The Name of the Wind

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What to expect

'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.

My name is Kvothe.
You may have heard of me'

So begins the tale of Kvothe - currently known as Kote, the unassuming innkeepter - from his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, through his 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 the notorious magician, the accomplished thief, the masterful musician, the dragon-slayer, the legend-hunter, the lover, the thief and the infamous assassin.

The Name of the Wind is fantasy at its very best, and an astounding must-read title.

Critics Review

The best epic fantasy I read last year...He's bloody good, this Rothfuss guy
George R R Martin
Patrick Rothfuss' debut is set in an unnamed but fully realised fantasy world, and his characters are detailed and convincing.
WATERSTONES BOOKS QUARTERLY
Patrick Rothfuss has real talent, and his tale of Kvothe is deep and intricate and wondrous
Terry Brooks
This is a magnificent book
Anne McCaffrey
The Name of the Wind has everything: magic and mysteries and ancient evil, but it's also humorous and terrifying and completely believable
Tad Williams
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
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
It is a rare and great pleasure to find a fantasist writing ... with true music in the words
Ursula K Le Guin
The characters are real and the magic is true
robin Hobb, New York Times-bestselling author of Assassin’s Apprentice
Masterful ... There is a beauty to Pat's writing that defies description
Brandon Sanderson, New York Times-bestselling author of Mistborn
[Makes] you think he's inventing the genre, instead of reinventing it
Lev Grossman, New York Times-bestselling author of The Magicians
Hail Patrick Rothfuss! A new giant is striding the land
Robert J. Sawyer, award-winning author of Wake
I was reminded of Ursula K. Le Guin, George R. R. Martin, and J. R. R. Tolkein, but never felt that Rothfuss was imitating anyone
THE TIMES
This fast-moving, vivid, and unpretentious debut roots its coming-of-age fantasy in convincing mythology
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
This breathtakingly epic story is heartrending in its intimacy and masterful in its narrative essence
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY starred review
Reminiscent in scope of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series ... this masterpiece of storytelling will appeal to lovers of fantasy on a grand scale
LIBRARY JOURNAL (starred)
Shelve The Name of the Wind beside The Lord of the Rings...and look forward to the day when it's mentioned in the same breath, perhaps as first among equals
The A.V. Club

User Reviews

Book 5.0
Narration 5.0
5.0
5.0
Amazing narrator, captivating Story4!
musicatalina 10/10/2024
5.0
5.0
A story to lose myself in. I felt completely swept away, completely immersed . I loved the world building, the characters, the wit, the dialogue.
fluentindothraki 02/03/2024
5.0
5.0
Remarkable. Hooked from the outset. The reader’s performance was tonally perfect and the range of voices and accents kept me immersed in the world. I’m blown away. An instant favourite
Valor Grey 08/08/2022
5.0
5.0
S@ndK1ng 05/12/2025

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