The name of the wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Dear Reader,
Today I will be discussing and delving into the hysteria
curating roots of the world building book. Victim: Patrick Ruthfoss The Name Of
The Wind. Prosecution: the underqualified (me).
This blog will not be an attack of the Name of the wind,
because it is not Kvothe and his apparently interesting life that I care to
stab needles into, slowly. It is the premise of this book, the books usually to
the far far left of the similar covered thick-spined fantasy series lining the
sci-fi and other section of the bookshop.
The ones right at the kick off point, that when you ask the
waterstones bookseller, which book do I start this series with, they point to.
These books. These books, that I despise. Because they are not books, they are
slightly arrogant guidemaps that should come free with the second book in the
series, where the story actually begins.
I picked up this book, under the impression from several
sources, that I was picking up a ridiculously well-paced, well-plotted fantasy
novel that was going to knock me off my gravity. When I finished the book,
completely anchored to this planet and slightly disappointed in my very
built-up space suit, I asked what they meant when they promised me the equivalent
of a Shakespearean sonnet of how much I would love and tear through this book.
They told me, clearly, that the series holds the gold.
The second book really kicks it off! Which leads you to the
third book where it really…
No. No! I refuse this trick! I refuse. This is not how
literature and devoted readership should operate.
To put this issue in simple terms when I could write books
and essays of my own on the matter, is that I’ve realised- with time looking
smaller and slighter the more I grow, is that life is far too short for these
types of books.
It is not impossible to have a book that is well-plotted and
well-built.
I look to Sarah J Maas for my example of this. Throne of
glass sufficed as the example of a well-plotted but perfectly surface level
example of a first installation in the series. Which then used the character
development from the first two books, to carry us through the world-building
that took place in books three and four.
The name of the wind, felt almost self-intitled in its ability to rely on world building and plot set up despite not having built any reason prior for the reader to carry on with this 500 page manifesto of plot idea. The worst thing about this book is that you’ll never know how much of a plot builder it is, until you’ve suddenly reached the end and absolutely nothing has happened. The first half of the book, mainly centered around Kvothe’s childhood, was very well done.
It allowed the reader to dive into the new world with a
gently anchored plot which I believed was heading in an exciting direction.
That is until we arrived at the university and this gently anchored plot become
less anchored to anything interesting except an obnoxiously large library and a
confusing currency. The second half seemed to filter between Kvothe being rich
for a day and then being poor again for about two hundred pages, that frankly
led nowhere.
All of this is not to say that I didn’t enjoy the first book
at all, or that the next book won’t be a million times more riveting due to the
lengthy set up I had to sit through. However, I believe that the lack of
authors intent to grip the reader with the first book, with perhaps a reliance
on the excellent page-turning plot of the second book, if just enough to make
me never wish to spend another penny of the series.
If you enjoy tales about rivalries within old universities
and slight mentions of magic and Chandran mythology, you may absolutely adore
this book. All two thousand pages of it. But if you’re going in for an
adventure, or a real plot turning grabbing fantasy you look forward to picking
up every night, I do not think this book is worth sitting out, though I acknowledge this series has potential.
It is for this reason I’m going to pick my lengthy fantasy
more cynically from now on. As life is simply too short for a chunky book
series that’s real story begins halfway through, this is not how you win over
your reader, this is not how you invest them in your story.
It is sometimes as clear as, your story is as good as your
first line, and too many fall into the trap of believing the greatness of the
last line of their last instalment, is what will keep a reader. This is not your book, this is a four spine long prologue.
Please feel free to email in some amazing first fantasy
instalments and I was share them!
Till next time,
Issy.
