The Name of the Wind Is the brand new story, which is in fact the old story Harry Potter, if Harry Potter had Harry Potter as the narrator, telling his own life story. The protagonist, Kvothe, is portrayed (by himself) as a genius child prodigy who is simultaneously a brilliant actor, natural magician, virtuoso musician, cunning thief, amazing to everyone, loved by women, man of mystery to many, and a literal living legend. But the book wants to assure at every moment he is also from the poorest of backgrounds, orphaned by evil jerks, surrounded by unappreciative bullies and far too naive and honest to take advantage of all those nice ladies. In short, he is on paper, a derivative, insufferable, high octane Mary Sue. But I want to make it clear now, it doesn't really feel that way when listening to Kvothe's story.
I put it down to the author, who's competent in his language and character building to convince you that this man isn't a complete pain in the neck. It also helps that the the novel itself does a lot to prepare you for the hero worshipping. After all, the premise is about a writer being granted an interview with the most amazing wizard in the World, it stands to reason that the subsequent 600 odd pages are going to be full of audacious feats and self-aggrandising tales.
It does eventually wear thin though. Kvothe is in no hurry to get to the important parts of his story, instead insisting on taking three days to tell his tale so he can include the parts about his extensive negotiations with horse salesmen, loan sharks and pawnshop owners. Often it feels redundant, and I imagine that even the biggest ego maniac would want to naturally skip these parts to get to the bit where he talks about fighting dragons or performing impossibly difficult magic.
The other big bother is that practically every other character in this story is two dimensional, only serving to colour Kvothe's development. We have loads of arrogant bullies for Kvothe to show up, loads of sexy ladies for him to keep ignoring, and loads of eccentric sages to remind Kvothe how clever and special he is. The worst is his main love interest, Denna, who acts as an unhealthy obsession for Kvothe whilst being a fairly bland, passive character of her own. The only two other interesting characters, the Chronicler and Bast, exist outside his tale, so we don't even get a chance to hear more about their story. That's the tantalisation in this book; all the best bits haven't really happened yet. Kvothe has hardly described any of the things he mentions in the blurb preceding the story, we are being told to wait until the next book to find out.
And so help me, I really do want to go and buy the next book to find out.It's worked. I've gotten invested enough in the mystery that I can handle yet more time wasting, lazy characterisation and Mary Sue exploits. Yes, I recommend this book, but only with a full expectation of what you are getting into.
Tantalising and Worse
The Name of the Wind Is the brand new story, which is in fact the old story Harry Potter, if Harry Potter had Harry Potter as the narrator, telling his own life story. The protagonist, Kvothe, is portrayed (by himself) as a genius child prodigy who is simultaneously a brilliant actor, natural magician, virtuoso musician, cunning thief, amazing to everyone, loved by women, man of mystery to many, and a literal living legend. But the book wants to assure at every moment he is also from the poorest of backgrounds, orphaned by evil jerks, surrounded by unappreciative bullies and far too naive and honest to take advantage of all those nice ladies. In short, he is on paper, a derivative, insufferable, high octane Mary Sue. But I want to make it clear now, it doesn't really feel that way when listening to Kvothe's story.
I put it down to the author, who's competent in his language and character building to convince you that this man isn't a complete pain in the neck. It also helps that the the novel itself does a lot to prepare you for the hero worshipping. After all, the premise is about a writer being granted an interview with the most amazing wizard in the World, it stands to reason that the subsequent 600 odd pages are going to be full of audacious feats and self-aggrandising tales.
It does eventually wear thin though. Kvothe is in no hurry to get to the important parts of his story, instead insisting on taking three days to tell his tale so he can include the parts about his extensive negotiations with horse salesmen, loan sharks and pawnshop owners. Often it feels redundant, and I imagine that even the biggest ego maniac would want to naturally skip these parts to get to the bit where he talks about fighting dragons or performing impossibly difficult magic.
The other big bother is that practically every other character in this story is two dimensional, only serving to colour Kvothe's development. We have loads of arrogant bullies for Kvothe to show up, loads of sexy ladies for him to keep ignoring, and loads of eccentric sages to remind Kvothe how clever and special he is. The worst is his main love interest, Denna, who acts as an unhealthy obsession for Kvothe whilst being a fairly bland, passive character of her own. The only two other interesting characters, the Chronicler and Bast, exist outside his tale, so we don't even get a chance to hear more about their story. That's the tantalisation in this book; all the best bits haven't really happened yet. Kvothe has hardly described any of the things he mentions in the blurb preceding the story, we are being told to wait until the next book to find out.
And so help me, I really do want to go and buy the next book to find out.It's worked. I've gotten invested enough in the mystery that I can handle yet more time wasting, lazy characterisation and Mary Sue exploits. Yes, I recommend this book, but only with a full expectation of what you are getting into.