The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

This was an awesome book. It begins in a prison in the kingdom of Sounis. The main character is Gen--a thief, imprisoned indefinitely because he bragged too loudly about stealing from the King. One night he is dragged from his cell and brought before the King. He's told he's going on a secret mission, and his skills are needed. His task will be to steal the legendary Hamiathe's Gift, a stone that confers the authority of a royal ruler to whomever receives it. Gen isn't sure which is worse--going on the quest or rotting in prison. But he's not given a choice. He's dragged along with the king's magus, his two apprentices, and a no-nonsense professional soldier on a quest through two countries where every ounce of his cunning is needed. This book will surprise you regularly and it does not end anywhere close to how you think it will. The characters are impressive and distinct from other fantasy. The setting is reminiscent of ancient Greece--olive trees and a pantheon of gods and goddesses, but it is unique and enthralling. Definitely recommended.

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

This is a first novel by a new author from 2007. I read some great reviews on it, so I decided to give it a try. I almost didn't when I got it from the library and discovered that it was 700 pages, but I'm glad I did. I got the feeling that a lot of time and care went into each page of the book, which is a feeling I don't get too much from these types of epic fantasies.

This is the first of a series, so be prepared that the plot will not be remotely close to wrapping up at the end of your 700 pages of reading. However, it is a well written and engaging first part of this epic story, so I was not annoyed or disappointed. I will definitely be picking up the next book, which I believe just came out.

The book is the story of the legendary Kvothe--hero, scoundrel, larger than life inspiration for tales told far and wide-- as told to a biographer who has found him hiding as an average innkeeper in a tiny hole in the wall in the middle of nowhere. Kvothe has had an extraordinary life. Beginning as a child prodigy born into a family of wandering minstrels, he continues through a troubled period of life on the streets and on to become one of the most infamous students at "The University"--an elite school of science and magic. There are unique and exciting adventures, intriguing secrets hinted at, a vendetta against some supernatural scaries, and, of course, a girl...

I found the book to be overall exciting and well worth reading. The only part that might be slightly off-putting is the love story. Honestly I'm not sure how to feel about this yet. It starts off in the typical annoying way that fantasy romances begin--he falls madly, soul-shatteringly in love with her and only her. She's mysterious and beautiful without "realizing just how beautiful she really is." I laughed out loud, as an alternative to throwing up, when he first describes her as a "wild thing." But there might be more than just annoying cliches to this love story...so I'm saving my final opinion until I read more of the series.

I think there is potential here. The world that Rothfuss creates directly addresses the idea of sexism from time to time, which is interesting. There is a memorable conversation where Kvothe considers his lady-love's circumstances and how her options are so much more limited being a female drifter with a hazy past than he does as a male of similar background. For a moment I got the sense that the story was hinting that if women were treated as equals in this fantasy world, then it could just as well be her telling this story of her fabulous life of adventures, but that somehow, because she's a woman with an entirely different set of worries and difficulties to overcome, she could never have such a legendary life, she could never be the hero of a story. I'll be reading the next book to see if there's anything to this. If there is, it could be really good.

Highly recommended for fantasy fans.

The Ill-Made Mute by Cecilia Dart-Thornton

I thought this book was super frustrating. I was really excited to read it based on the description of it and it started out well. There are soooo many amazing elements in this book:

• Winged, flying horses that walk on the clouds with the help of these cool magnetic-y horseshoes.
• Ditto -magnetic-y pirate ships that fly through the air.
• the protagonist is a mute foundling, face scarred beyond recognition with no memory of how he/she came to be this way, no memory of the past.
• he/she was raised as a boy, only to discover early on in the book that she is in fact a girl.
  
• these crazy, awesome "unstorms" where some kind of magnetic or electric disturbances cause people to feel either extreme fear or extreme elation. Crazy things happen during unstorms -- pictures of scenes long past appear in mid-air, psychedelic colors whirl around the forest...
  
• Wights. The entire wilderness of this world is populated by mythical creatures that run from helpful to mischievous to truly dangerous.

What's really frustrating is that with all these amazing and interesting elements, none of them is ever treated with any depth. Early on we learn that the foundling has a strange talent for calming the eotaurs (the winged horses). Do we ever hear of this again? Nope. Just an interesting, unrelated fact. When the heroine discovers she is in fact a she, one might think this would be a huge revelation? Perhaps it would be explored? Nope. She thinks about it for a page or so and then just kind of starts wearing dresses. And the wights -- oh my god -- the fricking wights! At first it's cool, these wights are interesting supernatural creatures, but there are soooooo many of them. The structure of this book is as follows:

1. a little bit of the main plot happens on a page or two
2. wade through 10 pages of random adventures with wights that don't relate to the main plot.
3. Repeat.
4. almost ready to throw the book down from boredom...
5. a little bit of information on the plot or characters, sucked back in!
6. 50 pages of random wights.
7. Repeat, repeat....
8. Fabio appears. Literally. The main character's love interest is Fabio, complete with neverending descriptions of his flowing, glinting hair (I'm not kidding) and a spirit animal (a hawk) that is his traveling companion.
9. More fricking wights.
10. One page of resolution and a cliff-hanger.
    

I mean, I liked the main plot a lot, maybe I'll try to read the next book in the trilogy at some point, because I really do want to know what happens next and to find out the answers to the main character's mysterious past. But don't start reading this if you don't want be really bored 90% of the time.

Guardians of Ga'Hoole Book 1: The Capture by Kathryn Lasky

This is the first book in the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series. It's all about OWLS! Soren is a barn owl who is kidnapped from his nest in the first few weeks of his life. He's taken to a strange place, a colony of owls hidden deep in a canyon. The owls hardly seem like owls. They have been cut off from everything that owls love, like the moon, the sky, and the hope of flying free. They eat strange foods and do strange things. Soren and his new friend Gylfie know that something evil is going on and that they have to escape. But first they'll have to do something they've never done before--fly. Can they learn without parents to help them? Will they be able to escape? Or will they fail in their first flight and be put so deep in the canyon that they'll never be free?

This book is a little like Watership Down with owls. But not nearly so enthralling. I'll probably pick up the next one, but I didn't love it so much that I'd commit to the whole series.