The Name of the Wind

by Patrick Rothfuss | 662 pgs, published 2007

I sort of want to take back what I said about Mistborn being the biggest recommendation I’ve ever given. After reading The Name of the Wind, I immediately put it on my list of top 4 favorite books (the others: Ender’s Game, Jurassic Park, Cutting for Stone).

I’m not sure how this ended up on my list of books to read, but I was having trouble falling asleep one night this summer and got an email that the e-book was available for me to check out from the library. I meant to just read for half an hour or so. Instead I stayed up for hours. I couldn’t put it down. It was . . . amazing.

To roughly summarize, this is the story of Kvothe, who is something of a legend. He’s now living in a small village in obscurity, and most people believe he’s dead. When a man called The Chronicler comes looking for him, Kvothe agrees to tell his story and says it will take three days to tell. The Name of the Wind is the first day. It beautifully combines Kvothe’s first-person narration and “interruption” chapters of what actually happens while The Chronicler is there writing. There’s a fascinating magic-type system, based more on intellect and scholarly study than a normal fantasy magic would be, but there’s also an astounding amount of history built into the world. Legends within legends and that sort of thing. I can’t express enough how much I loved this book. I thought the writing was phenomenal and the story was brilliant.

Like the same kind of books as I do? READ THIS!

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Wired

by Douglas Richards | 352 pgs, published 2012

My mother-in-law loaned me this book with the warning that the writing wasn’t great, but the story was fun. And although it had a slow start, I ended up devouring the book in just over a day. And…I liked it!

The book has it all: crazy science, action, love interests, mystery, suspense…it’s true that the writing isn’t top-notch, but every one in a while I have to forgive that. For how much I enjoyed Wired, I’d definitely have to recommend it – if you’re willing to believe in a little over-the-top neuroscience. No joke, I think you’d like Wired too! (Beware the tacky cover, though.)

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The First Eagle

by Tony Hillerman | 288 pgs, published 1998

Okay, I’ve read enough Tony Hillerman books by this point in my life that I have a general idea of what’s going to happen. Murder, religion involved somehow, lots of descriptions of desert scenery, the main character is almost killed before brilliantly solving the crime and bringing the murderer to justice.

What I don’t expect is for every character to have a working knowledge of microbial biology. No joke, both Leaphorn and Chee recall learning about this in their university days and can carry on a conversation with a well-known biologist, asking questions that I have LOTS of trouble believing they’d be informed enough to ask. It just doesn’t seem relevant to their work or their characters. And it made the book a lot less interesting.

Skip this one. Please read other Leaphorn and Chee books, like Skinwalkers or Coyote Waits.

Buy The First Eagle on Amazon