The Name of the Wind

Easily Patrick Rothfuss’s most popular novel, it is most commonly referenced as “better than Game of Thrones,” an accomplishment I can only wholeheartedly agree with having only read a few of George R. R. Martin’s epic fantasy series and watched the entirety of the TV adaptation. The Name of the Wind is one of the few novels in the last decade that I have enjoyed so completely, I devoured it in the fifteen hours it took me to fly home from Shanghai, China to Denver, Colorado. I didn’t sleep on any of my flights home because I was so desperate to find out what happens in the next chapter. It is praised most especially among lovers of music and poetry as Rothfuss does an especially good job of integrating musical elements to his storytelling. For those who don’t quite care for music in this way, it is perhaps pertinent to mention that music in a novel is simply poetry inserted within the story.

The novel follows the protagonist, Kvothe, as he recounts the tales of his youth as a young magician. A majority of this first installment is spent on describing his time in the prestigious magic school, The Arcanum. Rothfuss’s take on the epic fantasy genre is incredibly refreshing and is something akin to the likes of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings saga and Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle series. He has an incredible knack for world building and the result is absolutely and utterly bewitching. I cannot recommend the first installment of The Kingkiller Chronicles enough to anyone who enjoys epic fantasies and can only say that it is more than well-worth the read.