The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (Gollancz)

” I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my satanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make minstrels weep.
You may have heard of me.” (p. 52)Thus begins the first person narrative of Patrick Rothfuss’ best-selling debut The Name of the Wind. It was published by DAW books in March of this year in the US and picked up by Gollancz in the UK this fall. Since its publication it has created enormous waves of publicity. This being the time of the year as it is, the novel is also frequently mentioned in various “best-of” lists. No wonder I had to get my hands on a copy before the year was over.

The Name of the Wind is the first of The Kingkiller Chronicles trilogy. Originally the story was written as a single, huge novel but guessing that it grew out of proportions as the plot progressed, the book was split in three. No further effort has been made to make individual volumes stand-alone. It didn’t bother me too much, although it must be noted the narrative just stops mid-stride, which is slighty anti-climatic. Those who favor stand-alones might be advised to steer clear of this effort. Wise Man’s Fear, the second volume of the trilogy is scheduled for publication in 2009 in the US, so it might take Patrick Rothfuss some time to complete this trilogy.

To quickly outline the plot, The Name of the Wind recounts the tale of Kvothe, a young adolescent destined to become the most powerful Arcanist the world has ever witnessed. As you can guess from the ‘introduction’ of Kvothe, he has accomplished many great feats. The first person narrative begins with Kvothe’s childhood years, at first travelling as a member of a troupe of musicians and artists, later as an orphan trying to sustain a living on the brutal streets of Tarbean. As Kvothe matures, he manages to trade his miserable life on the streets for a place at the University, the reknown school of magical arts.

This might sound cliched to some, and damn well it is. Truth to be told, The Name of the Wind is far from being the most original novel I have read. Rather it is another ‘farmboy destined for greatness’- novel in disguise. If you’re looking for ‘grey’ characters, think twice before picking this up. The book has only good, bad, and mysterious ones to offer you. Also, unlike the writers as a Joe Abercrombie or a Scott Lynch, this author is compared to, Rothfuss makes no attempt to re-invent the wheel. Abercrombie tried to take fantasy cliches in a different direction, Lynch had that fresh breath through the fantasy genre but Rothfuss comfortably stays within the boundaries of traditional fantasy.
However what (partly) saves this novel from tumbling down the ranks, is that Rothfuss is a very gifted, natural storyteller. The prose is neither mindblowing nor stylistically inventive, but it manages to support the frame of the story exceptionally well. The novel spans a hefty 660 pages in hardcover format, thus rightfully belonging to the ‘heavy tomes’ category, but does not feel all that long. I attribute this to the ’smoothness’ of the pace, the story gives off an unusual relaxed vibe. Like a small murmuring river in a wide landscape. Rothfuss handles the flow of the story with the hand of a seasoned storyteller, allowing it to unfold at own pace. Unfortunately these are the only positive elements I can mention of this effort.

Where Rothfuss impresses with the smoothness of his pacing, he fails considerably with the characterisation of his characters. As the first person narrative is employed throughout the story, the novel is very character-driven. Kvothe recounts his own ‘coming-of-age’, but as a character himself, he is not terribly challenging nor consistent. Kvothe is almost like a skin-changer, the young Kvothe with the troupers has nothing in common with the beggar Kvothe or the wise-cracking hero Kvothe appears to be at the University. If there would be any character development to speak of, the rate of development would too fast to be realistic in any case. Neither is Kvothe challenging because his actions and moral judgement are predictable in a sort of ‘Harry Potter’-esque way. It can be very tiresome, reading about a brat who gets exactly what he wants and even predicts (for God’s sake) it himself. Not unlike the Harry Potter prodigy type of character, who gets what he wants in the end too even if he’s broken various rules and laws in order to get it. The citation below illustrates that.

“By the time I got back to the fourth floor of the Mews, rumour of my non-expulsion and admission into the Arcanum had spread ahead of me. I was greeted by a smattering of applause of my bunkmates. Hemme was not well loved. Some of my bunkmates offered awed congratulations while Basil made a special point of coming forward to shake my hand. ” (p. 270)

Apart from the characterisation of the protagonist, secondary characters, particularly the ones Kvothe meets after reaching the University, lack real depth and are completely forgettable. One of the major drawbacks of the first person narrative is that if readers tire of the protagonist, they have no supporting cast to fall back to. The protagonist has to carry the weight of the whole story and if he fails as a character then in turn fails the story.

Plotting-wise there’s something is inherently wrong with this effort too. A story needs conflict in order to interest readers, otherwise it would fall flat on its face. True to that, Kvothe is faced with all sorts of conflicts in this story, he has to overcome various obstacles. Yet it is not ‘tuned’ with the impression we got earlier on. Rather, Rothfuss throws up a lot of ‘false’ obstacles on Kvothe’s path, that he’d be able to overcome easily if he was as brilliant as he himself likes to think. The most horrific examples of that, are scenes in which Kvothe fights a herbivorous Draccus (which was ridiculous by the way, a herbivorous dragon – ever heard of that?!). The Draccus, rather than being important to the overall story-line, is just another false obstacle alongside the way. Even worse, the scenes unneccesarily dragged the pace of the story down.

There is also a lot of hype (see first citation) without much showing. Both Rothfuss and Kvothe (in dialogues with the Chronicler) have hyped him up to the level of a demi-God but he does not deliver. For example, the parts of that particular citation that Rothfuss has told us (”burned down the town of Trebon” or “written songs that make minstrels weep”), weren’t not all that impressive when I read about them. In fact, Kvothe actually quenched the fires in the town of Trebon, not ignited them. The herbivorous Draccus has that claim to fame. Nor have we heard these ’songs that make minstrels’ weep as yet, the one brilliant song Kvothe played on his lute was not even composed by himself and while he executed it, he was aided by a singing Denna. The one he did compose was a song mocking Ambrose (another highborn brat, Kvothe’s sworn enemy at the University) but it did not exactly make minstrels weep. Or maybe it did, because the song was that bad. This shows you that some of these ‘prophecies’ ring false and do not deliver. Now, I know it’s the first volume of a trilogy, but it still felt like Rothufss left too many threads hanging.

In the end, I did not really enjoy reading The Name of the Wind. Despite that Rothfuss handles the flow of the story well, he has left too many threads hanging. The characterization was sub-par and did not manage to impress me at all. There was too much hype but not much showing, the things Rothfuss did show us, did not live up to earlier expectations set by Kvothe himself. Overall, disappointing.

6/10