Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Name of the Wind

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Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

72 reviews

annapox's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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pokecol's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

The Name of the Wind is, plainly put, enjoyable. There are criticisms levied all over the place in the face of problems with the series and there is a heaping of praise said for that which it achieves in spite of its contemporaries.
I don't think either of these perspectives are necessary to expose the nature of the book or series (singular) to. There is outside context but leave this to a future generation and such context will be largely meaningless. We can discuss the impact of WWII on Tolkien's Trilogy, but that is not the critical point on what makes Middle-Earth and The Lord of the Rings what they are - nor is its exclusive positives in prose the aspect we solely take away from that series.
When it comes to the King Killer Chronicles, the Name of the Wind is, again, just enjoyable. Its a straight-forward story with brilliant description, beautiful flow, interesting if not particularly deep characters, great moments and a wonderful sense of connection.
My way of looking at it is mostly that its a book where nothing really happens - a little silly sounding, but in the idea of a story there is no main plot that unfolds and ends its just part of an adolescent boys journey written through extremely lyrical expression and perspective. Its like a riveting tale a new friend might tell you about their time in another country or some fun way they look back on things they did as a child that they've mastered the telling of - because that's what the book is, Kote providing a personal take on how he perceives the tale of his life so far. Its a really enjoyable peek into nothing happening. Weird.
The book also leaves off on just enough of a hook to get you to keep wanting to read, ultimately it feels like a foundation to build upon and I gather that is it's purpose in part. If the context of the pages of The Name of the Wind were evaluated alone though, I would say it was great.
The highlights were often the parts that in other books would be dull, in how story-tellers with a story-telling told tales of the world. That of Lanre sticks out VERY specifically. The downsides however are that lack of central plot means it doesn't feel like we're moving towards anything and for a book touting the name "King Killer Chronicles Book 1" it had an awful lack of King Killing, or steps towards King Killing, or reference to Killing a King at all for that matter - in terms of expectations it is disappointing as the scope of the story is very small. And the book could do without the very dated way women are perceived by straight men, its old-hack and was the most detractive part of the book, even if Denna specifically was able to appear fairly involved as a character, taking a breath to describe her sexual perception to Kvothe is unnecessary and is explicitly about appealing to a pretty bad straight male ideology which should probably be avoided.
At the time of writing, this was the longest book I have read, and simultaneously one the books I had the easiest time getting through. I know not what to feel for things to come but I intend to proceed without any lens coming from Patrick Rothfuss' public expression or the public perception of the books, it services no-one.

Tl;dr: a book where nothing happens, but its the most enjoyable nothing I've had the pleasure to read.

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kenzie_roonie's review

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adventurous dark funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I love Rothfuss’ the writing style, and I find his world building creative and engaging. Refreshing to read high-fantasy that doesn’t rely on egregious systemic sexual violence in order to legitimize itself. My one major critique is that the main character has a very “she’s not like other girls” take on his love interest, which I found annoying and cringey.

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kim_104's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Reading it was pretty challenging at first because as it's a fantasy book within a whole made up world system, it's pretty overwhelming with all the new creature names and the way "magic" works there.

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placeswebreathe's review

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adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? No

4.5

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zoe_archambault's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Really liked the general plot but felt it was a lot longer than it really needed to be.

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percivilious's review against another edition

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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.

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amiegold's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

I haven't read a book that affected me this much in years. I picked this up as part of a 'buddy read' for the Currently Reading podcast, and I quickly fell in love. I adored the world, the characters and the way the story was told. We meet Kote, a somewhat failed innkeeper in his mid twenties who seemingly lives in the middle of nowhere with his student Baus. However, Kote is hiding who he really is: the legend, Kvothe. At the request of a chronicler, Kote tells the story of his childhood, and the many different lives he has led. This book has it all: deep interpersonal relationships, a complicated, relatable hero, enemies we all love to hate, magic, music and even dragons. I don't know how I have gone this long without reading this novel.

I actually cried during a musical performance in the middle of the story, just because it was written so beautifully. Though I couldn't wait to know what happened next, I chose not to listen to this book because I wanted to savor the beautiful writing. I loved The Name of the Wind and will definitely be buying a copy for my shelves.

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xjr's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The writing is fantastic! Has a magical, medieval feel to it. Lots of witty quips and poetry-esque descriptions and thoughts. The song segments were fun too!

I really enjoyed the world building as well. The nods to how language works and interacts + the way rumors became stories with specs of truth was fascinating and imo accurate.

Be warned! This book is part of a series, of which this is the first book. One sequel is available and a side story about a minor character (idk if she becomes more prominent in the 2nd book)

This book focuses on Kvothe's past and why he is the innkeeper he is today. A majority takes place in a frame narrative about the adventure stories told about him. Mostly:

his childhood, his time Tarbean, and his time at university

. Sparsely filled with romance, which imo was the slowest and most repetitive part and could've shaved a dozen pages off of the book. In the latter half I noticed a lot of repetitions. While it makes sense in the story and narrative wise, it's not enjoyable to read to me.

It doesn't work as a standalone book either as it ends with

most mysteries open and a cliffhanger that foreshadows things to come in the second book I assume

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vonny3492's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This book is one of those books written by a man that sort of just forgot to include women? There is even a line from one of the characters that's like "there's been such a lack of women in this story" and then the story promptly is like what no women? There's ONE woman! With I think complete lack of insight into the irony.

When they get to speak, especially the ONE woman, they aren't totally vapid and one dimensional, but mostly they are plot devices and manic pixie dream girls. You can tell the author is trying and even thinks he's doing a good job being pro-woman but he falls flat.

Frankly there are too many common phrases at the expense of sex workers...

He manages to somehow pull off being a very good writer who's obsessed with his own prose without being totally annoying, which is impressive.

I will say overall I liked the book and thought it was engaging. And I think the author does a good job of sprinkling in the mystery and some fun parallel language use.

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