On the Bookshelf

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren. Go here to find out more.

This week I only picked up two books but I have been interested in getting to read these for awhile now.



 
Terra

Go read this book. Right now.

Occasionally you know that you are going to love a book within reading the first couple of pages. For me, The Name of the Wind was one such book. The Name of the Wind serves as a reminder of what makes good fantasy and has renewed my love of the genre.

There is a vast difference between Kvothe ("pronounced nearly the same as "quothe"."), the little boy who grew up in a traveling troupe of performers, and "Kote", the keeper of a failing inn in a small town, and between them lies the tale of Kvothe "Kingslayer", "Bloodless", "Arcane". While there is action and adventure, this first book of the Kingkiller Chronicles is very much the story about the person Kvothe was before he became a thing of legends, where he came from and how he started on the path to the man he became and who he is today, while also being full of promise of great events to come in the following books.

In realising that The Name of the Wind is a debute novel, it is a really amazing piece of work. It is clear that Rothfuss is dedicated to creating a world with it's own unique culture and history. Magic, or "sympathy" as it is known, has a role and as do some fantastical creatures. There is a fascinating aspect of seeking the truths behind superstitions, tales, and songs and through this Rothfuss has succesfully made the unbelievable aspects believable in terms of his reality.

When I first picked up The Name of the Wind, I balked a little at it's length as lately I have not had so much time to sit and read longer books to give them the time and dedication that I felt that this one would deserve. However, once I picked it up I became engrossed in the world and life of Kvothe, finding it difficult to set the book down. While reading I experienced a range of emotions, from laughter to having tears burning in my eyes (minding that I do cry at the drop of a hat, so to speak) and found the role of music on Kvothe's life to be particularly touching. In addition, I found the language flowed well and that the novel was well paced, making for an easy read. Upon finishing The Name of the Wind I felt the kind of satisfaction that comes with having just finished reading something wonderful, having found a new favourite book, and the need to visit again in the very near future.

Ignore any release dates that you have seen around for the second book of the Kingkiller Chronicle, The Wise Man's Fear, according to Patrick Rothfuss' website, all such dates are incorrect and he is still working on the book. I will be waiting patiently, however very eagerly, for the sequel.

Terra

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

From page 176 of The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.

A bit spoilerish? I would say not really in the context of the story but I suppose that you are just going to have to read the book to find out that context for yourself, which I absolutely recommend that you do.

I have done a teaser for this book a couple of weeks ago but it is only now that I have been able to give this book the attention it deserves. As a result there will be only the one review this week, which will be of The Name of the Wind, and sometime late in the week at that. This is so that I can enjoy the book without feeling rushed to finish it or, as I usually do, juggle it with reading several other books at once. I am really loving it so far.

Terra

It has been a bit of a slow week for me, reading wise. I have been running around looking at cars and in this heat that does not leave much energy left over for book hunting or even reading.

However, after enjoying Dreaming Again, edited by Jack Dann, so much I decided to pick up another of the anthologies that he edited as it was available down at the library. I also hope to, sometime soon, get the chance to read some of his own actual writings.


In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren. Go here to find out more.

Terra

All across the seven kingdoms there are people born with Graces, special skills above and beyond the norm. As a girl Katsa killed a man with her bare hands without even trying and from hence forth her Grace was recognised as killing. Her Grace is used in service to her king who has her punish any who displease him. While Katsa is feared by many for her horrific role, she is not without a conscious and in secret leads a Council with the goal to do good. One such mission leads her to Prince Po, a Graced fighter who is the only person that she has ever encountered who can match her in a fight. Together they seek the truth behind the kidnapping of Po's grandfather and discover a terrible secret that could be the downfall of all the seven kingdoms.

A massive thank you must go to my brother for buying me this book because I really loved it. Kristin Cashore has made a wonderful debut with Graceling.

The romance aspect was interesting in terms of Katsa's strong anti-marriage stance. Katsa views marriage as being like a cage, something that will tie her down and give a man ownership over her. Considering what Katsa then goes on to experience in a romantic relationship I found it disapointing that those experiences did not bring her to consider her views on marriage even if such considerations did not change her mind. Aside from the issue of marriage that could very nearly lend towards making her too strong, I thought that Katsa was well balanced as a strong female protagonist with both strengths and weaknesses, often tough but with occasional moments of softness.

The fantasy aspect of Graceling I enjoyed thouroughly. The antagonist was well matched to provide Katsa with a believable opponant, seeing as she is near unmatchable as a fighter. This was such an important aspect because, in knowing Katsa's physical capabilities, it was difficult to ever worry that her physical journey, however harrowing, was truely a threat to her.

The only other thing is that I would have liked Graceling to have been a bit longer, to have Cashore go into deeper detail with her world and the characters.

Some of the twists in Graceling I could guess while others took me entirely by surprise. I thouroughly enjoyed Graceling and after reading the preview at the end of the book of the "prequelish companion", I cannot wait to get stuck into Fire.

Terra

Wishful Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Bluestocking at The Bluestocking Guide.

 I have just finished reading Graceling by Kristin Cashore (review tomorrow!) which I loved. At the end of the book there was a preview of Fire

From Goodreads.com:
Fire, Graceling's prequel-ish companion book, takes place across the mountains to the east of the seven kingdoms, in a rocky, war-torn land called the Dells.

Beautiful creatures called monsters live in the Dells. Monsters have the shape of normal animals: mountain lions, dragonflies, horses, fish. But the hair or scales or feathers of monsters are gorgeously colored-- fuchsia, turquoise, sparkly bronze, iridescent green-- and their minds have the power to control the minds of humans.

Seventeen-year-old Fire is the last remaining human-shaped monster in the Dells. Gorgeously monstrous in body and mind but with a human appreciation of right and wrong, she is hated and mistrusted by just about everyone, and this book is her story.

Wondering what makes it a companion book/prequel? Fire takes place 30-some years before Graceling and has one cross-over character with Graceling, a small boy with strange two-colored eyes who comes from no-one-knows-where, and who has a peculiar ability that Graceling readers will find familiar and disturbing...

After reading Graceling I simply cannot wait to get stuck into Fire.

Terra

 Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

From page 268-269 of Graceling by Kristin Cashore. I just finished this book. Look for my review on Thursday!

Terra

From the moment that she first lay eyes on Daniel Grigori on her first day at Sword & Cross boarding school, Lucinda "Luce" Price has felt drawn to him as though a moth to flame. Daniel's attitude towards her is inexplicably hot and cold - cold and rude one moment and oddly kind the next.

Luce finds it impossible to let Daniel go. There is something achingly familiar about him and something more that he is keeping hidden. All the while, dark, ominous shadows are stalking Luce and only she can see them. Is she insane or are they actually something very real and dark tied in with the bizarre death that landed Luce in reform school?

I am happy to say that Fallen by Lauren Kate was better than I feared it might be. In this day of Twilight mania I find it very easy to expect very little out of these young adult supernatural romances. Fallen did, however, capture my interest after a woman came into the library where I was working ranting about how very good she thought it was.

The novel is well paced and I particularly enjoyed the rate at which Kate chose to slowly reveal information. On that note, thank you to the publishers for not giving away every single little mystery on the back cover! Too many YA supernatural romances seem to give these things away in the blurb these days. Fallen starts with a very strong prologue and I absolutely loved the tone that it set. If only that tone could have carried as strongly throughout the rest of the book although it was still good.

Luce's friendship with Penn developed well but in contrast other characters seemed to be forgotten. I am mostly speaking about Arriane. She was introduced as if she was going to be a significant character and seemed as though she would be one of Luce's closest friends but quickly seemed to fall to the wayside. While Arriane does make the comment "you've been hiding from me" as though to imply that she has been avoided by Luce, I still felt as though her absence went unjustified and prior to that moment I had been wondering why she had disappeared from the story.

I thought that Kate could have upped the action just a bit. I can understand why she approached the big finale the way that she did but, for example, instead of Luce just mentioning that Arriane showed her how to dodge the security cameras why did we not get to see it? Was she nervous about getting busted? I couldn't help but think that little things like the could have been used to up the tension just a little bit more. Speaking of the security, for having all of those cameras around, the students at Sword & Cross sure seemed to still get away with a lot. If the security cameras are supposed to create a feeling of oppression it seemed like nobody was really watching.

As for the romance, well, I confess I find it hard to get into a romance where the male love interest shares the same name as my brother but that is no fault of the author. The romance that Lauren Kate portrays is one of those where Luce feels intensely and is drawn to Daniel when she hardly knows him but Kate gives reason for this and it works in terms of the overall story. The love triangle also adds an interesting dynamic while trying to interpret Cam.

I found myself quite enjoying Fallen and that it was easy to read. There was something that drew me in, even if I cannot say for certain what it specifically was. Something that kept me up reading late wanting to know what would happen next. Early on while reading I could not honestly see how Fallen could warrant a sequel and if Lauren Kate had chosen to do so I am sure that it could have been fine as a stand alone novel. However, Kate has set herself up for the upcoming sequel while leaving plenty of questions open yet still providing enough answers to satisfy for now so I will definitely be keeping an eye out for the next book, Torment.

I also cannot help myself but to mention that I really love, love, love the cover on Fallen.

Terra