My Review of The Name of the Wind

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publishers Summary:

MY NAME IS KVOTHE I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep. You may have heard of me. So begins a tale unequalled in fantasy literature--the story of a hero told in his own voice. It is a tale of sorrow, a tale of survival, a tale of one man's search for meaning in his universe, and how that search, and the indomitable will that drove it, gave birth to a legend.

I came to realize the Prologue and Epilogue are written about the same time of night inside the Waystone Inn. Kvothe had red hair which was of some significance apparently. He obliges to tell his story to the Chronicler, Devan Lochees. Both parts end with the same words

..."It was the patient, cut-flower sound of a man who is waiting to die".

Kvothe is both a legend and a myth. He and his Fae-student Bast, are posing as InnKeepers for reasons I don't know about yet.

Kvothes' story begins when he was a child before he enters University. He was orphaned after losing his parents and his entire travelling troupe on the road. All his life he has made it his business to seek the culprits who killed his parents. He believes them to be The Chandrian because of the 'Blue Fire.'
Patrick Rothfuss' story fluctuates back and forth to the present at the Waystone Inn and is told as a retelling of Kvothe's past to The Chronicler Devan Lochees. It is quite good and interesting. I liked it a lot. I liked both time periods.

Kvothes parents used to be singers and played music. Kvothe learns to play the lute that belonged to his father. One day as he was practicing, his lute strings break. Determined to find new strings in the city, he finds someone who he catches a ride with and climbs aboard a caravan headed for Tarbean.

I thought it was a shame that he didn't earn money by playing his lute but external circumstances prevented it. He becomes a beggar and gets into trouble with another group of kids. Pike breaks his lute, unfortunately. It was all he had left of his parents. He gets pretty beat up too and for the rest of his time in Tarbean, Kvothe is tormented and lives in fear of this kid called Pike. It was brutal living on the streets begging for money but he learns to survive with some luck.

He is taken in by Trapis the monk who cares for the poor and the sick children. Trapis tells a story about Tehlu and Encanis which I found fascinating lol. Living in Tarbean was a dark, unpleasant and painful time for Kvothe. He learned things he never would have known otherwise like Denner resin bleaches your teeth! lol

There are many things and reasons as to why I loved this book and I actually think it is amazing. Denna was Kvothe's love interest and even though she might've liked Kvothe back, she becomes more elusive and difficult to track down when other prospects vie for her attention time and time again. I am quite curious to know what happened to her over the time we don't hear anything from her. She would be an interesting story as well.

About the Author

Patrick Rothfuss was born in Madison, Wisconsin to awesome parents who encouraged him to read and create through reading to him, gentle boosts of self-esteem, and deprivation of cable television. During his formative years, he read extensively and wrote terrible short stories and poetry to teach himself what not to do. Patrick matriculated at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, initially studying chemical engineering which led to a revelation that chemical engineering is boring. He then spent the next nine years jumping from major to major, taking semesters off, enjoying semesters at part-time, and generally rocking the college student experience before being kindly asked to graduate already. Surprisingly enough, he had enough credits to graduate with an English major, and he did so grudgingly. Patrick then went to grad school. He’d rather not talk about it. All this time Patrick was working on “The Book,” as he and his friends lovingly titled it. When he returned to Stevens Point he began teaching half-time while trying to sell The Book to publishers. In the process, he disguised a chapter of The Book as a short story and won the Writers of the Future competition in 2002. This put him into contact with all the right people, and after deciding to split The Book into three installments, DAW agreed to publish it. In March 2007, The Name of the Wind was published to great acclaim, winning the Quill Award and making the New York Times Bestseller list. All this success was wonderful. Patrick eventually had to stop teaching in order to focus on writing, though he screwed that up by having an adorable baby with his adorable girlfriend. He started a charity fundraiser called Worldbuilders and published a not-for-children children’s book called The Adventures of the Princess and Mr. Whiffle in July of 2010 through Subterranean Press, which was adorable, and seriously isn’t for children. After a great deal of work and a few cleared throats and raised eyebrows from his patient editor, Wise Man’s Fear came out in March 2011 to even more acclaim, making #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list. Life continues to rock for him, and he’s working hard on writing the final installment of the series.

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