Reviews

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

maffa303's review against another edition

5.0

First book I've ever listened to as an audiobook. Has been recommended to me numerous times and certainly lived up to the hype. Absolutely brilliant story and beautifully written.

janebear's review against another edition

4.0

The author self insert and some of the prose feel pretty cringe. But it’s still a really fun book

maoghany's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

xtinaji's review against another edition

4.0

The world building is incredible in this book. The system of magic, called sympathy in the world of The Name of the Wind, is especially done well. Rothfuss keeps a consistent, practical use of it that makes the physics of the world seem all the more real, and I particularly like how the more fantasy aspects of the novel slowly build so there seems to be a ramp of increased danger and stakes.

My absolute favorite part of The Name of the Wind? It's commentary on the nature of storytelling. It's all very meta, as we are reading a story about a man recounting his story, but the way that the narrative describes smaller versions of storytelling--gossip and dramatized recounts and snippets of plays/ children songs--is especially compelling. By emphasizing how easy it is for stories to become twisted, dramatized versions of themselves, Kvothe ends up grounding his story even more. It's as if that awareness of how heroic tales are usually structured somehow lends him credibility. I'm a sucker for stories that reference different mediums through which narratives can be told through, so this was by far my favorite element in the book.

The reasons I knocked down a star were very much based on personal preference than the structure of the story itself. In terms of plot, pacing, and world-building: Patrick Rothfuss did a great job. The language is serviceable for what the story is, with the lush descriptions found in high fantasy accompanied by the stark simplicity coming from Kvothe's first person perspective. In the mechanical aspects, I found no real faults.

However, I also found myself slogging through some parts of the novel. This is an entirely personal opinion of mine, as I do not often find myself reading slow-burn Bildungstrom type novels, but there was nothing that really drew me back into wanting to read it. I really finished the book out of the sheer will that I would not start another book until I finished this one. Kvothe seems almost too perfect of a character sometimes, always somehow making the perfect decisions and saying the right things at the right times. That may not even be the case all the time, but it definitely ended up feeling that way. I really liked that he had a background as a trouper (again, making another move to showcase how performance and lies found their way into influencing the legends and stories), but there was always something that held be back from really liking him. Same with Denna, on paper she seems like a well-rounded and likable character, but I was never really drawn to her either. They are both serviceable characters for the story, however, not particularly memorable for me either.

In all, I do plan on reading the next book! Patrick Rothfuss sets up a wonderful premise and world, as well as plants a few interesting seeds to explore at the end of The Name of the Wind, that I would love to visit upon again. The love and appreciation for storytelling is evident, and I am positive it's a theme that continues in Book 2. But for now, I think I'll hold off from reading it. Book 1 was fantastic and well structured, and I know Rothfuss must have improved upon all the elements in following novel, but it's such a dense world that, frankly, I'm a little mentally exhausted.

tiegongji's review against another edition

5.0

This is by far the best book I've read all year. The story is engaging, the characters authentic, and the way the book ended makes me want to immediately start reading the next book.

cowboy_boohoo's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

kendylldrilling's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

1.0

As much as I was looking forward to this read, I have several critiques of the narrative choices put forward in this well-loved novel. Not every story can be loved by every reader, but never have I felt such a profound loss of my time. 

“Perhaps the greatest faculty our minds possess is the ability to cope with pain. Classic thinking teaches us of the four doors of the mind, which everyone moves through according to their need.
First is the door of sleep. Sleep offers us a retreat from the world and all its pain. Sleep marks passing time, giving us distance from the things that have hurt us. When a person is wounded they will often fall unconscious. Similarly, someone who hears traumatic news will often swoon or faint. This is the mind’s way of protecting itself from pain by stepping through the first door.
Second is the door of forgetting. Some wounds are too deep to heal, or too deep to heal quickly. In addition, many memories are simply painful, and there is no healing to be done. The saying “time heals all wounds” is false. Time heals most wounds. The rest are hidden behind this door.
Third is the door of madness. There are times when the mind is dealt such a blow it hides itself in insanity. While this may not seem beneficial, it is. There are times when reality is nothing but pain, and to escape that pain the mind must leave reality behind.
Last is the door of death. The final resort. Nothing can hurt us after we are dead, or so we have been told.”

Kvothe is an insufferable main character. He’s the best at everything and never seems to come across true struggle or setbacks that impact his character or abilities in any significant matter.

I feel like I was tapping my foot and looking at my metaphorical watch as I waited for the inevitable death of Kvothe’s parents, and as soon as the plot arrived at this point, Rothfuss hadn’t succeeded in making me care about Kvothe. At this point, I felt neutrally, so I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and allow myself to be pulled in by the intrigue of the Chandrian. Unfortunately, my enjoyment only went down as the mystery was buried beneath a multitude of layers playing up the smartest, coolest, most flawless character to have ever graced the pages of fantasy. Please. Even as he tried to survive on the streets and avoid thugs, Kvothe got out of his bad situations too quickly in a relatively slow-paced book for me to attribute any weight to it.

Upon arriving at the university, even Kvothe doesn’t know why he wants to be there. Perhaps he is attempting to shield his true intention of wanting to learn “the name of the wind” from the evaluators at the university, but the logic doesn’t quite fit. As this is a frame narrative, Kvothe has little reason (or even any hints) to hide his motivations from Chronicler—or the reader. He could be an unreliable narrator that buys too much into his own myth and lies at this point, or maybe he was written to be unlikeable. In either case, I needed a lifeline to grab onto to make me care about his fate as he goes along. I have found myself in the position of rooting for despicable characters in other books, but they were all backed up by layered, nuanced writing which, in my opinion, Rothfuss doesn’t have.

Don’t mistake me, there are fleeting moments of beautiful prose, such as the passage quoted above. The discussion of the doors and their relation to the psychology of compartmentalizing was truly touching. If the writing was always so deep and meaningful, I have little doubt it wouldn’t have been a better experience for me. The prose as a whole fell into an uneven area, tossing the reader between beauty, lackluster descriptions, and cringy (or in my case: eye-roll worthy). For example, “Lanre was always where the fight was thickest, where he was needed most. His sword never left his hand or rested in its sheath. At the very end of things, covered in blood amid a field of corpses, Lanre stood alone against a terrible foe. It was a great beast with scales of black iron, whose breath was a darkness that smothered men. Lanre fought the beast and killed it. Lanre brought victory to his side, but he bought it with his life. After the battle was finished and the enemy was set beyond the doors of stone, survivors found Lanre’s body, cold and lifeless near the beast he had slain. Word of Lanre’s death spread quickly, covering the field like a blanket of despair. They had won the battle and turned the tide of the war, but each of them felt cold inside. The small flame of hope that each of them cherished began to flicker and fade. Their hopes had hung on Lanre, and Lanre was dead. In the midst of silence Lyra stood by Lanre’s body and spoke his name. Her voice was a commandment. Her voice was steel and stone. Her voice told him to live again. But Lanre lay motionless and dead. In the midst of fear Lyra knelt by Lanre’s body and breathed his name. Her voice was a beckoning. Her voice was love and longing. Her voice called him to live again. But Lanre lay cold and dead.”

And

“Her easy smile could stop a man’s heart. Her lips were red. Not the garish painted red so many women believe makes them desirable. Her lips were always red, morning and night. As if minutes before you saw her, she had been eating sweet berries, or drinking heart’s blood.”

Are we really reading these lines with a straight face?

My final note about the writing is the failure of the frame narrative in this instance. This is one of my favorite storytelling devices, so this is injurious. I have read many structured this way, and it takes a certain style and approach to make it work without deflating all tension throughout the plot. Well, The Name of the Wind has all the tension of a popped balloon; it’s ragged with obvious holes and significant predictability. The blatant over hinting took away any intrigue from the fun of uncovering the how throughout Kvothe’s journey.

My very last point of criticism (I swear) is the misogynistic treatment of women here. Any woman introduced is just an automaton who loves Kvothe and would be lost without his assistance and meddling in their lives. I can get behind many entries under the sword and sorcery or action/adventure subgenres that have primarily male casts, but surely we didn’t need another overplay of the ‘damsel in distress’ trope without giving the female characters anything belonging to them alone? Where’s the ‘deconstruction’ we were supposedly promised?

jcoryv's review against another edition

5.0

(Listened to this on Audible)

Well now I know why this is one of the highest rated books on Goodreads (with over 500,000 ratings).

On to book #2!

edgehannah's review against another edition

5.0

Still great. Wish the 3rd would come out

bradyvk1995's review against another edition

4.0

Good writing style. Enjoyed most of the book. Beginning was slow and some minor characters probably could be fleshed out more.