The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
My review
rating: 4 of 5 stars
Now, this book has received lots of comparisons to Umberto Eco’s Name of the Rose, RR Martin’s Ice and Fire series, and, weirdly enough, Harry Potter. Beyond the superficial (i.e., takes place at a school, there are books, and it deals with magic), the connections and similarities stop there.
Rothfuss does a really good job at introducing us to a new world, its history, its structure, and its characters all through the eyes of a young child. While I certainly want to kick the 13/15 year-old Kvothe at times, I remember being 13/15 myself and I can’t begrudge his actions too much either. The characters, for the most part, still feel a bit too two-dimensional, but they all have enough substance and personality so that it doesn’t cramp up the book too much. I’m hoping that Rothfuss’ style improves over the course of the next two books and we get to get a better feel about the other characters.
The pace of the book can feel a bit jarring at times in that the reader is thrown weeks or months into the future without any real transition or logic, and some solutions to problems have a feel for a deus ex machina. But that’s the bad.
The good is that it’s a very exciting story with just about everything that one wants: old empires, ancient enemies, class struggle, magic, demons, sorcery, romance, the grown of a hero, and swords. Kvothe comes off as a hero and I love stories that focus on the circumstances that create the hero. As aforementioned, there are comparisons to Eco’s Name of the Rose and RR Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series. Beyond the obvious superficial similarities, this is a very different story in a unique writing style and with different characters. And if you’re expecting Harry Potter: The Darker Years, then you likely won’t find it here either. Again, the style, characters, and the literary universe is very different from Rowling.
All in all, I’d very much recommend this book. It’s fun, it’s exciting, it keeps you up reading the book until 4:30 am, and it leaves you wanting oh, so much more.
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The Name of the Wind
