Review: The Name of the Wind

Right, before I start reviewing, I just want to point out that in fact, it feels kind of weird to review this masterpiece. It feels like I have to look at it in another way than when I read it - and I really, really wouldn't want to see this book in another way than it really is - the best book I have read.

Alright, now that we got that out of the way, let me present to you the review for a splendid piece of fantasy called The Name of the Wind. It's the first novel by fantasy "rookie" Pat Rothfuss. It's his first novel, and after it's release it climbed higher and higher on the stairs of "awesome fantasy" and is today in my (and a lot of others) opinion among the best fantasy reads out there.

The story is masterfully written in two ways, so to say. Or two threads of the story, more like. First, we have the present. At the beginning of the book, the first few chapters, we visit a man called Kote, an innkeep in a small town in the middle of nowhere. A scribe named Devan Lochees, calling himself Chronicler, visits and having heard of Kote and his adventurous life, he finds him and begins to write down the red-haired magicians stories. That is the present thread. We return to Kvothe, Chronicler and themischievous assistant Bast every now and then in so-called interludes.

Then, we have the story of Kote. Who isn't really named Kote, that's just the name he took when he "dissappeared". His real name is Kvothe, and he travels the land with his mother, father and a troupe, entertaining people with music, acting and acrobatics and other magnificent arts. What you read is actually the story told by Kvothe to the Chronicler Devan, as they sit in the inn one night.

Kvothe, Son of Arliden lives a happy, safe life with his kind, the Edema Ruh, a nomadic people travelling, as described above. They have a good time and Kvothe learns to act, play the lute and sing. One day, a man called Abenthy joins the troupe. He is a magician, a practicer of the magic arts, Sympathy, thaught at the University, the school of magic. He begins tutoring Kvothe in all sorts of science, philosophy, history, and even magic.

It all seems to go very well, although Kvothe has already had some mishaps with Sympathy. But then, something goes terribly wrong and one night after young Kvothe has been out strolling, he comes back to find the troupe massacred, his family dead and their caravans burned. A group of mysterious persons called the Chandrian are there, and they tell Kvothe that "Someone has been singing the entirely wrong sorts of songs..."

Kvothe flees.

His story plays out on the rooftops and alleys of the city of Tarbean, where Kvothe lives the life of a pickpocket and a beggar, occasionally helping an orphanage to earn food, but at the same time getting in trouble over and over again. This part of the book is the most miserable, and it depicts a young boys' fight for survival in a city where those with money own everything and those without are not seen as humans.

But Kvothe manages to gather a small sum of money and ventures off to enter the University. It is the great school in which magic, under different names, is thaught. It also teaches chemistry, alchemy, history, medical arts and such. Kvothe is driven to this giant school mainly because of it's huge library in which he hopes to find information about those who killed his family.

Eventually, he makes it into the school and begins taking classes. Of course, he is very poor and so he plays his lute on different occassions and places to earn money. And he gets in trouble as well. He makes friends and enemies, survives assassination attempts, ventures out on dangerous quests, meets ladies and lords and plans plots with his friends against his arch-nemesis Ambrose. And all this between the covers of an amazing book.

I'm not going to spoil any more of the story. Let me instead focus on the pure amazingness of the book, and in the way it is written.

Rothfuss has added loads and loads of detail into this book, and it fits in perfectly. The book chugs on like a freight train filled with adventures, mysteries, love, hate, happiness, sorrow and all that in a blend that never ceases to amaze me.

On to the characters.

I've seen lots of people accusing Kvothe of being a Mary-Sue or Mary-Stue. Which means he is a character without fault or flaw. That simply is a very wrongful accussation. Kvothe has his sides - His bravado, his talents, his brains, his looks... Well, you get the picture, but he is in no way at all perfect. Not at all. He has many flaws in his character, one of them being him tirelessly pursuing trouble. He knows it's not gonna be good, but still he chases it like a cat chases a rat.

One of the most awesome points in this story is Rothfuss' sense of storytelling. Again and again, you'll be as hooked as if you were a small child again, sitting by the fireplace while your grandpa tells stories of  knights and princesses and princes, and monsters, dragons, goblins, and faraway places only reachable by your imagination.

Rothfuss adds in a lot of backstory and lore in the Kingkiller Trilogy, small details and hints that together form the framework of a masterpiece such as this. And they're great!

The mechanism of the book is great. You will find yourself turning page after page in order to see where Kvothe's story goes and where Pat Rothfuss takes us - on an amazing adventure through the realm in which The Name of The Wind takes place. When I finished the book, I was devastated. I couldn't imagine the story actually having an end some time. I immediately picked up the second book and began reading. And I am eagerly waiting for the last book in the Kingkiller trilogy.