A review by zmull
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

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.