The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss
This is going to be spoiler free, so if you're interested in reading it after you should be ok.
This book is the first by writer Patrick Rothfuss. For a first published book it's pretty amazing, but a single big flaw kept me from really truly loving it. That single flaw is the main character, Kvothe. He's far too Mary-Sueish for my taste. He's a fast study at magic (at the age of 9 I believe, been a few weeks since I read the book). He's also amazingly talented as a musician and fairly skilled with a blade (though the specifics of how he gained this set of skills doesn't come up in this book).
On the flip side, his general personality and demeanor keeps him from being a complete wash as a character, and he isn't perfect as is proven on multiple occasions. Simply too smart and able to learn things to be quite right and it lowers how interesting he is as a character. Not enough struggle in the personal improvement area.
However the various supporting characters are much more likeable, both in present times and in Kvothe's past. The man recording his life story, his student, his friends at the famed University, his enemies. All of them feel like they have real life to them, real character.
An even stronger point in this book is Rothfuss's prose. I regularly felt his evocation of imagery was very striking and effective. I had little trouble seeing scenes in my head, yet he also didn't have to over explain them (something the Wheel of Time was infamously bad at).
Overall I certainly recommend the book, but depending on what else you're looking at reading it isn't a must read right this second (that distinction goes to some of the other books I've been reading lately).
This book is the first by writer Patrick Rothfuss. For a first published book it's pretty amazing, but a single big flaw kept me from really truly loving it. That single flaw is the main character, Kvothe. He's far too Mary-Sueish for my taste. He's a fast study at magic (at the age of 9 I believe, been a few weeks since I read the book). He's also amazingly talented as a musician and fairly skilled with a blade (though the specifics of how he gained this set of skills doesn't come up in this book).
On the flip side, his general personality and demeanor keeps him from being a complete wash as a character, and he isn't perfect as is proven on multiple occasions. Simply too smart and able to learn things to be quite right and it lowers how interesting he is as a character. Not enough struggle in the personal improvement area.
However the various supporting characters are much more likeable, both in present times and in Kvothe's past. The man recording his life story, his student, his friends at the famed University, his enemies. All of them feel like they have real life to them, real character.
An even stronger point in this book is Rothfuss's prose. I regularly felt his evocation of imagery was very striking and effective. I had little trouble seeing scenes in my head, yet he also didn't have to over explain them (something the Wheel of Time was infamously bad at).
Overall I certainly recommend the book, but depending on what else you're looking at reading it isn't a must read right this second (that distinction goes to some of the other books I've been reading lately).