's POV as the books do, and I'm willing to give it a shot.
Production values look good, the monsters are scary, not fantasy, the world is appropriately dark and bleak, and right and wrong is grey. Netflix may have gotten this one right.
It drops on Friday, so I'll be watching at least a couple of episodes to see how they did, but I'm now cautiously optimistic.