The Name of the Wind

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really like the concept of this book, and the writing itself and imagery is really beautiful at times. I enjoyed reading it for the most part. There are a few things that keep me from loving this book wholeheartedly and wanting to continue with the series immediately.

I really dislike how the book is structured, with the bulk of the story being told to a Chronicler, flashback-style. It feels like they are trying to build the suspense and mystery around Kvothe but all it does is confuse me and pull me out of the story itself. There's also still so much further to go until we get to the "present" time and it feels like this is moving at a snail's pace. I was really surprised when the book ended with no closure to any of the storylines. I get that it's part one in a series, but books need to stand on their own, as well, especially the first book in a series. This book came out 10 years ago, yet my friend tells me only 2 of the books have been published and there's no telling when the third will be released? Talk about frustrating!

The other main issue I had was with the female characters. They all seem to exist only in their relation to their male counterparts, as if they were created solely to be props in the hero's life. Kvothe's friend/object of love/obsession, Denna, seems to be particularly some kind of unobtainable prize. She's indescribable, not because she's particularly beautiful but because she has a special quality that draws one to her, like a moth to a flame. Men can't resist her, but women hate her, because all women are jealous of more popular females, of course. She's mysterious and floats in and out of people's lives either on a whim or because she needs to for survival (the reason seems to vary).

Of course, we can tell that deep down, Denna actually loves our hero Kvothe, as do many other of the females that Kvothe encounters. Kvothe heroically saves Fela from a fire, and she (and her beautiful body that she sometimes presses against him) would do anything for him now, including illegal things that would get her expelled. Devi the moneylender breaks her own rules and allows him to borrow a crazy amount of money and pay it back days later with no interest, and also gets upset when he doesn't come to see her just to hang out. Auri the underground dweller will talk only to Kvothe, and after months of slowly getting to know him, is willing to share her most secret findings. Of course, none of these women interact with one another. We only ever see them in relation to Kvothe, which on the one hand makes sense - the story is told from his perspective, so he wouldn't know if they had been hanging out or talking. On the other hand, he could at least observe women having relationships with one another, and conversations about something that doesn't involve Kvothe himself. The only time I recall two women talking to one another is when Kvothe takes the healer to check on Auri, and that's an interaction that is highly supervised and directed by Kvothe.

I'll probably continue the series eventually, so I can see what happens to the characters and enjoy the writing, but I'm probably going to wait until the series is finished, so I'm not left hanging for an unknown amount of time.

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