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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 Once and Future King

The Once and Future King by T.H. White

I give this book a 4.

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Everyone knows the story of King Arthur, or at least, some part of it. I thought about trying to read Mallory and decided to pass. Then I thought of the cute Disney film, The Sword in the Stone, and learned that much of it came from the first “book” in this story. Truth be told, I was always curious about this book, but never took the time to read it, so at last I had an opportunity to listen to the audio book and took it.

For the most part, I adore this book. This is everything the story of King Arthur should be, a combination of realism and fantasy, innocence and guilt, and as always an underlined lesson to be learned. I don’t know if this is supposed to be a children’s book, but I guess it could be, as long as an adult is around to do a lot of explaining. If you can get a teen to sit down and read (or listen to) a book of this length, I think they will enjoy it.

I must say there are a few long passages that seem to drag the story along, over describing or explaining things, but I’ve been guilty of that myself. I would have to say that my least favorite part of the book was the whole love triangle. It seemed really silly to me, but most love triangles are, so that wasn’t a big deal and it is actually part of the original mythology. There were also some very drawn out political discussions that I could have done without, but if you’re a fan of politics in general, you’ll be quite pleased. My favorite part was, of course, Arthur’s youth.

It’s a shame that it took me so long to getting around to this story. It’s clear how this story has inspired others of its kind and I’m glad that to have finally experienced it.

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