The Name of the Wind

Yes!  Just finished the last of the RA Favorite Books for this year, although there will be some new RAs in the spring semester, especially since we will be taking over Polytechnic University in January!  So look for some new reads in 2014 (will be interested if the type of favorite books is any different with engineering students, time will tell).  So the last read of this year is Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind, a fantasy story set in the rural town of Newarre.  I always get a bit weary when I see that the book is actually a triology (known as the Kingkiller Chronicles), as I feel I am going to miss much of the “whole” story as I usually only read book 1.  What I learned as the book progressed was, hey I like this!  What a good story, albeit the concept has been used before, (can you say, Harry Potter!).   The story revolves around a young man, Kvothe who becomes a “nomad” of sorts when his parents are killed and on his search he desperately wants to attend the “wizard” University.  Kvothe spends three years on the streets learning how to survive.  In his prior life, he gained much knowledge about the mystery of “the wind” and other mystical things and makes it his daily task to raise enough monies to pay for the education.  The story has some level of repetition with his challenges with schoolmates and the headmasters.  His enemies in class are the “rich kids” who have more than enough monies to have fun in college and do the things he would not be able to do.  Of course any journey story is not complete with the falling in love with the young “damsel” in distress, and this story is similar with Denna.  Kvothe continues to be attracted to her and desiring to help her in any way he can.  There is something really engaging with Kvothe and the reader is automatically drawn to him as a younger version of “everyman” – the kid who has limited tools but you root for at every turn.  Like I noted, there are some on-going reoccurring issues that keep coming up, but aside from that annoyance, it is a fun read, except that there is a second and third book.  This is not a quick read at all, but the characters are easy to keep straight.  You will see this one on the big screen in a short period of time, for sure.