Sunday, April 1, 2007
Kvothe the wizard, evermore...
Book Review: The Name of the Wind
Patrick Rothfuss kicks off The Kingkiller Chronicle with his epic fantasy novel The Name of the Wind, a stellar debut that follows a fiery-haired student of magic named Kvothe as he travels with a troupe of wandering players, battles for survival on feral urban streets, and enters the world's most prestigious university, where he navigates the intricacies of life as a teenage boy--dealing with authority figures, courting girls, surviving schoolyard politics--while simultaneously evolving into a living legend: the greatest wizard the world has ever known.
If novels serve as windows through which readers can view the world in new ways, then the characters in The Name of the Wind make their story a literary observatory. Rothfuss uses fantasy tropes, but he uses them well; and his characters, multi-dimensional and nuanced, are masterfully rendered. The ways in which he maps the psychological complexities of his protagonist are superb. As a college student, I related to Kvothe's struggles in an academic environment (minus the metaphysical exams, of course). By combining familiar fantasy elements with creative, incredibly human characterization, Rothfuss remakes what would have been a solid traditional fantasy into something truly magical.
Drew
Book Review: The Name of the Wind
Patrick Rothfuss kicks off The Kingkiller Chronicle with his epic fantasy novel The Name of the Wind, a stellar debut that follows a fiery-haired student of magic named Kvothe as he travels with a troupe of wandering players, battles for survival on feral urban streets, and enters the world's most prestigious university, where he navigates the intricacies of life as a teenage boy--dealing with authority figures, courting girls, surviving schoolyard politics--while simultaneously evolving into a living legend: the greatest wizard the world has ever known.
If novels serve as windows through which readers can view the world in new ways, then the characters in The Name of the Wind make their story a literary observatory. Rothfuss uses fantasy tropes, but he uses them well; and his characters, multi-dimensional and nuanced, are masterfully rendered. The ways in which he maps the psychological complexities of his protagonist are superb. As a college student, I related to Kvothe's struggles in an academic environment (minus the metaphysical exams, of course). By combining familiar fantasy elements with creative, incredibly human characterization, Rothfuss remakes what would have been a solid traditional fantasy into something truly magical.
Drew
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