Monday, March 21, 2011

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

Thanks, Justin, I really enjoyed this. It didn't take nearly as long to read as I thought it would because I found it quite difficult to stop reading - thank goodness I waited until Spring Break to start. Of course, this is only volume one in this mmvfs (massive multi volume fantasy saga), subtitled "Day One." That refers to the structure of the story. The hero is telling his story to a scribe and they've only been at it for one day. Since he demanded three days of the scribe's time, one must assume that the plan is for three volumes.

One of the reasons that I found this more to my liking than the George RR Martin book was that it was far more focused. We follow the one character relentlessly, practically breath by breath - after about 800 pages he is still only sixteen or seventeen - rather than skipping around to share the story line with other casts of characters.

The story is consistent, the characters are persuasive, and the setting is appealing. And some elements are totally unexpected. What more can you ask from a mmvfs?

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