Short version: Meh
So... I read The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.
First of all I'd like to say: Book, I apologize for mocking you in such a childish manner earlier. I did not know you very well, and it was quiet rude of me. I'm sorry if I caused any offense. I have tried to keep my initial negative response from coloring my experience of actually reading you.
Now. What did I think?
This book was certainly easy to read. I had no problem turning the pages for hours at a time. I also did not have a particularly hard time putting it down, even in the middle of a chapter. There weren't a whole lot of Exciting Parts, which is both a good and a bad thing.
If you have no idea what I'm talking about, let me go back and explain.
The Name of the Wind is a recent fantasy book. It is epic in the sense that it is 700+ pages (in paperback) but not so much in terms of plot. This book is the first third of the memoir of a fantasy hero, detailing his life from about age eight to sixteen. About 3/5 of the book deals with his life as a student at The University, where he learns various semi-magical things and has numerous schoolboy adventures.
In Rothfuss's fantasy world, Kvothe is basically the most awesome dude who ever awesomed, according to everyone everywhere. He is legen........wait for it......dary. Literally! Except he's retired now and living under an alias as a quiet innkeeper, in a quiet town. A "chronicler" has managed to track him down and convinced him to tell his life story. Kvothe says the story will take three days to tell and The Name of the Wind is "Day One" of the "Kingkiller Chronicles." (Spoiler alert: no kings are killed in the first book.) This may be the first fantasy book I've read where it actually says in the first book "this is going to be just a trilogy, I swear." I suppose he could always tack on a present day novel at the end, a surprise fourth book, if he needs to.
So we have a frame narrative, but I don't think it works well with the childhood/adolescence story. Adult Kvothe narrates and as a result he makes his eight-year-old self sound every bit as erudite as his present day self. It makes sense that he wouldn't remember himself talking as a child or acting with childish reasoning, and that's fine as part of an exploration of the inevitable fictionalization of memory, but as part of a long novel it starts to wear. "It's Kvothe's version of the story!" is the inevitable bitter cure-all to any complaints about the book. Too many digressions and needless scenes? Don't blame Rothfuss's editor, it's just Kvothe being Kvothe! It's difficult to tell where Kvothe is being self-indulgent and where Rothfuss is.
The trouble is, although we're told repeatedly how awesome Kvothe is, I just didn't feel it. He's very, very good at everything. He picks up languages and difficult concepts nearly instantly. He's a musical prodigy. He's got a photographic memory. He can pick locks and jump nimbly on rooftops. He can stitch up his own wounds. He can't fight, but that's because no one's taught him yet. But don't worry! Legend promises that soon he will be awesome at that too. Yet his personality (at least as he expresses it in this book) is quite bland. I realize he's just an adolescent here, but a legendary hero should have some flair, some panache, even as a teenager. He comes across as a genius, although not an isolated one, a generally nice and likable guy who wants to do right by good people, and he's learned a certain world-weary wariness from earlier childhood troubles, but he never becomes more than the sum of his parts. I felt like Rothfuss was telling me why I should love Kvothe, without giving me any real reason to. It's just not compelling enough for 700 pages, especially since there aren't any large "set piece" action sequences to move the story along, except at the end. Sort of.
Unfortunately the supporting characters also suffer from extensive blandness. Kvothe's early tutor is interesting, although that's largely because he's Kvothe's (and our) first exposure to the larger world. I liked Kvothe's parents. They were happy. Kvothe's University friends (of which he has about two and a half) are not distinct enough for me to have any sort of opinion on them. Two of the Masters at the University are reasonably interesting, but only one of them is compelling as an independent character (not just as a tool to further Kvothe's story). Denna, Kvothe's epic love interest, was perhaps the secondary character I liked best, although I'm probably in the minority here. Seen through Kvothe's eyes she's a mysterious budding femme fatale, always disappearing on him, impossible to pin down. Rothfuss drops enough hints, though, that it's possible to put a completely different spin on her character. Personally, I'd like to see a couple chapters from Denna's point of view. Alas, there will only be more Kvothe.
The best parts of the book had to do with Kvothe learning magic. See, the magic in this book isn't magic at all but "sympathy," a method of energy transference. It's like magic! But based on thermodynamics! It's nifty. If more of this book had been about sympathy I would have been way happier. "Naming" was also interesting, as a distinct concept, especially a key bit about it that was revealed towards the end. I was disappointed that the scenes between Kvothe and his University friends didn't include more drunken off the cuff philosophizing and theoretical arguing. I just didn't get a good sense of what ideas Kvothe had. I mean, I didn't want him to come in and OMG revolutionize a discipline or anything, but I wished Rothfuss had gone more into what Kvothe was learning and what he thought about it. If you're going to have a book that's mostly people talking, can they at least talk about something interesting?
I really liked that Kvothe was in debt all the time. For one thing it helped humanize him a bit, and it provided a strong motivation for his character. I didn't mind that various amounts of money kept being mentioned, as I really got a sense for how much things cost. It definitely pulled me into the world to the point where a character would quote a price to Kvothe and my reaction would be, "That's a total ripoff, dude! Don't go for that!" Plus I like that Rothfuss created a world potentially on the verge of large-scale financialization. There's a credit market! And Devi was a rare interesting character.
Also different from usual fantasy fare, Rothfuss chooses a distinctly pseudo-Christian mythos for his world. The story of Tehlu (as told by an old man who may or may not be an ex-priest) has very noticeable similarities with the story of Jesus. I'm not quiet sure where Rothfuss is going with this, but I'm intrigued. (There is also a second story that seems to be about a Lucifer-esque figure, which I found very interesting.) That said, if Kvothe turns out to be the literal second coming of pseudo-Christ, I'm punching something. No surprise Christ figures, plz.
Most of all I liked that the title was a metaphor. I love metaphorical titles! They give me something to think about while reading. Most fantasy titles are painfully literal, so I liked that Rothfuss changed it up, that "the name of the wind" had a variety of meanings throughout the book.
Rothfuss is trying to do a number of interesting things with this book. He's writing a story about storytelling, but so far that doesn't have any real payoff, other than to make me roll my eyes every time Kvothe interjects "If this were a story, x would happen next! But it's not!" More successfully, he's taking a "Renaissance man" approach to world building, by throwing in aspects of history, science, philosophy, economics, religion, art, and music and mixing them up into something new. Unfortunately, with the focus so tightly on Kvothe (and him traveling so little in this first book) we don't get a good sense of the breadth and scope of the world. Stronger, more distinct supporting characters could have brought this out more as well.
There's definitely something here. I'm interested in the second book. I expect that "more" will happen in that book, in terms of large-scale events. I'm interested in how Rothfuss writes Kvothe in a widening world and a widening circle of influence. Hopefully some of the secondary characters from this book stick around and get fleshed out a bit more in the next book. I think the first book needed some more ruthless editing and a stronger narrative voice from Kvothe. 3/5
First of all I'd like to say: Book, I apologize for mocking you in such a childish manner earlier. I did not know you very well, and it was quiet rude of me. I'm sorry if I caused any offense. I have tried to keep my initial negative response from coloring my experience of actually reading you.
Now. What did I think?
This book was certainly easy to read. I had no problem turning the pages for hours at a time. I also did not have a particularly hard time putting it down, even in the middle of a chapter. There weren't a whole lot of Exciting Parts, which is both a good and a bad thing.
If you have no idea what I'm talking about, let me go back and explain.
The Name of the Wind is a recent fantasy book. It is epic in the sense that it is 700+ pages (in paperback) but not so much in terms of plot. This book is the first third of the memoir of a fantasy hero, detailing his life from about age eight to sixteen. About 3/5 of the book deals with his life as a student at The University, where he learns various semi-magical things and has numerous schoolboy adventures.
In Rothfuss's fantasy world, Kvothe is basically the most awesome dude who ever awesomed, according to everyone everywhere. He is legen........wait for it......dary. Literally! Except he's retired now and living under an alias as a quiet innkeeper, in a quiet town. A "chronicler" has managed to track him down and convinced him to tell his life story. Kvothe says the story will take three days to tell and The Name of the Wind is "Day One" of the "Kingkiller Chronicles." (Spoiler alert: no kings are killed in the first book.) This may be the first fantasy book I've read where it actually says in the first book "this is going to be just a trilogy, I swear." I suppose he could always tack on a present day novel at the end, a surprise fourth book, if he needs to.
So we have a frame narrative, but I don't think it works well with the childhood/adolescence story. Adult Kvothe narrates and as a result he makes his eight-year-old self sound every bit as erudite as his present day self. It makes sense that he wouldn't remember himself talking as a child or acting with childish reasoning, and that's fine as part of an exploration of the inevitable fictionalization of memory, but as part of a long novel it starts to wear. "It's Kvothe's version of the story!" is the inevitable bitter cure-all to any complaints about the book. Too many digressions and needless scenes? Don't blame Rothfuss's editor, it's just Kvothe being Kvothe! It's difficult to tell where Kvothe is being self-indulgent and where Rothfuss is.
The trouble is, although we're told repeatedly how awesome Kvothe is, I just didn't feel it. He's very, very good at everything. He picks up languages and difficult concepts nearly instantly. He's a musical prodigy. He's got a photographic memory. He can pick locks and jump nimbly on rooftops. He can stitch up his own wounds. He can't fight, but that's because no one's taught him yet. But don't worry! Legend promises that soon he will be awesome at that too. Yet his personality (at least as he expresses it in this book) is quite bland. I realize he's just an adolescent here, but a legendary hero should have some flair, some panache, even as a teenager. He comes across as a genius, although not an isolated one, a generally nice and likable guy who wants to do right by good people, and he's learned a certain world-weary wariness from earlier childhood troubles, but he never becomes more than the sum of his parts. I felt like Rothfuss was telling me why I should love Kvothe, without giving me any real reason to. It's just not compelling enough for 700 pages, especially since there aren't any large "set piece" action sequences to move the story along, except at the end. Sort of.
Unfortunately the supporting characters also suffer from extensive blandness. Kvothe's early tutor is interesting, although that's largely because he's Kvothe's (and our) first exposure to the larger world. I liked Kvothe's parents. They were happy. Kvothe's University friends (of which he has about two and a half) are not distinct enough for me to have any sort of opinion on them. Two of the Masters at the University are reasonably interesting, but only one of them is compelling as an independent character (not just as a tool to further Kvothe's story). Denna, Kvothe's epic love interest, was perhaps the secondary character I liked best, although I'm probably in the minority here. Seen through Kvothe's eyes she's a mysterious budding femme fatale, always disappearing on him, impossible to pin down. Rothfuss drops enough hints, though, that it's possible to put a completely different spin on her character. Personally, I'd like to see a couple chapters from Denna's point of view. Alas, there will only be more Kvothe.
The best parts of the book had to do with Kvothe learning magic. See, the magic in this book isn't magic at all but "sympathy," a method of energy transference. It's like magic! But based on thermodynamics! It's nifty. If more of this book had been about sympathy I would have been way happier. "Naming" was also interesting, as a distinct concept, especially a key bit about it that was revealed towards the end. I was disappointed that the scenes between Kvothe and his University friends didn't include more drunken off the cuff philosophizing and theoretical arguing. I just didn't get a good sense of what ideas Kvothe had. I mean, I didn't want him to come in and OMG revolutionize a discipline or anything, but I wished Rothfuss had gone more into what Kvothe was learning and what he thought about it. If you're going to have a book that's mostly people talking, can they at least talk about something interesting?
I really liked that Kvothe was in debt all the time. For one thing it helped humanize him a bit, and it provided a strong motivation for his character. I didn't mind that various amounts of money kept being mentioned, as I really got a sense for how much things cost. It definitely pulled me into the world to the point where a character would quote a price to Kvothe and my reaction would be, "That's a total ripoff, dude! Don't go for that!" Plus I like that Rothfuss created a world potentially on the verge of large-scale financialization. There's a credit market! And Devi was a rare interesting character.
Also different from usual fantasy fare, Rothfuss chooses a distinctly pseudo-Christian mythos for his world. The story of Tehlu (as told by an old man who may or may not be an ex-priest) has very noticeable similarities with the story of Jesus. I'm not quiet sure where Rothfuss is going with this, but I'm intrigued. (There is also a second story that seems to be about a Lucifer-esque figure, which I found very interesting.) That said, if Kvothe turns out to be the literal second coming of pseudo-Christ, I'm punching something. No surprise Christ figures, plz.
Most of all I liked that the title was a metaphor. I love metaphorical titles! They give me something to think about while reading. Most fantasy titles are painfully literal, so I liked that Rothfuss changed it up, that "the name of the wind" had a variety of meanings throughout the book.
Rothfuss is trying to do a number of interesting things with this book. He's writing a story about storytelling, but so far that doesn't have any real payoff, other than to make me roll my eyes every time Kvothe interjects "If this were a story, x would happen next! But it's not!" More successfully, he's taking a "Renaissance man" approach to world building, by throwing in aspects of history, science, philosophy, economics, religion, art, and music and mixing them up into something new. Unfortunately, with the focus so tightly on Kvothe (and him traveling so little in this first book) we don't get a good sense of the breadth and scope of the world. Stronger, more distinct supporting characters could have brought this out more as well.
There's definitely something here. I'm interested in the second book. I expect that "more" will happen in that book, in terms of large-scale events. I'm interested in how Rothfuss writes Kvothe in a widening world and a widening circle of influence. Hopefully some of the secondary characters from this book stick around and get fleshed out a bit more in the next book. I think the first book needed some more ruthless editing and a stronger narrative voice from Kvothe. 3/5