Two Recent Reads

The Name of the Wind

This is a huuuuge book but it's awesomely huge.  I have to say my not being concerned with the number of books I'm reading has so far worked very well for me.  I was able to take my time with this book and really enjoy it.

Summary

My name is Kvothe, pronounced nearly the same as "quothe." Names are important as they tell you a great deal about a person. I've had more names than anyone has a right to.

The Adem call me Maedre. Which, depending on how it's spoken, can mean The Flame, The Thunder, or The Broken Tree.

"The Flame" is obvious if you've ever seen me. I have red hair, bright. If I had been born a couple of hundred years ago I would probably been burned as a demon. I keep it short but it's unruly. When left to its own devices, it sticks up and makes me look as if I've been set afire.

"The Thunder" I attribute to a strong baritone and a great deal of stage training at an early age.

I've never thought of "The Broken Tree" as very significant. Although in retrospect, I suppose it could be considered at least partially prophetic.

My first mentor called me E'lir because I was clever and I knew it. My first real lover called me Dulator because she liked the sound of it. I have been called Shadicar, Lightfinger, and Six-String. I have been called Kvothe the Bloodless, Kvothe the Arcane, and Kvothe Kingkiller. I have earned those names. Bought and paid for them.

But I was brought up as Kvothe. My father once told me it meant "to know."

I have, of course, been called many other things. Most of them uncouth, although very few were unearned.

I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during the day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.

You may have heard of me.

So begins the tale of Kvothe - from his childhood in a troupe of traveling players to years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-riddled city, to his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a difficult and dangerous school of magic. In these pages you will come to know Kvothe as a notorious magician, an accomplished thief, a masterful musician, and an infamous assassin. But THE NAME OF THE WIND is so much more - for the story it tells reveals the truth behind Kvothe's legend.

That isn't so much a summary as it is the introduction to Kvothe's story in the book but it really does sum everything up perfectly.

This is the first of three very large novels in Patrick Rothfuss's Kingkiller Chronicles and it's largely just backstory on how Kvothe came to be Kvothe but it's wonderful backstory.  This is most definitely a character driven fantasy novel.  There isn't a whole lot of action going on but it keeps you turning the pages constantly.  Rothfuss is a fabulous story teller.  This was one of those books that just completely pulls you in and wraps you up in the story.

I loved Kvothe.  I love him in all his egotistical self absorbed glory that has apparently gotten on a few peoples nerves I can honestly say he didn't get on mine.  If the second book was released I would gladly dive right in to another 600+ pages with him.  He is probably one of the most well written characters I've ever read and very complex.  I can't even begin to explain him but I love him but then I've always been a fan of the anti-hero and while Kvothe is pretty much just hero material at this point there are hints of a darker side in there.

There were a few slow points in the book but other than that I really enjoyed this book and I can't wait for the next book to come out.  Whenever that is...

Rating 9/10


The Marriage Bed - Claudia Dain

It starts with a kiss, an explosion of longing that cannot be contained. He is a young knight bent on winning his spurs; she is a maiden promised to another man; theirs is a love that can never be. But a year's passing and a strange destiny brings them together again.


Now he is a monk desperately fleeing temptation, and she is the lady of Dornei, a woman grown, yearning to fulfill the forbidden fantasies of girlhood. They are a couple with nothing in common but a wedding night neither will ever forget.
Eager virgin and unwilling bridegroom, yielding softness and driving strength, somehow they must become one soul, one purpose, one body within the marriage bed.




First off can I just point out how hot this cover is?  I don't normally care for half naked lovers on the covers of the books but I'll make an exception for this one.


Holy Moly - this book was intense.  In every way this book was intense the writing style had everything very short and too the point and while it took a little bit to get used to it after the flowing wonderfulness that was the style of previous book I read it really worked for this story.  The relationship between the hero and heroine is intense and a complex mix of lust/love/hate but this was far more believable lust, love and hate than what you usually find in romance novels.  There is alot of shared hurt between these two and alot to overcome.  Neither of these characters are perfect and at times you want to strangle them but it does make them real and very authentic for medieval characters.  Religon plays a big role in this story and there is a fair amount of violence but it all comes together to make a very satisfying medieval romance.  This isn't a terribly long book and I read almost the entire thing in one sitting and I was tense the whole time.  Even though I knew it was going to have a happy ending I had a hard time believing the author was going to get there with these two.


Which leads me to my one quibble with the book.  The ending completely fizzled out for me.  Maybe I was so tense through the reading that I couldn't keep it up anymore - maybe my mood just fit the tone of the book better when I started it - I don't know.  I think I wanted more angst in the ending it almost seemed too easy.    Who knows it could have been me or maybe it was the book but I do know I was dissappointed.  I'm equally disappointed to realize I traded in The Temptation a later book in the series because I couldn't get into the first time I tried.  I'm glad I pushed through my initial trouble with the writing style because I ended up really enjoying the book and now because I wasn't quite as persistant the last time I'm going to have to go out and re-buy The Temptation again.


Rating  7.8/10