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Review: The Name of the Wind

The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle #1) by Patrick Rothfuss

I give this book a 5.

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This is the story of Kvothe, who also has many other names, as told by the man himself. He is a wizard, but he’s something else too. He is powerful and defiant and “the stuff of legends”. This story beckons to a time when stories were told as song or poems, like the Iliad, but it goes far beyond that.

The Name of the Wind is one of those stories that I think people will either love or hate for two reasons. 1, the story of a wizard in this day and age can’t escape a comparison to Harry Potter. You either like the differences or not. 2, this is not a typical high fantasy tale of a wizard. Kvothe is a multifaceted character that doesn’t fit neatly into any specific category and readers will either appreciate that or not.

This story is crammed full of themes and elements that trigger excitement and emotion in my heart and mind, and I’m not just talking books. There are orphans, criminals, outcasts, demons, common folk, royalty, drug dealers, fairies, actors and there’s ageism, racism, classism, religion, and magic and more.

Having this story be told from Kvothe’s point of view is also atypical. He goes out of his way sometimes to down play or up play certain parts of his tale, but he can only fool half the people half the time. He tells his tale with such realism that you forgive the times when he goes off on an exaggerated tangent. Reading the part where Kvothe tries to describe the beauty of woman speaks volumes to perception versus reality, and the notion of telling people what they want to hear versus telling them what you want them to hear.

Now that I’ve gone and thoroughly confused you, let me say this. I love this book and will be glad to read the next installment.  While this is probably not a good bedtime story, it should be suitable for most teens, but this is definitely a story any adult with an interest in fantasy and or adventure will appreciate.

This review has been posted to GoodReads. If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

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Review: The Guardian’s Apprentice

The Guardian’s Apprentice (Beyond the Veil, book 1) by J. Michael Radcliffe

I give this book a 4, almost a 4 ½, but I’m sticking with a 4.

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Keegan Whitestone just found out he is descendent from wizards, which he thinks is a horrible thing, but he soon realizes that it’s just a part of life and he needs to suck it up. Besides, it’s not like his old life was all that great anyway.

This is classic high-fantasy and I like it.

The reasons I didn’t give this a higher rating are:

1. Keegan is a little annoying throughout the whole book. I grew to like him more as the story progressed, but I still found that all the other characters in story were more interesting than him, by the end.

2. The depiction of time felt off to me. There were times when it took some rereading for me to figure out whether a little or a lot of time had passed in between scenes.

3. The whole idea of Keegan’s power overtaking him also seemed a little off to me. He may all of sudden become powerful enough to defeat his enemies, but then he’s told to control himself and hold back. I’m still trying to decide if that’s a necessary subplot or just annoying.

Overall, though, I really enjoyed the story and will be reading more from this series.

This review has been posted to GoodReads. If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

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Review: The Oath

The Oath by Frank Peretti

I give this book a 4.

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This book is not what I thought it would be, but I liked it. The Oath tells the story of a town with so many secrets that people are beginning to die because of them, but maybe this has been going on for a while. At the beginning of the story, it is a stranger from out of town who’s the victim of a horribly violent death that begins to bring light to the existence of the Oath.  The Oath itself is a little difficult to grasp, but it seems that the people of this town have collectively decided to do whatever they want at any time and never speak of it, proudly defying the notion of consequence or sin. As everyone knows, no secret is kept forever and in Hyde River, the silence has manifested itself with terrifying results.

This book was a short and easy story to traverse. The imagery was in-depth, but not wordy. I felt as if the whole story was delivered in a matter-of-fact kind of way, as if the author was telling you the story at your house over coffee. I think what I liked best about the book was how real it seemed. I’m pretty sure I’ve been to that small town on more than one occasion. A place where people point the finger at one another, but never actually says anything.

From a fantasy perspective, the physical manifestation of sin is one of the scariest monsters I’ve come across in a while. I was intrigued by the hunting sequences and the whole predatory and prey struggle. There is absolutely nothing vulgar about this story, but it does touch on many sensitive subjects such as: infidelity, substance abuse, greed and pride, and more.

Me being me, I also liked the spiritual aspects of the story. This is definitely an adult read, but while younger children may not be able to understand the imagery or handle the dark elements, and some teens may not be able to grasp the maturity of some themes, I think this is good story for anyone.

This review has been posted to GoodReads.

If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords