A review by mariebrunelm
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This book is a special one, but not only for the good reasons. I first read it in 2016 and was delighted to find that the writing style compared, in my opinion, to Robin Hobb’s. Which is huge for me to say. The characters aren’t nearly as endearing, but the atmosphere is excellent and completely makes up for it. You’ve got mysteries aplenty and what is (again, to me) the best prologue I’ve ever read. In less than a page.
That’s for the hype. Now for the bad news.
The Name of the Wind is the first volume in a trilogy that for now only has two books. It came out in 2007 and the second one in 2011. You’d think by now the third volume was only months away? Well, for a variety of reasons, it seems that it isn’t. So I bought book 2 years ago but haven’t read it so far just in case of massive cliffhanger.
Fast-forward a few years, and here I am re-reading book one. In there we meet Kote, a peaceful innkeeper in a supposedly peaceful small village. One day a scribe turns up and recognises Kote as Kvothe, a figure of legend. The pretence doesn’t last long and Kvothe agrees to tell Chronicler his story, in the course of three days. The Name of the Wind is the first of those.
Patrick Rothfuss weaves a captivating narrative here, telling about his protagonist’s story from a very young age, just like Assassin’s Apprentice. I particularly love the theme of music running through the book, as well as the setting of the University. I’m almost ready to forgive the blatant absence of women as more than objects in the story, and that’s saying a lot because it did make me grind my teeth. But Rothfuss has a way with words, and he wrote one of my top 10 books set in the same universe: The Slow Regard of Silent Things. So I think, now that I’ve reread Book 1, I’m quite ready to start Book 2 in the near future.
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