The Name of the Wind

9/10

Here we go, my friends. I had this on my to-read list for years and I still avoided going for it because of multiple reason. One, it's long. It takes a considerable amount of time to just go through it. Two... damn, this thing is hyped. The best thing since sliced bread, it will make you cry and name your first child Kvothe regardless of gender. It will give you an identity crisis. Hurr durr. Three, Rothfuss did many things that just rub me the wrong way. If we met I would be polite, as I always am, but I doubt we would click. This shouldn't matter all that much, but it does, I guess. Dunno.
One reason I don't care about is it not being finished. I will say this, I don't think the series will ever be finished at this point and I don't care. I care about him not just being honest about it, but yeah.

Kvothe is perfect, so much so I started mentally calling him Inspirational Kvothe. Right now he is hiding as an innkeeper in some small village. Cozy, right? It is, he does innkeeper-y things and hangs out with his student and sole employee, a goat-legged dude, Bast, who is kind of dumb, but hey, he is supernatural.
Then one day... a Chronicler shows up, having heard the legends of Kvothe. So he decides to tell his true and unabridged or whatever story. Here we go.
He grew up in a travelling troupe, things happened, he went to magic university, met a chick. That's about this book. Thanks, bye.

So. I feel that for a first book this was fine. Yes, just fine. I won't call it brilliant or groundbreaking or even all that special, because it just isn't. The prose is often going into purple territory, the story itself is nowhere near as clever as it is intended to be. The characters.... oooooh, man. No, the characters are probably the weakest part of this thing.
All in all, I have zero clue how it managed to make people believe it's some sort of a marvel of fantasy literature. I guess some of the very end of the book explains it; if you fake it long enough eventually it will become truth or whatever. I don't know. I do know that it isn't brilliant, though. I don't want to say it disappointed me, because I had a feeling it wasn't going to become my absolute favourite, but still. I am not head over heals in love with this thing.
Damn, was it long. Everything that happened could have been written 30-50% shorter and we wouldn't have missed much.

Lets go back to Inspirational Kvothe. I personally don't find an inherent issue with power fantasies if they are somewhat balanced and if they don't try to seem more than what they are. In this case... it's rough. Kvothe is the type of character that somehow manages to fall upwards every single time, but also he is an idiot in the sense that he just can't freaking concentrate on any of the miraculous things he gets. He gets into magic school. Yay? Well, lets just waste time on chasing a girl who just can't be bothered to do anything, really. He has a special skill he can use to earn money (music), but he refuses to just work diligently and instead gets distracted every five minutes by some shit. Every single time I felt we were taking a step forward Kvothe's pigeon brain just went some other way, because lulz.
Talking about special skills. Inspiration Kvothe is good at everything and is so without much of an effort. He can miss YEARS of practising on his lute and with just a bit of the equivalent of sullenly playing Wonderwall he is back in shape and perfect. Because he feels it in his feeling place and you are not a musician, so you won't get it. No riding horses in years? Pfft, 60 miles in a day and he is only a bit stiff. Spent a couple months with some woodsman when he was like 8? In a dream all the info about surviving in the wild is back.
We also have the thing where everyone who is not nice to him on day 1 turns out to be an evil person who will keep trying to ruin his life. Because you can detect assholes by seeing how they react to Kvothe.

Now we reached the point where we will talk about his love interest, Denna. Ohhhh, Denna.
I find it incredibly funny when people who claim to be such woman respecting feminists and so acutely aware of all the recent opinion about that write the Dennas of the world.
She is awful. Of course Denna is the single most perfect woman ever, she is so gorgeous and talented and smart and just everything. So everything. So much so men talk about her between themselves and STILL feel the need to white knight and M'lady her. Other women all hate her because she is just flawless and because of that she can literally do nothing in life, no job, no interests, nothing. Because she is perfect and that means she will have be basically a prostitute. I... not gonna lie, I physically facepalmed at this. Of course Kvothe has to point out that she is a bigger victim than him.
It gets even worse. She pushes him around, disappears when she feels like, just generally acts like a bitch. Of course to his face she is all “Ohhhh, you are wonderful and special”, but her deeds say the exact opposite. Then this idiot, when he sees her with other men just thinks “okay, you bang her, but I make her laugh, okay, I am better”. A bruh moment.

Something about this book makes me feel like every single character deserves what comes for them, because they are either pretty one note background people, or the self-sabotaging duo of Kvothe and Denna.
Some of the smaller ones are fun, though. Kvothe has this absolutely mental teacher, Elodin. He makes no sense and just wanders around being visibly crazy in a fun way. I like him. Or his other teacher, Kilvin, who is basically the Hagrid of this book. They are not particularly deep so far, but they are nice.

The thing about writing exceptional characters is that you need to be at least as smart as they are to sell it. You have to be at least as charming or sell it. There is nothing wrong with them lacking something, but if you go overpowered, then sell it to me.
Here it just didn't happen. Many of the conversations between Denna and Kvothe were useless, as their relationship didn't develop and it wasn't nearly as clever or entertaining as it was intended to be. The handful of good jokes in this giant book didn't make it worth the endless amounts of eye-rolling “witty” content.

Sometimes fantasy authors get this urge to include poems and songs in books. I blame Tolkien. I respect him and understand his cultural significance, but damn, do we have so many authors who are convinced they will also write poetry. And again, in this case as well as in others, the poems weren't great. To me they just break up the pace, they are kind of uncomfortable and jarring after me going through hundreds of pages of prose.
Not gonna lie, I am not a huge fan of poetry and especially not of poetry from not-poets. There is a reason why some people pick different forms to express themselves. To me it's like if an author suddenly decided to paint their own book covers. Maybe some could. But mostly it will just feel amateurish, especially in contrast with the “main attraction”. Of course less effort will go into it and less expertise.

Maybe I will get angry comments about this, but I don't really care. Ones that call me names or claim I am stupid for not liking this or that I shouldn't have an opinion (because it's not nice or because I'm not an author myself, etc.) will be deleted, I don't have time for that.

Coming of age fantasy — written straightforwardly. Last act dragged, but fun if only to finally figure out what comes next.

• the writing was very engaging, i generally found myself being swept along with it and the first half passed very smoothly.
  - i really really didn't care for Kvothe's romance arc with Denna, and i think that's when the book kinda took a dip and went downhill from about 50-80+%. it only picked up a tiny bit when they first discovered the draccus and when we see tiny glimpses of Denna's banter and wit, but then after that it went back to meh all the way until Kvothe finally summoned the name of the wind. i gotta admit i started skimming through some chapters during this entire arc. the rest of the plot was a pretty good epic fantasy but the romance bits were so incongruously amateurish somehow.
  - i enjoyed the bits at the end when Elodin finally started talking a bit more about how Naming works, and also that exciting bar fight with the demon-possessed (?) mercenary at the Waystone Inn.
  - i was annoyed by adult Kvothe at the beginning of the book, was OK with him as a child and a teen all the way until he got all half-crazy and obsessive over Denna then i was really annoyed, and by the end he's just meh all right. i'm confused why he's holding himself off from Denna despite being in contact with her, and then also lusting over Fela at the same time :WaitWhat:
  - things i care about by the end of the book: Auri, Bast, the system of Naming, Elodin's backstory, the Underthing
  - this book was a 4/5 for me for the first half, but then dipped down to a 3 in the middle and now i guess i'd probably settle around 3.75 maybe?
  - would i read the next book? a big Maybe. i'm not entirely ruling it out, but i'd definitely need a significant amount of time before i decide if i want to pick it up.

4.5

This was a really solid, enjoyable fantasy novel. Despite it's enormous size, I really flew through the pages pretty quickly, because I was constantly excited to see what would happen next. The main reason it didn't hit 5-star level, for me, is that it truly feels like its sole purpose is to set up whatever is going to happen next. It feels like the (very wordy) prologue to the story the author ACTUALLY wants to write. That being said, it was dang entertaining, and I'm excited to see where book two takes us.

Story: 8 / 10
Characters: 10
Setting: 8
Prose: 9

WARNING: This book has no ending. Would have really appreciated knowing that before starting.

Excellent setting and storytelling. Apt usage of descriptive writing. Good and worthwhile read.

disappointing. i think i was expecting too much.

A novel way to write high fantasy, The Name of the Wind excels first and foremost at developing the beginnings of it's protagonist, Kvothe.

The biggest thing I noticed in the early stages of this book was how quickly Rothfuss was able to change the tone of the novel. Kvothe's first-person narration goes from describing a seemingly normal or uplifting scene before quickly adjusting into a dark or different situation. This made for enjoyable shocks in the story and a much more realistic upbringing for Kvothe.

What also impressed me was Rothfuss's choices to subvert typical genre conventions, and spend time developing a range of story areas. The winding, uncertain nature of the story made for a much more realistic and enjoyable read than one that would typically follow the fantasy formula. The writing style of having both a storyteller in the present, and his coming-of-age story in the past makes a new sort of plot that pushes the realism of the world even further, and stands apart from other books in the genre. The novel doesn't seem to have any clear thematic message, but Rothfuss drops quotable lines that are applicable in anyone's life, and describes Kvothe's interactions with others so well that you can see your own relationships with others reflected in the writing.

I can understand some readers not appreciating Kvothe's character, as a guy who basically has done-it-all and speaks down on those who aren't on his level, but I found his arrogance in particular a believable trait that balanced out any “too-perfect” complaints. He is, at the end of the day, a flawed protagonist.

Unfortunately, my largest gripe with the book is how much of both the world development, and the character's life, are left unexplored. I will definitely be reading the sequel, but this book felt largely like a set-up (a very long 800 page one at that!) for the rest of the series. Also, I've seen the numerous complaints with the long (now 8+ years) wait for the third and final book in the trilogy...

Contrarily, the best parts of the book for me were undoubtedly the preludes and hints at the past, and I loved how different people throughout the book have different versions of stories to tell, really harkening back to an age where travellers shared tales and a common, written history was not widely known. All in all, a welcome breath of fresh air that leaves you wanting more in the fantasy genre.

Some of my favourite quotes:
- “If you can find someone...who you can hold and close your eyes to the world with, then you're lucky. Even if it only lasts for a minute or a day.”
- “It is like the ocean. I can tell you of the waves and water, but you don't begin to get an inkling of its size until you stand on the shore.”
- “May all your stories be glad ones, and your roads be smooth and short.”
- “There's no good story that doesn't touch the truth.”
- “As with all truly wild things, care is necessary in approaching them.”
- ““Bitter.” “That's how you know it's real medicine... If it tasted good it would be candy.”“
- “I found what I wanted most, yet it was not what I expected... As is often the case when you gain your heart's desire.”

If you like storytelling then you'll probably enjoy this book. Layer 1 the protagenist today, layer 2 protagenist is recounting his life story, layer 3 stories told to him by others when he was younger.The author spent a good chunk of time in layer 3, which didn't move the plot along and didn't appear to add any value to the other 2 layers. Reminded me of the 4-page paragraphs from [b:Heart of Darkness 4900 Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1392799983l/4900.SX50.jpg 2877220].

If you want me to name the strange book, that's the one. The thing with the first book is that in this case it is really a foundation for the other two. A lot happens here, but not really that much.

I'm sure that the second book will have more action, but I really don't want the second book now. Especially with the publishing date of the third book being postponed so often.

slow but really good (:

My fav fantasy ever, on par with Blood Song - and I've read at least 6-700 fantasy novels so far (probably more).

Absolutely superb stuff. This book was recommended separately by three different friends, and it lived up to expectations.

It's the first fantasy book I've read (or certainly in the last decade) so initially I wasn't quite sure. As the chapters progressed though, the story fell into really beautiful story telling.

I'm was taken away by how good the writing and prose were. There were turns of phases that were fun and a pleasure to read. The book itself is also broken into small enough chapters that I could read for 15-20 minutes at night and complete a chapter (I like to stop reading at “natural” endings).

The story, or rather the trilogy of books (this being book 1), follows Kvothe and the telling of his life story. Kvothe agrees to tell his story over three days (at which point I realised that I was reading Day 1).

I'd to write more of thorough review, but the story is brilliantly dense that I can't do it justice. The second book in the trilogy is 1,000 pages - which is daunting to me, but it's definitely on my reading list now. There's also a number of novellas that have been written for the world the Rothfuss has written which I've also earmarked. As for the conclusion of the trilogy, I've been told that not only is there no publication date set, but that Rothfuss has been at it for 8 years 😱!!!

happy I gave it a second chance

Pros
I really enjoyed the authors writing. The way he introduces the magic system and builds the world was entirely enjoyable.
I love the omnipresence of powerful things lingering, waiting, perhaps watching.
I enjoyed the pacing, things are revealed nice and slow pace and cleverly introduced.
I love how the author writes the life of this character. It's familiar in the way and it is unpredictable, sometimes meandering, much like the way you might hear someone recounting events that happened in their life.

Cons
This is purely personal, but I really don't care for traveling troops, bards, minstrels etc, they just annoy me, I don't know why. Silly but it was something I had to get over and I'm glad I did. I have come to really love the Adema Rue and how that culture defined the main characters life.

Like some of the other reviews I've read, I agree that this story wanders and leaves me wondering why are we here/ what's the purpose of this deviation? When it happened for the second time, I dismissed it as something the author probably did on purpose to reflect how a story would actually be recounted - in a roundabout and somewhat disorganized way. Who knows if that's true?

I'm of two minds about this book. On one hand, I think it has a lot of neat ideas and character moments. It is well written in a lot of ways and certainly has many gripping scenes that I read intently and I was quickly done a chapter and onto the next without realizing it.

But at the same time, this is the most fedora-tipping, gentleman wish-fulfillment thing I have ever read that's not an internet meme. I think the most perfect example of what I'm talking about is a scene in which the main character's rival/bully is flirting with a girl who is clearly unwelcoming to his advances. He's reading her a poem that he wrote, and our hero steps in and says:

“I'm not sure I can trust the literacy of someone who tries to rhyme ‘north' with ‘worth.' No wonder you have to hold women down to get them to listen to it.”

“My lady scriv” I said to her with a bow....

The Name of the Wind is quite possibly one of the best books I've ever read. The 5 stars I'm giving it seem inadequate, and I whole heartedly recommend to anyone.

Read this book!

Well, I tried again. I guess this much beloved and very highly rated book just isn't for me. Kvothe just doesn't seem very ‘real' to me. Also, he is a bit annoying. Abandoned about half-way through.

I loved this book. I listened to it in the car on a long drive and used the paperback as a backup to look at names and other words used. I can't wait to start the next one.

Best fantasy book I've read

I absolutely adore films/tv shows/books that show the journey of a character who has an incredible life that changes and goes off on so many tangents. This book isn't the quickest read and isn't hugely filled with action but it truly takes you on a journey. You need to finish this book, don't give up - trust me, it is wholly worth it. So far this is the best fantasy book I've ever read!

Al fin lo leí!
Me gustó sisi, me gustó. Solo voy a decir que hubo un par de veces que encontré que eran medias largas las historias. Por ejemplo, todo el viaje a Trebon hasta el incendio del pueblo se me hizo muy largo . Hubo personajes que me encantaron <3 como Elodin y Auri o Wil y Sim. Denna la verdad es que no me gustó, no sabría explicar por qué, simplemente no me gustó. Kvothe es bacanoso, pero un pelín soberbio y siempre tengo trancas con esas cosas.
Peeeero, estoy contenta de haberlo leído, pronto empezaré el segundo libro :)

Recensie:
http://charami.com/2018/01/15/gelezen-in-december/#dnvdw

Alright, where to begin.

First off, I find giving this 2 stars a tiny bit cruel (as it is well written), but I just did not care about any of it.

The story is about Kvothe (whom is telling his life's story, so there's a mix of the present and the past). I quite get that most of us paint ourselves in a better light than we actually are when recounting events, but not so much that it becomes utterly ridiculous. Kvothe is amazing at everything. He's slaying records left and right, creating legends and stories about him on his first day, has no problems with whatever task he is set out to do. Every woman he ever meets is the most beautiful being on Earth, and luckily he can quite often come to their rescue so of course he is also quite adored.

Mind you, Kvothe is not without his ~flaws. He's lived on the streets for a long time when he was young, he's very poor (they beat you over the head with his one), he also immediately squanders his money whenever he gets some, and he can be quite stupid.
The worst thing though, is that he can be incredibly obnoxious and pretentious at times, and it's no wonder so many other students and teachers can't stand him.

None of these things were apparent at the start of the story though, and I'm not sure what about it made me unable to really get into it. Because I quite like first person POVs (if well done). They can make it easier for me to really get into and understand the character. Yet for some reason in this case it just felt very distant, and I never felt that connection. It might have been because the story is being told to us, rather than happening in current time, but I don't really know.

There's other little things too. I mentioned that they beat us over the head with the fact that Kvothe is poor. They mention at least three times that “You wouldn't understand if you've never been poor” and it just comes across as really condescending. The exact same sentence also appears, but it's replaced with “if you've never been a musician”. It's just weird.
The chapters also frequently end with some ominous sentence like “This would be the last time this guy would tell this story” or “Too bad I'd never see him again”, and sure, such things are quite effective when used moderately. But after the third time in a short while it just makes me roll my eyes. I realize that these specific things are purely nitpicking though.

Aside from Kvothe, I found not much other things to like. Surprisingly, I actually quite liked Denna. Her character isn't ~nice, but I find her interesting. I do not like the pedestal Kvothe puts her on though, or how absurdly obsessive he tends to get.
I'm sure there's other things that were fine, but I can't seem to think of them right now.

This could very well be the best performance I've heard of an audiobook. It could be that it's a three- and not really a four-star book, but the performance was so good that I can't help but give it four.

I used to read a lot more fantasy than I do now. Some of it I've revisited as an educated adult and found rather poor - David Eddings' Belgariad etc., Terry Brooks' Shannara books, books that I really enjoyed as a late teen / early 20-year-old. The only fantasy that I really still enjoy has been A Song of Ice and Fire and my old favourites, the rather unwieldy and somewhat turgid Thomas Covenant Chronicles.

So it was rather a delight for me to be drawn so much into a new fantasy novel. Okay, so it is somewhat formulaic, but that didn't really matter. I found it to be well written and well plotted, with a really strong main character and excellent supporting characters. It's not the type of novel that I'd read more than once, as I have done with TC and ASoIaF, but it's not quite throw-away entertainment either.

I wonder if there are more fantasy books other there along these lines?