From the Bookshelf of Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy…

The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1)

Patrick Rothfuss

Start date: October 1, 2012

Finish date: October 31, 2012

Discussion: Book Discussions

Why we're reading this: October 2012 Contemporary (tied)
#18 on NPR's Top 100 SF/F novels of all time (2011 poll) http://www.npr.o …more
[close] October 2012 Contemporary (tied)
#18 on NPR's Top 100 SF/F novels of all time (2011 poll) http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/1390858...
#3 on Locus Magazines Best Fantasy novels of the 21th century http://www.locusmag.com/2012/AllCentu...

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Jun 23, 2011 Ash rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: naah, fantasy-adult, 2015-read, abandoned-series

One of the worst books I have read in a long time.
1. Boring mainly because of bad editing. One scene where Kvothe is riding a horse has been described in 4 pages. 4 lines would have been more than enough. Scenes and conversations stretch for pages together and most of the time the conversation adds no value to the story.
2. Denna is probably the worst female character I have ever encountered. How can someone portray women in such a bad light and get away with such high rating for the book? If it One of the worst books I have read in a long time.
1. Boring mainly because of bad editing. One scene where Kvothe is riding a horse has been described in 4 pages. 4 lines would have been more than enough. Scenes and conversations stretch for pages together and most of the time the conversation adds no value to the story.
2. Denna is probably the worst female character I have ever encountered. How can someone portray women in such a bad light and get away with such high rating for the book? If it was just Denna, I would still be okay. But all the other female characters and their portrayal was disturbing. And Kvothe is so charming that every other woman in the book was trying to lure him into sleeping with her (kinda).
3. There is not even a single character, male or female who is remotely interesting. I did not like a single character in the book. Kvothe himself is manipulative, a liar and a disrespectful person. He is extremely arrogant as well. But there is nothing that he can't accomplish.
4. I am not even sure why they call this an epic fantasy. There is nothing epic about this book. It is just a long winded rags to riches story with some revenge and arrogance thrown in. The entire story revolves around a single character.
5. I found the author extremely misogynist. There are no female characters for more than half of the book. All the masters in the University are male. When a female student enters a class, one of the masters passes a lewd comment on her. When the female characters do enter the story, they are the kind misogynist men think women are like - no brains, just beauty used to lure men into their traps for money. WTH! No strong female character. For that matter, no strong character at all - neither male nor female.
6. University part of the story sounded very much like Harry Potter - a master who dislikes our hero and calls him a prodigy in front of the class (Snape), a fellow student whom our hero despises (Malfoy) and the two friends, except there is no female friend.
7. Kvothe is always either drunk or sharing a drink with his friends, even though he is broke. He has no money to buy a shirt, but has enough to treat his friends to wine. And why are 14-15 year olds getting so drunk?!
8. Who whips students in a University for breaking rules?!

I wasted my precious time on the book and I regret it. 700+ pages of dull boring story, where nothing eventful or mysterious happens. ...more

20 likes · Like · see review

Dec 11, 2012 Komal rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

3.75/5

Allotting a sure-footed score to The Name of the Wind was one of the most controversial times in my life. I was contemplating, at first, a 5. It then went down a few notches to 4. It then fluctuated again between a 4.5 and a 5. Once, it even dwindled to a 3. So an average of 3.75 was taken just for the sake of lending the rating some numbers. And as I'm a shit mathematician, along with an even shittier critic, I always round my numbers to the lower... wait, this isn't even rounding to the ...more

11 likes · Like · see review

Oct 13, 2012 Xdyj rated it liked it

Shelves: sfhf_challenge, o

A comparatively more literary work in epic fantasy genre. A bit reminds me of Gene Wolfe though imho not as good. Nice use of metafiction. The protagonist is a stu though.

1 like · Like · see review