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A review by thewallflower00
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
5.0
Before George R. R. Martin released his latest doorstopper, this was the big epic taking up every fantasy geek's time. My interest became piqued when Penny Arcade made a joke about the second book in the trilogy. As was my friend's, who let me borrow the first book, The Name of the Wind. I loved it right away.
The book is framed story about the life of a boy/man named Kvothe, a son of traveling actors. After his troupe is killed by a supposedly mythical person, he has to learn how to live and survive alone. His primary goal is to learn who killed his parents, why they were killed, and probably revenge. But all this often gets side-tracked as he learns magic (called "arcanum" and related to Voodoo and quantum mechanics), becomes homeless, and enters college on a shoestring budget.
It is an awesome book. But it is long. I think it took me a month and a half to read. And the sequel's even longer. I didn't know much about Patrick Rothfuss before, but I love him now. It's a great book for epic fantasy, and the only way it feels like a long book is if you keep looking at where your bookmark is.
Some people don't like that the plot meanders so much. I don't like books that do that either, unless they've earned it. And Kvothe earns it because everything he does is so fascinating. He's a charming man, but he's not a douche. The world is fascinating, the characters are fascinating, and all the distractions and "interesting side-tracks" are what makes the book fun. It's like if Harry Potter had pubes.
The book is framed story about the life of a boy/man named Kvothe, a son of traveling actors. After his troupe is killed by a supposedly mythical person, he has to learn how to live and survive alone. His primary goal is to learn who killed his parents, why they were killed, and probably revenge. But all this often gets side-tracked as he learns magic (called "arcanum" and related to Voodoo and quantum mechanics), becomes homeless, and enters college on a shoestring budget.
It is an awesome book. But it is long. I think it took me a month and a half to read. And the sequel's even longer. I didn't know much about Patrick Rothfuss before, but I love him now. It's a great book for epic fantasy, and the only way it feels like a long book is if you keep looking at where your bookmark is.
Some people don't like that the plot meanders so much. I don't like books that do that either, unless they've earned it. And Kvothe earns it because everything he does is so fascinating. He's a charming man, but he's not a douche. The world is fascinating, the characters are fascinating, and all the distractions and "interesting side-tracks" are what makes the book fun. It's like if Harry Potter had pubes.