CB # 16 The Name of the Wind

 The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

I usually have a problem with a certain type of fantasy novel. I think reading one bad Terry Brooks novel ruined them for me. I can stand fantasy set in the present day, or any well written young adult fantasy, but all adult fantasy that’s set in an medieval or “typical” fantasy world (re: anything that even slightly resembles Tolkien) needs to be funny or else I can’t deal with it.  This novel was different. For some reason I liked Kvothe, now disguised as a tavern owner, telling the story of his life as an arcanist (what I would call a wizard). He’s fallen on hard times, he can barely do magic (called “sympathy” in this world), but a scribe has found him and wants to hear the story of this life. Kvothe decides that he will tell his story, but that it will take three days to tell. This novel is only the first day of Kvothe telling the story of his life, and I have to admit that I’m interested in reading more.

I think that what I really like about Kvothe as a narrator is that he doesn’t always realize his faults; however, as a reader, I know when he’s in the wrong. The problem is that Kvothe knows that he’s talented, so he breaks rules. When he gets caught, he doesn’t explain himself, mainly because he doesn’t seem to realize that other people don’t know about his life. He grew up with a troop of traveling actors, but when the entire troop were killed by the Chandrian (the villains of this story, but most people consider them boogeymen) he lived in the woods and on the streets for years. He never really tells anyone about how he has suffered, so no one really understands him. If only he would reveal part of himself, he might not keep on getting into trouble when he starts going to a school for arcanists.

Sometimes the book could have been a bit tighter, with some stronger editing. This isn’t grand literature, but it’s still a great read, and I’ll be looking for the second book.

CB # 15 For the Win

For the Win by Cory Doctorow  (YA)

This young adult novel follows teenagers all over the world as they play video games and try to mine gold and create a union for all the people who work within the system of the games. I thought the concept was really interesting, as it follows people in countries like China and India who play games for money. Their jobs is to farm gold, get the super awesome weapons to sell, or help new or lonely players to get further along in terms of experience. However, the gaming companies don’t want this to happen, so they hire other players in these countries and in North America to find these people in the game and kick them out. Since all of this is happening online in games that resemble World of Warcraft, outsiders don’t realize how both groups of players are being exploited. A group in Indonesia reaches out to players all over the world in an attempt to create a union for those who work within the online world. Unfortunately, a wild-cat strike of players in China means that workers are likely to experience the most vile strikebreaking techniques.

I know what Doctorow was trying to do with this novel, in terms of raising awareness in young adults about worker’s conditions around the world, as well as the way technology is changing the way people can connect. I guess I just wasn’t the perfect audience for this one. I found that there were too many characters and not enough time spent on them, so it was hard to feel strongly about any of them. I know that I don’t know too much about gaming, but I felt that there was too much explanatory description of how the games worked, even for me. However, I did learn the term “wild-cat strike”, as well as a better understanding of economics, so this book was a draw.

CB # 14 Generosity: An Enhancement

Generosity: An Enhancement by Richard Powers

                I read this a few weeks ago, but misplaced my copy so I can’t quote it extensively, which is what I really want to do. The writing in this novel is absolutely beautiful. Very rarely do I make markings in books, since I think it’s just cruel to destroy innocent books for no good reason. Even if I really love a quotation, I usually just write it down as soon as I see something beautiful in it. Generosity was different; I made markings all over the place. I couldn’t start writing it all down, so I kept everything.

                I was reminded of this novel when I read this article about the discovery of the happiness gene. Generosity is all about that same discovery and what it would actually mean for humanity. Russell runs a non-fiction writing class, and is a bit of a sad-sack. He’s surprised to read the writing of his student Thassadit and discover the amount of pain and suffering that she has lived through, including the Algerian Civil War. He is so massively surprised because she is such a happy person. She brings joy to the lives of her cynical classmates and she makes them notice the beauty of the world that she lives in. A parallel narrative thread follows the scientific search for the happiness gene. Obviously, the two stories get brought together and Powers questions if happiness is really all that good for us.

                Powers doesn’t like easy answers, or even answering things. I loved Gain, which I read for a class, and focused on the connections between capitalism and cancer, as reality and as a metaphor. Generosity has a similar intent. There are things we want to be able to control with science and with commerce, but maybe all our control is leading us in the completely wrong direction.