The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss is the story of Kvothe, an impossibly talented boy who grows up to become a feared legend, known for seducing the Fae, slaying kings and talking to Gods.
His expansive intellect guides him across the world as he searches for revenge against the Chandrian, a mythical race of people who murdered his entire family. The book is the first of a trilogy that heavily indulges in both rich world-building and poetic language.
If you are a fan of high fantasy, then The Name of the Wind is a book you should pick up. I don’t say this because I think it is an example of how high fantasy should be, but it is pleasant to read; something that doesn’t feel too influenced by the ‘Lord of the Rings’ or ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ lore. While it has elements from both, the fantasy has a very distinct flavour to it, which comes from the book’s distaste for black box magic.
The language is another main feature. Kvothe, as the storyteller, comes from a background of live performance. This gives Rothfuss’ strong sense of romantic wordplay its own freedom to saturate the book and paint Kvothe’s tale in blinding colour.
Unfortunately, the book’s virtues are also its vices. While the prose is rich, it can be nauseating and slow. There are also characters that provide nothing but pointless, frustrating distractions to Kvothe’s journey. However, the greatest flaw is Kvothe himself. Due to his overpowered intelligence, he lacks any sense of true development. There aren’t any limits to what he can do, so, although he experiences setbacks, there isn’t anything that is completely unattainable to him, which would have deepened his character in how he reacts when his intellect is either inadequate or simply irrelevant.
However, my final opinion is that The Name of the Wind is an incredibly beautiful book that I couldn’t put down for a long, long time. Despite its flaws, it is a wonderfully spun tale of romantic heroism and scientific magic.
By Lydia Pauly
The Rabbit Newspaper 