The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss

I'd been hearing about this book for a long time and finally decided to pick it up after a particularly heartfelt recommendation from my good friend and her boyfriend. Boy, were they right. The remarkable thing about this fantasy novel is that it isn't so much a narrative as it is a story. It's rare nowadays to find old fashioned storytelling, in any medium. This book is the first of three days' recounting of the story of Kvothe, a living legend, a man much mythologized in his own time. He tells his own story, and what a story it is. Non-fantasy-lovers would probably not enjoy the book as much as those of us who read a fair amount of fantasy, but one does get the feeling that Rothfuss could tell a good story no matter what medium he is working in, and no matter what the story is about. It's engaging, fast-paced enough to be a page-turner, and funny enough to make you laugh out loud on occasion. I'm quite excited to read the second and third books of Rothfuss's masterful story.