Patrick Rothfuss "A Wise Man's Fear"

This is the second book in a series.  This book, and the book that came before, "The Name of the Wind" is complete and utter genius. I will repeat that if you did not hear it the first time, complete and utter genius  I should have reviewed "The Name of the Wind', but had read it before I started reviewing such trivial things as works of great fantasy.  The thing is, it took an age for him to write this second book, which I first read away from a computer, and we are still waiting on further instalments.

What makes it genius? I hear you cry.  For me it is the character development.  You keep thinking you know the lead character, Kvothe, but then he does something, and even though you did not expect it, it fits, both the character and the story.  The scope is epic, huge.  Kvothe is telling his own tale and is clearly much changed from the young man he describes, knowing that he is going to get to where he is now puts a limit on the story but also tells us that the author has a ways to go and books to write before he puts this one to bed.

Rothfuss breaks a rule, which is really a guideline, when it comes to explaining his magic system.  He spends a great deal of time on the details of how the magic works, but he does it well, never pedantic, always as part of the plot, and he still leaves much unexplained.

This tale has magic, music and mayhem.  It has love.  It has mystery.  Adventure leaps from the pages and your heart is bound to both leap for joy and cry in sadness.  It is a hard one to put down, and both tomes are just that, tomes.  If you love a long book rich in detail, deep as a calm lake at midnight this is for you.

I just wish that he wrote a wee bit faster!  Come on man, you have a duty to create.

Freakangels

Asa young man I loved comics, but I would never, ever spend my money on them.  I read too fast and there was never enough meat to make it worth it.  So I read other peoples, when I got the chance, but mainly stuck to books.  Web-comics though gave me a chance to get into the medium again, and this comic is a fine example of why you should be reading web based comics.

The story is a Science Fiction classic, a modern take on John Wyndham's Midwich Cuckoos.  Twelve young people have incredible mental powers and have basically destroyed England.  What follows is an in depth look at what they are and how they got there.  I absolutely do not want to go into any details because this piece is so good that you should read it for yourself, but I can give you a few reasons why.

First the artwork is stunning, and stands together wonderfully as a whole thing.  Second, they do not try to explain it.  At no point is there any explanation of why they have the powers they have.  None.  Instead the authors just deal with the events.  The history, without trying to explain it to the reader.  The reader just takes it in and moves on.  Third, the story is basically a human story, even though it is about super-humans, and so the we fall into it in the same way as we might fall into the story of Batman, or Spiderman.  It is the human side to the story that makes the superhuman interesting.

Like all good web-comics this one comes in print, and I am eager to get hold of it.  Unlike the other books I have reviewed I have yet to support the authors with a purchase.  So if my recommendation means anything, check it out yourself online, and buy your own copy.