Book Review: The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

Anytime you get a book with 1,000+ reviews and its average number of stars is 4.5 it must me good and must create a loyalty among the readers. I can say this book had that effect on me and everyone I had the pleasure of recommending it to. 


What this book really does well is what it doesn't do. This book does not fit the "popcorn", "beach" reads of summer, yet brings the pleasure of a beach read. Patrick Rothfuss does such a good job of description you can vanish into the world that Kvothe occupies. Many easy read books are predictable in how they turn out so much so that you know the end well before you get there, The Name of the Wind is not one of these books. This book gives you reason to continue reading. I look at it almost like a more adult form of Harry Potter or the Hunger Games (both of which I am a fan). 


The magic and the university have a real feeling to them, the magic appears to be almost "knowledge" in an era when the majority of the population was illiterate. I found it believable in the context of the story. I especially liked the reality of the mistakes Kvothe makes from his impulsive and often selfish behavior along with the results of these mistakes. Patrick Rothfuss gives us a hero with faults and I believe that is what drives the story. A main character who is heroic to the point of cockiness This cockiness is the root of his mistakes and his mistakes create considerable difficulties for him. Thus the story is able to unfold in multiple pages that hold your interest to the point you cannot put the book down until you reach the end; only to grab for the second book because you just cannot get enough of the story of Kvothe. 


Highly recommend this book, I really wish the third book would come out soon.