Book Review: 'The Kingkiller Chronicles: Book 1 - The Name Of The Wind' by Patrick Rothfuss

Cover art by Sam Weber

I've been hearing how good 'The Name of the Wind' by Patrick Rothfuss was, the first instalment in an epic fantasy trilogy 'The Kingkiller Chronicles', so it was time to dive in.

The praise is very deserving indeed!

An innkeeper, the legendary magician and assassin Kvothe, tells his life story to the Chronicler, a respected, um, chronicler of stories, over the span of three days, of which 'The Name of the Wind' is day one. Starting with his childhood growing up as part of a travelling troupe, until a devastating life changing incident turns everything upside down, to his days struggling to survive as a child on the streets of Tarbean, to his troubled education at the University, driven by his desire to learn a higher magic and his need to find out as much as he can about the Chandrian, the demon who murdered his family. All the ups and downs of a very storied early life of an orphaned boy who grows up to become a legend!

But if you're expecting an action packed fantasy story with swords, sorcery and fighting political factions like some other fantasy works, then you might be disappointed. There is a bit of sorcery, but it's definitely more of a character driven book, an intimate and, at times, emotional story told from Kvothe's point of view, that's interspersed with interludes told in the third person back in the Inn. These breaks in the main narrative don't slow down the story or take you out of the story at all, as you might expect, but instead add another layer to the whole story. Giving it a believability and very real-world lived in feel to a world we are getting a taste of.

Throughout Kvothe's story we meet some of the compelling and authentic characters that pass through his life like Bast, Simmone, Wilem, Auri and Denna to name a few, that shaped him as he grew up in a complex and immersive fantasy world of magic and legends, all woven together in an engaging prose that is lyrical, and at times, poetic. A joy to read!

The audiobook, narrated by Rupert Degas, is just as wonderful as well. Degas' performance levitates the book to a whole other level, bringing the characters and world to life in such a way, you want to listen and relive Kvothe's journey all over again. No mean feat considering the audiobook runs at just a shade over 28 hours!

It's very rare I give a full 5* to anything, but 'The Name of the Wind' is very deserving and heartily recommended, especially for those that like the works of Brandon Sanderson or George RR Martin.

Available from Waterstones, Forbidden Planet, Kobo ebooks: (UK) / (USA) / (Canada), Audible Audiobooks and all good bookstores.