Earth’s Review Corner: The Name of the Wind
Earth's Review Corner, where all the reviews you ever wanted will live, begins here, with Patrick Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind.
Earth’s Mightiest is proud to reveal our brand spankin’ new regular feature, Earth’s Review Corner. It is where all our reviews are going to end up, and allow us to expand to more than just the odd comic here and there. We’ll be covering DC and Marvel comics, both regular and TPB’s, fantasy and sci-fi books, and more.
I’m looking forward to beginning some regular reviews on the Marvel comics, but as I await some tech issues to be sorted out, I thought that we’d get the ball rolling with a book that has recently made its way on to my bookshelf.
First published back in March of 2007, this book is only just making its way to Australian shores. As such, it wasn’t surprising to see it spread all around my local Borders store. A large book, sitting in a 662 pages long, and feeling very heavy in my hands, I was surprised I hadn’t heard anything about it. It seemed to be everywhere, and yet…
Written by Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind is the first in a trilogy, written in the same vein as Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings; ie, it is not 3 separate books, but one large book split in to 3 books. Originally written under the working title of The Song of Flame and Thunder, the book has already won two awards, taking home The Quill Award and one of Publishers Weekly’s Best Books of the Year.
I was taken in from the very first page, as it was nothing like I expected. Without giving away anything, as that is the worst sin of a review, the book portrays characters that are so real you wake up looking around for them in your own house.
Rothfuss has a way with words; there is no doubt in that. The Epilogue and Prologue were simply some of the most amazing pages I have ever had the pleasure of reading. They force the mind open, in to this state that prepares you for the way the rest of the book will run.
Rothfuss is vivid, imaginative, dramatic and a master storyteller. That this is a debut novel means nothing. Where some suffer from a new-ness to the genre, Rothfuss shows a love and understanding of the fantasy genre that many must work hard to achieve. That is not to say that he hasn’t worked hard, this book shows all the indications of a book fought to be written. The plot lines, characters and places are all so real that one can only imagine the state of the mind upon completion of this book.
I am a fantasy fan to the very core. My bookshelves are crammed with authors ranging from Barclay to Tolkien to Lewis to Hobbs to Pratchett. The day that I picked up The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, I found another author to whom I will be both indebted and loyal too to the end of my days. Do yourself a favor, go out and pick up The Name of the Wind! You’ll love it from front to back!