Off to a Good Start

So back at the farm...

I'm not working for the next week or two. Unless, of course, a miracle of miracles occurs and I get myself one of those job thingies I hear so much talk of. But anyway.

Oh, and I got my hair done. It looks fabulous! I'm loving Bethany over at Belfiore Salon in Rockwall. She's, well, if you saw my hair, you would know just what I speak of because it looks pretty dern a.maaaaa.zing! (If I do say so myself, and I do!)

In the mean time, I'm reading my new book - The Wise Man's Fear. And so far I'm hearting it. I seriously love a good fantasy book, expecially a series. I know. I know. I'm oooooozing geek factor. So sue me. I read the first book, The Name of the Wind, several months ago. It was also fantastic. So I thought I should post that review for you here.

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


When I first started reading this, I almost decided to take it back to the library. I just couldn't getting into it for the first hundred pages or so. It's a fantasy novel (I've taken a surprising liking to the genre...nerdy but whatever), so I think I sort of expected more action right away. It turns out it's pretty character driven. Because of that, I wanted to put it down. Not that I don't like character driven stories. I very much do. I just thought I wanted something different, and I wasn't sure I could get into this particular character. Well, it turns out I was wrong. I soon found myself engrossed in the story of Kvothe, a brilliant and very young student at a university that teaches magic, along with grammar, mathematics and rhetoric.

The story is part of a series (or soon to be series...the next book comes out in March according to the publisher). The first installment sets the back story and describes how Kvothe discovers his magical abilities and talents, which happen to be far greater than just what the university has to teach him. That might be another reason I wasn't sure I was going to be into this. It introduces the main conflict, the Chandrian or demons, but it doesn't get into that conflict really until the last 150 pages or so. The bulk of the book really does focus on developing Kvothe. But Kvothe is an interesting character, so I found it engaging despite the fact that I wanted a little more about the conflict central to the story.

I might have given it five stars but I do have two beefs with the story. One, Kvothe is a little full of himself. He tells the story from the perspective of an adult looking back. And he's just a bit too impressed with his own accomplishments. I would have expected that, as an adult, he would have had a bit more insight into his youthful hubris. To be fair, at moments he did. But not enough. In any case, a minor problem. The second beef - I wanted more of the central conflict to be explained, at minimum. He gives a good back story, but the back story doesn't really develop who/what the Chandrian are. And there are other strange giant bug-like monsters that somehow have to relate to the conflict. I don't know where they came from or their role in the story, either. I suppose I was comparing it to Lord of the Rings, where the conflict is clear from the beginning. And perhaps that isn't fair. Still it peaked my curiosity enough to give me reason to read the next book in the series, so the beef is minor.

I'm definitely looking forward to reading installment number two, The Wise Man's Fear.



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