The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss

I finished this book a few days ago but it has taken me this long to form my thoughts into a review worthy of such a brilliant book.  I'm not really sure I'll do it justice so I may just begin by pasting a brief synopsis from the author's own webpage:

"Told in Kvothe's own voice, this is the tale of the magically gifted young man who grows to be the most notorious wizard his world has ever seen. The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king form a gripping coming-of-age story unrivaled in recent literature. A high-action story written with a poet's hand, The Name of the Wind is a masterpiece that will transport readers into the body and mind of a wizard."

I mean, how cool does that sound??  And the best bit is that it really is every bit as good as you want it to be.

Right, so the first few pages leaves you a bit confused as to what is going on.  There is a tavern and an inn-keeper, his assistant and his regulars, and there are stories told around evening drinks of things that go bump in the night and heroes and villains.  A regular saturday night at the pub in smallville you could say.

Then we shift to a travelling storyteller and his run in with some highway thugs and then some unkown and truly demonic creature.  Our two main characters meet in these strained circumstances and we learn that the storyteller is almost as famous as the inn-keeper once was and it is his story that the storyteller has come to find.

Okay, now that that is established we hear from Kvothe's own voice the tale of his life, interrupted every now and then by what is still going on in the real world of smallville, and his tale is pure genius, utterly riveting and such a refreshingly new take on the whole wizards and magic theme which has been so popular recently.

It has been said that this book should stand alongside The Lord of the Rings as an equal and I thoroughly agree.  It is miles better than the Harry Potter series and on a par, if not better, than The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Johnathon Stroud.  The one bad thing I can say about this book is that Mr Rothfuss hasn't finished writing the next book yet and I just know it will be a hard wait for me as this book only covers Kvothe's life story up until the age of 16.

Kvothe is a fantastic character, hero and anti-hero all rolled into one at times, and a pure joy to read about.  This book is one of those novels that you really don't want to put down, especially the second half which just gets completely fascinating as he enters the University and begins to study magic and beyond.


What more is there to say?  I think this guy is an amazing writer who is in the middle of a series of books which will be a future cult classic.  When I think magic and wizards I always think of the fantasy genre which is something I haven't really read much of before, but if the rest of the top books in that genre are anything like this one then I may be the newest convert.

I won't give the plot away because I really do think it is worth reading for yourself.  And besides, we've only heard so little of his life and there is plenty more of the tale still to tell so I really couldn't tell you the true plot anyway.  This book covers roughly about three days real-time of these guys sitting around and telling, listening, or writing down this story and that in itself is quite a unique way to present any tale.

I just can't recommend this book enough.  Grab a copy and enjoy!