The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
My rating: 5 of 5
After getting disappointed by my trip down memory lane and re-reading the second Piers Anthony book in the Incarnations of Immortality series I was a little disheartened. What was I to read?
I did what I usually do – and looked around the internet, talked to friends, and finally got a good recommendation from my older brother. He suggested I take a look at the new series by Patrick Rothfuss.
Let’s start with a simple statement. It was a great book.
Now let’s dig in a little.
Patrick Rothfuss is clearly a very talented and imaginative writer. He brings his world to life, and pulls you into it in the process. The characters are well built and you can’t help but get emotionally invested in Kvothe’s story.
That’s the good stuff.
Now for the bit that drove me nearly mad. The book starts out in the “today” and opens with a bit of action and an unknown threat that is just barely fleshed out. Then it dives into a story within the story, as Kvothe tells Chronicler the tale of his life. This accounts for 95% of the book, and begins when Kvothe is nothing but a twelve year old boy. It drags you in, it makes you want to know who Kvothe is, and in the process, drove me nuts.
Not because its not well done, and not because it is boring. But rather the fact that there is no conclusion, no middle or end. It feels like the whole book is the beginning. And even though it was a good length – it still ended too soon.
We don’t know what’s really going on in the “today” timeline other than that Kvothe is depressed and maybe lost most of his magic. And in the story of his life we don’t know how he got kicked out of the Acarnum, or what happened with him and Denna. Or how he and Bast, the fae, came to be friends (or student and teacher to be exact).
The story of Denna is so frustrating. You so badly want them to connect, or for Kvothe to take that single step closer to her, but won’t. Who among us hasn’t had the girl that haunts you for the rest of your life? Does she even know who she is? How sad is that?
There are too many open threads, and I want MORE!!!!
The second book better have some small conclusions in it or I’ll be ripping my hair out.
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