The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss is the first novel in the Kingkiller Chronicles. The second novel, The Wise Man’s Fear, is scheduled for a release in April, 2009. This novel marks the debut of Mr. Rothfuss into the fantasy genre which may turn off some readers, after all if it’s a debut novel it can’t be any good right? They couldn’t be more wrong, but I’ll get to that in a minute. One other thing that may be of more importance, and this actually kept me from reading the book for a very long time, is that most of the book is written in first person. As a general rule, I do not read first person novels because I have some difficulty wrapping my mind around them. However, after reading this book my feelings on that may very well change.

The plot of this novel is a little different than traditional stories. The premise of this book is that Kvothe has pulled back from his life of adventure, heroism, and killings and secluded himself in a small town as an innkeeper. A traveler, following stories, tales, and clues, is finally able to find Kvothe. He has one simple request for Kvothe. Tell me your story. Kvothe finally acquiesces and tells a piece of his story. The story starts off with Kvothe being a young lad in a traveling troupe (think a traveling circus, story tellers). For fear of spoiling even something minor I will say only this. This book encompasses only about eight years or so of Kvothe’s life. This may seem like a short span, but the actual story is rich and vivid in so many ways. Within the pages of this book there is heart ache, death, contemplation, politics, out right survival, song, and over coming obstacles. Understand that the small paragraph above does in no way do this novel justice. I would rather write too little and allow potential readers to discover things for themselves, than write too much and ruin some part of this tale for anyone.

The characters in this novel are written with extreme care and depth. Since the book focuses on Kvothe’s story it’s safe to say that his character is the most explored and defined. Starting off as a naïve young lad and slowly progressing to where he ends up in the novel. His character progression is beautifully written. If you are a fan of character development then Kvothe is the perfect character for you to enjoy, hopefully it continues in the next novel. There are also some other memorable characters that come into Kvothe’s life along the way. Abenthy who comes into Kvothe’s life and begins to open his mind to new possibilities. Wil and Sim, whom Kvothe meets during his time at the University and become very good friends with him. There is the mysterious Auri, who Kvothe befriends. Deena who becomes Kvothe’s on again, off again love interest. Lastly, there is the ‘villain’ (mean kid) Ambrose who is written very well. All in all, I love the characterization of this book. Some characters aren’t nearly as developed as others, but being that this novel is written from Kvothe’s perspective that makes sense. Those he spends more time with get more face time. It’s that simple. These characters, for lack of a better term, are the most ‘real’ characters I have read about in a long time, and it’s so rewarding to read about them.

A couple minor criticisms about this novel:

1 – The ease at which Kvothe learns things and how good he is at things. It seems everything he does, and tries, he is good at for no particular reason. It just is. This is the only area of his character that seemed ‘unreal’ to me. Everything else was as close to perfect as a debut author can get.

2 – The character of Deena. I didn’t like her. That by itself is not a reason for criticism, but I just couldn’t really connect with her at all. Yet, in parts of the story she is a central figure. She just didn’t work for me.

3 – And this is about as minor as minor can get. I wish there was somewhere that explained the currency system used in this book. Currency is a very important thing for Kvothe and I felt confused at the exchange rates and knowing how much things were and which denomination was more etc. Just a minor quibble.

Some things I really liked about this novel:

1 – The world. I really enjoyed how Mr. Rothfuss brought me into the world with descriptions of places, smells, sounds etc. He never over describes things, but uses subtle things to really grab the reader. There was never a time in this novel where I felt bogged down by too many details, and conversely there was never a time when I felt I needed more description. It’s a perfect balance.

2 – The realism of the characters. It sounds odd calling characters in a fantasy story real, but the way they are written I can’t think of a better word for them. They all have their faults, their own motivations, and more importantly their own voices. The choices the characters make during the book actually make sense. There was never a time where I felt that the characters were being led by the story. They are just seamless and well written.

3 – The delivery of the story. The idea of a character telling a story in their own voice and basing the novel on that is a nice change of pace. As I said at the start of this review, traditionally I am not a fan of first person stories. Yet, I never, not once, felt that the perspective took away from the book. In fact, if anything, it made the book that much more rich in detail.

4 – The freshness of the story, setting, concept, characters, magic, etc. This is one of the few fantasy books I have read lately that didn’t remind me of another book I had previously read. Almost everything about this book seemed fresh and new. I can not really put it into words any other way. This is a near perfect novel.

5 – Mr. Rothfuss’ prose is a sheer joy to read. It’s fluid, expressive, and flows wonderfully. It’s not overly flowery but offers up the perfect balance of what is needed at that specific point in the story. Mr. Rothfuss uses every word to its utmost ability and never uses wasted fluff. Every word is important to the story, and that makes the flow of the story that much better.

I don’t think I can really say enough good things about this novel. Within the first ten to fifteen pages I was drawn into the book and it never let me go. For a debut novel this book is awe inspiring. It doesn’t pretend to be anything other than what it is. For those who are like me and traditionally do not enjoy first person book, please give this book a shot. It took me over a year to do so, and now that I have finished it I am saddened it took me this long. This is a novel that I am almost certain every fan of the fantasy genre will enjoy. I will certainly be recommending this book to many, many people. It also has a very good chance of being on my Top 5 list of novels I read in 2008. I can not tell you how anxious I am to read the next novel. Roll the dice, take a chance, but do read this book!