Sunday, September 26, 2010

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

Plot: "My name is Kvothe. I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep. You may have heard of me." An excerpt from the book.

Comments: I absolutely loved this book! It's the first book in a series, and I believe it's also Patrick Rothfuss' first published book (congratulations!). This is a great example of true fiction. It's got adventure, mystery, magic, love, and an amazing voice. Kvothe (pronounced almost like "quoth") himself narrates the story, and I must say, I love the way he thinks and talks. The characters in this book are amazing; they all feel very real and 3D, with little details summing up entire personalities. I got caught up in Kvothe's feud with a priggish, rich - and unfortunately for Kvothe, cunning - student at the University, and was intrigued with the woman that has caught Kvothe's attention. This book completely ensnared me. However, I got mad at Kvothe when he was doing/was about to do something stupid. He could be rather pig-headed sometimes.

I learned to set aside my expectations and to just let the book lead me where it was going. The plot is too complex to guess correctly. I liked how it switched back and forth from the young Kvothe to the older Kvothe telling the story. It added a bit of a cliffhanger, where I would be wondering what would happen next to young Kvothe and the story would suddenly switch to older Kvothe - and then something would happen to older Kvothe and I would forget about younger Kvothe...Like I said earlier; complex. The only reason I ever put it down was that it is a good-sized book, and I had too many things going on to read it in one day.

One thing I disliked was the lack of strong female characters. Few women attend the famed University, and several main female characters rely on men (often Kvothe) to be saved. I hope the characters evolve in the next  book, or I'll start being fairly annoyed.

Rating: I rate this book an eight and a half out of ten. Outstanding!

Read the second book in The Kingkiller Chronicles, The Wise Man's Fear.

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