The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1) in Building a SciFi/Fantasy Library

Oct 14, 2012 Lynne rated it it was ok

Shelves: abandoned, length-long

I dunno, you guys. I mean, it's very well-written, but I'm kind of wondering WHERE ARE THE WOMEN. ...more

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Jul 13, 2012 Elizabeth rated it really liked it

It's strange but this book manages to be both really interesting and very dull (or maybe tedious) at the same time, something I wouldn't have thought was possible before.

This is the first third of the story of Kvothe's life following his upbringing in a traveling performance troupe (where he was very talented and really really smart), the time he spent as a street urchin (where he mostly tried not to think too much), and his start at University (where he's again really really smart, but not that ...more

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Mar 05, 2008 Wendy rated it liked it

Shelves: sf-fantasy

I wasn't even really sure whether I should review this book, because I figure everyone has either already read it or made up their mind whether they're going to read it. But, here we go.

First off, there's no getting around the fact that the pacing is extremely leisurely. At times, this can be pleasant in a "relax and let the author spin you a yarn" kind of way; at other times, you are just waiting for something to happen. It does pick up a bit in the last third of the book.

Otherwise, this is a ...more

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Sep 26, 2011 Harold Ogle rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, magic, faeries, orphan, bard

I enjoyed this book, which I can attempt to succinctly describe as a combination of Feist's Magician with the excessive detail of John Norman or Robert Jordan and the magic system of Ursula K. Le Guin, as written in the accessible style of David Eddings. That said, there are an awful lot of tells that this was a first novel - particularly Rothfuss' tendency toward "kitchen sink" writing (as in, "Everything and the kitchen sink"). It seems like he didn't exclude any darling idea. The Name of the I enjoyed this book, which I can attempt to succinctly describe as a combination of Feist's Magician with the excessive detail of John Norman or Robert Jordan and the magic system of Ursula K. Le Guin, as written in the accessible style of David Eddings. That said, there are an awful lot of tells that this was a first novel - particularly Rothfuss' tendency toward "kitchen sink" writing (as in, "Everything and the kitchen sink"). It seems like he didn't exclude any darling idea. The Name of the Wind labors at times because it's trying to include everything, as if Rothfuss was worried that he might not ever write another book, and so this was his one shot to get everything published.

As usual, I'm participating in the National Novel Writing Month (the annual November ritual to write 50,000 words/82 pages of new fiction), and so I was acutely aware that, after the first 50,000 words in The Name of the Wind, no actual plot had happened. Rothfuss takes a very long time to get the story really going, taking the first hundred pages or so to establish the present - a suspiciously elaborate inn in a secluded backwater village - and the past, where the protagonist, Kvothe, was born and raised, showing nearly effortless excellence in all things. In this respect, this book actually reminds me a bit of Grossman's The Magicians, in that it follows an unabashedly egotistic genius and the trouble he finds even though everything comes tremendously easily to him. In comparing the two, I found Kvothe more accessible, but that may have been in large part from the familiar fantasy trappings.

The book has many familiar fantasy tropes wrapped up into one story: the performer who learns a wide range of useful abilities through a traveling circus (Silverberg, Powers, Anthony, even Pullman), the street urchin who learns survival skills and instincts (Gygax's "Gord" series, countless others), the young prodigy earning the emnity of others through his academic brilliance (Feist, Grossman, Le Guin), the simple innkeeper who is more than he seems (just about everything), the legendary monster that everyone believes is just a fable but is actually true (actually, Rothfuss provides TWO of these in this novel), the wacky loon who is actually wise beyond others' understanding (Dragonlance, Shakespeare, everybody), and on and on...

As a result of this slow start, I found this really hard going at first. Eventually the familiarity of the tropes lulled me into acceptance, and then I was able to begin to appreciate how satisfying his revisiting/rehashing those tropes is. Rothfuss does a reasonably proficient job at inserting some doubt as to the outcome of the particulars at times, even though the framing story of the inn reduces the tension quite a bit - we know he survives, after all. So it is an impressive mashup of fantasy that you've almost certainly read elsewhere. By the end of the book, I was reading it compulsively and exclusively. ...more

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Oct 09, 2007 Annie rated it really liked it

Overall, the writing is exceptionally strong. I did get a little weary of Kvothe’s prideful posturing, and I’m hoping that subsequent books show us his vulnerable side, or at least interrogate the decidedly one-sided nature of his self-aggrandizing mythology. There are some interesting women here, the least of which is the love interest, all sharp retorts and kickass weaponry, but she’s not as bad as she could have been. I was hooked from very early on and definitely lost myself while reading th ...more

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Apr 29, 2011 Peter marked it as to-read

Recommended by Danny

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Nov 24, 2008 emily rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy-high-fantasy, adventure-action-survival, owned-physical, 2008-to-2010, bildungsroman, magic-witches-occult

3.5 stars, I just can't give it 4 when it hasn't weathered well in my memory or upon further rereads. See my review of The Wise Man's Fear for some thoughts about this book, and the series as a whole. ...more

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Apr 07, 2009 Robert rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2009-reading-list, 2023

Excellent and inventive fantasy fare. This book was as good the second time as the first, although I was purely reading it again to get ready for the sequel, which was just released.

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Jan 31, 2010 Zack rated it it was amazing

Very few books have gotten me as excited as this book. Great world, better characters and a wonderful beginning to a story. Will see if the sophmore slump hits with the next book.

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