The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle #1) by Patrick Rothfuss

I admit this book took me way longer to read than is typical for me and longer than I wanted it to. Ever since the pandemic started I have gone through phases where I couldn't focus or was pulled away by things. Some of that played a part here. 

Why it took me so long: 

• I started selling Pampered Chef again and spent time running my first party and building my library of scheduled posts. 
• I got sucked into doing a re-watch of Once Upon A Time 
• And then a re-watch of Star Trek Discovery BECAUSE SEASON 3 IS COMING IN OCTOBER!!
• This book is close to 700 pages long and it took me a little while to get into and to figure out how to carry it comfortably while walking Charlie. 
• I found out I am going back to work soon (next week actually) and I have been a little distracted. 
• This book is almost 700 DAMN PAGES LONG....

Ok so now the book. The first in the Kingkiller Chronicle series which I was told by my friend at work Mike that I needed to read, that it is kind of like a grownup Harry Potter. So I grabbed it and figured why not..I had been putting it off and I was having a hard time deciding on what to read next from my cart of books...

The story's many character, Kvothe, has a name that doesn't exactly roll off the tongue...there is actually a video HERE that has Rothfuss doing pronunciations...but it still isn't a 100% clear...I have been saying K-VO-TH (a hard K sound and a long O sound). 

I did enjoy this story. A lot. I liked the format of story telling, he is telling his story to The Chronicler and occasionally we are pulled back from the story unfolding in the past and into the present where Bast, Kvothe (Kote), and Bast are together in the inn. Kvothe is super smart, smarter than most of the people he meets and he knows it and sometimes he is so very arrogant. But he faces a terrible tragedy at a young age and it sort of stunts him and sends him on a new path than the one he was on and his arrogance is kind of understandable. He isn't unlikeable, at least in this book, I don't know what he is like in the next installment. 

Magic in this world is more science based and there is a lot of talk about how elements work together and what is involved into "magic." While this is a world building book it doesn't take the slow path in doing so because he is telling his story to Chronicler and thus to us he is building as he goes and it isn't built before the story gets started. It really is part of the story itself. 

There are times when you are reminded that Kvothe is young and inexperienced about many things, like relationships/intimacy and this helps keep him from becoming unlikable. Also his treatment of Auri reminds us that arrogance aside he is deep down a good person. 

Something happened to Kvothe's family and their traveling theater troop..he ends up on his own, and has to survive for a family long period of time on his own before he makes his way to the university. And if you think making it there will means his life becomes easier then you haven't read enough high fantasy or hero's journey stories...it gets better, gets worse, gets better, gets worse...often he snatches defeat from the jaws of a win....There is a mystery he is out to solve, what the hell happened the night his family died...and there is the mystery for us, what happened to him to get him to where he is, living in an inn using a new name...

It is a tightly written but long story...I will go on to book 2 at some point...I am not sure when but before too long, I don't have it yet and book 3 wasn't published yet and I have so many books TBR and so many series going so while I absolutely want to read the rest I am not in a huge hurry...

I will say that it took me awhile before I was sucked in but I did get sucked in and overall I really did like this book!!

(Finished August 2, 2020)