The Name of the Wind

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Rating: 4.5/5
Reason for Reading: Recommendation

The Name of the Wind is a book that somehow manages to incorporate some of the most infamous and overused cliques of fantasy writing while managing to be something so different that it doesn't read as fantasy at all.

Kvothe has led such a famous and heroic life he's become the stuff of legends during his own lifetime. Now in hiding as an innkeeper at an obscure village, it seems that he's left his old life behind. That is, until a Chronicler comes to town looking to write the story of Kvothe's life. Reluctantly, Kvothe agrees.

From his life among the traveling Edema Ruh to hardscrabble life on the streets after his parents are mysteriously mudered, to becoming the youngest student at the University, Kvothe's childhood (this book, one of a planned trilogy, follows Kvothe until he is in his mid-teens) is nothing if not eventful. From a young age, Kvothe knew that he was talented. At science, at acting, at playing the lute, and most of all, at magic.

The university that Kvothe attends is one that teaches magic, but it has as much in common with Harry Potter as Twilight does with I Am Legend. That is to say, as he struggles through classes, professors, bullies, and poverty, his world seems like one that may have very well existed, tucked away somewhere in the Middle Ages. By the time he enters the university, Kvothe is already proficient with sympathy magic, or binding together energies, but he longs to learn the power he once saw his possess. The power to name, and thus command the elements of nature. He wants to know the name of the wind.

A thoughtful, engaging book that doesn't really fit into the pattern of any other fantasy books I've read before, I recommend this one to fans of the genre. Although a lengthy read, the pages fly by.