The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss - Book Review

The Name of the Wind follows Kvothe, something an antihero in the fantasy world. It starts with him and in a tavern run by himself under the name Kote. Kvothe appears to be retired. A stranger enters the tavern and Kvothe proceeds to tell him (the Chronicler, he’s called) the story of his life.

It starts with him as a boy parading around with his family of traveling performers. After they’re attacked by demons, Kvothe’s family is slain and the boy is alone. He then tells about his rise to infamy.

He starts out as a homeless boy in the streets just trying to survive, but slowly builds himself up by playing music at one of the taverns. He eventually chooses to join a magical university, and the remainder of the book is mostly about him getting through the university. He has an attitude problem, gets in trouble, excels at everything he does, meets a girl. The book ends back in the tavern.

Patrick Rothfuss does such a good job of telling Kvothe’s story, it almost seems like he thinks he is Kvothe. And that’s where I have a problem with this book. Kvothe is simply too good. It’s like Rothfuss wrote a fantasy book where he imagined himself as the main character and how he would go through his own made-up world as an invincible and highly skilled… well, everything.

It starts off great, but then it gets bogged down by slow procession. Almost the whole book takes place with Kvothe in university, and it gets really tedious. He goes to classes, he’s the best at everything, he’s a badass – finished.

I give it a 8/10. It is well-written. It is a good book. I just don’t like Kvothe being superman. This book could have also been cut in half.