The Wise Man's Fear Review

Title: The Wise Man's Fear
Author: Patrick Rothfuss
Series: Kingkiller Chronicles #2
Genre: Epic Fantasy, Magic, Assassins, Action, Adventure, Fae, Martial Arts

Review:

The Wise Man's Fear is basically a continuation of Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind, the first book of the Kingkiller Chronicles trilogy. "Wise Man's Fear" continues to employ the first person-third person view switching of the story as Kvothe continues to tell his story to the Chronicler his adventures and exploits in the University as well his adventures to another place called Severun, his unfortunate time at the hands of the fae and to his desire to follow the mystical path of righteouness and learn the Ketan martial art and the Lethani.

As with the Name of Wind, Wise Man's Fear still has the presense of J.R.R Tolkien (deep fantasy words and languages) and George R.R. Martin's influence (switching reader views) and some Harry Potter (the University). Rothfuss takes to the the protagnis't journey with a passion and depth that routinely turns the trite into the transcendent.

Overall, this sequel carries the first book’s ideas and wild exuberance further. Wise Man's fear is a great addition to your fantasy reading list as the series itself is a breath fresh air for the epic fantasy genre.

The Name of the Wind Review

Title: The Name of the Wind
Author: Patrick Rothfuss
Series: Kingkiller Chronicles #1
Genre: Epic Fantasy, Magic, Assassins, Action, Adventure

Review:

In "The name of the Wind" is a breath of fresh air for me in terms of the fantasy genre after being saturated with J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and Margaret Weis/Tracy Hickman's Dragonlance and I think Patrick Rothfuss hit a the mark on this initial installment of the Kingkiller Chronicles trilogy.

The Name of the Wind tells the story of the notorious Kvothe (pronounced as "quothe"), the red-haired man who ended his adventuring days to live incognito as an innkeeper. But when a historian called the Chronicler appears on his Inn, Kvothe accepted the opportunity to tell the story of his life.

As he goes on telling his story, it was reveal that Kvothe has a tragic childhood as his parents where murdered by a legendary dark wizard. After his parent's death he spend years as a street urchin to which he develop is "streets smarts skills". Seeking to avenge his parent's death, he enters a school of magic and developed his skills.

An interesting concept that I think Mr. Rothfuss has introduced on this book was the how he change views from a first-person narration (during Kvothe's recollection) to the third-person views (interludes at the inn) which has a similar feel to George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. Despite this impressive writing innovations, there are some flaws that I think hurt this books rating for me (too much redundant description of small things (Kvothe's penchant for describing how many coins he own, etc.) which could have been summarized.

Overall "The Name of the Wind" is a good first installment to a great series but will hold off my final judgement until I have read all of the books, but this book is good on it's own but it might get better if we can read the whole series (like Tolkien's Lord of the Rings). 

Perfect Shadow Review

Title: The Perfect Shadow
Author: Brent Weeks
Series: Night Angel Trilogy Prequel, Novella
Genre: Epic Fantasy, Magic, Assassins, Action, Adventure

Book Preview:

Discover the origins of Durzo Blint in this original novella set in the world of Brent Weeks' New York Times bestselling Night Angel trilogy."I got a bit of prophecy," the old assassin said. "Not enough to be useful, you know. Just glimpses. My wife dead, things like that to keep me up late at night. I had this vision that I was going to be killed by forty men, all at once. But now that you're here, I see they're all you. Durzo Blint."Durzo Blint? Gaelan had never even heard the name.Gaelan Starfire is a farmer, happy to be a husband and a father; a careful, quiet, simple man. He's also an immortal, peerless in the arts of war. Over the centuries, he's worn many faces to hide his gift, but he is a man ill-fit for obscurity, and all too often he's become a hero, his very names passing into legend: Acaelus Thorne, Yric the Black, Hrothan Steelbender, Tal Drakkan, Rebus Nimble.But when Gaelan must take a job hunting down the world's finest assassins for the beautiful courtesan-and-crimelord Gwinvere Kirena, what he finds may destroy everything he's ever believed in.

Review
This is my second short story/novella that I have read among my collection of e-books as I rarely read novellas unless it serves as a prequel of a book series that interests me. This week I was able to finish reading Brent Meek's "Perfect Shadow" which is a prequel to the Night Angel trilogy series.

The story setting is somewhat similar to Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire to which the protagonist Gaelen Starfire (which is one of Durzo Blint's past name before the start of the Night Angel trilogy) is telling his life story to a young redhead Yvor Vas who later on was revealed to have an interest in "acquiring" the Black Ka'Kari from Durzo to no avail.

This novella is a must read for those who want to start reading the Night Angel series as this will give you an overview about Durzo Blint's history.