Time to Read: 15 hours 21 minutes

Rating: Superposition of 6 and 8 (Not 7) / 10

This is the most conflicted I've felt about a book in a while. Because I can sort of see glimpses of why people love this book, but I also don't get how overwhelming the praise is when so much of the interesting stuff about this book is just setup that hasn't been paid off yet, AND I can see the major criticisms of the book as valid.

Overall, the most interesting and engaging thing about the name of the wind is the framing of the whole narrative. It turns a 4-6/10 story into a 6-8/10 story. Scenarios that might seem like fantasy escapism turn into scenes that are ironic with knowledge of the endgame in mind. This is why even though I understand where the Gary Stu criticism is coming from, it ultimately falls flat for me because we know for a fact that he fucked up majorly along the way to be where he is now.

The second most interesting and engaging thing in the novel is the songs and stories and how the novel plays with concepts surrounding the impact of stories and lies.

“All stories are true,” Skarpi said. “But this one really happened, if that’s what you mean.” He took another slow drink, then smiled again, his bright eyes dancing. “More or less. You have to be a bit of a liar to tell a story the right way. Too much truth confuses the facts. Too much honesty makes you sound insincere.”

There is a lot that makes you think about the nature and impact of stories, how they spread, how they change, how they affect people. Now, this isn't really explored enough for me to say it's resolved or concluded thoroughly in this book, but it is there and I'm hopeful the rest of the series will continue to touch on this, and I can see why the "unreliable narrator" theory of Kvothe's story appeals to people. Although I think if Kvothe is lying about things, it either it fails in this book on it's own to be meaningful or I failed to pick up on the details of things that he lied about that would be meaningful. It's also hard to feel like this story has a great unreliable narrator bent to it when two of my favorite stories every deal with unreliable narrators better in every way and make a much better emphasis and use of them (Monogatari and Umineko), the later of which also does a better job with the themes surrounding lies, truth, and the impact of stories.

Back to the interesting stuff, hearing about the myths and songs of the world is the most interesting thing about the worldbuilding in this book, and it's basically the only aspect that the world is really explored that much because the book largely happens in some towns concerning stuff that is of no greater political concern than local stuff that could happen in any town. It's no stormlight Archive that has every aspect of it's unique world being a constant part of the characters and plot, because most of the story is set in a regular fantasy setting besides the characters mannerisms and culture that is different from other fantasy books I guess.

The third most interesting thing is the setup for future events. Stuff like the end of the book with Bast and the Chronicler (which was great btw I loved it), the four plate door, Elodin's entire ass character, setup for Denna's character.

The fourth most interesting thing about this book is the prose. God the opening and closing of the book is so good. I was never really bored reading it.

I enjoyed the book much more once it hit the academy. (It reminded me of mushoku tensei oddly). It wasn't great really, but it was fun seeing Kvothe burn Master Hemme (although it was probably wrong of him to do that and Hemme is completely justified in hating him for intentionally hurting him for a laugh). It's interesting because in contrast to the Gary Stu accusations, I think Kvothe probably deserved to be banned from the archives despite everyone acting like it was completely unfair. Regardless of the fact that he was tricked and drugged, he CHOOSE to be drugged to protect his reputation. He knew he would be compromised and still did what he did. If he was responsible, he wouldn't have let himself into that situation and would've just waited a day, but he's impatient, arrogant, and curious. AND THEN HE PROVES HE DOESN'T DESERVE IT AGAIN BY BREAKING IN AT THE END OF THE BOOK. So suffice to say, he doesn't seem like a Gary Stu to me and his flaws are clearly going to bit him in the ass in the end (well, the middle I guess...).

There is one scene I fucking love and it's the scene where Kvothe plays the song at Eolian and his lute breaks and Denna sings with him and the chapter after where he talks about playing music vs hearing music and my god it's all so good and AHHHHHHHHHHH. WOOWWWWW I wish the whole book was as good as those two chapters are.

"I buried my face in my hands and wept. Not for a broken lute string and the chance of failure. Not for blood shed and a wounded hand. I did not even cry for the boy who had learned to play a lute with six strings in the forest years ago. I cried for Sir Savien and Aloine, for love lost and found and lost again, at cruel fate and man's folly. And so, for a while, I was lost in grief and knew nothing."

Now for my problems with it, I guess.

Overall, my biggest disappointment while reading was this feeling that nothing substantial was happening. At 85% complete I thought this: "Getting to/in what is shaping up to be the climax of this book and Im kind of disappointed with how little anything has progressed in the overall narrative concerning the "kingkiller." Ik that it's the first in an unfinished trilogy, and it has to be the "act one book," but still... I was expecting more epic in the fantasy called the kingkiller Chronicles." And I feel less this way now because the ending was hype and good, but looking back, it still feels like not a lot built up to was paid off because: 1. He is still in the Academy 2. He said the name of the wind but doesn't know it really, will learn it in the future 3. He is still hardcore in this weird limbo friendzone thing with Denna 4. He is still feuding with Ambrosa 5. The climax of this book is him randomly running off to learn about the chandrian's, completely missing them, and fighting a random dragon instead. Like cool, but also not at all what the rest of the book was about really. Much more connected to the rest of the book was how that developed his relationship with Denna (which I liked).

Second issue, none of the characters are amazing yet. They all have the potential to be good but just aren't yet. Kvothe is made interesting due to the framing device but just with the past story, there is nothing to his character besides Denna. Honestly though, his talk at the end about being next to Denna while she goes through a revolving door of men did hit and is genuinely interesting aspect to his character.

Oh, by "They" I actually just mean Kvothe, Denna, and Bast. I guess maybe the chronicler too but not really.

Third Issue, the villains/antagonists suck and are nearly non existent. Like D tier villains. Generic cookie cutter looking ass.

Fourth Issue (which is the flip side of the positives) is that a large portion of this book relies on it being paid off in the future which is a worrying prospect when it's been 12 years since sequel came out and the finale is nowhere in sight...

Overall, a lot of potential, a lot of good (the Sir Savien and Aloine will be a great scene no matter what happens in the future), and a lot of eh. But solid. I liked it. I mean, it was good enough to binge in 4 days lol.