The Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicle Series #1)

by Patrick Rothfuss

Overview

I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.

You may have heard of me.

So begins the tale of Kvothe-from his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, to years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-riddled city, to his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a difficult and dangerous school of magic. In these pages you will come to know Kvothe as a notorious magician, an accomplished thief, a masterful musician, and an infamous assassin. But The Name Of The Wind is so much more-for the story it tells reveals the truth behind Kvothe's legend.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780756404741
Publisher:	DAW
Publication date:	04/01/2008
Series:	Kingkiller Chronicle Series , #1
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	736
Sales rank:	4,947
Product dimensions:	4.25(w) x 6.75(h) x 1.50(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Patrick Rothfuss was born in Wisconsin where long winters and lack of cable television brought about a love of reading and writing. His mother read to him as a child, and his father taught him to build things. If you are looking for the roots of his storytelling, look there. He still lives in central Wisconsin, still lacks cable television, teaches at the college he grew to love as a student and the long winters force him to stay inside and write.

What People are Saying About This

Anne McCaffrey

A fascinating read, with plenty of well-drawn characters and unique information on the 'arcane'. Well worth anyone's time - a book that requires 'reading.'

Kevin J. Anderson

Patrick Rothfuss gives us a fabulous debut, standing firmly on the main stage of the fantasy genre and needing no warmup act. Jordan and Goodkind must be looking nervously over their shoulders!

From the Publisher

"The debut of a writer we would all do well to watch. Patrick Rothfuss has real talent, and his tale of Kvothe is deep and intricate and wondrous." -Terry Brooks "The great new fantasy writer we've all been waiting for." -Orson Scott Card "The type of assured, rich first novel most writers can only dream of producing. THE FANTASY WORLD HAS A NEW STAR." -Publishers Weekly (starred review) "REFRESHINGLY NIMBLE AND OF-BEAT...a finely-tuned coming-of-age story, full of humor, action and the occasional dose of magic." -San Francisco Chronicle "One of the best stories told in any medium in a decade." -The Onion "A rare and great pleasure." -Ursula K. LeGuin "Elegantly told." -Library Journal (starred review)

Terry Brooks

The Name of the Wind marks the debut of a writer we would all do well to watch. Patrick Rothfuss has real talent, and his tale of Kvothe is deep and intricate and wondrous.

Editorial Reviews

The Barnes & Noble Review
The debut novel from Patrick Rothfuss -- the first installment of an epic fantasy trilogy entitled the Kingkiller Chronicle -- not only lives up to its extraordinary pre-press hype (DAW president Elizabeth Wollheim called it "the most brilliant first fantasy novel I have read in over 30 years as an editor"), it surpasses it. When fantasy fans begin reading The Name of the Wind, they should be fully prepared to lose all contact with the outside world while immersed in this highly original and mesmerizing tale of magic, love, and adventure.

The story revolves around Kvothe, an enigmatic red-haired innkeeper who, as he shares his incredible life story with a renowned scribe, turns out to be much more than he appears. Born into a family of nomadic court performers, Kvothe's unconventional education was broadened by spending time with fellow travelers like Abenthy, an elderly arcanist whose knowledge included, among other things, knowing the name of the wind. After his parents are brutally murdered by mythical beings known as the Chandrian, Kvothe vows to learn more about the godlike group, and after suffering through years of homelessness, he finally gets his chance when he is admitted into the prestigious University. But the pursuit of arcane knowledge brings with it unforeseen dangers, as the young student quickly learns…

With the release of his first novel, Rothfuss (who has already been compared to the likes of Terry Goodkind, Robert Jordan, and George R. R. Martin) is poised to be crowned the new king of epic fantasy. The Name of the Wind won't just impress longtime fantasy fans; it will absolutely blow them away -- an unprecedented, utterly breathtaking storytelling tour de force. Paul Goat Allen

This fast-moving, vivid, and unpretentious debut roots its coming-of-age fantasy in convincing mythology. A-

Entertainment Weekly

The Name of the Wind is quite simply the best fantasy novel of the past 10 years, although attaching a genre qualification threatens to damn it with faint praise. Say instead that The Name of the Wind is one of the best stories told in any medium in a decade.

The Onion

The originality of Rothfuss's outstanding debut fantasy, the first of a trilogy, lies less in its unnamed imaginary world than in its precise execution. Kvothe ("pronounced nearly the same as 'Quothe' "), the hero and villain of a thousand tales who's presumed dead, lives as the simple proprietor of the Waystone Inn under an assumed name. Prompted by a biographer called Chronicler who realizes his true identity, Kvothe starts to tell his life story. From his upbringing as an actor in his family's traveling troupe of magicians, jugglers and jesters, the Edema Ruh, to feral child on the streets of the vast port city of Tarbean, then his education at "the University," Kvothe is driven by twin imperatives—his desire to learn the higher magic of naming and his need to discover as much as possible about the Chandrian, the demons of legend who murdered his family. As absorbing on a second reading as it is on the first, this is the type of assured, rich first novel most writers can only dream of producing. The fantasy world has a new star. (Apr.)

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Publishers Weekly

From his childhood as a member of a close-knit family of the nomadic Edema Ruh to his first heady days as a student of magic at a prestigious university, humble bartender Kvothe relates the tale of how a boy beset by fate became a hero, a bard, a magician, and a legend. Rothfuss's first novel launches a trilogy relating not only the history of humankind but also the tale of a world threatened by an evil whose existence it desperately denies. The author explores the development of a person's character while examining the relationship between a legend and its reality and the truth that lies at the heart of stories. Elegantly told and layered with images of tales to come, this richly detailed "autobiography" of a hero is highly recommended for libraries of any size.

—Jackie Cassada

Library Journal