Photobucket Photobucket

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Review of The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

BOOK DESCRIPTION FROM GOODREADS
Day Two: The Wise Man's Fear.
"There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man."

An escalating rivalry with a powerful member of the nobility forces Kvothe to leave the University and seek his fortune abroad. Adrift, penniless, and alone, he travels to Vintas, where he quickly becomes entangled in the politics of courtly society. While attempting to curry favor with a powerful noble, Kvothe discovers an assassination attempt, comes into conflict with a rival arcanist, and leads a group of mercenaries into the wild, in an attempt to solve the mystery of who (or what) is waylaying travelers on the King's road.

All the while, Kvothe searches for answers, attempting to uncover the truth about the mysterious Amyr, the Chandrian, and the death of his parents. Along the way, Kvothe is put on trial by the legendary Adem mercenaries, forced to reclaim the honor of the Edema Ruh, and travels into the Fae realm. There he meets Felurian, the faerie woman no man can resist, and who no man has ever survived. Under her tutelage, Kvothe learns much about true magic and the ways of women.

In The Wise Man's Fear Kvothe takes his first steps on the path of the hero and learns how difficult life can be when a man becomes a legend in his own time.
The words of Patrick Rothfuss will haunt you. They will invade your thoughts before you read, while you read and no doubt long after you have closed the book. Tell this story to a room filled with the world’s finest authors, minstrels, poets, actors and sideshow entertainers and they will laugh, they will shed tears, they will nod at the complexity, and they will weep that their own art looms in the shadows of the story they just heard. After The Name of the Wind (Day One [book 1] of the Kingkiller Chronicle) I was left awed and subdued by the mastery of this wonderful storytelling. In all honesty, I did not have any worries about how the continuation would turn out. Pat’s effort and resolve to take the necessary amount of time to put this epic tale together have definitely paid off. This story is long, dauntingly so. But the real horror I faced was that the end was coming faster and faster and thoughts of that in between reading were actually quite depressing. I felt like I was a ten year old kid who was just taken to Disneyworld for the first time and then told that I had to leave after only a few short hours of riding the best rides in the world. I am not even going to highlight my favorite parts of the book because I could in no way, shape or form do them the justice that they deserve. The whole book resonated within me like a new sun with my mind its closest planet. Twists and turns in the plot reverberated my thoughts back to me like only a set of ninety year old twins could finish each other’s sentences. Each scene is laid out perfectly and rich with detail. I loved it and that is really all that I can say. Except, Go out and read these books. Thank-you Patrick Rothfuss! I am deeply in your debt for the story that you shared with me. Godspeed.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Review of Impossible by Nancy Werlin

BOOK DESCRIPTION FROM GOODREADS
"Lucy has nine months to break an ancient curse in order to save both herself and her unborn daughter.

Inspired by the ballad “Scarborough Fair,” this riveting novel combines suspense, fantasy, and romance for an intensely page-turning and masterfully original tale.

Lucy is seventeen when she discovers that the women of her family have been cursed through the generations, forced to attempt three seemingly impossible tasks or to fall into madness upon their child’s birth. But Lucy is the first girl who won’t be alone as she tackles the list. She has her fiercely protective foster parents and her childhood friend Zach beside her. Do they have love and strength enough to overcome an age-old evil?"

This is the first book of Nancy Werlin's that I have read and I must say that it was really, really well done. It's nice to see teenage characters actually using logic for once. I believe that Impossibles lead character Lucy Scarborough is great throughout the entire novel. It was great to see Lucy and Zach's relationship unfold as they were such great childhood friends. As many others have said in their own reviews the story that revolves around a curse in the lyrics of a song is just plain and simple a great idea to keep people intrigued. Lucy has to go on a quest to quite literally keep her sanity and break the chain of torment that has plagued her family for so many generations. Thank-you Ms. Werlin for a great happy ending story that I was just in the mood for. I look forward to reading the other novels of yours that I have read many great things about.