Patrick ROTHFUSS : The name of the wind - Kingkiller chronicles #1

'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'

 

After hearing so much praise about this series, I just had to read it and I got completely engrossed in The name of the wind. The basic plot of this story is not unheard of : gifted kid, meets a master, learns about magic, loses his friends and family, goes to university, encounters friends, enemies, falls in love, thinks about revenge, nothing original.

 

But ! It goes without mentioning Rothfuss's writing style (I read it in French, borrowed from the library, but the prose shone through), his love of words, his deep curiosity and cleverness. When I say clever, I mean Kvothe, the main character, can think of doing things that I would never ever even have thought of doing in my life ! I mean the hairs and the leaves kind of stuf : awesome ! I felt deeply admirative towards him, who also has the gift of speech, telling stories, singing and lying. I could also relate to his constant fight for the necessities of life (money) and the way he is flawed, arrogant, but loveable anyway.

 

The way the novel is constructed - a story within a story - is nothing original either, but it works beautifully here. You see how things are in the present, you're dying to know how it all came to this and what these characters went through (and came from, especially in Bast's case, I'm widely curious).

 

The fun, wit and cleverness is never far from a sense of danger and Kvothe is not perfect (he almost kills himself at the beginning) : for instance, I really enjoyed reading about the antagonism between "Jackass" Ambrose and Kvothe, how Ambrose does his best to harm him in any possible way and how Kvothe is able to back off and avoid the worse with wit and style - he comes from a background of comedians. Yet every time, you know Ambrose has power and is dangerous and you know it's going to bite Kvothe in his arse some time. It has before, several times.

Now that I've finished book #1, I'm dying to read book #2 except that... I began reading Nygardshaug's Mino series : unforgettable first book, the second book was... meh. I began reading Pullman's dark material series : wonderful first book, the second book was... highly disappointing. Book #2 in the Kingkiller chronicles is a 1000 pages long, so I do hope it will be worth it and won't let me down. Fingers crossed ?