Love love love this book. I'm completely devastated there's only 2! I want so much more!

On another note, while I am going to rate this book 5 stars because it was spectacular I did notice during a moment that should have been heart-breaking I was feeling fairly 'meh' about it emotionally. 

SPOILER BELOW - not at all annoying that it's not working.

4.5-5 stars

I apparently hadn't read all of this book the first time round like i had originally thought, so the ending was a nice little surprise.....well mostly. Overall I still loved the book (how could I not love something created by Brandon Sanderson!?!) though I still have mixed feelings about Vin's character growth. Its wonderful to see characters changing over the period of a book, but Vin was just so fascinating to read when she was so mistrustful, plus she was super deviant which I loved. I think part of the reason I struggled to keep up with Vin's personal growth is because a lot of it happened behind the scene's (which is totally cheating btw!) Sure we saw the seedlings planted but then we jumped a big step! I know, I know Brandon couldn't spend the whole time at the beginning on Vins transformation (there was a lot going on!) but I just wanted to witness just a teeny-tiny bit more!

Anyways the rest of the book was awesome, loved the powers, characters and cultures. Though I'm hoping the next books spend more time on the other characters. Sure some had vague back stories and history but I wouldnt mind a little more! especially Breeze, was he always this smooth cultivated man? what about Ham? I'm also hoping to learn more about the grown-up mistwraith thing, such a unique creature and unlike anything I've come across before!

4 Stars.

So I'm really tired and i finished this book...2 days ago? so i apologise if I'm being vague during the next bit.

I received this book from a friend I believe last yr for my b'day? well i just had my b'day again so i thought it was about time i got around to it - i had been putting it off because the thing is seriously a fatty of a read. That and my friends don't always recommend great books :P

So I started this book last month? (may-ish) it was a bit of a slow and painful start, i wasn't very interested and thought the writing style was a bit odd. Then Kvothe went back to the beginning of how it all started. It being The Legends of Kvothe:

'I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age then most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during the day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.

My name is Kvothe. You may have heard of me.'

 

For the most part we spend this book exploring Kvothe childhood and early teens, his attempts to cope with the death of his family, his loss of reality, his struggle surviving with no money and homelessness in a cruel and unforgiving city, which see's him starving and beaten, a whisker away from death many times. his hopes and dreams of attending the University, the desperation Kvothe will go to in attempts to stay at the University, random side adventures (which include a giant tree eating dragon) and his infatuation with this rather cold and indifferent girl (she has some people issues). Plus random tidbits from his current life, after everything thats happened and everything he's managed to survive 'Kote' the fake bartender i was introduced to at the beginning of the story is a completely different person to the child i think of as Kvothe, technically the same person but amazingly different. I imagine the point is to show how much someone can change after a full life.

The characters where great, and for the most part very detailed with great background stories, quirks, secrets and odd traits. There's quite a few people running around this book with mysterious back-stories that are casually hinted at. I loved it! The nutty girl, Auri, thats lives under the University definitely being my fave, the way she thinks and ow she comunicates just sits really well with me. she's completely bonkers, but i 100% adore her. Though Bast's and Denna's back-grounds were up there as well.

So yea in the end I rather enjoyed myself, am i grateful to my friend for buying me this giant but wonderful book. I'm very much looking forward to getting my hands on the next one! and seeing what other crazy shenanigans Kvothe got himself into!!!

Some of my Favorite Quotes:

Bast: 'You meet a girl: she, unassuming. If you tell her she's beautiful, she'll think your sweet, but she won't believe you. She know's beauty lies in your beholding.' Bast gave a grudging shrug. 'And sometimes that's enough.'

His eyes brightened. 'But there's a better way. You show her she is beautiful. You make mirrors of her eyes, prayers of your hands against her body. It is hard, very hard, but when she truly believes you...' Bast gestures excitedly. 'Suddenly the story she tells herself in her own head changes. She transforms. She isn't seen as beautiful. She is beautiful, seen.'

Auri: 'I pulled a narrow bottle from underneath my cloak. 'I bought you some honey wine.'

She took hold of it with both hands. 'Why, this is a princely gift.' She peered down wonderingly. 'Think of all the tipsy bees.' She pulled the cork and sniffed it. 'What's in it?'

'Sunlight,' I said. 'And a smile, and a question.'

She held the mouth of the bottle up to her ear and grinned at me.

'The questions at the bottom,' I said.

'A heavy question,' she said, then held her hand out to me. 'I bought you a ring.'

It was made of warm, smooth wood. 'What does it do?' I asked.

'It keeps secrets,' she said.

I held it to my ear.

Auri shook her head seriously, her hair swirling around her. 'It doesn't tell them, it keeps them.' She stepped closer to me and took the ring, sliding it onto my finger. 'It's quite enough to have a secret,' she chided me gently. 'Anything more would be greedy.'

'It fits,' I said, somewhat surprised.

'They're your secrets,' she said, as if explaining something to a child. 'Who else would it fit?'

[later on the same page]

She nodded. 'And a mother owl has moved in. Made her nest right in the middle of the Grey Twelve, bold as brass.'

'She's something of a rarity then?'

She nodded. 'Absolutely. Owls are wise. They are careful and patient. Wisdom precludes boldness. After my recent adventures in Trebon i couldn't help but agree. 'But this one is adventurous? An explorer?'

'Oh yes,' Auri said, her eyes wide. 'She's fearless. She has a face like a wicked moon.'

All of Auri's and Kvothes talks go like this, and i just adored every single moment of it <3

So yea well worth the read, even if it took me just over a month to get through it!!

So my horrid house mate of course only reads monster size books and enjoys recommending them to me, alright alright to be fair she makes them sound great and she a fantastic housemate beyond the ginormatron sized books she reads.

anyways my list of recommended books is getting out of hand, and i really need to knock a few off the list. so i thought i'd start with this sucker.

*sigh* wish me luck. hopefully i'll come up for air in a few hours.

"Was she beautiful or not beautiful?"

Gwendolyn Harleth is a "spoiled child", a young woman with average prospects yet with high hopes of attaining respectable social standing and monetary comfort. While scorning the traditional avenues of marriage, she desperately wishes for a meaningful, vibrant life, even though she is unsure of how to attain it.  Gambling, parties and equestrian amusements, fill her time, with little thought of other peoples wants, needs or struggles.

Daniel Deronda is a respectable moral young man and the ward of Sir Hugo Mallinger.  When he first spies Gwendolyn, his disapproval of her gambling and later, the same quiet censure of some of her actions, leads her down a path of introspection and causes her to question the manner in which she is living her life.  Yet the changes in her character do not come soon enough and, due to her family's sudden monetary troubles, she contracts a marriage to Henleigh Mallinger Grandcourt, the nephew and heir of Sir Hugo.  She views the marriage as an escape from poverty and a stepping stone to a life of leisure and a respectable position in society.  Instead she gets a husband with a twisted soul, bent on breaking her will as he would a horse or a wild animal.  He glories in her struggles, fear and his ability to control her actions.

A second plot winds itself through Gwendolyn's, as Deronda internally questions the manner of his birth and the identity of his parents.  Not wishing to bring up a subject that may be uncomfortable for Sir Hugo, he suppresses his curiosity, yet aches for familial connections and history.  Upon saving a Jewish singer from drowning, his relationship with her takes him down the path of finding his true heritage.

Eliot forces the reader to examine some of the social issues of that time.  Without money, young women could only hope to find work in low paying positions, such as governesses or companions, or perhaps choose less respectful avenues as singers or actresses.  Without an inheritance or a family who was financially able to support them, an advantageous marriage was really the only protection for women of this time period.

She also treats the subject of Jewish identity and culture with surprising dexterity and perception.  While they are portrayed with an obvious sympathy, Eliot makes each character real, from the philosophic and idealistic Mordecai, to the money-loving pawnbroker, Cohen. The struggle of a people against prejudice and pre-judgement is plainly explored with touching sincerity and insight.  Mordecai's longing to see the Zionist hopes for a Jewish homeland established adds a deeper more complex examination of an issue that was of particular interest to the author.

I found that certain parts of the novel dragged, and the plot suffered numerous bumps, but again Eliot tackled such diverse issues, making the writing of the novel an epic task, so I can forgive some of the inconsistencies. Her obvious intellectual curiosity, and her enlightened opinions made the read informative as well as enjoyable.  Daniel Deronda is a book that prods you to think and ponder even after the last page is turned.

"In the chequered area of human experience the seasons are all mingled as in the golden age: fruit  and blossom hang together,; in the same moment the sickle is reaping and the seed is sprinkled; one tends the green cluster and another treads the wine-press.  Nay, in each of our lives harvest and spring-time are continually one, until Death himself gathers us and sows us anew in his invisible fields."