In these weird days, where I often feel cooped up in a cage, unable to travel or visit home or even move freely around the city without feeling guilty, books are my escape. Sometimes you want to travel far far away, at other times you want to feel the cozy feeling of coming home. Patrick Rothfuss’ series “The Kingkiller Chronicles” does it both for me. It is set in a fantasy world, so he takes you far away from reality and yet, it feels like stepping into a familiar story that gives me comfort. I have raved about these books endlessly over the years to whoever would pay attention. I am on my third copy of “The Name of the Wind” (part I of “The Kingkiller Chronicles”) – because I have lent the other ones to people and have never seen them again – not taking the countless copies I bought as gifts over the years into account. I fall asleep listening to the audiobooks most nights. So yeah, I might be fangirling a little hard, which basically never happens to me, but let me tell you why you should read this series:
The prose
I feel, most fantasy authors do not spend that much time on their language. One reason might be that they push out their novels at such mind-boggling speed. But in any case, there are not many fantasy books I would say have a high literary standard and that is fine. I don’t read “A Song of Ice and Fire” for poetic prose, I read it for the fast-paced action and the many dead people after a plot twist.
This is why “The Name of the Wind” ist so special. Every word seems to be picked meticulously, the prose is a work of art – it is simply breathtaking. The first sentence sets the tone for the whole book and already says it all.
“It was night again. The Waystone Inn lay in silence, and it was a silence in three parts.”
The Name of the Wind – Parick Rothfuss
The story
The storyline itself is also a masterpiece. First of all, it’s an ode to stories and storytellers in and of itself. Then, as we delve into it a little deeper it is not the classic story of good against evil and if evil prevails the world will be doomed. Tolkien (I believe, but please do not take my word for it) was one of the first to tell this kind of fantasy storyline in “The Lord of the Rings”. This storyline still appears in novels nowadays but not in “The Name of the Wind”. This is the story of main character Kvothe and his life. It is not an easy life and the storyline in itself has many ups and downs and twists and turns. Also, the novel tackles many issues, such as racism and poverty, especially in context of education.
And of course, there is a love story. But not a cheesy boy-meets-girl-an-they-fall-for-each-other instantly kind of love story. It is delicate and complex, it develops and changes with the rest of the story and is just wonderfully romantic.
The characters
Not only is there a very human main character – Kvothe – but there are quite a few very strong and independent female characters. Denna, the female lead for a start, travels around the country on her own and tries to make ends meet, she is street smart and witty. Then, there are the women, studying at the university, all whip-smart and don’t take any bullshit from anyone. And there is Auri, the girl who lives under the university. She even got a whole novella: “The Slow Regard of Silent Things”.
So, as you can see, there are many reasons to read this book. And if you haven’t done so already: buy it, read it, thank me later!