The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss

Happy Solstice! There’s nothing like a big, fat fantasy book on the coldest, longest night of the year, and The Name of the Wind has everything fantasy fans could want: Imaginative adventure, cool characters and a long, nearly endless delay between publishing installments in the series. 

The Name of the Wind follows the character Kvothe, a musical theater kid who is also great at magic and killing and…just about everything. And that’s where the story often receives its most damning criticism. The main character is too good at too many things. Sometimes in movies, when the filmmaker wants to show that a character is smart, they toss a Rubik’s cube to the character who solves it in seconds. If you threw a Rubik’s cube to Kvothe, he’d not only solve it, but he’d used it to slay a dragon and invest in Bitcoin when it was just a penny, all at the same time. 

The main story is about Kvothe’s childhood as he enters a magic university. He makes friends, and enemies, has fun, plays the guitar, makes magic lanterns and names things. The naming of things is part of the magic system in this world. If you’re more familiar with Tolkien’s fantasy world, in which magic is just, kinda, there, then all the ins and outs of this magic system may feel boring. Because it is. 

I’m sure some people like all the rules and lore, but I’d much rather just accept that magic happens. I don’t need to know the science behind Superman’s freeze breath to enjoy when he freeze-breathes the bad guys. (Side note: It’s weird that Superman doesn’t freeze-breathe more villains. Seems like that would solve a lot of problems. Just sayin’…freeze powers are fun!)

I like this book, and even read half of the second book in the series. But I got bored with the too-perfect character and gave up. Plus, knowing that the writer is still working on wrapping up the plot after decades of rumors and missed deadlines, makes me think the ending to the overall story is nowhere in sight. I can write an ending for the series:

Superman appeared and freeze-breathed the antagonist. 

The End

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