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A review by mayajoelle
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
4.0
I love the trope of a character who has a tragic backstory and a lot of knowledge and secrets which we, the readers, don't yet know, so I enjoyed the opening of this book very much. Some of the prose is a bit flowery, perhaps, but I liked it, and apparently other people do too. Sometimes there is a place for dramatic statements like "the patient, cut-flower sound of a man who is waiting to die."
The story was very slow, but I liked that; I like slow, thoughtful plots that take a while to get anywhere but let you get to know the characters and the world. The magic school and system were neat (if not quite as tightly structured as a Sanderson magic system, I at least understood what was going on, which is more than I can say for most modern fantasy). I never really connected to any of the characters but Kvothe, but I think that's probably because it's (somewhat unreliable) first-person narration from someone who very much likes himself. Everyone else kind of fades into the background.
I really, really didn't like the way women were treated in this novel. Every time a female character was mentioned, it was another chance to talk about how inexperienced with women Kvothe is (give me a break! he's fifteen!) or how tantalizing this or that girl's outfit was or how the other men were out in the brothels every night (but not Kvothe. did we mention he's inexperienced?). It was incredibly grating and made it very hard to connect to any of the female characters. The love interest (?), Denna, was occasionally interesting, but in between learning bits of her backstory and personality I also got to read about how beautiful she was. A lot. I was frustrated.
Returning to the slow pace, there wasn't really a climax, a conclusion, or a driving goal anywhere in the novel. I suppose that is to come with books two and three, but this read very much like a leisurely memoir about how Kvothe went to school, didn't understand women, and did a couple cool things along the way. I suppose the kingkilling is coming, but this book ends in the middle of things without any resolution whatsoever.
All in all, I like the concept and could easily see myself loving the series if the "tragic dark magical backstory" pays off in the end. If it doesn't, then that was six hundred pages of rather interesting classes. For now, 3.5 stars.
The story was very slow, but I liked that; I like slow, thoughtful plots that take a while to get anywhere but let you get to know the characters and the world. The magic school and system were neat (if not quite as tightly structured as a Sanderson magic system, I at least understood what was going on, which is more than I can say for most modern fantasy). I never really connected to any of the characters but Kvothe, but I think that's probably because it's (somewhat unreliable) first-person narration from someone who very much likes himself. Everyone else kind of fades into the background.
I really, really didn't like the way women were treated in this novel. Every time a female character was mentioned, it was another chance to talk about how inexperienced with women Kvothe is (give me a break! he's fifteen!) or how tantalizing this or that girl's outfit was or how the other men were out in the brothels every night (but not Kvothe. did we mention he's inexperienced?). It was incredibly grating and made it very hard to connect to any of the female characters. The love interest (?), Denna, was occasionally interesting, but in between learning bits of her backstory and personality I also got to read about how beautiful she was. A lot. I was frustrated.
Returning to the slow pace, there wasn't really a climax, a conclusion, or a driving goal anywhere in the novel. I suppose that is to come with books two and three, but this read very much like a leisurely memoir about how Kvothe went to school, didn't understand women, and did a couple cool things along the way. I suppose the kingkilling is coming, but this book ends in the middle of things without any resolution whatsoever.
All in all, I like the concept and could easily see myself loving the series if the "tragic dark magical backstory" pays off in the end. If it doesn't, then that was six hundred pages of rather interesting classes. For now, 3.5 stars.