Posts tagged fantasy

For any fans of the Study series, Maria V. Snyder is apparently going to write another Study trilogy about Yelena and the gang! So excited! Really hope it’s good :) I think it’s a long way off but I’m still excited already!

The Name of the Wind tells the life story of Kvothe and he certainly is a man with a tale worth telling. We follow his journey through growing up in a traveling troupe, living on the streets and studying at the University. This is a story on a grand scale as we meet Kvothe when he is older and recounting his many adventures to his companions.

Rothfuss has written a book about, amongst other things, the nature of storytelling as Kvothe is a skilled storyteller himself and wants to be sure that he gets to narrate his own tale in order that people get a true version of events as his reputation is not a good one. The structure of the book is perfect for this story as the tale of Kvothe’s life is interspersed with interludes back in the present day with an older Kvothe. The way that Rothfuss weaves his tale is one that has you hooked without you even realising it. It is such easy prose to read but at the same time it is rich and descriptive without being excessive. It’s not an action packed novel but that’s not the point of it and you wouldn’t want it to be.There is a perfect balance to his writing between description and action that you can’t help but marvel at. Can you tell yet that I loved this book?

It is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. You will find yourself rooting for Kvothe completely. There is a scene where he plays a song for an audience which might not sound particularly dramatic but the description of the audience was so spot on that I was moved and I obviously couldn’t even hear the song he was supposed to be singing. That’s just the way Rothfuss writes it.

This book is quite long and the thing that always concerns me with long books is whether it will be worth my while because I’m not a particularly fast reader. This book is well worth your time. I will be buying and reading the sequel as soon as I can.

Rating - ***** 5 stars.

Touch of Power is the first of Maria V. Snyder’s new series about Avry, a healer in a world broken by an outbreak of a plague. The people of the Fifteen Realms are suspicious of the healers, believing they started the plague and so Avry is on the run and soon finds out she is the last healer alive, making her very valuable.

Snyder’s writing is really easy to read, not in a bad way, it’s just I find her books are always oddly relaxing to read. As with her previous three series, the main character is relatable and you’ll find yourself warming to Avry. What I like about Snyder’s books is the fact that the story just starts straight away and doesn’t bother with lots of description setting up the fantasy world. Snyder unfolds her fantasy worlds gradually and doesn’t batter you with facts as her books are very character-driven.

I really really wanted to love this book. I read Poison Study (the first in her Study series) and LOVED it. It’s one of the most original books I’ve read and it really is such a great read. However since that series I hate to say I’ve been a bit disappointed. Her books since that series (Glass series, Inside series and now this one) haven’t been able to live up to the brilliance of Poison Study in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy this book but it was only ok which was a shame. I would say it’s good for a holiday read that you don’t really have to think about. I would recemmend Poison Study instead.

Also I couldn’t decide whether to mention this but a thing that annoyed me was the fact that Avry’s love interest, Kerrick, hits her (it’s a very minor spoiler, only 50 pages in or so.) It’s not random, she’s his prisoner in the beginning - then obviously in the end, she falls in love with him which I found a little hard to believe. I get that we’re supposed to see how repentent he is and how he changes towards her etc etc but I just thought it was unnecessary. He was mean to Avry in the beginning, fair enough but… I don’t know, this fact just kind of grated on me throughout the rest of the book.

Rating - *** 3 stars