The Name of the Wind

It’s hard to write a review after I’ve just named Night Circus as my favorite book of the year. Reading something else isn’t hard, and falling in love with it isn’t hard either, although I’m sure some sort of literary cheating is occurring. I’m willing to risk that though to talk about The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss’s debut novel. This book is a genius example of how the ideas of storytelling can still change and it was truly a pleasure to read.

            The reader first meets an innkeeper called Kote, standing alone in the “three part” silence of his empty inn. The silence, delicately imagined with a variety of imagery, falls back into this man, as though he were a black hole. Rothfuss writes, “It was the patient, cut-flower sound of a man who is waiting to die.” What the hell sound a cut flower makes, I couldn’t begin to tell you, but the fact that Rothfuss makes it make sense in this context says a lot for his newly revealed literary talent. From the beginning of the novel I had a sense of foreboding, but not the heavy handed foreshadowing that so often fantasy novels fall prey to in some sort of prologue. That sense is heightened as the usual crowd gathers in the inn, only to be interrupted by one of their fellows bursting in covered in blood and holding the corpse of what can only be described as the most terrifying spider ever imagined. Think legs like razor blades and a body like stone, nearly impossible to kill and out for your blood. Yeah, I agreed with the local men when they dubbed it a demon and was happy they were dealing with it in the confines of the book. But I digress.

After the high impact demon filled opening of the novel, it settles into a more subdued pace, as Kote, now known to us as Kvothe, begins to tell the story of his life to a scribe who has sought him out. We learn that Kvothe is a legend and curiosity is piqued as to how a man who has killed a dragon and entered the University at a crazy young age somehow ends up in a backwater tavern. Kvothe spins his tale carefully, telling Chronicler (the scribe who is way more important than is let on) of his childhood as a traveling player, his days of poverty in a frightening city and finally his acceptance into the University. Most of the novel’s action takes place at the University as Kvothe begins to grow up and learn about the great and dangerous powers of the world that are his to control. The story seems to meander through time as Kvothe remembers particular things, and yet the through line of the narrative remains clear and moving steadily forward. There is even a wonderful meta-narrative sort of thing happening, as Rothfuss artfully takes us out of the story Kvothe is telling and reminds the reader that this novel is a layered experience with brief interludes taking place in the novel’s present time.

This novel is a brick and I’ll do my best to not make this review a reflection of that. I didn’t feel like I was reading over seven hundred pages though, and I believe that it is a testament to Rothfuss knowing how to pace himself that didn’t have me throwing the book down half way through. He knows that an adventure story gets boring and so he gives Kvothe a romantic interest that keeps things lively. He knows that only using one setting stagnates a story and so his tale takes us through mountains and cities, universities and taverns, tapping into the characters populating each to create a rich world that rivals that of Middle Earth and Westeros. Rothfuss isn’t following the traditions of epic high fantasy to the letter, but he’s clearly been inspired by them and I look forward to his next novel in the series to see how these base themes he’s laid down hold up over a longer story arch. In particular I look forward to his continued treatment of magic as more of a science than a mystical force of the universe. I think this concept will slowly be abandoned for some reason, although I can’t quite put my finger on why I think so. Maybe any of you who read this can let me know your thoughts on the matter afterwards.

Oh dear, I’m quickly heading towards brick-ness. I’ll finish off with a quick run down of my likes and dislikes, to help you know what you’re getting into. I like Kvothe, his outlook on life, his intelligence and refreshing normalcy. I like the university in general and his life there. I like that he notices girls while still living up to the greatness we know he is destined for. I’m not a huge fan of the moments in the present, since that story has yet to come together as well. I’m dying to know why Kvothe and Kote are such different people despite being one man. I think that I don’t have dislikes so much as I have questions that need answers. That’s not a terrible place to be after finishing a book though, so I’ll take it. So there you go. Check it out; go on an adventure and perhaps you’ll find The Name of the Wind draws you in the way it did me.