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percivilious's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
Kvothe is so Autistic, it's wonderful.
characters who I think are queer:
Bast
Simmons
Probably Kvothe
The Eolian owners, I thought they were hubbies at first
I want to give Kvothe a hug, this poor man has had such a hard time, his retirement plan didn't even work out the way he hoped.
as Patrick Rothfuss has said, the writing can be a tad juvenile at times but it does work since Kvothe is a child throughout this whole book, of course he'd freak out at being in close proximity with a girl.
I like Denna, I don't have much to say about her but I like her.
characters who I think are queer:
Bast
Simmons
Probably Kvothe
The Eolian owners, I thought they were hubbies at first
I want to give Kvothe a hug, this poor man has had such a hard time, his retirement plan didn't even work out the way he hoped.
as Patrick Rothfuss has said, the writing can be a tad juvenile at times but it does work since Kvothe is a child throughout this whole book, of course he'd freak out at being in close proximity with a girl.
I like Denna, I don't have much to say about her but I like her.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Blood, Alcohol, Violence, Classism, Grief, and Bullying
Minor: Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Addiction, Drug use, and Misogyny
tinyjude's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
The women of this book deserved so much better. Everyone, who is relatively important, here is so painfully white, cis and het (men). The descriptions of sounds were beautiful, I will give him that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Grief, Racism, Classism, Death of parent, and Misogyny
kypn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Minor: Violence and Misogyny
navya12's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-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? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Misogyny
lunep's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death, Child abuse, Grief, Medical content, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Classism, Addiction, Blood, Gore, Police brutality, Alcohol, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Murder
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Xenophobia, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Kidnapping, Medical content, Misogyny, Animal cruelty, Sexism, and War
Graphic depictions of poverty and homelessness take up a significant portion of the story. Graphic description and discussion of giant spiders.manarnia's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A bit meandering, but overall an engrossing fantasy book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Mental illness, and Murder
Moderate: Alcohol, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Addiction, Rape, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Gore, War, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Misogyny, and Sexual violence
crystalmethany's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Violence, and Grief
Moderate: Bullying and Misogyny
Minor: Drug abuse
albusmumblecore's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.25
this was genuinely one of the most annoying depictions of women that i’ve ever read. i don’t think patrick rothfuss hates us or anything, but i’m not sure he’s ever actually interacted with a woman.
i am a long term fantasy reader, i am used to male authors writing male dominant stories with sidelined and sexualized female characters. i am also used to male readers praising books full of this trope and not even recognizing it. name of the wind is no exception yet there was also something about its specific depiction of women that deeply pissed me off.
there are noticeably few women in the entire story for no clear reason, even as background characters, and it’s even pointed out that women are a rarity at the magic school (why?). nearly every female character is sexualized or traumatized. i don’t criticize authors lightly. this was a genuinely fucking weird depiction of women. they exist to be pitied or lusted after by the narrator.
women and girls are described as, without any awareness of it being problematic:
1) “Young, pretty, unassuming...The sort of girl who spent her life in a perpetual flinch because the innkeeper had a temper and a sharp tongue and wasn’t afraid to show her the back of his hand.”
2) a thirteen year old: “She threw her arms around me and kissed my cheek...I hadn’t noticed before, but she was beautiful.”
3) a fifteen year old: involved with a man twice her age (and using him), discussed by said man, who is a sympathetic character and friend to the protagonist
4) instinctively and universally disliking a female character because she gets male attention (this epiphany is told to a teen boy as genuine advice by an adult man)
at one point, a male character POINTS OUT that there’s a “paucity of women” in the tale, and the main character goes yes of course my guy you are so right, it is missing a **singular woman** who of course has a mysterious traumatic background and then at one point needs rescue by our hero.
this was also a wildly exhausting book to read, and took me 6 weeks when i’m typically a 1-3 day reader. anyway, i enjoyed the overarching story and i will read the sequel because i’m an idiot clown.
i am a long term fantasy reader, i am used to male authors writing male dominant stories with sidelined and sexualized female characters. i am also used to male readers praising books full of this trope and not even recognizing it. name of the wind is no exception yet there was also something about its specific depiction of women that deeply pissed me off.
there are noticeably few women in the entire story for no clear reason, even as background characters, and it’s even pointed out that women are a rarity at the magic school (why?). nearly every female character is sexualized or traumatized. i don’t criticize authors lightly. this was a genuinely fucking weird depiction of women. they exist to be pitied or lusted after by the narrator.
women and girls are described as, without any awareness of it being problematic:
1) “Young, pretty, unassuming...The sort of girl who spent her life in a perpetual flinch because the innkeeper had a temper and a sharp tongue and wasn’t afraid to show her the back of his hand.”
2) a thirteen year old: “She threw her arms around me and kissed my cheek...I hadn’t noticed before, but she was beautiful.”
3) a fifteen year old: involved with a man twice her age (and using him), discussed by said man, who is a sympathetic character and friend to the protagonist
4) instinctively and universally disliking a female character because she gets male attention (this epiphany is told to a teen boy as genuine advice by an adult man)
at one point, a male character POINTS OUT that there’s a “paucity of women” in the tale, and the main character goes yes of course my guy you are so right, it is missing a **singular woman** who of course has a mysterious traumatic background and then at one point needs rescue by our hero.
this was also a wildly exhausting book to read, and took me 6 weeks when i’m typically a 1-3 day reader. anyway, i enjoyed the overarching story and i will read the sequel because i’m an idiot clown.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, and Sexism
Minor: Pedophilia
cuppa_curiositea's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I have so many mixed opinions about this book. The writing style is very beautiful, and I think that that is one of Rothfuss' biggest strengths. The structure of this book is not conventional, but it mostly works. I'm not gonna lie, it was really frustrating getting to the end of a 700 PAGE BOOK, only to realize that I was going to run out of pages before Rothfuss could even begin to tie things up. I am a firm believer that AT LEAST the first book of a planned series should be standalone. Frankly, I can't think of a single significant arc that I feel any satisfaction from. This book horribly fails the Bechdel test. While I don't necessarily consider that as a measure for book quality, I mention it specifically because every female is either used to show us how great Kvothe is or they are sexualized for no reason ("But, Camille! He's 15! Of course he has sex on his mind!" So what!?!? If you can't even have higher standards for FICTIONAL boys, then you are definitely the type of person to say 'boys will be boys' in real life. Of course it's important to explore and understand sexuality, but these moments were purely objectification not moments for character growth).
Now I want to explain my answers to the review questionnaire:
1. Plot or character driven? There is no plot. There is one overarching goal to learn more about the Chandrian, but that goal is on the backburner for most of the book and there is no indication of what Kvothe even plans to do with that information.
2. Is there strong character development? Hell no. Every time one of his flaws gets him trouble, he quickly gets out of it. There are SO MANY false defeats in this book. Just when you think Kvothe will fail--even at something small--either he comes up with a clever solution or someone says something to the tune of "just kidding." He never has a true failure to actually grow from.
3. Did you find the characters loveable? It's complicated. Interesting? Yes. Lovable? At first. The second half of the book, I was just frustrated at Kvothe for pulling his same old shit over and over again.
4. Is the cast of characters diverse? It doesn't feel diverse. Though technically he does encounter people of different cultures and backgrounds, everyone feels generally homogenous. Honestly, most of the characters even share a very similar personality and voice.
5. Are the flaws of the main character a main focus of the book? Absolutely. Kvothe is a little dick, to be honest, but the smart kind. He has a very flawed character that gets him into trouble, he just doesn't learn from these mistakes. He comes up with clever solutions to cover them up instead.
Now I want to explain my answers to the review questionnaire:
1. Plot or character driven? There is no plot. There is one overarching goal to learn more about the Chandrian, but that goal is on the backburner for most of the book and there is no indication of what Kvothe even plans to do with that information.
2. Is there strong character development? Hell no. Every time one of his flaws gets him trouble, he quickly gets out of it. There are SO MANY false defeats in this book. Just when you think Kvothe will fail--even at something small--either he comes up with a clever solution or someone says something to the tune of "just kidding." He never has a true failure to actually grow from.
3. Did you find the characters loveable? It's complicated. Interesting? Yes. Lovable? At first. The second half of the book, I was just frustrated at Kvothe for pulling his same old shit over and over again.
4. Is the cast of characters diverse? It doesn't feel diverse. Though technically he does encounter people of different cultures and backgrounds, everyone feels generally homogenous. Honestly, most of the characters even share a very similar personality and voice.
5. Are the flaws of the main character a main focus of the book? Absolutely. Kvothe is a little dick, to be honest, but the smart kind. He has a very flawed character that gets him into trouble, he just doesn't learn from these mistakes. He comes up with clever solutions to cover them up instead.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Misogyny