The Name of the Wind

What follows is a gush of a review...but I really did like the book. So, allow me to gush for just a moment.

I had heard that The Name of the Wind was a good read, but I had no idea how much I would end up enjoying it. I seemed to keep bumping into Patrick Rothfuss' inaugural work in his Kingkiller Chronicle: at the bookstore, friends' recommendations, best epic fantasy lists...

Let me tell you, the hype is all true. The Name of the Wind was as enjoyable a fantasy as any I've read in the last couple decades. With subtle and simple eloquence, The Name of the Wind seduced me, immersing me in a world and a story that felt both alien and familiar, real and fantastical. Rothfuss' writing is so good coming out of The Name of the Wind was more jarring and difficult than going into it. Coming to the last page and closing it, while satisfying, left me longing for more, longing for the next book, to know what would happen to Kvothe -- Rothfuss' tenacious hero -- next. I really enjoyed the novel, and I started recommending it to others, as well. I was eager to read the next book.

Be warned, however, that Rothfuss is not a fast writer, and this is only the first in a trilogy that is as yet incomplete. The Name of the Wind came out way back in 2007; the sequel, The Wise Man's Fear, came out in 2011; and the last, The Doors of Stone... well, it hasn't yet come out. And there's no anticipated date for it, either. I hope the wait is worth it, because I hate waiting.

In the meantime, I'm eager to jump into The Wise' Man's Fear, and I will as soon as I can find a gap in my reading schedule. Rothfuss' world is complex, fully realized, and beautiful, with its own mythologies, magic, science, culture, economics, politics, and geography. It's a wonderful story and I can't wait to enjoy the poetry of it more.