“The Name of the Wind” approaches greatness

November 12, 2009  
Filed under Entertainment, Reviews

By Casey Film
Round Table editor

Patrick Rothfuss’s debut novel The Name of the Wind has received numerous positive reviews praising its incredible prose, original characters, and fantastic plot line. For the most part Rothfuss’s work is worthy of this exaltation; the novel is very well written and the story is a distinctive addition to the fantasy genre.

Even so, there are flaws to be found in the plot and the characters. The protagonist named Kvothe (pronounced like “quothe”) is presented as a nearly faultless character, which makes him the biggest weakness of the novel.

The Name of the Wind begins in the third person, weaving an interesting and mysterious adventure in the first few chapters involving demon spiders and the secrets of an out of place inn-keeper. About fifty pages into the book Kvothe starts telling his story, and the rest of the novel focuses on his life and the making of his legend.

Rothfuss’ writing style is immediately engaging. Even the common place dialogue between the few obscure characters is strangely interesting, and the characters of Kote (the weathered innkeeper) and his charming assistant, Bast, are attractive from the start.

Unfortunately, once the story switches to Kvothe’s tale the other characters and plots are, for the most part, forgotten.

That is not to say that Kvothe has a boring life, but here is where Rothfuss loses his originality and begins to fall into the trap of typical fantasy clichés: a brilliant young prodigy is orphaned, he manages to live off his own luck and wit, and finally he is accepted into a school of magic where his natural talent awes his peers.

The novel begins to feel very Harry Potter like when Kvothe obtains his very own archrival to bicker with and a bitter professor to torment. He also comes across a girl on whom he develops a passionate crush, all the while perfecting his uncanny aptitude for music and magic.

It may just be because of Kvothe’s young age, he is only about 15 for most of the novel, but he seems to have everything going for him (talent, intelligence, wit, good looks) and he knows it. He never misses a chance to call himself, “brilliant” or, “clever”, or bring attention to his abilities.

Kvothe spends much of his life in poverty, and he often asserts that the reader cannot possibly understand him and his problems unless they have been poor themselves.

It is a rather degrading claim to make, and it does nothing to improve Kvothe’s often irritating personality.

There is hope, however, in the older version of Kvothe who returns during various interludes in the tale. This more mature character is less haughty, and wiser than his adolescent self.

The novel ends with an original twist that leaves plenty of open ends for the next book in the series to expend on or conclude. Then there are all of the other secrets of Kvothe’s past that remain unexplained.

The Name of the Wind received the “Quill award” for best Science Fiction/fantasy/horror novel in 2007. The novel certainly earned the award; the writing is of a high quality, and the storyline is original.

The King Killer Chronicles definitely has the potential to be an outstanding fantasy series, just as soon as Rothfuss works out the imperfections in the plot structure, and the glaring perfection of the main character.