The Name of the Wind has officially awakened my love for good old (or in this case - new) high fantasy which was slumbering somewhere deep inside my mind, just waiting for the right book.
Just about everything in this book falls somewhere between okay and amazing, most of the time in the area of the latter rather than the former. Characters which are intended to be likeable are likeable, the mean ones make you want to grab a sword in your hand and challenge them to a duel, after which you'll want to go on a quest to slaughter your archenemies.
The overall flow of the story is good enough to believe that it's told by someone having minstrel blood in their veins. And according to the book - it is. The Name of the Wind is probably the first book I've read which has the main character tell the story of his life (or coming of age in this case) to another character and as mentioned before - it does so remarkably well. Probably the main reason for this is that, while the narrator could match Superman in a duel, he seems remarkably human - flawed, with quirks, strong sides and weaknesses, his own thoughts, plans and dreams and most of them are not particularly hero-like. In a way the author even makes fun of overly epic and dramatic stories by emphasizing how legends twist the truth.
Overall it's a must-read for any fantasy fan.