The Best Book Ever Written (almost)
TychoCelchuuu
Anememone Join Date: 2002-03-23 Member: 345Members
Anememone Join Date: 2002-03-23 Member: 345Members
in Off-Topic
<div class="IPBDescription">Seriously though it's pretty awesome. Buy it</div>I've never asked you guys any favors. Sure, maybe a few of you. DOOManiac sent me his joystick. Scythe and Mouse help me launder money through the Australian financial system. X_Stickman has to live with the constant knowledge that I know more about Star Wars than him. [WHO]Them has refrained from destroying me with his freakishly huge muscles even though I make jokes about him being bald (like an 8-ball! heehee). I made fun of Rob's story when all he wanted me to do was fix it (it was totally broken though. I swear I'll finish reading it one day too). And Caboose knows what he does for me every third Tuesday night between 1AM and 4AM.
But now I'm asking of you all a sacrifice. And you know what? It's not a really big one. In fact, it's not even a sacrifice. I'm doing you a <i>favor</i>.
Yeah, that's right. I'm going to help <b>you</b> out. "Balderdash," you say, if you're my subconscious, which you're not, you probably said something that started with "bull" or you've skipped over this paragraph to get to the picture later in this post. But I'm serious. This is going to sound like I'm asking you to do something for me, but in reality, you're doing something for <u>yourself</u>.
You're going to buy a book.
Not just any book, though! (If you just bought a book, you should return it.) You're going to buy one of the best freaking books I've read since I realized there are more authors than Robert Heinlein.
You're going to buy <a href="http://nameofthewind.com/" target="_blank">The Name of the Wind</a>. That's kind of the book's website but I'm sure you'd much rather <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/075640407X/sr=8-1/qid=1147457990/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-1553101-9401416?%5Fencoding=UTF8" target="_blank">the Amazon.com link</a> because that will allow you to do yourself the favor.
"Why," you ask, "would I buy this book just because you say to do it?" Well, that's a good question, if you doubt me for some reason, which you shouldn't, because I'm cool. But I realize my word alone is not good enough, because I may have been captured and forced to write this post under duress. Therefore, I present to you exhibit A:
<div align="center"><img src="http://www.catfacts.org/cat-mouth-full.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
<b><u>Exhibit A</u></b></div>
Wait that's not exhibit A. That's a cat. Here's exhibit A <i>for real</i>.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->"THE NAME OF THE WIND marks the debut of a writer we would all do well to watch. Patrick Rothfuss has real talent, and his tale of Kvothe is deep and intricate and wondrous."
-<b>Terry Brooks</b>,
22-time New York Times bestselling author<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yeah yeah. One good quote by a good author. So what.
Exhibit B:
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->"Patrick Rothfuss gives us a fabulous debut, standing firmly on the main stage of the fantasy genre and needing no warm-up act. Jordan and Goodkind must be looking nervously over their shoulders!"
-<b>Kevin J. Anderson</b>,
New York Times bestselling coauthor of HUNTERS OF DUNE<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Okay fine, but I don't know who Jordan and Goodkind are and frankly Kevin Anderson's a bit of a ###### if you know what I mean.
Exhibit C:
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->"The debut novel from Patrick Rothfuss -- the first installment of an epic fantasy trilogy entitled the 'Kingkiller Chronicle' -- not only lives up to its extraordinary pre-press hype (DAW president Elizabeth Wollheim called it "the most brilliant first fantasy novel I have read in over 30 years as an editor"), it surpasses it. When fantasy fans begin reading THE NAME OF THE WIND, they should be fully prepared to lose all contact with the outside world while immersed in this highly original and mesmerizing tale of magic, love, and adventure."
–B & N<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Barnes and Noble? What the heck, they sell books! Obviously they're going to say it's good. Besides, I'm not a fantasy fan (seriously, The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter are the only fantasy I've really read). Plus that first sentence sounds lame. "Kingkiller Chronicle?" Boring. You have to admit it's quite a lot of praise though.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->"THE NAME OF THE WIND is quite simply the best fantasy novel of the past 10 years, although attaching a genre qualification threatens to damn it with faint praise. Say instead that THE NAME OF THE WIND is one of the best stories told in any medium in a decade. Author Patrick Rothfuss teaches English at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and he describes himself in self-deprecating terms as a perpetual student, role-playing geek, and connoisseur of rejection letters. That's all about to change. His debut novel combines the intricate stories-within-stories structure of The Arabian Nights with the academic setting of the Harry Potter series, and transforms it all into a brooding, thoroughly adult meditation on how heroism went wrong. More entries in the series, dubbed 'The Kingkiller Chronicle,' are promised; they can't appear fast enough."
–Onion AV Club<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The Onion AV Club actually knows its stuff. They gave it an "A," not even an A- but an A, and they don't just give those out.
I could go on but I've forgotten what exhibit I'm up to and you probably didn't read more than a sentence or two of all those quotes. I could add my own thoughts, which is that this book is so awesome that even though I'm sitting next to my library copy I'm going to go buy it the first chance I get (a big deal for a stingy dude like me).
We've gone a while without a picture so here's the cover.
<img src="http://www.patrickrothfuss.com/images/page/cover2.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
Yeah it's kind of ugly (although it doesn't look so bad in person) but trust me you're going to forget what the cover looks like once you're buried deep within the pages. The book is actually suprisingly cheap for a gigantic hardcover (it's not super duper long but the writing's big and the book is large) and if you're at all literate you owe it to yourself to buy the thing. You won't regret it unless someone you love dies on the same day and you missed out your last chance to be with them, but that's a risk I'm willing to take.
Buy it.
Dooooo it.
You could always order online if you're afraid of the loved-one-dying thing.
But now I'm asking of you all a sacrifice. And you know what? It's not a really big one. In fact, it's not even a sacrifice. I'm doing you a <i>favor</i>.
Yeah, that's right. I'm going to help <b>you</b> out. "Balderdash," you say, if you're my subconscious, which you're not, you probably said something that started with "bull" or you've skipped over this paragraph to get to the picture later in this post. But I'm serious. This is going to sound like I'm asking you to do something for me, but in reality, you're doing something for <u>yourself</u>.
You're going to buy a book.
Not just any book, though! (If you just bought a book, you should return it.) You're going to buy one of the best freaking books I've read since I realized there are more authors than Robert Heinlein.
You're going to buy <a href="http://nameofthewind.com/" target="_blank">The Name of the Wind</a>. That's kind of the book's website but I'm sure you'd much rather <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/075640407X/sr=8-1/qid=1147457990/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-1553101-9401416?%5Fencoding=UTF8" target="_blank">the Amazon.com link</a> because that will allow you to do yourself the favor.
"Why," you ask, "would I buy this book just because you say to do it?" Well, that's a good question, if you doubt me for some reason, which you shouldn't, because I'm cool. But I realize my word alone is not good enough, because I may have been captured and forced to write this post under duress. Therefore, I present to you exhibit A:
<div align="center"><img src="http://www.catfacts.org/cat-mouth-full.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
<b><u>Exhibit A</u></b></div>
Wait that's not exhibit A. That's a cat. Here's exhibit A <i>for real</i>.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->"THE NAME OF THE WIND marks the debut of a writer we would all do well to watch. Patrick Rothfuss has real talent, and his tale of Kvothe is deep and intricate and wondrous."
-<b>Terry Brooks</b>,
22-time New York Times bestselling author<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yeah yeah. One good quote by a good author. So what.
Exhibit B:
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->"Patrick Rothfuss gives us a fabulous debut, standing firmly on the main stage of the fantasy genre and needing no warm-up act. Jordan and Goodkind must be looking nervously over their shoulders!"
-<b>Kevin J. Anderson</b>,
New York Times bestselling coauthor of HUNTERS OF DUNE<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Okay fine, but I don't know who Jordan and Goodkind are and frankly Kevin Anderson's a bit of a ###### if you know what I mean.
Exhibit C:
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->"The debut novel from Patrick Rothfuss -- the first installment of an epic fantasy trilogy entitled the 'Kingkiller Chronicle' -- not only lives up to its extraordinary pre-press hype (DAW president Elizabeth Wollheim called it "the most brilliant first fantasy novel I have read in over 30 years as an editor"), it surpasses it. When fantasy fans begin reading THE NAME OF THE WIND, they should be fully prepared to lose all contact with the outside world while immersed in this highly original and mesmerizing tale of magic, love, and adventure."
–B & N<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Barnes and Noble? What the heck, they sell books! Obviously they're going to say it's good. Besides, I'm not a fantasy fan (seriously, The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter are the only fantasy I've really read). Plus that first sentence sounds lame. "Kingkiller Chronicle?" Boring. You have to admit it's quite a lot of praise though.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->"THE NAME OF THE WIND is quite simply the best fantasy novel of the past 10 years, although attaching a genre qualification threatens to damn it with faint praise. Say instead that THE NAME OF THE WIND is one of the best stories told in any medium in a decade. Author Patrick Rothfuss teaches English at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and he describes himself in self-deprecating terms as a perpetual student, role-playing geek, and connoisseur of rejection letters. That's all about to change. His debut novel combines the intricate stories-within-stories structure of The Arabian Nights with the academic setting of the Harry Potter series, and transforms it all into a brooding, thoroughly adult meditation on how heroism went wrong. More entries in the series, dubbed 'The Kingkiller Chronicle,' are promised; they can't appear fast enough."
–Onion AV Club<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The Onion AV Club actually knows its stuff. They gave it an "A," not even an A- but an A, and they don't just give those out.
I could go on but I've forgotten what exhibit I'm up to and you probably didn't read more than a sentence or two of all those quotes. I could add my own thoughts, which is that this book is so awesome that even though I'm sitting next to my library copy I'm going to go buy it the first chance I get (a big deal for a stingy dude like me).
We've gone a while without a picture so here's the cover.
<img src="http://www.patrickrothfuss.com/images/page/cover2.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
Yeah it's kind of ugly (although it doesn't look so bad in person) but trust me you're going to forget what the cover looks like once you're buried deep within the pages. The book is actually suprisingly cheap for a gigantic hardcover (it's not super duper long but the writing's big and the book is large) and if you're at all literate you owe it to yourself to buy the thing. You won't regret it unless someone you love dies on the same day and you missed out your last chance to be with them, but that's a risk I'm willing to take.
Buy it.
Dooooo it.
You could always order online if you're afraid of the loved-one-dying thing.
Comments
You'd better be right.
<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/X_Stickman/Stuff/TYCHOKNOWSNOWT.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
Damn, you could sell anything.
So what's this book about anyway?
On a side note, I'll buy it, but only after I finish reading Watchmen.
Hmm, maybe I'll have a go on this book after my exams. If I'm not to sick of reading by then. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink-fix.gif" />
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Ditto.
I'll definitely give it a go based on that review, I'm always looking for new authors. In return, I suggest Steven Erikson's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gardens-Moon-Malazan-Book-Fallen/dp/0765348780/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-4006452-3253437?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179483648&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Malazan Books of the Fallen</a>. Up to 7 books now (Starting with the one linked) I deeply suggest ignoring the terrible art cover (it's changed since the original I have, which was much better) it's definitely the best Fantasy series I've so much as looked at since George R. R. Martin, and has since surpassed it, in my opinion.
Every character is believable, and the story is so awsomely intricate and overlapping (you have "Oh <i>right</i>, that was him, was it?" moments every book), I couldn't reccomend it more.
<img src="http://trashotron.com/agony/images/2003/03-news/10-27-03/erikson-gardens_of_the_moon.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
A few quotes, I apologise for not looking harder for prestigious ones.... <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
<!--QuoteBegin-"Stephen R Donaldson"+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE("Stephen R Donaldson")</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Erikson afflicts me with awe…his work does something that only the rarest of books can manage: it alters the reader’s perceptions of reality’<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-"Michael A. Stackpole"+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE("Michael A. Stackpole")</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Combines a sense of mythic power and depth of world with fully realized characters and thrilling action<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-"Salon.com"+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE("Salon.com")</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->..Give me, instead, the evocation of a rich, complex and yet ultimately unknowable other world, with a compelling suggestion of intricate history and mythology and lore. Give me mystery amid the grand narrative. There's no need to spell it all out; no prefaces, please, elucidating the history of Middle Earth as if to students in a lecture hall. Instead, give me a world in which every sea hides a crumbled Atlantis, every ruin has a tale to tell, every mattock blade is a silent legacy of struggles unknown.
Give me, in other words, the fantasy work of Steven Erikson.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
- Shockwave
So what's this book about anyway?
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yeah, I'm not spending money on a book with sh*tty cover art.
It'd be nice if there was a review of the book, not an opinion.
Those Eriksson books are tempting me though. But right now I'm on my third successive Ian M. Banks book, with several more to go, so I have plenty of reading material to keep me happy for 2-3 months.
edit: good review though tycho.
I think I HAVE a copy of this book. My mum tends to give me a few books for my birthday, and she always tries to get the first book in a new fantasy series. I havn't gotten around to reading all of my birthday books (I had just started rereadign WoT before then, and I always get alot of book for my birthday). When I get home I will see if I have a copy.
If not I will be pickign one up myself.
Thanks for the info <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
Ka-ching!
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Kidna sad, but I don't even think that was a referal link.
I might, but fantasy's really not my genre (aside from Tolkien, of course). Now if you'd been advertising a sci-fi book, I'd probably be interested.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yeah, I know what you mean. Like I said, the only fantasy I've ever read (like, ever) has been Tolkien and Harry Potter. I also read "Magic Kingdom For <strike>Sale</strike> Sold!" but that's literally it. This book, though, shouldn't be seen as fantasy. Like The Onion AV Club said, ""THE NAME OF THE WIND is quite simply the best fantasy novel of the past 10 years, although attaching a genre qualification threatens to damn it with faint praise. Say instead that THE NAME OF THE WIND is one of the best stories told in any medium in a decade."
The book (the Kingkiller trilogy I guess) is about a guy named Kvothe. In the beginning of the book he begins to tell his life story to a storyteller to preserve it for posterity or whatever. His life story takes three days to tell; <i>The Name of the Wind</i> is the first day of the story. It sounds a little meh but the book's spectacularly well written and it's an amazingly engaging story, not to mention the world that this guy has crafted is frankly amazing in how well thought out it is. You know how Tolkien invented languages and history and all that stuff for Middle-Earth? It's a lot like that only less nerdy because this guy isn't a linguistics professor.
Like I said, he's planned a trilogy, but he says he also wants to explore the rest of the world he's created, writing about other characters that only have a small part in the trilogy or expanding on the history or stuff like that. I'm serious, if I miss out on any books this guy could possibly have written because enough you mugs didn't buy this thing, I am going to be ######. It's like how nobody watched Firefly and then it died, only this time I have a chance to tell you all to watch Firefly.
Oh and Merkaba that's not a referral link. Or if it is, it's the author's referral link since I copied it from his site. But I don't think you can give yourself a referral link. You could always buy it from your local bookstore. They'd appreciate the business since really these days selling books is about as profitable as sawing off your own fingers and selling them for the meat.
Like I said, he's planned a trilogy, but he says he also wants to explore the rest of the world he's created, writing about other characters that only have a small part in the trilogy or expanding on the history or stuff like that.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
SWEET JUBLIES!
If his world is worth the salt I will be very happy. I always get sad when a good serries ends, and that is it for the world, nothing more.
SWEET JUBLIES!
If his world is worth the salt I will be very happy. I always get sad when a good serries ends, and that is it for the world, nothing more.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Minus the "jublies" bit, that's almost word for word what the author said. Basically "it always ticked me off when I only got to see a tiny bit of a world I loved." So hopefull that won't happen here <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" />
(if you all buy the book)
Minus the "jublies" bit, that's almost word for word what the author said. Basically "it always ticked me off when I only got to see a tiny bit of a world I loved." So hopefull that won't happen here <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" />
(if you all buy the book)
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Ya, anyone know how long Amazon takes to deliver to France? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":(" border="0" alt="sad-fix.gif" />
Ya, anyone know how long Amazon takes to deliver to France? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":(" border="0" alt="sad-fix.gif" />
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The longer you wait, the longer it takes! You should be able to tell by adding it to your cart or something and going to the checkout.
Ya, anyone know how long Amazon takes to deliver to France? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":(" border="0" alt="sad-fix.gif" />
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
not very if you get it from amazon.fr I assume
<a href="http://www.amazon.fr/Name-Wind-Patrick-Rothfuss/dp/075640407X/ref=sr_1_2/403-2622868-8476412?ie=UTF8&s=english-books&qid=1179527558&sr=8-2" target="_blank">Link To book on amazon.fr</a>
you haven't read this yet?
(or did you borrow it and are now buying it?)
Wait.
you haven't read this yet?
(or did you borrow it and are now buying it?)
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I noticed that curious turn of events, too.