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I have listed the first book in each series, along with the series name in parentheses. On both lists, High and Low, the quoted plot summaries are from the back cover of the books. Here we go, in no certain order.
The Way of Shadows - Brent Weeks (Night Angel Trilogy)"For Durzo Blint, assassination is an art-and he is the city's most accomplished artist. For Azoth, survival is precarious. Something you never take for granted. As a guild rat, he's grown up in the slums, and learned to judge people quickly - and to take risks. Risks like apprenticing himself to Durzo Blint. But to be accepted, Azoth must turn his back on his old life and embrace a new identity and name. As Kylar Stern, he must learn to navigate the assassins' world of dangerous politics and strange magics - and cultivate a flair for death."
For once a book's cover is a good summary. That pretty much sums this book up. I originally bought this book because it was featured so heavily in Barnes & Noble. I thoroughly enjoyed the easy murdering, quick-whitted characters, and political intrigues although Kylar and Doll Face's relationship frustrates me.
The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss (Kingkiller Chronicle)"So begins the tale of Kvothe—from his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, to years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-riddled city, to his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a difficult and dangerous school of magic. In these pages you will come to know Kvothe as a notorious magician, an accomplished thief, a masterful musician, and an infamous assassin. But The Name of the Wind is so much more—for the story it tells reveals the truth behind Kvothe's legend."
This is mostly a first-person narrative of Kvothe, a young man who grows to be one of the most notorious magicians his world has ever seen. You pick up Kvothe in disguise as an innkeeper and through the storytelling of his life to a renown historian learn about his sometimes misadventures that helped to boost his reputation to something more than human. I have to say, while starved to finish the fantastically written first book. I was disappointed by the second book "Wise Man's Fear." It just seemed like major story ideas, some unnecessary, pieced together roughly and just didn't flow well. Just my opinion though. Let me know what you think.
"It begins with the legend of a nightingale floor in a black-walled fortress-a floor that sings in alarm at the step of an assassin. It will take true courage and all the skills of an ancient Tribe for one orphaned youth named Takeo to discover the magical destiny that awaits him...across the nightingale floor."
After his village is viciously attacked and family killed, Takeo is adopted by an assassin guild. They help teach him skills that aid him along his path of revenge. He has to learn to cross a famed nightingale floor that serves as an alarm system to a very powerful man. Interestingly, these floors actually existed in real life as security measures in Japan, often in temples and palaces. The wooden floor boards were designed so that the nails would screech against jackets or plates creating loud chirping sounds warning the inhabitants of a intruder.
"Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.
Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones."
Well, I can't really explain it any better than that. This series of books is heavy, HEAVY, on medieval type political intrigue. I have to admit that the first time I read "Game of Thrones" I didn't really like it, mainly because Martin kills off the first five or six "main" characters in a very short time. I just couldn't bring myself to attach any feeling to any of the other characters who, I felt, might die off at any moment. It is a good series though and has become even more popular with the advent of the HBO TV series.
mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry's name. And that's when things start to get... interesting. Magic. It can get a guy killed."
I love these books, all of them. You can read them stand alone but plot lines do build throughout. My favorite is probably Summer Knight. I love Harry's sarcastic, just shy of poverty, love torn and confused, devil may care character. I love Bob; I love Michael; I love the physically exhausting, gritty magic. These books make me laugh out loud. Read them. A side note: Do not watch the Dresden Files TV show. While the books are great, the TV show on the Sci Fi Channel (Syfy?) sucked.
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