Browsing one lunch break from work
at my local bookshop, I decided to ask one of the staff there for a recommendation.
He pointed out a few books he liked but there was one he positively raved about. He mentioned that The Name of the Wind was
the best book he had ever read, he had read it eight time and had bought it in
languages he couldn’t even read. I internally
laughed at his serious fan-girling over the book and decided to buy it. A week or two later, my office book club met
and discussed picking another book, I mentioned that The Name of the Wind had
been recommended to me and we went with that (which was good because it saved
me buying another book).
So you can imagine I had high hopes
for this book. The Name of the Wind is
the first in a trilogy called the Kingkiller Chronicles. The story covers the
first part of the life of Kvothe: bard, great warrior and magician, told by
himself. The story has a number of strands.
The first of these is about Kvothe’s early life travelling with his family as
part of a nomadic troupe. We see his precociousness
and introduction to magic and the tragedy that meets his family. A second strand is about his will to survive
in the world in harsh circumstances, another is about his introduction to the
University where magic is taught and yet another about his quest to find out
what happened to his family. A final element that runs through the book is how
people feel unsafe and anxious in the present as stories of war and dangerous
roads filter through to the little inn that Kvothe has retired to.
This book made me think of a cross
between Harry Potter and the Poison Study series. Kvothe is great fun as a protagonist – intelligent,
kid, flawed, angry, mischievous and always finding himself in some trouble despite
his best efforts to avoid it. The story
is mostly light-hearted, but often touches on more serious issues: The
prejudice that Kvothe’s family and clan face as travelers, the trauma of losing
his family, the extreme poverty and violence he faces once alone, the way
poverty and desperation follow him to the university, even the vulnerability of
women in a male world.
I am always interested in the way
fantasy writers construct their worlds – from the maps at the front of the
book, to the cities, clans and customs that make up a world. Some writers get it right (Tolkien) and
others leave you feeling not quite convinced. In this case, the across the span
of the book I started to get a sense of he physical place and nations or groups
that inhabit Kvothe’s world, but with gaps, for instance some elements of this
world feel medieval and others more modern.
The puzzle didn’t fully fit together seamlessly, perhaps the next two
books will rectify this.
There has been some criticism about
the female characters in the book lacking depth and realism. I found female characters apart from Kvothe’s
mother pretty much non-existent until he gets to the university. Once there,
the other female students are bright and capable, mainly positive characters, although
I agree they do lack depth a bit. Oh,
and they all seem to fancy the scrawny, teenage Kvothe quite a bit – I suppose that’s
the authors prerogative though, to make the protagonist desirable.
I had so much fun reading this
book, Kvothe is great fun and very down to earth, his story is fascinating,
fast-paced and humorous. I liked how the narrative sets his admission that he
sometimes exaggerated his greatness, started rumours about himself and his
skill as a bard against the epic tale he tells, so that you often wonder how accurate
some of the story is.
An enjoyable, interesting and absorbing
read, I went to buy the second book after reading this and also a little side
story to keep me occupied until the last in the trilogy is published.
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