This. Even QotD is mostly a Lestat book.

That's what I thought.

Barb, that precise issue is the key point in a recently-released novel. It's also a spoiler for the story so I'm going to name the book and author in spoilerfont:

Evernight by Claudia Gray

OMG, people, I have to rec The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, because I've been wolfing through it for the past couple of days and it is Just So Good. And, look, Mr Rothfuss is clearly One Of Us. Seriously - I've only a little of the book left unread, and I'm in that OMGWhatHappensNext,WhatHappensNext frame of mind, whilst also in that NoNoNoDon'tFinish frame of mind. Gah. But, anyway, yes - if you have a fondness for the books of Robin Hobb (...er, the good ones, not the Soldier Son trilogy, which is, I regret to say, bollocks and dull), or of Scott Lynch, or indeed if you loved The Princess Bride, then this is liable to be Your Cup Of Tea.

In addition to the fact that it's a dazzlingly original take on standard fantasy tropes (the dragon slaying sequence in particular), and beyond the fact that it introduces us to a hero as disarming, heartbreaking, poetic and ass-kickingly splendid as Cyrano De Bergerac, there is also the fact that Rothfuss himself is clearly head over heels in love with story, and storytelling. There are stories within stories within stories here, tales told by firesides and songs sung on stages, and I'm head over heels in love with half the characters or more.

Actually, it's probably better if I just give you the back cover blurb, because it's pretty damn concise and evocative:

"I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Falurian 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.

"My name is Kvothe. You may have heard of me."

This book is, in short, Made. Of. Awesome.

How do you pronounce "Kvothe"?

::is a little dubious about an unpronouncable protagonist::

I was taken aback by the name too. I'm glad it was preceded by paragraphs of Fay squee. I'm going to go check it out from the library this weekend.

You know, Anne McCaffrey never did decide how to pronounce Menolly.

I was taken aback by the name too.

Heh-- when I blogged earlier today about choosing your favored reading by genre or by author, one of my main complaints about fantasy and sci-fi as a whole has to do with the whole extensive world-building and unusual naming practices.

Not knowing how to pronounce a name is the sort of thing that would drive me SO barmy that I wouldn't be able to enjoy any of the rest of the book.

Which is probably more a failing on my part as a reader than on the author, but it's just one of those quirks, I guess.

How do you pronounce "Kvothe"?

I was thinking "Kee-vothe", or assuming an apostrophe between the K and vothe.

Kuh-vothe. Same way it's spelled.

Of course, I also tend to read in a sort of hieroglyphic way, where a word doesn't represent a sound but the shape of the letters represents the thing, so the pronunciation of a name never bothers me. The character is the shape of the word that is his name.

One of the things that will put me off a book is when it has a long section either at the front or back explaining a convoluted pronunciation guide. Seriously people, either spell it out phonetically or name everyone things like John and Mary. Almost as annoying is when someone does spell the names with long versions of easily pronouncible names complicated with silent letters or - shades of SG1! - added apostrophes or something.