Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Review: The Name of the Wind


The Name of the WindThe Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


When this title was released in 2007, it was massively hyped by its publisher and by Borders. (I can't comment on the commitment to the title at other chains.) The Arborland Borders in Ann Arbor, MI, which was the flagship of the chain at the time, devoted the entire wall behind the cashwrap to displaying the two covers given to the hardcover release of the book. Any time a publisher gives a book two covers in its initial hardcover release, you can guarantee that it's being hyped. The covers did catch my eye, but I was hesitant to buy into a new doorstop series.



Then I attended the Fantasy Matters conference in Minneapolis in November 2007. Patrick Rothfuss was a featured author, and I was blown away by his talk. So I invested in the book when I went home. Luckily, I found a copy with the red-haired man on the cover. The other cover featured a stone face in a wall, and that's a minor detail on my cover. I liked the focus on Kvothe in the cover I chose--the fact that he's carrying his lute over his shoulder, he has a book in his other hand with his finger keeping the page, and the wind. For a book called The Name of the Wind, this cover certainly highlighted it. We can see the way Kvothe's hair is blown back from his face, the way the leaves are being lifted and tossed . . . for all that it's invisible, the wind is present in this cover.



When I finally did read this book for the first time, I was thrilled. Kvothe is exactly the kind of smart narrator that I enjoy. The world-building is carefully done, and the system of magic Rothfuss creates is unique while at the same time alluding to such fantasy greats as Le Guin's Earthsea. When I worked at Waldenbooks, I heavily pushed this title, telling my customers that it was the best fantasy I had read in years. I love fantasy, but I had largely switched to urban fantasy a few years ago when it seemed like all of the medieval fantasy novels were entries in long series or just plain trite. Unfortunately, urban fantasy is now just as bad as the worst high fantasy, but at least I can look forward to Rothfuss' books as well-written revivals of traditional fantasy.



Over the weekend, I bought an ebook edition of this book to read on my nook, and I remembered all over again why I love it so much. I cannot wait for March 1st, and the release of The Wise Man's Fear.



View all my reviews

No comments: