Book Review: The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

So I've been meaning to start doing some book reviews for a while, just as a hobby for myself. With POTS, brain fog and memory troubles are common and I am definitely one who suffers from them (worse as the years go on). I keep track of the books I read and rate them, but often have trouble remembering exact details when a sequel comes out, or when I go to talk about it with a friend or as a recommendation. It's not even that I don't read well enough to remember the details - I do - in the long-term. I don't know all the science behind it, but I did take a university class on learning and memory and the basics say that some people remember details better long-term than short term. My brain has a hard time connecting the storage links between my long term memory and short term memory, so I may not be able to tell you what show was on 6 minutes ago, but in 6 months I'll recall what show it was, what scene it was, and what was said. It sounds odd and backwards - but that is just how POTS has affected my memory personally. In other words, doing some book reviews are meant to try and help jog my memory and keep it fresh while also giving other readers insight into books they may want to read! Double win.

So here goes.

The Name of the Wind

Patrick Rothfuss

I want to start off by saying that I love fantasy and sci-fi; but there are certain sub-genres that really really just repel me for no particular reason. Many of them have covers that remind me of dime-store (I guess, dollar-store now) paperbacks that have fluff-filled pages that lonely women and men read because they themselves are as flat and fluff-filled as the books. Even if the subject of the book and the excerpts on the covers make me want to read it; a bad dime-store cover will make me put it back on the shelf. No kidding. So when my best friend told me about this book they were reading, it sounded interesting and I looked it up. The picture happened to be something that reminded me of a dime-store romance novel, and immediately I was put off. I hesitated buying it myself because again, instantly I was afraid of what could be behind the cover if that's what it looked like.

For my birthday my other best friend ended up buying it for me anyways, in paperback with the cover shown above. I started reading it a few days after my birthday last July because I needed somewhere to escape and I had nothing to lose by reading it then. I instantly fell in love with the book, and ate it up. In August I set it down after my husband had a heart attack with about 150 pages left out of 722. So close to the end, but other things took precedence and then I was just definitely not in a good place to be delving into anything. I picked it back up a few days ago, feeling ready to get excited and invested again.

Patrick Rothfuss has talent. Truly, he has a way with words. The writing style and flow is perfect; it has just enough detail that the reader has a fully-formed picture in their head but enough of it is left up to the reader to fill in the blanks that each reader definitely will have a different picture in their head. And that's important, isn't it? That each reader gets to fill in the blanks for themselves with just enough guideline that the picture of the story is unique for each reader? The story weaves and reads so easily and thoroughly that you are pausing to think on concepts and themes you almost didn't notice except as an afterthought; leaving you in a place of contemplation and reflection.

Rothfuss dives right into the life of Kote, a man now known as the innkeeper out in the middle of nowhere; with his assistant Bast. Something is very wrong about the picture though, and as a newcomer stops into his inn; it starts to unravel. Many stories have been told and re-told about the legendary man Kvothe, and Kote decides to set the record straight about who Kvothe really was and divulge the truth about each and every tale of Kvothe Kingkiller. Between the stories Kote tells of Kvothe's youth and the events occurring in the present at his inn, you get sucked not only into where the present events might lead but to the life story of a man-legend who somewhere along the line, got lost in the tales and myths of his own making.

I find myself still reeling about Kvothe and his love interest, Denna, and about how such a poor young man will make his way up to such a legend. I can easily picture all of the places of the story and walk through as if I've been there. Such a fully-formed world makes it so easy for you to wonder about what stories aren't being told; and wildly exasperate you on what solutions and events will arise around Kote and Bast. Most of all, I am not able to instantly jump and guess at the sequence of events that will occur next - as this is no re-told re-told fantasy tale of Prince Galahad or some snuffy kid pulling magic out of nowhere and becoming instantly important and three-dimensional and wise.

I do have to note as an after-thought that if you buy this book, I recommend buying it in Hardcover. I take excellent, excellent care of my books and this one is so large that the binding is crinkled and worn just from one read-through and the covers are frayed at the corners and scratched elsewhere for very literally, no particular reason. I love this book so much that I will definitely invest in a hardcover later, and will be buying all the the sequels in hardcover when I buy them on my dime. But for now, I will begin the continuation of Kvothe's tales in ebook form through my library.

Happy reading!