Tuesday, 15 March 2011 05:46 pm
Book Review: The Name of the Wind
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deckardcanineWhew, it’s taken me maybe five months to finish this tome. That’s what happens when I read mostly on subway rides home. Glad I sped up for the final 10% this weekend. Maybe giving up games for Lent will improve my rate for the next book.
This first entry in Patrick Rothfuss’s Kingkiller Chronicle trilogy (the second of which just came out this month) has gotten consistently rave reviews, yet it’s hard to say what stands out about it. Yes, a mostly first-person perspective is unusual in a high fantasy epic, but beyond that? Well, what it might lack in originality, it makes up for in generally very skilled writing. (The DAW copy editing leaves something to be desired, but that’s my pet peeve.)
Protagonist Kvothe has become a legendary hero before middle age—and is content to be thought of as dead or mythical by the start of the book, when he’s laying low in a remote village. Why does he act like his life is all but over already? Volume One offers only hints, but clearly he has made powerful enemies as well as admirers. When esteemed medieval mythbuster Chronicler talks him into setting the entire record straight, Kvothe insists on doing an unprecedentedly thorough job over three days (one per volume) thanks in part to an unusually good memory for details. The first day covers ages 11–15 alone, with only a few halfway-famous moments toward the end. I wondered if Kvothe, in his bitterness, meant to torture the poor guy.
Fortunately, it’s not torture for us. At least, I never found it boring, and it has enough light moments to counter the threat of depressing ones. While the adventure and even fantasy elements are sporadic, the relative realism—enough to invite further research to confirm some physics claims—complements the perspective such that I projected myself into Kvothe better than I do into most literary heroes.
And what’s he like? So talented that I had worried he’d be a Marty Stu. In truth, his main natural gifts are fast learning and thinking. He picks up various skills early on in his parents’ traveling entertainment troupe, followed by an arcanist (read: wizard) tutor… and then life as a street urchin. From then on, he’s never moneyed for long. Sometimes he gets lucky; other times, only his extraordinary smarts stand between him and doom. Yup, necessity is the mother of awesome in many cases, tho he can suffer from cocky missteps.
Note: In any fantasy where some humans use magic and others don't, it must (a) be widely disbelieved, (b) require special genes, (c) be hard to pull off, (d) endanger the user, and/or (e) be widely suspected of evil. For the arcane arts in this story, C, D, and sometimes E apply.
About half the book takes place at a university, where Kvothe is the youngest student. Chances are that his school experience is rougher than yours was, tho he knows a few people worse off than himself. At least he has a few friends, some prowess, and a love interest… who habitually vanishes. Kvothe considers women the most critical hole in his teen knowledge, with the possible exception of a pseudo-demonic race that he’s seen firsthand but is widely regarded a fairy tale.
Obviously the most interesting events in Kvothe’s history come in the second and third books. I know the bare outlines of a few of them, and they’re enough to make me want to continue someday after cooling off with shorter works. But some of the few chapters outside of Kvothe’s narration indicate that whether he acknowledges it or not, his time as a hero (or an antihero) is unfinished. Perhaps the best (or worst) is yet to come.
This first entry in Patrick Rothfuss’s Kingkiller Chronicle trilogy (the second of which just came out this month) has gotten consistently rave reviews, yet it’s hard to say what stands out about it. Yes, a mostly first-person perspective is unusual in a high fantasy epic, but beyond that? Well, what it might lack in originality, it makes up for in generally very skilled writing. (The DAW copy editing leaves something to be desired, but that’s my pet peeve.)
Protagonist Kvothe has become a legendary hero before middle age—and is content to be thought of as dead or mythical by the start of the book, when he’s laying low in a remote village. Why does he act like his life is all but over already? Volume One offers only hints, but clearly he has made powerful enemies as well as admirers. When esteemed medieval mythbuster Chronicler talks him into setting the entire record straight, Kvothe insists on doing an unprecedentedly thorough job over three days (one per volume) thanks in part to an unusually good memory for details. The first day covers ages 11–15 alone, with only a few halfway-famous moments toward the end. I wondered if Kvothe, in his bitterness, meant to torture the poor guy.
Fortunately, it’s not torture for us. At least, I never found it boring, and it has enough light moments to counter the threat of depressing ones. While the adventure and even fantasy elements are sporadic, the relative realism—enough to invite further research to confirm some physics claims—complements the perspective such that I projected myself into Kvothe better than I do into most literary heroes.
And what’s he like? So talented that I had worried he’d be a Marty Stu. In truth, his main natural gifts are fast learning and thinking. He picks up various skills early on in his parents’ traveling entertainment troupe, followed by an arcanist (read: wizard) tutor… and then life as a street urchin. From then on, he’s never moneyed for long. Sometimes he gets lucky; other times, only his extraordinary smarts stand between him and doom. Yup, necessity is the mother of awesome in many cases, tho he can suffer from cocky missteps.
Note: In any fantasy where some humans use magic and others don't, it must (a) be widely disbelieved, (b) require special genes, (c) be hard to pull off, (d) endanger the user, and/or (e) be widely suspected of evil. For the arcane arts in this story, C, D, and sometimes E apply.
About half the book takes place at a university, where Kvothe is the youngest student. Chances are that his school experience is rougher than yours was, tho he knows a few people worse off than himself. At least he has a few friends, some prowess, and a love interest… who habitually vanishes. Kvothe considers women the most critical hole in his teen knowledge, with the possible exception of a pseudo-demonic race that he’s seen firsthand but is widely regarded a fairy tale.
Obviously the most interesting events in Kvothe’s history come in the second and third books. I know the bare outlines of a few of them, and they’re enough to make me want to continue someday after cooling off with shorter works. But some of the few chapters outside of Kvothe’s narration indicate that whether he acknowledges it or not, his time as a hero (or an antihero) is unfinished. Perhaps the best (or worst) is yet to come.