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At 993 pages the second book of the Kingkiller Chronicle is an epic in and of itself, let alone when combined with 672 page first book, “The Name of the Wind.” Even more to the point, the audio book version of “The Wise Man’s Fear” took over 43 hours – which translates into multiple [...]
The interesting thing about this book – well, the Chronicle in general – is that it is split between two different time frames. In the ‘present’ time, the main character is an inn-keeper hiding on the edge of civilization. He is fairly happy in this new role…except that deep within himself there is a longing for the glory days of old. So he begins to tell the story of this life to a scribe who wanders into the inn on accident…. This is where the second time frame comes in – the time frame of the past. It is in this time frame that takes up the lion share of the book as it is full of daring adventures, romance and history (the history is important as it helps one to understand the new world created by Rothfuss for his characters). Being a fantasy novel, there is magic and the like – only in this series, the magic is more along the lines of Clarke’s third law:
Some thoughts: 1) The books had a lot more detail in them then I recall… for some reason, I remembered a lot more action / journeying and less poems and history. This may have been because I skipped/skimmed those parts before…something I really couldn’t do while listening to the audio version. 2) Along those lines, I have come to the conclusion that the poems and songs of Tolkien were not meant to be read silently. No, they were meant to be read aloud with heart. To this end, I HIGHLY recommend listening to the audio book as Rob Inglis does an amazing job bring these parts to life! 3) Through out the series, Tolkien continued to highlight the strength of hope – hope that one day all will be set right; hope that darkness will be overcome; hope that rescue would come; hope that the grief experienced now would be worth it… 4) The other big theme in the series was the question, “What will you do with the cards given?” Basically, while we may wish we could live like our fathers and our fathers’ father, sometimes life calls on us to live a different life – one full of pain and sorrow. In Frodo’s case, he had to destroy the ring even though he wished he could have lived a life of peace back home. Spurred on by the filming of the Hobbit in New Zealand, I have been reading listening journeying through Middle Earth. Even though I have read the famed works of J.R.R. Tolkien many times before, this is the first time I have read them since Peter Jackson’s films came out. In listening to the unabridged [...] A month or so ago Em came home with a book about dragons. This in and of itself is not really surprising as she has done that before. Yet, this time there was a small difference. Namely, she brought home Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey. Yelp – one of the Dragon Riders of Pern books. [...]  Nation by Terry Pratchett Ah. Pratchett – the crazy Discworld genius from the UK who writes some of the best social commentaries in print. This time he wrote a novel set in a world similar to our own – abet in a parallel universe. Nation is a look into different cultures, human nature, religion, and science. The book starts off with a huge tidal wave destroying the human population of a small South Pacific island – save one young boy named Mau. Yet, as the book cover states, when something is taken away, something else is always given. I don’t want to give away too much of the story line as it is a good book – especially the first half in which we find ourselves watching the meeting of two vastly different cultures. Continue reading Nation by Terry Pratchett The second of the three volumes Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini was pretty dang good. (click here for a review of the first book) My greedy hands obtained the audio book on Thursday and didn’t let go until Monday evening – 20 CDs and 12 plus hours later…. much to my demise as the [...] Dragons. Elves. Magic. Heroes. Novel. Written by a 15 year old boy. Those are the rumors that reached my ears about Eragon. So, I did what any self respecting book worm would do – I checked the book out the library and proceeded to listen to it. (audio books rock!!) In a [...] Ah – the fun filled, wacky world of Terry Pratchett. It makes the day go smoother and faster. (not that the day actually walks or otherwise moves). Yesterday I had to pleasure of spending half an hour browsing the local Library – which can be a bad thing if your name is Ardell and [...] |
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