The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
(The Kingkiller Chronicles: Day One)
Audiobook read by Nick Podehl
This review is a tour. I am your guide.
Please be advised: this trip will involve vague spoilers. Keep your mouse inside the window at all times.
If you look to the left, you will see the main character introduced, Kvothe (aka, Kote, The Flame, E’lir, Shadicar, Reshi, The Thunderer, Macho Mage, Child Prodigy, Gary Stu, etc) in sweeping purple prose flowers all the way down your field of vision.
As our tour bus takes us into town, we see the inn where Kvothe pretends to be an innkeeper, hiding from his past. If we pause and wait a chapter or so, several beasties will appear and be taken care of, and a man shall be rescued from certain death. At this point, it’d make sense to take a stroll to the giftshop and deeper into this intrigue of hiding and seeking — but no, the tour bus must move on…deep into Kvothe’s childhood as he recounts his life story to a traveling chronicler.
But worry not. There will be rest stops every few chapters — courtesy of Interludes Inc. — and everyone will have a chance to stretch their legs and listen to Kvothe’s apprentice ask pertinent questions about the plot. Why did you stay in that city if it was such a terrible place? or This story doesn’t seem to make sense. Let me give you a chance to explain, o autho– err, I mean, Kvothe.”
It would be remiss of me as a guide if I don’t describe the architecture of this storyland. Continue reading