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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What Members Thought

Nov 16, 2011 Bee rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: epic-fantasy, hero-fantasy, favourite, audiobook

Wow... The hype, this lived up to and surpassed it. Great writing, fluid style, detailed realistic characters. It is heroic sword and sorcery fantasy at it's best. The ending was a little more abrupt than I'd hoped for, but the sequel has been recently published so I'm getting ready to put the earphones back in and get washed away to another shore.

[EDIT] After re-listening to this instant classic my love for Patrick Rothfuss deepens significantly. He has the gift of a true storyteller. I am inst ...more

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Feb 06, 2011 Andrew rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi-and-fantasy

The Kingkiller Chronicle represents exciting news for fantasy lovers, with weaknesses due only to its first-installment status in the (already written) trilogy. The complexity just hasn’t been achieved, yet. Since Rothfuss has already long since completed the three books, there is an assurance to readers that the series shan’t drag on in unseemly fashion for decades.

Rothfuss’s strength is in strong characters, even though they are shallow (as yet) by the ordinary standards of epic fantasy. We kn The Kingkiller Chronicle represents exciting news for fantasy lovers, with weaknesses due only to its first-installment status in the (already written) trilogy. The complexity just hasn’t been achieved, yet. Since Rothfuss has already long since completed the three books, there is an assurance to readers that the series shan’t drag on in unseemly fashion for decades.

Rothfuss’s strength is in strong characters, even though they are shallow (as yet) by the ordinary standards of epic fantasy. We know a wealth about our narrator, Kvothe, from a musical acting family, his story laden with heavy doses of heartache and tragedy. He is a boy who turns out to be a meta-savant. Thin. Good at everything. Attractive, athletic, curious. Faults – perhaps he antagonizes his powerful antagonists a bit too thoroughly. All other personages in The Name of the Wind are a tad two-dimensional. His love, Denna, is strikingly beautiful and has a light, haunting, “cruel” air about her. But little in her description or dialogue sets her apart from Fela, the beauty who works at the library, except that they are, technically, two different people. Kvothe’s friends at the university are the usual ribbing, chortling boys who enjoy a good ale and a good woman, yet largely absent are any specifics about their families, backgrounds, places of birth, motivations, etc. I often lost track of which one was which or from where they might hail.

Granted, the world is not fully developed in this first volume. The University and the city of Imre abut, for example. Yet aside from a typical “other side of the tracks” mentality, the two have little in the way of appreciable differences. The large city of Tarbean has no personality. We know there is a ghetto and therein the urchins have it rough, as urchins do. Character names too are seemingly haphazard. Kvothe, I actually find fresh. Lanre? Siletos? Skarpi? Abenthy? Geography and cultural descent seem to play no part in the timbre of the names – they appear to be a random arrangement of sounds. People from the rural villages and pulsating cities have few apparent differences, especially in the melting pot of the University, and incursions by new characters from faraway lands involve no culture shock whatsoever. All of this detracts from a feeling of size and scope. It feels as if everyone is from Jersey, just a few bus stops apart.

To its credit, NOTW has a robust and interesting magic system. To be fresh in this area is an achievement indeed. It is not overused and while abstract does remain consistent throughout (i.e. there is no cheating). And Kvothe’s story does crescendo to an intriguing climax foreshadowing of a massive story to come. The entire novel is actually a biographical tale recounted by Kvothe to Devan Lochees, The Chronicler, at an inn, with the past and present seemingly on a collision course. To be furthered at the next installment, which – to be taken as a recommendation – I will be reading.
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Aug 03, 2011 Stephen Morgan-MacKay rated it really liked it

The beginning of this book stars with "A Silence in Three Parts" and I feel I could easily outline my critique of this book similarly. The book starts off at a rather languid pace devoid of dramatic action. And while I can appreciate a certain amount of exposition, too much energy was devoted for setting the stage. About 1/3 of the way in, the book takes a turn for the better and starts to come to life. It was here, in this "Second Part," that I began to invest in the protagonist and his environ ...more

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Sep 02, 2024 Nuno Ribeiro rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own, fantasia, favoritos

Este livro proporciona fantasia ao melhor nível, com um worldbuilding muito rico e detalhado e personagens profundas e inesquecíveis. Recomendo.

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Jul 07, 2012 Meran rated it it was amazing

This is a partial review..

If I could give this book more stars, compared to most books rated 1-5, it would have an 8.

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Jan 01, 2015 Frank rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This was a selection for our book club and I was surprised at how many people finished a 600+ page book and how many people really liked it, some even went on to read the next book in this series.

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