The Name of the Wind

Patrick Rothfuss is the literary Reggie Watts.  Now hear me out, both have crazy hair, both are around the same age, and both took a long time for the public to take notice.  We've noticed.  The Name of the Wind is beloved by fantasy readers.  There is a good reason for that.  If you even remotely like High Fantasy (LOTR) you should read this book.  (You should also check out Reggie Watts who is a musical genius).

The story is set around a parent-less wizard who is brilliant, he goes to wizard school, has wealthy adversaries and becomes a legend.  I know, I know, the plot sounds awfully familiar.  But think more Wizard of Earthsea than Harry Potter.  As beloved as Harry is, he was far from being a genius.  Think of a protagonist that is smart like Tyrion Lannister.  Pedantic and arrogant but not evil. Enough fantasy references for ya? Wow, I'm a geek.    

Some of you know I usually read about three or four books at any given time.  When I picked this up, I was like, um...what other books?  I kind of liked it if you can't tell.

Our protagonist Kvothe, is a gypsy, musician, magician, smart but he has bright red hair.  Here's a problem with the plot.  The hot girls at wizard school, and at least one ultra hot "towny" think he's kind of cute--or something. Well, and don't get me wrong, I've seen some hot men with red hair, but never a malnourished fair-skinned fifteen year old redhead wearing tattered rags.  In fact, no full grown woman likes a fifteen year old boy, so frankly, the paleness and red hair is just insulting.  I guess that's why they call it fantasy.

There is a sequel which I enjoyed called The Wise Men's Fear. There is a third book to this series known as the Kingkiller Chronicle series.  It is due to be published in 2014 but Rothfuss is a notoriously slow writer, like George R.R. Martin slow.  I'm not holding my breath.  I really hope he doesn't give Kvothe gout or sciatica or some equally unsexy ailment.   

Drinks: Apparently there is no drinking age in the kingdom of this book.  Kvothe likes metheglin, which I found out is a real drink, it's just flavored mead, but that name really gives it some gravitas.  I've had bad luck with mead in the past (dirty old sweat sock) but I'm willing to give it another chance.  Also appropriate is ale or a substantial beer.  I LIKE BEER.  So, drink with a tasty local beer while listening to good music.  Any local lute acts I should know about?