"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 than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep. You may have heard of me."This is the story of Kvothe, told to us by Kvothe over the course of three days. The book begins in the present, and switches back and fourth from present to past as Kvothe meets the Chronicler through seemly ill fate, and consents to tell him his story, on one condition. It must be his entire story, and told in his words only. Only here in the present, he is known at Kote to the townspeople. Posing as a innkeeper, he appears to be running from his past. He begins the story as a young boy, in his families troupe of traveling performers. This is where he is first introduced to Sympathy, and finds that he has a talent for it. Tells of his years as a orphan on the streets of Tarbean. His desperate attempt to gain admittance at the University, and later his struggles and hardship during his attendance there. He possesses talent that not many of the other students can claim, but is at a disadvantage because of barely managing to scrape by on the high tuition costs. We see here that the rumors and stories surrounding him are true, but see how the stories really were as they unfold. The rumors being perhaps a little far fetched, and more ignorant then the truth, but the real events being impressive none the less. This is the real story of Kvothe.
To me this book started off very strong. It captured my attention, and held it. I'll admit that my attention started to wander a bit by the time that we came to Kvothe's childhood, and started to spend some time with the traveling performers. It picked up again while we were trying to survive on the harsh, cruel streets of Tarbean. Although I was feeling a distinct lack of the fantasy genre during this phase, it all made sense as to the backstory of Kvothe. This is a slow build up to our present, and not only a necessary part of the story, but a carefully crafted one. My original attention was caught again once we actually reached the University. The University is the heart of the magic system in this book. The magic system here, of binding and naming to work magic, is one that I have only seen used a few times before now. It works, it is done beautifully. I like how in this setting seemly anyone can learn the use of Sympathy, but in order to get accepted into the University you must be not only intelligent, but have the talent of Sympathy. The less talented being weeded out. Magic here is something that must be learned, rather then something that just is.
The slower parts of this book did slightly lower my rating, but I would still rate this as a solid 4.5 stars. Towards the end it did actually pick up.
