Patrick Rothfuss: The Name of the Wind
The Name of the Wind
Author: Patrick Rothfuss
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 662
Final Thoughts: Stunning.
With so much hype around this book it was only a matter of time before I picked it up. I read it more or less in two sittings, though those were separated by almost two weeks in between.
I've read some comments that this is a typical fantasy story with all the usual suspects: characters, locations, and plot points just like all the others. Yeah, it's entirely possible to look at it that way, just like you can look at any story and reduce it to its bare elements and say "Look! It's all the same!" But we know all stories are the same, don't we? Or there are three, or five, or maybe ten, but certainly not enough to have an entirely new story for every book or tale that is sold or told.
It is not the plot that sets this story apart from all the others. It is the telling of it. The story bewitches and bemuses, lulling the reader into another time and place. Into belief. There is truth in every story, but this one drinks straight from the banks of the deep-running river that waters them all. It's not the right book if you're looking for an action-packed, nerve-wracking, intense story. That's not to say there's no action or wracked nerves or intensity, but it isn't the stuff that summer blockbuster movies are made of. More than once I found myself physically reacting with anger, nervousness, despair, etc. on Kvothe's behalf, based on the description of the book, which is a remarkable thing. It's the sort of book that draws you in, so that all of a sudden you realize you've read for three hours and missed lunch, but you're still glad you have so much of the book left because you want to keep reading.
This isn't a book I'd recommend to just anybody, just as I wouldn't recommend Hyperion to everyone. For some, it will be tedious and over-long and nothing will be new. But others will love it.
Book #77