Kvothe

You know how sometimes you discover something (a movie, a new food) that totally resets your whole personal rating system? Like out of five stars, either the new thing needs to be a six or everything you’ve ever rated needs to be brought down a notch?

Patrick Rothfuss’s books did that for me.

I read The Name of the Wind around this time last year, and followed it immediately with the sequel, The Wise Man’s Fear.

I would describe the books as the most interesting person ever to have lived telling his life’s story to a biographer. He tells the story over three days, and each day is one of the books (the third is yet to be published). Yet… they are so much more than that.

“You see, women are like fires, like flames. Some women are like candles, bright and friendly. Some are like single sparks, or embers, like fireflies for chasing on summer nights. Some are like campfires, all light and heat for a night and willing to be left after. Some women are like hearthfires, not much to look at but underneath they are all warm red coal that burns a long, long while.”
— The Name of the Wind

“If she was beautiful at rest she was doubly so awake. Asleep she was a painting of a fire. Awake she was the fire itself.”
— The Wise Man’s Fear

The writing is beautiful without being flowery. The characters are well-fleshed-out and the world they live in is complete and very detailed without being overwhelming. There’s magic (“sympathy”) and books and music – I can’t accurately describe how wonderfully Patrick Rothfuss writes musicians. It’s like you can hear the songs in your head and feel just how important music is to the characters.

Also, you know how you sometimes read a book and you’re like, THIS NEEDS TO BE A MOVIE RIGHT NOW? While I think the books would be amazing on the big screen, there’s no way anybody could do them justice and I can only see myself coming away disappointed. I mean, maaaayyybe it’d be all right if it was directed by Peter Jackson and was a super-extended director’s cut. Or possibly if they did it as a really high-budget TV show like Game of Thrones? It needs a format that would give it enough space to breathe and tell the full story instead of cramming it into an hour and a half and making it an action/adventure mess.

The Kingkiller Chronicles are my new RECOMMEND TO EVERYONE books. They blew my mind in the best way possible and I can’t wait for the third one to come out. If you haven’t read them, I highly recommend making a trip to your local library or bookstore and picking up a copy. I don’t think you’ll regret it.

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