The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

The Name of the Wind is one of those rare novels that are so good that you gladly take the time out your day to review it. The first time I heard this book mentioned was in the early months of this year. The advance reader’s copies had been posted and those lucky enough to get one were unanimously in agreement of its apparent qualities. I took a look at the reviews, shrugged, and decided to bide my time until more people had read and reviewed it. Well, I waited, watched and finally I took a phone call to my sister in Oslo, asking her to pick up a copy of Rothfuss’ fantasy debut.

Good gods I’m glad I took that phone call.

The main character in The Name of the Wind is… Wait, I can do much better than that – I can provide you with a spoiler-free excerpt found on the dust jacket of the book. It tells you a lot about the style of Rothfuss’ prose.

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My name is Kvothe, pronounced nearly the same as “quothe.” Names are important as they tell you a great deal about a person. I’ve had more names than anyone has a right to. The Adem call me Maedre. Which, depending on how it’s spoken, can mean The Flame, The Thunder, or The Broken Tree.

“The Flame” is obvious if you’ve ever seen me. I have red hair, bright. If I had been born a couple of hundred years ago I would probably have been burned as a demon. I keep it short but it’s unruly. When left to its own devices, it sticks up and makes me look as if I have been set afire.

“The Thunder” I attribute to a strong baritone and a great deal of stage training at an early age.

I’ve never thought of “The Broken Tree” as very significant. Although in retrospect, I suppose it could be considered at least partially prophetic.

My first mentor called me E’lir because I was clever and I knew it. My first real lover called me Dulator because she liked the sound of it. I have been called Shadicar, Lightfinger, and Six-String. I have been called Kvothe the Bloodless, Kvothe the Arcane, and Kvothe Kingkiller. I have earned those names. Bought and paid for them.

But I was brought up as Kvothe. My father once told me it meant “to know.”

I have, of course, been called many other things. Most of them uncouth, although very few were unearned.

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

You may have heard of me.

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I’ve read my fair share of newly published fantasy novels this year, but this is my first debut novel. Much like last years The Lies of Locke Lamora, The Name of the Wind has experienced an almost insane amount of hype, and much like Lies, it lives up and beyond it.

This 661 pages long fantasy novel is the first installment in the Kingkiller Chronicle (yeah, I know it sounds dead cheesy, but hang in there). This first book is written largely in first persons-narrative, which is a somewhat unusual technique. But that isn’t the only unusual and original twist that Rothfuss deploys.

As you may already have presumed, this series is about Kvothe. The Name of the Wind tells us the story of his upbringing, his childhood and his education. It’s a remarkable story, full of love, adventure, friendship, hardship and death. Imagine, if you will, a darker and better developed Harry Potter. No, strike that. This is much better than Harry Potter ever was. This is a story worth listening to, which, incidentally, is what happens in this first novel. Kvothe is a legend in his world, but he has, for some unmentioned reason, decided to leave all that behind. He’s has bought an inn in the middle of nowhere and taken the name of Kote. But a man like him does not avoid attention so easily. Soon an elderly man arrives. He’s called the Chronicler. He collects stories from all over the world, and he has heard that the infamous Kvothe is hiding out in the Waystone Inn. No story has ever been more suited for his purpose, and slowly and unwillingly, Kvothe agrees to tell him of his life.

Seldom have I read a novel more completely realized than this debut. Kvothe’s world feels alive and vibrant in a very real way, hinting of depth and thought wherever you look. The Kingkiller Chronicle can in many ways be compared to LotR. Rotfuss spent seven yeas of his life writing one massive novel. It was then, naturally, divided into three parts. The first novel sets up the second and third and provides a solid base on which to build further narrative. The second (titled “The Wise Man’s Fear) catches up with our hero in the Waystone Inn, and the third is the resolution of the life of the living legend.

Rothfuss prose is at it’s worst very catchy, and at it’s best it becomes nearly poetical. I’ve found a fantasy author I will be following for the rest of my life. If you trust me in any way, or just feel like taking a leap of faith, I implore: read this novel. It took me a mere couple of days from start to finish, and I know that things will only become better as the story progresses. Verdict for The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss: 8,5/10, making it the third best book I’ve read this year.