Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Patrick Rothfuss brings alive all the moments and experiences that are often glazed over in Fantasy and manages to weave them together into a book that is so easy to read it feels like a stroll though the park. His skill with prose and creating a fully realised world wherever he places his characters is obvious and it is an absolute joy to be able to let go and be taken on a journey. Whether in the forest, on a roof, in a bar or in a library, everything feels real and completely imaginable. Not since reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman have I felt so comfortable with trusting the driver and enjoying the ride.
Patience is an important part of this book, for some of the characters and the reader, who are both eager to hear the story of Kvothe, a man of great renown about who much is spoken as legend but little known as fact. Telling the story is an Innkeeper called Cob who knows it truest, as it is his own. After a fairly leisurely introduction where we get a feel for the man he has become whilst we wait to hear about the man he was, we learn he has had many names because of his many experiences and so his will be a tale of many stories.
Our companions in hearing the tale are a man, or something far more, who goes by the name Bast and a storyteller who has come seeking the tale of Kvothe known as the Chronicler. When he asks to hear the tale he is told it will take three full days to tell properly.
The idyllic nature of his life at the beginning is of course too good to be true, but despite knowing this, it is next to impossible not to form a close emotional link with Kvothe and his family. They are wonderful people and they sing and play and perform together and their love for each other is infectious. Usually in a book like this I am thinking where are the swords and the fights but in this I was eagerly looking for the next time he played his lute or even practiced.
Sadly his father’s insistence on finding a song for an ancient evil, the Chadrian, brings them into a darker world. Parts of this book were so sad and when Kvothe broke out of his tale and took a moment, so did I. The thought of this big man weeping out the back of his tavern was enough for me to put the book down for a bit and just reflect.
A great tragedy of Kvothes life is that he never quite gets the girl he loves, yet even more tragic is that despite knowing almost from day one that she could never be his, he cannot help but follow his heart and care for her. Rothfuss does a great job of getting us attached to a character, mirroring the relationship they have with Kvothe, and then taking them away so we also feel that sense of loss and emptiness that they are gone.
A couple of negatives for me were that at times it felt a bit repetitive with many many moments beginning and ending with him looking for Denna. I also found Kvothe’s fight with the Draccus (a large fire breathing herbivore) an odd part as I didn’t find it added to the plot much. Selfishly I’d also like to have more happen. As much as I loved the prose I expected a little more scope to the first book and for Kvothe to be in a far different place at the end than he was in the beginning.
Overall a fantastic book, I can see what all the fuss was about and I cannot wait to pick up The Wise Man’s Fear.
