Book Review #6 Magic-Babble
Title: Name of the Wind
Author: Patrick Rothfuss
Genre: Fantasy
Overall Rating: 4.75
Well, looky here. I was playing on the internets, and all of a sudden, the planets aligned and the thrush knocked thrice, and I thought: It is time.
Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever made so many geek references in one sentence. ANYWAYS. Time to write a book review! I’m hopelessly behind, but perhaps now that I know I will fail at the schedule I’ve set, I can be a little more enthusiastic about it. In the immortal words of Douglas Adams, “I LOVE deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they fly by.” (BTW: Excuses for not doing work are the best when they come from famous people.)
Our book today comes, as so many of mine do, from the Fantasy Genre. I’ve a long rant about genres that I’m saving for another post, so suffice to say that I do read other genres, and I will try to make more posts about them forthwith! But this one was too beautiful to pass up, and you should really do yourself a favor and go get it.
Our story revolves around Kvothe, the hero of the tale. He’s a bard/wizard/warrior/thief/do-gooder. And a whole lot of other things besides, which you get to hear about right off the bat from Kvothe himself, who narrates the majority of the story. I like this guy because he’s a hero with more than one dimension, with FAULTS and BACKSTORY and WEAKNESSES*. The main problem I had with him was how talked up he was at the beginning of the story, which made him a little unreachable. Once you move into him as a kid and grappling with learning and living, he gets much more relatable.
The other thing that threw me off at first but then became, as the kids say “way cool”: frame story. I love tales within tales for how meta they are, and all the ways you get to comment on storytelling itself, who the characters are, and all kinds of good stuff. I feel like I had to push to get to that point where the story really starts though, which was a little tedious but rewarding. Not unlike how the first Dark Tower book was hard to get through, but the second one was well worth the wait. If you accept that the beginning of the book is really the middle end of the story itself, you accept the Tarantino move and run with it.
The magic is super interesting with a good “theory” foundation. Hard core fantasy fans (nerds) will know exactly what I’m talking about, but to explain in brief: The more the magic has its own explanation for the reality of the world that feels real and makes me believe that it could possibly have some kind of basis in reality, then the story itself tends to be the stronger. This makes sense, since that means you don’t have to work so hard to suspend your disbelief. Unlike in some books where The Magic Wind brings us Fluffy Bunnies which are the Evil Overlord’s Secret Weakness**. We tend to dig fantasy way more if their concerns are real and the magic is just un-understandable because you haven’t studied it for years.
The story itself evokes strong pathos, with an interesting narrating voice that will keep you hooked throughout the story. I struggled with giving it a 5, but the slow beginning and the lack of non-paragon women bring it down to the 4.75. Its rich detail will remind you of Lord of the Rings with enough action to keep it from getting stagnant. It even boasts some awesome secondary characters, which are my favorite brand of literary crack. So, seriously, what are you waiting for?
* Look a footnote! Also I qualify weakness! Mostly because there is the sense throughout the narrative that because of how fucking intelligent Kvothe is his fuck-ups are exponentially more fucked. This has the effect of causing you to wince admiringly, like when a hockey player gets a skate in the face. It sucks, but go big or go home.
** This rule also applies for techno-babble in science fiction. I have absolutely no idea what tachyon emissions are, but if you explain in a logical and reasonable tone why it is VERY BAD that those are coming right for us, I will believe you. Huh, it’s almost like any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Go read Arthur C. Clarke, he’ll blow your mind.
******************STAY TUNED FOR COMMENTAY WITH MILD SPOILERS********************
I couldn’t share my favorite part of the book without spoiling just a few things, but I thought I’d put it in here in case anyone has already read it. This story also makes me sound like a sap, which is fair, but still a little embarrassing. To illustrate how much I love teh meta, it’s a meta moment in the book that is my favorite. It’s the scene right after Kvothe has tried for his pipes, and has played a hauntingly moving ballad called “Sir Savien”. His friend, Simmon, reacts EXACTLY as I do after reading or seeing something beautiful: he has a near nervous breakdown. He tries to apologize (while crying) to his friends, but they wave it off, and Kvothe says he was just like that after hearing that ballad for the first time. He says he was “fragile” for a good long while after hearing it as a boy. I’ve never read ANYTHING that comes so close to hitting the mark on how I feel after good, sad stories. I tend to fall into a morose, contemplative state that sets me crying at the drop of the hat for a good hour or two when I’m done. There is the sense from the conversation that this is how the best stories should make you feel, and that this depth of emotion is what Rothfuss is seeking from the reader. It’s hard, in fantasy, to find books ambitious enough to metaphorically “play” the ballad “Sir Savien”. I feel that when all is said and done, Rothfuss will wring the same intense emotion from me as Simmon felt.
Author: Patrick Rothfuss
Genre: Fantasy
Overall Rating: 4.75
Well, looky here. I was playing on the internets, and all of a sudden, the planets aligned and the thrush knocked thrice, and I thought: It is time.
Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever made so many geek references in one sentence. ANYWAYS. Time to write a book review! I’m hopelessly behind, but perhaps now that I know I will fail at the schedule I’ve set, I can be a little more enthusiastic about it. In the immortal words of Douglas Adams, “I LOVE deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they fly by.” (BTW: Excuses for not doing work are the best when they come from famous people.)
Our book today comes, as so many of mine do, from the Fantasy Genre. I’ve a long rant about genres that I’m saving for another post, so suffice to say that I do read other genres, and I will try to make more posts about them forthwith! But this one was too beautiful to pass up, and you should really do yourself a favor and go get it.
Our story revolves around Kvothe, the hero of the tale. He’s a bard/wizard/warrior/thief/do-gooder. And a whole lot of other things besides, which you get to hear about right off the bat from Kvothe himself, who narrates the majority of the story. I like this guy because he’s a hero with more than one dimension, with FAULTS and BACKSTORY and WEAKNESSES*. The main problem I had with him was how talked up he was at the beginning of the story, which made him a little unreachable. Once you move into him as a kid and grappling with learning and living, he gets much more relatable.
The other thing that threw me off at first but then became, as the kids say “way cool”: frame story. I love tales within tales for how meta they are, and all the ways you get to comment on storytelling itself, who the characters are, and all kinds of good stuff. I feel like I had to push to get to that point where the story really starts though, which was a little tedious but rewarding. Not unlike how the first Dark Tower book was hard to get through, but the second one was well worth the wait. If you accept that the beginning of the book is really the middle end of the story itself, you accept the Tarantino move and run with it.
The magic is super interesting with a good “theory” foundation. Hard core fantasy fans (nerds) will know exactly what I’m talking about, but to explain in brief: The more the magic has its own explanation for the reality of the world that feels real and makes me believe that it could possibly have some kind of basis in reality, then the story itself tends to be the stronger. This makes sense, since that means you don’t have to work so hard to suspend your disbelief. Unlike in some books where The Magic Wind brings us Fluffy Bunnies which are the Evil Overlord’s Secret Weakness**. We tend to dig fantasy way more if their concerns are real and the magic is just un-understandable because you haven’t studied it for years.
The story itself evokes strong pathos, with an interesting narrating voice that will keep you hooked throughout the story. I struggled with giving it a 5, but the slow beginning and the lack of non-paragon women bring it down to the 4.75. Its rich detail will remind you of Lord of the Rings with enough action to keep it from getting stagnant. It even boasts some awesome secondary characters, which are my favorite brand of literary crack. So, seriously, what are you waiting for?
* Look a footnote! Also I qualify weakness! Mostly because there is the sense throughout the narrative that because of how fucking intelligent Kvothe is his fuck-ups are exponentially more fucked. This has the effect of causing you to wince admiringly, like when a hockey player gets a skate in the face. It sucks, but go big or go home.
** This rule also applies for techno-babble in science fiction. I have absolutely no idea what tachyon emissions are, but if you explain in a logical and reasonable tone why it is VERY BAD that those are coming right for us, I will believe you. Huh, it’s almost like any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Go read Arthur C. Clarke, he’ll blow your mind.
******************STAY TUNED FOR COMMENTAY WITH MILD SPOILERS********************
I couldn’t share my favorite part of the book without spoiling just a few things, but I thought I’d put it in here in case anyone has already read it. This story also makes me sound like a sap, which is fair, but still a little embarrassing. To illustrate how much I love teh meta, it’s a meta moment in the book that is my favorite. It’s the scene right after Kvothe has tried for his pipes, and has played a hauntingly moving ballad called “Sir Savien”. His friend, Simmon, reacts EXACTLY as I do after reading or seeing something beautiful: he has a near nervous breakdown. He tries to apologize (while crying) to his friends, but they wave it off, and Kvothe says he was just like that after hearing that ballad for the first time. He says he was “fragile” for a good long while after hearing it as a boy. I’ve never read ANYTHING that comes so close to hitting the mark on how I feel after good, sad stories. I tend to fall into a morose, contemplative state that sets me crying at the drop of the hat for a good hour or two when I’m done. There is the sense from the conversation that this is how the best stories should make you feel, and that this depth of emotion is what Rothfuss is seeking from the reader. It’s hard, in fantasy, to find books ambitious enough to metaphorically “play” the ballad “Sir Savien”. I feel that when all is said and done, Rothfuss will wring the same intense emotion from me as Simmon felt.