Review: The Name of the Wind

Right, before I start reviewing, I just want to point out that in fact, it feels kind of weird to review this masterpiece. It feels like I have to look at it in another way than when I read it - and I really, really wouldn't want to see this book in another way than it really is - the best book I have read.

Alright, now that we got that out of the way, let me present to you the review for a splendid piece of fantasy called The Name of the Wind. It's the first novel by fantasy "rookie" Pat Rothfuss. It's his first novel, and after it's release it climbed higher and higher on the stairs of "awesome fantasy" and is today in my (and a lot of others) opinion among the best fantasy reads out there.

The story is masterfully written in two ways, so to say. Or two threads of the story, more like. First, we have the present. At the beginning of the book, the first few chapters, we visit a man called Kote, an innkeep in a small town in the middle of nowhere. A scribe named Devan Lochees, calling himself Chronicler, visits and having heard of Kote and his adventurous life, he finds him and begins to write down the red-haired magicians stories. That is the present thread. We return to Kvothe, Chronicler and themischievous assistant Bast every now and then in so-called interludes.

Then, we have the story of Kote. Who isn't really named Kote, that's just the name he took when he "dissappeared". His real name is Kvothe, and he travels the land with his mother, father and a troupe, entertaining people with music, acting and acrobatics and other magnificent arts. What you read is actually the story told by Kvothe to the Chronicler Devan, as they sit in the inn one night.

Kvothe, Son of Arliden lives a happy, safe life with his kind, the Edema Ruh, a nomadic people travelling, as described above. They have a good time and Kvothe learns to act, play the lute and sing. One day, a man called Abenthy joins the troupe. He is a magician, a practicer of the magic arts, Sympathy, thaught at the University, the school of magic. He begins tutoring Kvothe in all sorts of science, philosophy, history, and even magic.

It all seems to go very well, although Kvothe has already had some mishaps with Sympathy. But then, something goes terribly wrong and one night after young Kvothe has been out strolling, he comes back to find the troupe massacred, his family dead and their caravans burned. A group of mysterious persons called the Chandrian are there, and they tell Kvothe that "Someone has been singing the entirely wrong sorts of songs..."

Kvothe flees.

His story plays out on the rooftops and alleys of the city of Tarbean, where Kvothe lives the life of a pickpocket and a beggar, occasionally helping an orphanage to earn food, but at the same time getting in trouble over and over again. This part of the book is the most miserable, and it depicts a young boys' fight for survival in a city where those with money own everything and those without are not seen as humans.

But Kvothe manages to gather a small sum of money and ventures off to enter the University. It is the great school in which magic, under different names, is thaught. It also teaches chemistry, alchemy, history, medical arts and such. Kvothe is driven to this giant school mainly because of it's huge library in which he hopes to find information about those who killed his family.

Eventually, he makes it into the school and begins taking classes. Of course, he is very poor and so he plays his lute on different occassions and places to earn money. And he gets in trouble as well. He makes friends and enemies, survives assassination attempts, ventures out on dangerous quests, meets ladies and lords and plans plots with his friends against his arch-nemesis Ambrose. And all this between the covers of an amazing book.

I'm not going to spoil any more of the story. Let me instead focus on the pure amazingness of the book, and in the way it is written.

Rothfuss has added loads and loads of detail into this book, and it fits in perfectly. The book chugs on like a freight train filled with adventures, mysteries, love, hate, happiness, sorrow and all that in a blend that never ceases to amaze me.

On to the characters.

I've seen lots of people accusing Kvothe of being a Mary-Sue or Mary-Stue. Which means he is a character without fault or flaw. That simply is a very wrongful accussation. Kvothe has his sides - His bravado, his talents, his brains, his looks... Well, you get the picture, but he is in no way at all perfect. Not at all. He has many flaws in his character, one of them being him tirelessly pursuing trouble. He knows it's not gonna be good, but still he chases it like a cat chases a rat.

One of the most awesome points in this story is Rothfuss' sense of storytelling. Again and again, you'll be as hooked as if you were a small child again, sitting by the fireplace while your grandpa tells stories of  knights and princesses and princes, and monsters, dragons, goblins, and faraway places only reachable by your imagination.

Rothfuss adds in a lot of backstory and lore in the Kingkiller Trilogy, small details and hints that together form the framework of a masterpiece such as this. And they're great!

The mechanism of the book is great. You will find yourself turning page after page in order to see where Kvothe's story goes and where Pat Rothfuss takes us - on an amazing adventure through the realm in which The Name of The Wind takes place. When I finished the book, I was devastated. I couldn't imagine the story actually having an end some time. I immediately picked up the second book and began reading. And I am eagerly waiting for the last book in the Kingkiller trilogy.

First chapters and introduction - my opinions/my definitive guide

~ As explained by your loyal philosopher and standard-bearer of fanfiction, Kage ~

Writing the first chapter of your work (kind of including prologues!), be it fanfiction, a fantasy novel, a sci-fi adventure book, a non-fictional thriller, etcetera, is always something that you should consider and think over before actually writing it. It's tricky – but sometimes easy, and as often as the chapter comes on its' own to you, you often have to sit down and really think through it before you write.

A little note from me; this text is written by your standard-but-not-standard ragged bedhead teenager, without any kind of professional education in the literal arts, except for a very thorough and interesting course of seven weeks explaining how to create entertaining and interesting characters (for your information, found on Futurelearn.org), is unschooled, meaning that he has never gone a day in normal school or even visited a lecture. But that does not mean that you shouldn't take this text seriously, as he is experienced in the art of writing fiction (at least in his own way). That said, choose how to view me – either as an non-schooled peasant hillbilly (which I kind of am, depending on how you view the matter) or a self-taught aspiring fiction writer.

Back to the actual meaning of this text. The first chapter is tricky. I already stated that above but for the sake of things and to further emphasize it, I did it again. Some authors choose to begin their book with a first chapter filled with mystery and unexplained stuff. Think, the first chapter of a Dan Brown novel, for example. Mysterious. Lot's of weird stuff happening. Things that simply want you to turn the pages again and again and again to get your answers. That is a great way of starting a book – if you're sure that you can manage to have the rest of the book living up to the first chapters' promises. And that is your own decision, no one can tell you to write in a special way, you find your own way and that's that. Back to the matter, a mysterious page-turner of a prologue or first chapter is a sure way to keep your reader on edge for the next page.

A second kind of first chapter, that I have discovered, is an introductive first chapter. Introducing the worldspace, a character or several, the harmony, the disturbance, and such. I for example. Take the first chapter of J.R.R Tolkiens' “The Hobbit”. It begins with the narrator depicting the home of the Hobbit, who the Hobbit is, where in the world his home is, and the like. A homely, neat, and entertaining first chapter, describing the harmony of the Hobbits' home and character. This type of prologue is the one I usually begin my story with – maybe not in the exact same way but pretty much in the same cathegory. I did this, for example, in my Elder Scrolls fanfiction “The Tale of the Spicer” in which I spend the first chapter introducing the main character, the worldspace, and end it with a slightly, just enough mysterious event that would at least encourage me to read the next chapter.

Then I have found a third type of first chapter, in fact, a prologue, which I can't name, and I can't put a finger on it, really, it is genious but weird, puzzled but at the same time very clear, and the simplicity of the complexness makes for an impressive start. I am talking about the prologue of Pat Rothfuss' “The Name Of The Wind”. It begins with the author using an entire page to describe three kinds of silence. In my opinion, geniously. In this case, it is not the otherwise interesting story or captivating characters (of which none are really introduced, just barely.) that catches the readers eventual interest, but the way in which it is written and the fact that the author just threw an entire page describing silence at you, and how much you love it.

Another type of first chapter is the action-packed one. It begins with a character – or maybe just an event – in action. Think, the first chapter of “The Da-Vinci Code” where Silas kills another man. It can, of course, be more action-filled that the assassination in the beginning of Dan Browns' best novel (In my opinion) but it makes it into this one of my chapter cathegories. Action, excitement, tension. For the sake of the matter, to really tell you what I mean, I'm going to make an example out of a game and not a written story; take the first part in the 2011 video game “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” by Bethesda Softworks, an action-roleplaying game, where you start of as a prisoner on the carriage to his/her execution. The execution is disturbed and intercepted by a massive dragon attacking, and before you know it you're running around through burning buildings and collapsed towers trying to survive the attack of a giant man-eating fire-breathing monster.

Those are the four types of introductive chapters that I have discovered, I suspect there are many more to discover and therefore I do not state this as an ultimative work, meaning that I will surely change my mind in things about this text, but for now, this text is what I stand for as a guide to recognizing the types of introductions in stories that will get your attention and keep you turning pages in the book you are reading.

Over to actually writing the first chapter.

When I write the first chapter, I very seldom have a decided story to begin with. I write the first few words, go make a cup of coffee and go back to the pc again. I look at what I have written and from there, the rest kind of just pops up in my head and before I know it, I have an entire story written out in my brain. For your information – I never plan a story before. I never have an entire storyboard with a beginning and an end, I just think it up as I go and it has worked for me so far.

When I am done with the first chapter, I usually just quickly check through it and edit stuff that needs editing, for several reasons. Grammar faults, weird nonsense that makes no sense at all, stuff I didn't think through before I wrote them down, and such. Then I post the first chapter on my fanfiction profile, if it is a fanfiction I am writing (which it is in almost all cases) or on fictionpress or my blog, if it is an original work, so people can see it and comment on what they think about it, and give me positive feedback, negative feedback, and if I am lucky, a little bit of both. Note: If you read a story and decide to feedback the author, my tip is always give both negative and positive feedback. If you can't give both, why even comment at all? Too much negative feedback without some good encouraging is fatal, too much positive feedback without pointing out something that could be changed (in your opinion, always remember that, you and the author often have different ways of seeing things.) is not good either. But if, if you by any chance find a work that in your opinion is perfect, why comment at all? Read it again. And again. And again. Find the fault. Nothing is perfect. Something can be SUPER GREAT and still have a minor fault and that is completely okay.

After I have written and published the first chapter, I read it again, over and over, read the eventual feedback I get and analyze it, and then I make an edited, remade version of the chapter, where I change what I think needs changing, and publish it as an edited version. Eventually I am satisfied and can keep writing on the story, giving the first chapter a second chapter and maybe in rapid succession a third and fourth chapter, which is often the case when I am writing. I used to spend four hours a day without break except for food and water, to write, and write, and write, and write. Such is the life of the fanfiction writer I am.

And in some cases, when you write the first chapter (which for me happens more often than I like) you write a chapter, but then after a few paragraphs, a few hundred words, I just can't continue it. Maybe it just doesn't add up, maybe I didn't really do enough research, or maybe it just doesn't entertain me anymore (remember, how much you might write for others to read and seek to entertain others, never write anything that you don't like. I for one write for myself in first place, I just happen to publish it for others to read.).

I hope I've helped you to think about the first chapter and given you encouragement to write and explore the wonderful world of storymaking. Or maybe you didn't read this to get my point of view on introductions but maybe to understand what first chapters are really for and how the way they are written is critical to the rest of the story. Maybe you are a reader and you want to immerse yourself more in the world if fiction. Maybe you just stumbled upon this on my facebook feed or my fanfiction profile. Always remember though, this article is just my opinion and I am in no way out to force it on to others, I just wrote this to explain my point of view on first chapters. Thanks for reading, and I do hope you found it entertaining and interesting. If not, I have failed, but that doesn't matter because how much I write for others to read, I still write it more for myself and I am proud of this text.

Review: ...And Out Come The Wolves (Rancid)

...And Out Come The Wolves is a studio album by Rancid. It's their third studio album and was released the 22nd of august 1995 through epitaph records. The name comes from Rancids' popularity. The band had a catchy, popular songs and hence began a bidding war between record labels.
The Album has a heavy influence of Ska. Along with Green Day's Dookie, among others, this album helped revive punk in the mid 90's.

I have listened to this album quite a lot; or at least a handful of tracks on it. I am the kind of person who usually only falls for one or two tracks on an album but "...And Out Come The Wolves" is an exception (as is the case with a few other Rancid albums, namely "..Honor is all We Know..." And "Indestructible"). I immediately picked up the tunes of "Time Bomb" which I already absolutely loved from the "Time Bomb" single. I like the Ska sound and the more hardcore punk rythm, it's fast but not stressy, it's heavy but still light and skippy, it's dirty but not shitty, in short, it's really good.

The songs I continuously listen to on this album are: Time Bomb, The Wars End, Roots Radicals, As Wicked and You don't care nothin'. These songs are forever stuck in my heart and the tunes are stuck in my head. I even read up the tabs for the songs and played them.

Except for the songs I mentioned above, I don't listen too much on the album. I will, though. There's a lot more to discover in this fine album than what I have already found. ...And Out Come The Wolves is a personal favourite of mine, and I do encourage you to listen to it.