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Title: The Name of the WindAuthor: Patrick Rothfuss
Series: The Kingkiller Chronicle #1
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Publisher: Penguin Group - DAW
Original Release Date: March 27, 2007
Pages: 662
Format: Trade Paperback
Source: Purchased
Told in Kvothe's own voice, this is the tale of the magically gifted young man who grows to be the most notorious wizard his world has ever seen.
The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king form a gripping coming-of-age story unrivaled in recent literature.
A high-action story written with a poet's hand, The Name of the Wind is a masterpiece that will transport readers into the body and mind of a wizard.
Sit back while I tell you a story
This book sat on my bookshelf for 6 years. I honestly can't tell you why it took me so long to read it. It seemed like a nonscensical name for a cheesy fantasy book. I was absolutely wrong. Not only does the name of the book truly emcompass one of the main character's driving motivations, but this book was anything but cheesy. I like being wrong. This book is the coming of age story. And an epic fantasy. And a mystery. And an adventure. And a story about a magical school. And I still don't know the name of the wind!!Pros
Storytelling and POV - I normally don't combine my points of interest, but Storytelling and POV are one in the same in this book. Kvothe is telling his story to a Chronicler to write down and we are reading what the Chronicler is writing. The main story is in first person. Occassionally we switch gears to see what's going on with Kvothe and the Chronicler in the tavern, so the POV switches to third person for those scenes. It was a unique way to tell a story.
Magic System - The magic system in this book is creative and believable. It's not explained in the book this way, but I feel like there are two different types of magic in this world: sympathy (logical magic) and calling the names of things (mystical magic). Sympathy reminds me a lot of mechanics. You attach something to something else using a similar link then power it with something. One example is giving somebody a hot foot. You build a model of them, add a piece of their hair to link it to them, hold a match underneath the foot of the doll, then watch your subject try to put the fire out of his foot. The other magic is the mystical kind. By knowing the name of the object you are trying to control, you are asking it to do something for you. It reminds me of the shamanic magic in World of Warcraft. When you call on the elements, the elements will assist you. I loved the magic system!
Plot - I considered not even including this as a point of interest. There really isn't an over arching plot, per se (though there are a few themes in the book that could be considered the main plot). This book follows a boy's life. It reads almost like a TV show would. There are adventures and sub-plots (episodes) that lend themselves to overarching themes in the book. There doesn't have to be a "main plot" driving the action. I've mentioned in previous book reviews that I love a well done character driven story. This is by far my favorite kind of character driven format - reminiscence.
Overall
This book took me a long time to read. One month (exactly). But there was never a moment when I considered putting it down. It's a bit slower in the beginning until the Chronicler showed up, but from that point on it was delightfully engrossing. This book was well paced (not too fast, not too slow), it was written in a style that came across as both conversationally and poetically (which makes epic fantasy much easier to digest), and the story was truly captivating.
The only negative thing I have to say about this book [series] is that the 3rd book doesn't look like it's coming out any time soon. It's been nine years since the first book came out and the 2nd book came out four years later. Fast forward five more years and we don't even have a release date for the 3rd and final book. I'm not the only person who is nervous that we might be seeing another George R. R. Martin situation.
I recommend this to anybody who loves fantasy, memoirs, coming of age stories, or reminiscence character based stories.
The only negative thing I have to say about this book [series] is that the 3rd book doesn't look like it's coming out any time soon. It's been nine years since the first book came out and the 2nd book came out four years later. Fast forward five more years and we don't even have a release date for the 3rd and final book. I'm not the only person who is nervous that we might be seeing another George R. R. Martin situation.
I recommend this to anybody who loves fantasy, memoirs, coming of age stories, or reminiscence character based stories.
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