The Name of the Wind

I'm a little torn as to how to begin this review. On the one hand, I enjoyed it, and I read it quickly despite its size. When I wasn't reading it, I thought about it, and when I finished it, I wished I'd had more. On the other hand, I spent a good deal of time annoyed at it, frustrated by both my

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expectations and a sense of what this book /could/ have been with a bit more finesse.

So let's start with the good: Rothfuss as a writer has a lovely voice, with a knack for description and character both. His world feels fully realized, and unlike some other reviews, I found his University both fascinating and fairly unique ('magic school' is nothing new, and wasn't even with HP - but they certainly don't all look the same!). His main character ripped my heart out through the first half of the book, alternately entertaining and horrifying me. He sets up a good mystery that, if not terribly unique, at least holds my attention pretty well. Although his pace is slow in terms of 'main plot happens' and the majority of this book does feel like set up or backstory for the 'real' plot that's coming, I found the actual reading of it to be enjoyable, to be a good trip along the way.

And now the bad: For one, this is not a book that lives up to the hype. It is a good fantasy novel - it is not the best book I've read in years. It is an entertaining story - it is not groundbreaking and original.

For two, the main character, who I started out liking quite a bit, wore on me more and me as we went on. He doesn't seem his age in the least, he's so amazingly special at everything that it is flat out unbelievable even for a prodigy, his struggles (as with money) seem to exist only when it's convenient to the story, and his characterization is increasingly uneven. I /like/ stories about prodigies, but this was straining my credulity a ridiculous amount by the time the (MINOR SPOILERS) musically gifted (to put it mildly), academically amazing, magically fantastic, sharp-tongued actor, songsmith, poet, horseman, etc, etc, etc main character started jumping hurdles that took most people a few years in a matter of months - despite the fact that he was young and supposedly spent most his free time trying to earn money for his tuition.

Further, although I enjoyed the ride, the end was entirely unsatisfying, because we spent the whole book with a looming shadow of the fore sort hanging over us, waiting eagerly to find out how we'd get there and what it'd look like when we did. And then it turns out that I don't even get to know the shape of this foreshadow for /two more books/? That's just bad writing.

Ulimately, I think what Rothfuss has here is a somewhat uneven debute novel that promises amazing things to come - but there are some things that could be worked on. I will most certainly be waiting eagerly for the sequel, because I want to know what happens and he engaged me in the characters. I do wish, however, that I hadn't gone into this with all the hype ringing in my ears. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't been focusing on everything it could have been, and almost was.

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I'm finding it rather hard to rate this book; it has much going for it. However, the major problem is that, as the main character says, "We have all the groundwork now. A foundation of story to build upon." Put more simply: the whole book feels like a prologue to the real story which, I guess, will

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occur in the next two volumes. Given that my edition is 662 pages long...that's a long prologue.

Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy this book. The characters are enjoyable (which is not the same as likable) and have some depth to them. Though the main character, Kvothe, is a bit straightforward, his apprentice, Bast, provides us with some intriguing mysteries for future volumes. I enjoyed the fact that the love interest is anything but storybook and perhaps not even that appealing.

The writing is well done. I felt the book moved right along and I had no impulse to skip past anything. Something fairly telling for me was that though major elements of the book were derivative (the magic system will bring LeGuin's Earthsea immediately to mind; the University with Hemme and Ambrose not much different from Hogwarts with Snape and Malfoy; some Ringwraith-ian bad guys running around, etc.), still nothing felt stale.

I hope the next two volumes of the reported trilogy get on track and we get the good story that is in the offing. If that happens, and the writing maintains its level, I think the series will definitely rate higher than the 3½ stars I'm giving this now.

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This was not the book for me.

Have you ever wanted to read about a special snowflake so amazingly, fantastically awesome that they can do anything they want, and not only that, they will be the youngest and/or the only person to ever do it, and they will never be bad at anything, ever, unless it is

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presented as a secret strength? And have you ever wanted to hear that person tell you all about all the amazingly, fantastically awesome things they did in one realllllllly long flashback that takes up multiple books? Oh, and let's not forget that all of these amazingly, fantastically awesome things must only happen to men? That you don't care that there are perhaps three named female characters, and one is the dead mother and the other is the love interest?

Then perhaps this is the book for you. At the very least, I will say that the author can use proper grammar and construct readable sentences. So, you know, if he wrote about something else, I might read it. But I couldn't finish this one.

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Why, why, why did my cousin neglect to inform me that, although I should read this book as I'd probably love it, that Rothfuss has yet to produce the manuscript for the second book in this series?!?

Don't get me wrong -- I don't begrudge Rothfuss one bit, as he doesn't owe me anything, nor does he

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owe anything to any of his readers. However, I'd prefer to not to read a compelling series that's going to make me yearn for the next book until that next book is actually available in the immediate or near future!

That said, I'm glad I read this one anyway, because I loved it. It was compelling and very interesting, even though -- all told -- not a lot happened when you think about it. Still, Rothfuss filled this book with a very flawed but very intriguing main character -- a hero with enough problems to carry the story, as opposed to carrying it on his strengths -- and a unique approach to telling the story to the reader.

It's like... a fantasy origin story with more realism than you'd expect in a fantasy epic. If that makes sense. It's hard to explain without giving things away, and I found that part of the delight with this book was discovering how the story would be told (halfway through the novel I flipped back to the front page and saw the subtitle, "Day One" and had a moment of revelation and shock... those of you who've read it will know what I mean, and at the time, I hadn't realized that it was supposed to be a series... those of you who will read it in future will likely also have a similar moment).

Anyway, I don't want to give away the plot or say much more about the characters, other than -- if you enjoy fantasy novels, give this one a try. The world is short on new, talented fantasy writers these days, so I say we need to support and treasure the ones we've got.

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The hero of this story is always perfect and the most skilled at everything he ever tries, and a total genius. He's infallible. It's really annoying. The protagonist has no flaws and is pompous about his abilities and therefore as a reader I could not sympathize with him. After awhile reading about

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him becomes tedious. I don't care about his story or how he overcame his problems.

Also most of the women in the book are one-dimensional, and almost none are given names. Rothfuss doesn't even pretend to care about women. Or anyone but his precious protagonist.

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I don't know about entitlement, or social contract for books in general, or the demon of writer's block - but with Rothfuss and Kingkiller it was said to be a book in three parts and I think the author claimed to "know" the three parts or overall story. I think in this case it was fair to expect

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the books be published in a reasonable timescale. I used to recommend Kingkiller to fellow fantasy fans but not any more, I now just don't believe in the existence of a third book now or any time soon. How could I recommend that knowing it'd just annoy anyone new to it? Unfortunately it feels like the author, possibly like Martin, has been distracted by more interesting projects - here seeing their work brought to the screen. If the author can't be bothered why should I? Calling it a trilogy in any current advertising should be done under the trades descriptions act... The worst of it is that this has now put me of reading series of books until all the series has been published. I've actively avoided books because I don't want to be left hanging again. Which is the worst of all - effectively the Kingkiller books have narrowed my reading list!

Simple solution is to read books from the vast selection of finished works. Ideally pick a deceased author and you'll sleep soundly knowing that they can't decide to write an appalling sequel and ruin your beloved series. Or read current fiction on the reasonable understanding that the author may be hit by bus and you'll never find out what happened! Or read Abercrombie’s “The Age of Madness” trilogy which is already finished (I’ve already got the first two volumes on hold in my TBR pile; as soon as the third volume comes out in September 2021 it’ll be blast off time for reading the 3 volumes in a row!)

Rothfuss's obviously made enough money to be cool doing whatever takes his fancy as opposed to grafting for a living. Try looking at the productivity of people who self-publish via Amazon and Kindle: the likes of Chris Nuttall and so on. Mr. Rothfuss, he is very active on the Web, and even lectures about writing. This seems odd given his lack of.....writing.

Bottom-line: Don' buy Rothfuss’s next Kingkiller book whan ut eventuallay comes out. That'll teach thjm to type fstser even if theyre nort touch typists, like I jsut did (yse, writing books is just typing, don't glorify it, like it's some secreat of the universe involvoing hard thinking, jsut type away raelly qucikly like a mothertucker until you reach the end,!(



NB: I have decided to NEVER read the Kingkiller chronicles again! Not because of the wait, but because the lead character is an insufferable Mary Sue…Especially in the chapter where he discovers the sex faerie and every chapter after that. Ugh.

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The first time I read this book, I was hesitant to do so. I had heard great things about it (which is why I picked it up during a sale at Half Price Books in the first place) but I also knew that it was the first book in a trilogy, and that the second book had already seen a couple of years of

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delays. Did I really want to get invested in a story without having any idea when the next chapter might come out?

Nevertheless, when I put up a little "What should I read next?" poll on Facebook and the Malazan forums I included The Name of the Wind as an option, and it was the clear winner. So I went ahead and dove right in, and boy, was I ever glad I did! So glad, in fact, that when the second book's publication date was announced as March 2011, I got excited about the prospect of rereading TNotW beforehand. Thus it was that, after finishing the final volume of Steven Erikson's magnificent Malazan sequence, I began rereading TNotW almost exactly a year to the day of my first read. And I loved it just as much this time.

The Name of the Wind begins the story of Kvothe the Kingkiller, legendary warrior, wizard, and musican. The book opens with Kvothe in hiding as a humble innkeeper named Kote, but when a scribe tracks him down to record his tale, Kvothe demands three full days to tell it properly. Thus we get justification for the trilogy (and indeed, the books are subtitled "Day One", "Day Two", etc.) as well as a nice framing device; "present-day" events at Kote's Waystone Inn get the standard third-person treatment, with Kvothe's past related in a first-person narrative given by the man himself.

Kvothe's tale makes up the bulk of the book, and what would otherwise have been pretty standard, unoriginal fantasy fare becomes a wholly-gripping saga as told by Kvothe. Rothfuss's prose never calls attention to itself—it never feels flowery or particularly sophisticated—but it has a flow to it that grabs you and pulls you along in its wake. "Can't put it down" fails to convey the grip that Rothfuss sinks into his reader; "It's 1:30 in the morning and I need to get up for work in six hours but the next chapter's only like eight pages and DEAR GOD I CAN'T STOP NOT NOW YOU CAN'T MAKE ME STOP" is perhaps a more accurate account. I don't think my wife has yet forgiven me for recommending it to her, thereby rendering her completely unproductive for a full week last summer.

So anyway, the bones of the story isn't particularly inspiring stuff: young boy prodigy meets with tragedy, survives on his own until he can attend the University where he'll learn the answers to his questions and eventually grows up to be the big legendary Kingkiller. (I'm trying to keep things as spoiler-free as possible here; if you're well-versed in the traditional "farmboy grows up to save the world" brand of epic fantasy, you'll probably see a lot of it coming from a mile away like my wife did—I, however, have long made a conscious effort to avoid such books, so it was all a revelation to me.) But Rothfuss puts so much love and care into all of these things that it all feels completely real. From struggling to survive on the streets, to scraping together money to pay for tuition each semester at the University, to the minute details of the magic system, to the solidity of the history and mythology of the world, Rothfuss makes it plain that there's nothing generic here.

The first time I read TNotW, there were a couple key points that kept it from being a perfect book for me. The first was one particular sequence toward the end of the book (you know the one I'm talking about) that seemed to drag on for far too long. The second was that the beginning of the book took too long to get to Kvothe's narrative and, in essence, the real story. After a second read, I took far less issue with both of these things; the one particular sequence wasn't nearly as long as I remembered, and the first few chapters of the book, now that I was invested in the "present-day" story, were that much more interesting. A couple of flaws did surface on a second read, though; most prominent was a device that I noticed Kvothe using far too often in the telling of his tale: "If you've never been poor, you don't understand what it's like..." or "If you've never tasted methelgin, I can't describe it to you..." and the like. I mean, a dozen occurrences over 800 pages or so isn't really a lot, but it's one of those things that once you've noticed, you can't un-notice. But even coupling that with the fact that most of the big plot twists lost a lot of their impact was offset by being able to approach the story with the insight gained from a previous read.

So, not perfect, but pretty darn fantastic all the same. If you at all consider yourself a fan of fantasy novels, this is about as close to "must-read" as they come. Plus, now that the next book is out, you can spend two whole weeks being unproductive. Sure, the third volume's not going to be out for another three or four years, but just think of all the rereading you can do until then. [4.5 out of 5 stars]

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Think Lord of the Rings meets Harry Potter, and you pretty much have the story line for this series.

I must admit that Patrick Rothfuss is an excellent writer - perhaps one of the most notable writers in the fantasy genre I've encountered.

I would also have to say (begrudgingly) that The Name of the

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Wind is one of the most interesting fantasy novels I've read in a long time. (I say "begrudgingly" because I've been very disappointed in the general quality of writing in this genre - to the point that I have pretty much given up on fantasy novels.)

Briefly, the story is about Kvothe, a young man whose family is a troupe of performers, and who are all killed (except for - of course - Kvothe, who had been away from their encampment collecting fire wood), apparently by a demon named Heliax and his 7 followers, the Chandrian. Kvothe, an extremely bright and talented person, dreams of, and eventually achieves, admission to The University, a place where arcane knowledge is taught, which knowledge Kvothe seeks to use to gain vengeance on the Chandrian. There he meets the love of his life (Denna) and his mortal enemy (Ambrose).

The story of young Kvothe is told against the backdrop of Kvothe many years later, now known as Kote, a humble innkeeper. Kvothe appears to be a broken man, no longer the hero he had become known to be. A war rages on (and Kvothe apparently played some role in getting that started). Kote is accompanied by his friend Bast, who is desperate to bring Kvothe back to his former heroic self.

It would take too long to give much more description of the story. To his credit Rothfuss does an excellent job of constructing an enormous tale, maintaining a detailed narrative, giving us interesting characters, and doing all of this while creating a story that grabs your interest and keeps it.

Why, then, only four stars? One of the reasons I've come to dislike fantasy stories in general is that their authors typically resort to contrivances to keep the story moving in favor of the main character. It may be that some measure of contrivance is unavoidable in fantasy stories (as well as in science fiction stories), but when the contrivances become too prominent and too obvious and stretch credibility too far, there is no "reality" to the story. Contrivances cover up plot holes where the author is unable to maintain a legitimate story line.

While, to his credit, Rothfuss manages to avoid egregious contrivances for the most part, there are still enough to keep me wary of the coherence of the whole series. In the few places where it feels as if Rothfuss is about to unabashedly contrive events, he manages to maintain enough of a realistic (within the context of the story) progression to the story that one is inclined to overlook weak points. But they are still weak points; (SPOILER ALERT) the last meeting (in this volume) of the faculty is the most egregious example.

Stock up on snacks and your favorite beverages when you start reading this book, as you will not want to put it down.

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Or four? Four and a half? Don't get me wrong; this book was good and I'm already mentally reserving a generous space on the bookshelves to house the rest of the series, whenever the hell they publish, but I retained a distressing ability to be able to put the book down, and, in some instances, not

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pick it back up for days on end. ...Now whether that is a product of the book not being quite as good as holy-fabulous or of the fiendishly busy schedule I've been keeping the past couple weeks is a matter of some debate.

I'll shake out the starring situation once I finish the series; five stars will stand quit nicely for now. In the meanwhile, I'll treat the mass-market copy I currently own as a reading copy to foist into my friends' grubby hands and I'll keep on sharp lookout for a pretty, pretty copy to add to my collection permanently.

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A MUST READ! I couldn't put this book down. Very well written. Truly engaging!

I haven't read anything this well written in a while. If you like books that draw you in and pull you along willy-nilly without boring you with tons of back-story. This is the book for you. Go buy it now! Well worth the

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hard-cover price.

*I don't know the author, etc. I read the first page of the book on someone's blog and went directly out and bought it. Couldn't do a thing all weekend...

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Wow, what more can I say? This book blew me away, the only reason this book didn't get a 5 star rating from me is because it is the first book in an, as yet, incomplete trilogy. Lately I've noticed that storytelling makes a huge difference for me and that is what this book is, storytelling. Name of

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the Wind is part 1 of a soon to be trilogy The Kingkiller Chronicle. Each book covers one day of the telling of Kvothe's life story. This is day one and I was sucked in immediately. Not only is this a story that Kvothe is telling to a special guest, inside his story he is relating other stories told to him as he ran across them in his life, and each one meshes well into the whole story, building it up and hinting at other things to come in the next two days of telling.

Kvothe is a boy and one of the Ruh, a gypsy like band that travels the country putting on plays and shows as professional actors. He was a smarter than average boy and happened to befriend an Arcanist who took Kvothe as a pupil. Kvothe learned much and quickly. After an unfortunate encounter with The Chandrian, his life was irrevocably changed for the worst. Eventually he gets his life moving back on the 'right' path as he heads toward his meeting with destiny, but destiny wants him to be forged strong with a keen edge.

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I came across Patrick Rothfuss in a blog entry describing how he conducted a duck and her chicks safely across a road, and read in the comments that he had written a book called "The Name of the Wind". I liked the image of a guy helping animals and checked my library catalog, and we had it in. I

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checked it out on a Friday, read a few pages, had to work on Saturday and then spent Sunday reading the entire book, slowly, savoring the prose, imagining the characters.
I have gotten jaded of late, of reading fantasy fiction, the stories all seem the same. Kvothe snapped me upright and made me pay attention. A mystery is being played out, characters are slowly revealed, stories ebb and flow like wave on the beach, layers being slowly washed away.
I like an author who takes time to set things up. I found myself building up with anticipation with every new challenge faced, every new adversity piled on. There were calm periods after the exciting times, and new situations I had rarely seen in fantasy novels before. A truly surprising read, and I eagerly await the next works by this author. There will be more. He said so.

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It took me a good 100 pages to get into [book: The Name of the Wind], and then WOW! it got real interesting. But it sort of puttered out at the ending again leaving everything to the next book. Series are nice because I like visiting with favorite characters longer than one book, but I much prefer

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the style of [author: Jacqueline Carey] where each book has a beginning, middle and end yet the story and characters are so fascinating, you want to know what else happens to them. The ending of this book left me far too unsatisfied, with no conclusions about anything. It didn't leave me feeling like I absolutely HAD to read the next book in the series either. Of course, if I want to read more about Kvothe, I must, but because the book is a story within a story, I know he lives and what he's doing now so who cares? There just isn't any real driving conflict to make me care other than a tiny curiosity about what happens with Kvothe and Denna.

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I wanted to read a good fantasy book and not having read many in that genre (save LOTR, Potter, and my all time favorite series The Dark Tower by Stephen King) I wasn't sure what to choose. After a lot of research, "The Name of the Wind" was at or near the top of many lists.

I'm not really sure

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why.

Don't misunderstand: it's very well written and the characters are fleshed out. It's just that what appears to be the primary plot really only takes up 30ish pages out of a 700+ page book. It's virtually all backstory but for a character we hardly know. I just found it to be somewhat boring and repetitive with little action. There are a LOT of scenes that go on way too long and seem to have no real impact on the overall story.

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Wasted opportunity and potential

Imagine a really interesting book full of deep and touching passages, written in a playful and rich language that caters to your peculiar niche. You are really enjoying it - the story is full of promise, the main character is interesting and you can identify with him

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and the main theme stirs interest within you. So far so good, but around 1/3 of the book you start to notice some disturbing elements but you ignore them because you are enjoying the ride and don't want to spoil it. Well, tough luck, around 1/2 of the book these disturbing elements, shortcomings, quirks are too prominent to ignore them so you are forced to divide your attention between a story that is still rather good and these other elements that are ruining your ride. The pattern continues and you seriously considering laying the book aside, but there are some elements of the story that you are interested in so you force yourself to finish it (and those elements are obviously ignored for the rest of the book :X). So how does that make you feel? I am somewhere between 'mad' and 'gloomy'.

Pros
It is.. interesting in the way that is quite different from other books. The story itself is rather unimaginative but the main character and his actions are really interesting.

There are numerous passages that are quite deep and unique and I would argue that the book is worth reading just for them.

Cons
The worst and most prominent thing that absolutely diminished my enjoyment of the book is that the intelligence and smartness of the main character is told, not shown. And because the main character is also the narrator, it looks something like 'I am really smart. No really, I am intelligent. Oh, did I already told you that I am brilliant?'. There is a saying that the author cannot create a character that is more intelligent then himself and this is certainly the case. There is nothing wrong with intelligent and smart characters, on the contrary, but you have to show their abilities by describing their actions that makes the reader think 'oh, that is brilliant, I would not think of that'. Just blatantly stating it and then failing to provide evidence in form of actions is just.. irritating.

I cant help myself but it feels like the book was written with a particular group of readers in mind - snowflakes. Who else can enjoy a book where every tenth sentence somehow describes the uniqueness or intellectual abilities of the main character? I am inclined to believe that either that author calculated that this approach can ensure him popularity with readers (check) or that he is himself very unsecure and this is some sort of projection.

The passages about the 'love life', courting, interacting with the main female character are REALLY WTF. They don't add much to the story, they are terribly written (imagine a really awkward teenage comedy) and progressively more numerous. All the interesting story elements from the first part are left unanswered for this weird romance. I suspect that this must be again some sort of marketing to cater to the young female readers.

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Kote the innkeeper has remade himself with a small and struggling business in a small village. One day, scrael attack a man outside the town, and no one but Kote really seems to know what's going on. Meanwhile, Chronicler is coming to town looking for Kvothe, the man Kote used to be. Chronicler

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convinces Kvothe to tell him his story, but Kvothe agrees only to do so if he can do it properly, over three days.

This is day one of Kvothe's story, from his childhood as a traveling player of the Edema Ruh to his studies and developing abilities. If you enjoy long fantasy stories you can really sink your teeth into, this is the book for you. If you're irritated by cliffhanger endings, then this is not the book for you... at least until book 3 of the planned trilogy comes out. I reread The Name of the Wind in preparation for digging into Wise Man's Fear, since it had been nearly three years since I read the beginning of Kvothe's story. I remembered little about the story, other than becoming extremely interested as the story went on and being incredibly frustrated when the first day of storytelling was over, despite the fact that the book is over 700 pages long. Upon rereading, I was really surprised by how much I had forgotten, and am glad that I took the time to revisit The Name of the Wind. This time, I was really able to take in more details even while I fretted more over slower parts of the story. If you have the patience and inclination, this is a rewarding tale that touches on the importance of stories and storytelling. If the next two books continue in this vein, it will fast become one of my favorite fantasy series.

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Meet Kvothe. An amiable, red-haired innkeeper, with a epic past. This is his story and it spans his colorful childhood, including his early years with a traveling circus, living homeless in a dangerous city and eventually attending a magical University, where he finds both friends and enemies,

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peril and love. He is a thief, a gifted musician and a magician. By the end of this tale, he is still a mere boy.
This is Book One, of a very promising fantasy series. An interesting mix of Oliver Twist, Harry Potter and King Arthur. Plenty of adventure, magic, music and a dash of romance. It has it all! Highly recommended.

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I don't quite know what to say about this book or how to describe it. That I liked it, that i thought it was awesome, even amazing. Such thoughts seems like such a generic review and I want my reviews to have a bit more... well character.

On that note the depth of this books characters and story is

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amazing and every bit of depth helps. Even passing characters are given a bit more of a depth, that is often lacking in most authors books. Whether its a kind old cobbler giving away a pair of shoes to the main character Kvothe or a pawn broker the Kvothe sells one of his most prized possessions to, the characters are given depth. The depth given to them helps to submerse the reader and add sense of realism into the world and life of Kvothe.

The other thing I found very unique and enjoyable in this book is the story within the story aspect. We have the story of the current time Kvothe, an inn keeper who is a mix between a mysterious retired hero, depressed and at others times upbeat and charming. And then there is the story of the Kvothe of his youth that he and the reader relive as the innkeeper recounts his past to a scribe. Its almost two stories in one with two very different main characters that are the same person. Confusing? Though it may sound a bit confusing its not.

It should be noted that this book does start a bit slow, the good part doesn't start until the start of chapter 8. However I believe this is necessary for the two different time period aspect of the story I mentioned above. In the sequels to this book I can only hope the lead in is much faster paced.

I highly recommend this book to anyone and also recommend that you not judge this book based on any synopsis you my find on it. Instead I would recommend you judge it on the ratings and then the next time you have time to spare, go to the book store, find this book, buy it, go home, sit down and read.

Can't wait for the next two, keep them coming Pat....

-Alex

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Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss is an adventure fantasy story that is extremely wide in scope and shows the author’s creativity and imagination to be unlimited. The story is meant to be read as a trilogy, with this, the first book, laying out the details of the hero’s early life and the

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beginning of how his legend came to be. This is not a complete story by any means, just the first instalment.

With fantastic world building and well drawn, realistically complex characters, Rothfuss pulls the reader into his epic tale. Kvothe, the main character, is neither overly heroic nor too clever for belief. At times he can be both arrogant and rigid but usually he pays a heavy price for showing this side of his character. His slow development from youth to maturity is the main plotline in this first book. The magic, called sympathy, that is cast in this story has been thoughtfully worked out and, at times, almost painstakingly described.

Although there were parts of the book that I found disjointed and predictable, overall, The Name of the Wind is well worth the time invested in it’s reading. Though the story seemed to switch back and forth from being powerful and compelling, to being drawn out and overly wordy, it managed to mostly hold my attention over it’s 600 plus pages, and I fully intend to continue on with the trilogy.

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If you read the reviews, you will find those who rave about this “epic” fantasy and those who found it insipid man-centered ego-boosting juvenile dribble.

I liked the writing and the dialogue ...so much so that I didn’t DNF. And although I would have liked more strong female characters, their

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dearth didn’t stop me from enjoying it for the most part.

But there was something missing for me...it went on for far too long, Kvothe often got on my nerves, and the plot just didn’t advance fast enough for me! Which means I won’t be advancing to the next book in the series.

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Well that was painful. Why didn't anyone tell me this was Harry Potter, just a little darker, and with 90% of the magic and character interaction removed?

I had high hopes for this from all the hype, and there's no doubt that Rothfuss is an extremely talented writer, but my advice would be for him

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to just right normal fiction, it seems to be where he shines.

This really should be labeled as "young adult". You've got 1 main character, he starts off about 9 years old and 600 pages later he's around 15. Of course he has interaction with other characters, but all of them are very minor. Being in my early 50's, I'm really not interested in reading about teen romances, or kids growing up. I read those stories when I was a kid, and I could relate to them.

Finally, the best way to get me to never read one of your books again is to give me 600 pages of background "story" with hints of amazing events that never come up until the next book.

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