The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1) in The Sword and Laser

Dec 24, 2014 Emanuel Ramos rated it liked it

Shelves: read-2015

Hard to connect with this one. Kvothe's narration left me frustrated. Get on with it, I wanted to say. It sets the stage for the rest of the saga, which I'm interested in following. However, I hope the story picks up. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jun 06, 2012 Tensy (bookdoyen) rated it liked it

Shelves: audiobook, fantasy

I'm going to begin by stating that I am not a fan of fantasy fiction. However, for the most part I thought this novel was entertaining, if you are under 20. A YA reader will probably enjoy it and its sequels. As a seasoned reader, I found that this could have been heavily edited and the gist of the story would have been retained. I know the publishing world is shrinking, but where the heck are the good editors?

I listened to the audio version and the narration by Nick Podehl was excellent, with I'm going to begin by stating that I am not a fan of fantasy fiction. However, for the most part I thought this novel was entertaining, if you are under 20. A YA reader will probably enjoy it and its sequels. As a seasoned reader, I found that this could have been heavily edited and the gist of the story would have been retained. I know the publishing world is shrinking, but where the heck are the good editors?

I listened to the audio version and the narration by Nick Podehl was excellent, with a variety of accents well represented (luckily, it allowed me to fast forward through the tedious parts, see below.)

Now, for the problems I encountered. I sensed that the author somehow felt that heroes, and our protagonist specifically, should be brilliant at everything. I think most readers would have appreciated Kvothe with a few more flaws. Is the intended reader so young that Rothfuss felt they would only relate to a protagonist with genius qualities? Having raised three rather bright children, none sounded like Kvothe at age 15. His dialogue is too adult and insights too perceptive. At 15, he can recognize a chemical substance in its raw state and knows how to treat it with activated charcoal? Sure, I could do that when I was 15 and a volunteer at our local hospital. Give me a break.

The women characters ... pause while I gag. I do not like Denna, and as for the rest, they are just written in for Kvothe to save. This book is teenage boy wish fulfillment at its worst (I've read reviews of book two and it gets even worse). Seriously, has the author spoken to any intelligent women in the past 20 years? Please note, mysterious does not equal fascinating, maybe she is just dense. Rothfuss teaches at a college for God's sake, where did he get his inspiration? Soap Operas?

Lastly, most novels pick up steam at the end, but in this one it seemed to drag interminably in the last quarter of the book with unneeded descriptions and slow action (lots of talk, talk, talk!) Rothfuss is quite a good writer, he just needs to learn how to tighten his plot without so much unneeded explanations. I'm not suggesting he become the next James Patterson and write three page chapters, but he is definitely at the other end of the spectrum. The next book is even longer, so I'm certainly not giving that one a try.

Overall, this was an engaging story, even if much of it is full of cliches and mimicked other books, such as the Harry Potter series. Formula writing is nothing new (look at most mystery fiction), so those who enjoy lighthearted fare and like really long expositions (I'm talking to you, Game of Thrones fans, and BTW I love that show) will rate this highly. For the rest of us, it was just meh. I think I only stuck it out to the end because I enjoyed the narrator of the audio book so much. Now, I'm heading back to my hard-science fiction books and done with my annual venture into fantasy. ...more

Like · see review