(4.5 / 5)
Well… That was an epic book! Perhaps not the smartest book to listen to on audio just because it was MAMMOTH, and it took me a good few weeks to listen to it. I love a good fantasy book and Rothfuss has written the first of what is already an extremely popular trilogy (or eventual trilogy as only the first 2 books and a novella have been released so far, and the next one is over a year away according to goodreads).
There is no way to sum this book up briefly, but I will give a quick run down… It is the story of the life of Kvothe, who is a legendary fighter and magician of sorts. An older man now, Kvothe tells his story to a writer to record. His story begins when he was a young boy performing in a travelling troop with his parents. When they are killed by a mysterious evil known as the Chandrian, Kvothe makes it his lifes mission to get revenge. And thats all I will really give away about this book or I will be going on and on and on.
I don’t feel that I am an audiobook novice anymore. The audiobook version of this novel is over 28 hours long! But I can’t complain. Nick Podehl was extremely enjoyable to listen to. I seem to have a problem at the start with all audiobooks. Because I am so used to the previous book I listened to, any change in narration leaves me a little weirded out. I find it difficult at least for the first half an hour to get used to the new voice. Their tone and energy. I wonder if any of my audiobook junkie friends would agree that this is a common problem? And I’m not sure if the audible version I listened to was recorded differently than other audiobooks I have listened to, but the narrator’s voice seemed almost a bit far away. However I did get used to it fairly quickly and once I did. I settled in for the 27+ hours ahead…
The story… I think it would be pretty hard not to like this book. It is extremely well written and Rothfuss is a great storyteller. I’m not sure if it was the “absolutely best fantasy book I’ve ever read” as I have seen other passionate reviewers say it was… But I absolutely enjoyed it a lot.
I loved most of the characters in The Name of the Wind, and there were a lot of them. However one big problem is that I really didn’t like the young Kvothe. He was reckless and arrogant, and I just didn’t like him. Although I didn’t mind the older version of him at all so I am imagining that his character transforms and grows throughout the next two books and I am very much looking forward to that. Denna… What a pain in the bum! Didn’t like her character AT ALL. I didn’t like the way she was written and I really didn’t like the way the narrator portrayed her voice for some reason. But having said that, you cant love every character you read about, and she is pivotal to the story as much as she annoys me. I am wondering what she has done that is so bad to betray him in the next few books. I LOVED the hate match with Kvothe and Ambrose. Fabulous!
I absolutely recommend the audio version. There were some parts that I know I wouldn’t have enjoyed so much if I hadn’t listened to it. Especially the part with the man travelling with the pigs and the accent. I laughed all the way home from work listening to that part in the car!
I don’t know what else to say really, I think it would be hard NOT to at least enjoy this book. The ratings alone speak for how loved this book is. Of course epic fantasy isn’t for everyone… But if you don’t mind dabbling in a bit of it – I would ABSOLUTELY recommend this book!
On his blog Rothfuss mentioned that there may be a movie or TV deal in discussions, and that would be really great! Not sure if it will be better off staying just in my memory though, and not a screen.
And for my audiobook junkie friends… Should I go straight for number 2 now that I am used to the narrator? Or should I give my brain a break from the 42 hour long sequel??
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