Review: The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

The Name of the Wind is a debut novel from Patrick Rothfuss, and is the first instalment of The Kingkiller Chronicle trilogy.  It begins in the Inn belonging to a man called Kote who by means of killing a spider with razor sharp feet establishes himself as a worthy fighter.  A Chronicler recognises Kote as Kvothe, a character of legendary proportions and proceeds to take down his story.  Each day that it takes to record Kvothe’s life story is to be one book in the trilogy.

Kvothe has a rough start in life.  He’s born into an apparently idyllic life as the son of a travelling troupe leader, and is remarkably clever and talented.  Early in life he meets an arcanist (like a magician) who inspires him to attend the University and learn the secrets of magic, such as the true names of all things, particularly the wind.  Then one night his family and fellow troupers are brutally slain and Kvothe is lucky to be alive.  He struggles to survive a callous world and eventually manages through perseverance and sheer luck to make his way to the University, this time to discover the identity of the men who killed his family so he can take his revenge.

For a genius Kvothe is also a bit of a bumbling idiot, stumbling his way through life, hanging on by the skin of his teeth.  Once he reaches the University he usually ends up making his own troubles, and has to struggle to keep going, and this forms the bulk of book one.  I couldn’t wait to turn the page to find out how Kvothe’s enemies might challenge him, or see him retaliate only to end up in a worse situation than ever.  Some of his exploits had me laughing out loud, and it was pretty compelling reading.  This was the books charm and Kvothe makes quite an endearing character in spite of his numerous serious flaws.  I ended up really liking him and rooting for him.

I seriously have a contender now to challenge Scott Lynch and Locke Lamora for the position of favourite fantasy novel.  I highly recommend The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.  It’s a monster of a book, but the time flies by so fast.  The writing is engaging and I couldn’t bear to put it down.

I hope you try it, and I hope you love it as much as I did.

PS – I have a few theories about Chronicler… will share them in the upcoming review of Book 2: The Wise Man’s Fear.

Where in the Literary Universe are you?

My name is Kvothe, and I am telling my life story in three parts, the first day of a three-day story. By my side is a friend, student and prince of the Fae, and a Chronicler who is recording my story. We are sat in my inn, The Waystone, which is in a country known only as The Four Corners of Civilisation, and I have led quite a life. At this point in my tale I am 15 years old, I have been a travelling Actor, musician, apprentice, genius, and found my parents and friends slaughtered, with their murderers laughing around a fire. I have lived homeless for three years and have just talked my way into entry to the University where I plan to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to wreak my revenge on the creatures who killed my parents. Oh, and learn The Name of the Wind.

Back to me, the blogger. I love this book! I can hardly stand to put it down, and when I have to, I can't stop thinking about it, and wait with eager anticipation for the next moment I can pick it up. I nearly missed my bus stop I was so drawn into it.

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.

A Mr B's Emporium spa recommendation.

Review: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland... by Catherynne M. Valente

Publisher: Constable and Robinson

ISBN: 978-1780339818

Apologies for shortening the title, it's a bit long for the post title...  Here it is in full:

the GIRL who CIRCUMNAVIGATED FAIRYLAND in a ship of her own making

This is in serious contention for my favourite book of 2013!  You might be able to tell given that this is the longest review I’ve ever written.

Sublime, Charming, Whimsical, Magical, Utterly Brilliant, a work of Genius.  It is light and funny as well as dark and upsetting.  Everything a fairy tale should be!  The cover of the book I have has a quote from Neil Gaiman who calls it ‘Glorious’.  I’m not going to be the one to argue with a giant of storytelling like Gaiman.  Every superlative is well deserved.  I think in years to come this will be a classic and a must read.  I don’t know why this doesn’t have more attention, as I’m writing this there are only 36 reviews on the Amazon UK site!

Short Synopsis: Set during one of the World Wars, September is a Nebraskan 12 year old somewhat heartless girl whose Father is away fighting in Europe and Mother is busy working towards the war effort.  She feels rather abandoned by them and so when a Green Wind comes along and offers to take her to Fairyland she climbs onto his Leopard of Little Breezes and flies away, without even saying Goodbye.  Even getting into Fairyland is an adventure.  Once inside she embarks on a quest that has her crossing and then circumnavigating Fairyland.  She meets incredible characters, all of whom are well drawn and fully developed, even if they are only on a few pages.

It’s blindingly obvious to any reader that Valente has written a brilliant book here.  In the best tradition of fairy tales this has humour, love, friendship, violence, death, good, evil, personal sacrifice, and a little lesson to be learned.  This lesson being that the good and the bad exist in all of us, and nobody is as simple as they seem.  Our heroine is pretty kick-ass and brave, but she is not perfect, other characters have also been given such dual natures, meaning that each is as complex and diverse as any I’ve read anywhere.  Put simply - Valente’s characterisation is phenomenal.

The secondary characters, as I’ve said are complex and form strong bonds with September and the reader.  I loved A-through-L, the Wyverary (half Wyvern, half Library), and Saturday the blue-skinned Marid.  Gleam the lantern and Lye, the woman made of soap. Green and the witches are other favourites.

It’s not just the characters that excel.  Valente’s words are wonderful.  She’s a wordsmith extraordinaire.  The prose is downright lyrical, and a total pleasure to read.  It doesn’t feel like reading at all.  It’s like being wrapped in the softest cashmere, sitting on the squishiest cosiest armchair in front of a fire with a mug of rich hot chocolate.  Even when September’s quest is going badly and all appears hopeless you just can’t put it down.  The pace never lets up from start to finish and not a single word is wasted.  And I haven’t even mentioned that the writing style is incredible.  There are quotable passages to be had on nearly every page.  I have listed a few of my favourites below.

"She sounds like someone who spends a lot of time in libraries, which are the best sorts of people."

"... September read often, and liked it best when words did not pretend to be simple, but put on their full armour and rode out with colours flying."

"though you can have grief without adventures, you cannot have adventures without grief."

"When you are born," the golem said softly, "your courage is new and clean.  You are brave enough for anything: crawling off of staircases, saying your first words without fearing that someone will think you are foolish, putting strange things in your mouth. But as you get older, your courage attracts gunk, and crusty things, and dirt, and fear, and knowing how bad things can get and what pain feels like.  By the time you're half grown, your courage barely moves at all, it's so grunged up with living. So every once in a while, you have to scrub it up and get the works going, or else you'll never be brave again."

"And it's the wonders I'm after, even if I have to bleed for them."

"luck can be spent, like money; and lost, like a memory; and wasted, like a life."

"As all mothers know, children travel faster than kisses.  The speed of kisses is ... a cosmic constant.  The speed of children has no limits."

"September could see it. She did not know what it was she saw.  That is the disadvantage of being a heroine, rather than a narrator."

"The trouble was, September didn't know what sort of story she was in.  Was it a merry one or a serious one?  How ought she to act?  If it were merry, she might dash after a Spoon, and it would all be a marvellous adventure, with funny rhymes and somersaults and a grand party with red lanterns at the end.  But if it were a serious tale, she might have to do something important, something involving, with snow and arrows and enemies.  Of course we would like to tell her which.  But no one may know the shape of the tale in which they move."

Valente uses little tricks to engage the reader, though it never feels gimmicky.  One that springs to mind is the narration.  Valente herself is the narrator and from time to time she talks about the nature of Authors and Readers.  These little asides are inspired and really help to pull you further into the story and give it added meaning (just read some of the quotes above).  I also adored the illustrations and the teasers at the start of each chapter.  Valente gives you a sneak preview of what’s to come without giving away too much.

Who would it suit?  It’s multi-layered story-telling at it’s best, and suggests to me that young children, young adults and adults would each see something different.  For young children it’s an exciting adventure with interesting characters, young adults may see additional levels and for adults it has much more to offer.  I loved the idea of having your courage washed clean.

What I loved – Everything, but especially the narration and brilliant characters.

What I hated – Nothing. At all.

Discussion: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

A first for me as a Book Blogger, Helen from Fennell Books and I live in the same small town and attend the same book club.  Last year we both read The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce and when it came up as a book club read a couple of months ago we decided to get bloggy with it and collaborate...

Harold Fry was Helen's favourite book of last year, and I loved it too. You can see Helen's post here. So, join us, pour yourself a G&T/wine/diet coke/your tipple of choice... and read on.  Be warned, spoilers ahead!

H: So, was it better on the second read? I got a lot more from it the second time around.

L:  Definitely.  I think that it's one of those rare books that you could read again and again and always see something more with each reading.  A bit like watching a murder mystery and knowing who the killer is, seeing the clues you missed before.

H: I was wondering whether Queenie wrote to lots of people she knew to tell them her sad news, or whether it was just Harold. She clearly still loved him  I got the impression that Queenie was as isolated as Harold in her own way, so I couldn't see her writing to anyone else. I confirmed this when met Rachel Joyce at a Mr B’s event. She sad that Queenie had been very lonely all of her life.

H: Do you think that Harold and Queenie would have had a good relationship if they'd been together?

L: At first I did, but then as I thought about it Harold and Queenie were too similar.  Harold would have appreciated the quiet contented life with Queenie, but I don't think he ever had that mad rush of love with her that he had with Maureen.

H: Did you have a favourite part? I thought the parts when a small crowd joined him and they set up a Facebook page and sponsors appeared was very clever, and I can see that really happening. It was a clever contrast to the idea of this somehow being a "spiritual" journey for Harold.

L: The crowds and publicity, facebook page etc... was absolutely believable and inspired (though a little horrifying too), though I think my favourite part was everything after Harold finally reaches Queenie, even though that's the most heartbreaking part of the story, it's also the most uplifting too.  Is it weird to enjoy having your heart broken by a book?

H: I was a little puzzled by Harold's wife's response. She just let him go, and didn't seem concerned at all. I know their marriage was in a poor state, but it seemed odd to me.

L: I thought her strange too.  At first my impression was that she saw Harold as someone who just sort of shuffles through life never really doing anything significant or having an impact on the world around him, I don't think she ever expected him to actually commit to doing something like this and seeing it through to the end.  I think she expected him to give up when it got difficult and go home to sit at the table and be in her way.  I saw the Litlovers questions online and one of them suggested the idea that Maureen did not want to acknowledge that Harold might be walking away from his life as much as he was walking toward Queenie.  I think that was pretty insightful.

H: What did you think about the reveal of the fate of Harold's son? I wasn't surprised that the relationship had gone wrong. Harold had a poor upbringing in the sense of any close emotional support and so I got the impression he simply didn't know how to love. Perhaps Queenie could have been the one to show him how to care for another person, but he missed his chance. Maybe walking to see Queenie was Harold's way of learning.

L: I was so upset as all the way through Joyce had hinted that David and his mother were talking and I thought there would be a chance they would make up and build a healthy relationship.  Harold's inability to deal with negative emotions and conflict and David's attitude created a vicious escalating circle and I don't know if either could have saved the situation.  I think you're right about Harold's walking to Queenie was his way of learning, just sadly far too late for David.

L: I was a little underwhelmed by the amazing thing that Queenie had done for Harold in the past, what did you think?  From the way that Harold recalled it I was anticipating that she'd saved his life, or given David a kidney or something.  What she did was awfully generous and nice of her, but I can't help thinking that not working for Napier would be a good thing for Queenie.  I can't blame Harold for doing what he did, and would probably have done exactly the same thing far sooner.  I am very glad he had that outburst, metaphorical fist-bumps all around.

H: How many tissues did you need at the end? I cried buckets. It was so sad, but also so full of hope.

L: First time I read the book I read it nearly to the end without a tear and then he reached Queenie and I couldn't stop crying, seriously sobbing.  Second time around I had sad moments all the way through, since I knew what had happened to them in the past.

L: I remember you mentioning a Guardian article and revealing that Joyce wrote the book while her father was dying of cancer.  That suddenly made everything seem more intense somehow.  Also even more sad.  I know that you attended an author chat with Rachel Joyce recently (sooo jealous), did she say anything else about the story that would be good to know, or was it mostly about her new book?

H: There was a session about Harold Fry and then another session about Perfect, her new book. We talked about who might play Harold in a film version. David Jason was mentioned, but I am not sure he is “shuffley” enough…

I hope you enjoyed reading our discussion, here's hoping we can do some more from time to time!