The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

The Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicle Series #1) by Patrick Rothfuss — 9780756404079 — *****

Genre: Fantasy
Time to Read: 16 Days

Short Summary:
Things have gotten bad on the road. They’ve even begun to feel it in the Waystone Inn, where an innkeeper who is more than he seems is trying to lay-low and remain unnoticed. When a collector of stories called The Chronicler arrives at the Waystone Inn, however, he recognized the young innkeeper for who he is, and calls him by name: Kvothe. He convinces the flame-haired young man to tell his story, which is much greater than one would expect from a man so young. Kvothe agrees on the condition that The Chronicler records his tale exactly as it is given, with not a word different. It will take him three days, no less, which The Chronicler deems excessive. Still, he agrees, and quickly learns that Kvothe’s three-day requirement is completely necessary despite his young age.

Kvothe tells of his life growing up in a traveling troupe of performers. He tells of his years in one of the biggest cities in their world, and he tells of his time at the Arcanum: A University for students of magic. He tells a story of joy, tragedy, challenge, triumph, love, animosity, fear and fearlessness. He tells of himself as a boy with wisdom beyond his years who often displays a youthful folly that gets him in a great deal of trouble despite his cleverness. He tells the story of Kvothe, a hero and a horror. All the while, outside of the inn, trouble is brewing as demons come out to play.

Patrick Rothfuss’s The Name of the Wind is, by far, one of the best books I’ve read across all genres. Of course, I tend to favor those in the realm of fantasy, but this one holds its own against all of my favorites. Even re-reading it, I had a hard time putting it down. It made me late for work. It caused me to forget where I was and what I was supposed to be doing. It made time fly by so fast that I’d sit down at 11:00 and look up and see that the clock read 1:30 without any warning of time’s passing. In a word: Epic.

Because this book is actually a story being told by its main character, it has a lot of first-person narration that is broken up by third-person chapters that bring us back to “real-time” and tell us what is going on in the inn while Kvothe tells his story. Generally, I have a horrible time getting into first-person, but it is so well done in The Name of the Wind that it feels natural and I forget how much I usually hate the point of view as I’m reading.

The main character is extremely well-developed. He is the perfect hero, and by that I mean he is brave too the point of foolishness, smart enough to be a show-off, and clever enough to use his knowledge and bravery for fantastic feats. Basically, he is perfect, but perfectly flawed. He is, at times, a teen-aged boy who has no idea how to approach the woman of his heart’s desire. At other times, he is a boy who doesn’t know enough to back away from the schoolyard bully. Then again, he’s a young man who has been through a lot in his life and who knows how to handle himself in most situations. Over all, he is driven to find answers to a thousand questions, the most important one involving creatures that aren’t really just fairy-tale monsters, after all.

Patrick Rothfuss must be a juggler, because The Name of the Wind keeps so many elements in perfect balance that it is breathtaking. It’s a laugh-out-loud, edge-of -your seat, love-hate story that is full of joy, sorrow, horror, and so many other conflicting elements that they just shouldn’t work. But they do. They come together in a perfect harmony that flows so beautifully that it’s nearly impossible to put the book down.

That being said, I recommend The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss to anyone who has an imagination and likes to read.

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Sun Going Down by Jack Todd

Sun Going Down by Jack Todd — 9781416550488 — ***

Genre: Western
Time to Read: 32 Days

Short Summary:
Sun Going Down is an epic western novel that starts off on a steamboat on the Mississippi River in 1863 and ends in Nebraska in 1933. It follows Ebenezer Paint and his decedents through their lives out west, beginning at a time when the cowboys were real, cattle-drives were a way of life, Indians still rode free and life was quieter and simpler. America grows as the Paint family struggles and thrives through history. Based in part on letters and memoirs of the author’s own family, this novel is true-to-life, its characters are real, and their struggles and triumphs capture the heart and the imagination.

How to review a book that is sometimes impossible to put down, and other times difficult to resist throwing across the room in frustration? Sun Going Down is nearly impossible to summarize because it covers so much ground that you risk giving parts away in order to summarize others. It covers a lot of topics and spans four generations. Sometimes I loved it, sometimes I hated it, but over all, I liked it. But not. Let’s just say I have mixed feelings about this one, but mostly catch myself saying it’s a good book.

The thing that frustrated me the most while reading it was the change of main characters. Obviously, it has to happen in a book that spans 130 years, but the way Todd does it (in some instances) drove me crazy! The first change from father to sons was good, but from son to granddaughter bothered me, and when it went from granddaughter to great granddaughter with only 40 or so pages left, I wanted to scream!

His treatment of his characters also got to me. He waits until you develop an appreciation for them, then he turns on them and puts them through the worst hardships! You would expect as much when taking the time period and their way of life into consideration, but sometimes it seems like they can’t catch a break, and even when they do, it’s not as good as you think!

It is a very slow read, but not in a bad way. Leisurely, I guess you could say. The first third felt like a prologue, and the final quarter felt like a drawn-out summery of a conclusion, but the meat of the story, the main middle portion, was excellent. I caught myself wishing he had written it as a trilogy. Perhaps if it was broken up into three separate books, I would have enjoyed it more, because I would have been able to put it down and take a bit of a break, then go back to it. Then again, it was so slow going that I might not have picked up the second book. At least not for a very long time.

All that being said, it is a good book. It’s very rich with history, the characters walk off the pages (spurs jangling) and tell you their stories, and you fall in love with them, cheer them on, hate them, and want to hold their hands and help them through. Western isn’t my usual genre, so a regular reader of books of this nature will probably appreciate it more than I did, but I did enjoy it, and I would recommend it to someone who can tolerate a story line that is brutally realistic with characters living difficult lives in difficult times.

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