Details: A novel written by Patrick Rothfuss. Published in 2007. A New York Times Bestseller. 662 pages long.
A while back, a friend lent me two books to read. The first was The Way of Kings by Brian Sanderson. It was a long, but enjoyable read. The second was The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Prior to these two books, the last fictional books I read were the Harry Potter books. What I’m trying to say is that people make judgment on things based on comparison with the things they know. Accordingly, while I will try to give my thoughts on this book, those thoughts will unavoidably compare The Name of the Wind with The Way of Kings and the Harry Potter series.
The Name of the Wind is part of the fantasy genre. That means the story takes place in a magical, olden world similar to what you’d get from Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings.
The story centers on Kvothe, a person of great power and renown. I’ll try to avoid any spoilers by just saying that the book tries to chronicle his life.
Worth mentioning is that this is the first of three books. The second book came out a few years ago. The third and final book has yet to come out.
After reading this book, I could not help but make comparisons with the Harry Potter series. While the story does take place at a numbers of settings, a magical school takes up much of the story. There are school shenanigans, though I will say that the story is slightly more adult than what you’d find in Harry Potter. While people love to throw shade on Harry Potter the way that people who love niche musical genres throw shade on pop music, I loved the Harry Potter books. Furthermore, if I were forced to compare Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone with The Name of the Wind, I would easily say that Harry Potter was better.
That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the story. In comparison to The Way of Kings, this was a far more concise story. The Way of Kings spent many pages describing things and trying to build a world. That happens here, but not so many words are used, or wasted, in trying to do so.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and I would recommend if you enjoy the fantasy genre or if you enjoyed the Harry Potter series. While there were some parts in the book that felt cliché or badly written, there were certainly some parts that moved me and choked me up. This is something that rarely happens for me in regards to novels, especially when considering how few I’ve read in the past decade. Don’t look forward to much of an ending however, the book seems geared towards being a trilogy. By the end of the book, nothing has ended.
Score: 7/10
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