Reviews

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

pbookmarked's review against another edition

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4.0

“names are the shape of the world, and a man who can speak them is on the way to power.”

・❥・

i will admit, i probably wouldn’t have ever picked up this book if it weren’t for the super carlin brothers. they give so much hype to name of the wind and i definitely understand why.

the name of the wind is an epic fantasy told in kvothe’s perspective. kvothe, now a notorious wizard, is sharing his story with chronicler. we follow kvothe through his childhood and most importantly through his adventures at university. this story left me with many many questions but as it should being the first book in the series.

it did take me a bit to actually get into this but once i did i really enjoyed the story telling. there is some heavy world building but i found it simple to follow. the magic system of “sympathy” is quite intriguing and i found myself wanting to know more about how the system works. the characters in this story were so fun and rothfuss did fantastic with their character development.

i do have to say as a fellow band geek, my favorite part of rothfuss’s story telling was his incorporation of music. right from the beginning, music plays an important part in kvothe’s life. music descriptors in any story will always stand out to me and i will always look for them so i personally loved the emphasis on music in kvothe’s story. so much so that i’ll add a few quotes here that i loved:

“a poet is a musician who can’t sing. words have to find a man’s mind before they can touch his heart, and some men’s minds are woeful small targets. music touches their hearts directly no matter how small or stubborn the mind of the man who listens.”

“an instrument is like a companion and a lover”

“the strings felt strange against my fingers, like reunited friends who have forgotten what they have in common.”

so sorry for the more lengthy review but if you’ve made it this far then you for sure need to go pick this book up! i know i’ll be picking up the next books in the series!

allisonwebster's review against another edition

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slow-paced

3.75

carriecarvalho's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

zmull's review against another edition

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4.0

Another big new name in fantasy. And for good reason. This book is the start of a three book series. The word is they were all one superlong novel and the publishers decided to break them up. The book worst parts are clearly a part of that decision. The last act feels tacked on and lightweight compared to the first parts. And there's some standard fantasy bloat, most notably in the weak last act, where Rothfuss gives 20-some pages to our hero buying a horse, riding the horse to the site of the action, and selling the horse. None of which has the slightest impact on the story, or reveals anything about the characters or the world they inhabit. None of this should put you off the book though. It's faults are far outweighed by the fun of book. It's long, but each time you find yourself tiring of a setting, Rothfuss reinvents everything. The first section takes place in a fairly standard rural fantasy setting, with forests and caravans and so on. Before long the action shifts to a Dickensian urban setting, with almost all of the fantasy elements gone. From there he moves to a Harry Potter type school setting, before settling back into rural fantasy for the action finale. There's an interesting magic system that's consistent and clever. Our hero always reads like a young boy. He's cocky and smart, and over his head and naive all at the same time. I look forward to the other books in the series. If they were actually completed at the same time as this one, I have high hopes for the quality of the sequels.

harpersona's review against another edition

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adventurous dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

bigpipe2020's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Such a great story, the ending was *chef’s kiss* I am excited to start the new one :) 

spatters21's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

orsuros's review against another edition

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5.0

It's refreshing to find a fantasy that feels both familiar yet new. I can't wait to read more in the series.

boxfiend's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

river_cooke's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging funny reflective relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Absolutely loved this book. It took a minute to set up its framing device, which at first felt abrupt but quickly came to feel natural as anything, but once we're following the first person narration we are off to the races.

It's everything I want from a story: long enough for the prose and the characters to breathe. Not obsessed with cutting its structure to the barebones and only telling me the essentials. This book luxuriates in its word count, and I wouldn't cut a paragraph, even if, on balance, there is a lot of stuff that can seem tangential if you have the mindset to see stories that way. I love how willing this story is to embrace a little bit of "and then this happened and then this happened" especially with how fun the events are to read about.

We follow Kvothe, who is just a delightful character to read, particularly as an unreliable narrator (less that the account is false, but the presentation; on many occasions, he is faced by problems that are the product of his earlier imprudence or hastiness, and the way the narration engages with this failure to learn lessons is genuinely hilarious). This balances out any allegations of him being unrealistically powerful from the jump; at base, he is a theatre kid who at times gets it in over his head. He is genuinely smart and powerful but often makes blunders that on reflection seem obvious. In truth, the fact that it's a first person narrative and this isn't explicitly litigated makes it very fun to observe, whereas a third person narrative might make this irritating. I can't be irritated by this guy. He's so fun.

The framing device isn't redundant, as it allows for the charming style of an authentic-feeling life story that twists and turns and delays and meanders (which I loved so much) but it also sets up its own tension of how this character got to be an innkeeper, and whether they could go back.

And this is only the surface, there's so many great moments that make this book feel rich with life. The scene where Kvothe plays the lute in front of the eolian is transcendent. The scene where Kvothe does a "malicious compliance" apology for writing a defamatory song is inspired. The prose makes every page of this a joy to indulge in, and I'm glad I did.