The Name of the Wind (KingKiller Chronicles) [Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Patrick Rothfuss (Author), Nick Podehl (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2009 | Series: KingKiller Chronicles (Book 1)

My name is Kvothe 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. You may have heard of me. So begins a tale unequaled in fantasy literature – the story of a hero told in his own voice. It is a tale of sorrow, a tale of survival, a tale of one man’s search for meaning in his universe, and how that search, and the indomitable will that drove it, gave birth to a legend. “It is a rare and great pleasure to find a fantasist writing...with true music in the words....Wherever Pat Rothfuss goes...he’ll carry us with him as a good singer carries us through a song.” – Ursula K. Le Guin, bestselling author and winner of the National Book Award

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Amazon.com's Best of the Year...So Far Pick for 2007: Harry Potter fans craving a new mind-blowing series should look no further than The Name of the Wind--the first book in a trilogy about an orphan boy who becomes a legend. Full of music, magic, love, and loss, Patrick Rothfuss's vivid and engaging debut fantasy knocked our socks off. --Daphne Durham

---

10 Second Interview: A Few Words with Patrick Rothfuss

Q: Were you always a fan of fantasy novels?
A: Always. My first non-picture books were the Narnia Chronicles. After that my mom gave me Ihe Hobbit and Dragonriders. I grew up reading about every fantasy and sci-fi book I could find. I used to go to the local bookstore and look at the paperbacks on the shelf. I read non-fantasy stuff too, of course. But fantasy is where my heart lies. Wait... Should that be "where my heart lays?" I always screw that up.

Q: Who are some of your favorite authors? Favorite books?
A: Hmmm.... How about I post that up as a list?

Q: What are you reading now?
A: Right now I'm reading Capacity, by Tony Balantyne. He was nominated for the Philip K Dick award this last year. I heard him read a piece of the first novel, Recursion, out at Norwescon. I picked it up and got pulled right in. Capacity is the second book in the series. Good writing and cool ideas. Everything I've like best.

Q: How did Kvothe's story come to you? Did you always plan on a trilogy?
A: This story started with Kvothe's character. I knew it was going to be about him from the very beginning. In some ways it's the simplest story possible: it's the story of a man's life. It's the myth of the Hero seen from backstage. It's about the exploration and revelation of a world, but it's also about Kvothe's desire to uncover the truth hidden underneath the stories in his world. The story is a lot of things, I guess. As you can tell, I'm not very good at describing it. I always tell people, "If I could sum it up in 50 words, I wouldn't have needed to write a whole novel about it." I didn't plan it as a trilogy though. I just wrote it and it got to be so long that it had to be broken up into pieces. There were three natural breaking points in the story.... Hence the Trilogy.

Q: What is next for our hero?
A: Hmm..... I don't really believe in spoilers. But I think it's safe to say that Kvothe grows up a little in the second book. He learns more about magic. He learns how to fight, gets tangled up in some court politics, and starts to figure unravel some of the mysteries of romance and relationships, which is really just magic of a different kind, in a way.

---

---

Patrick Rothfuss's Books You Should Read

The Last Unicorn

Neverwhere

Declare

Beatrice's Goat

Blankets

See more recommendations (with comments) from Patrick Rothfuss

---

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. The originality of Rothfuss's outstanding debut fantasy, the first of a trilogy, lies less in its unnamed imaginary world than in its precise execution. Kvothe ("pronounced nearly the same as 'Quothe' "), the hero and villain of a thousand tales who's presumed dead, lives as the simple proprietor of the Waystone Inn under an assumed name. Prompted by a biographer called Chronicler who realizes his true identity, Kvothe starts to tell his life story. From his upbringing as an actor in his family's traveling troupe of magicians, jugglers and jesters, the Edema Ruh, to feral child on the streets of the vast port city of Tarbean, then his education at "the University," Kvothe is driven by twin imperatives—his desire to learn the higher magic of naming and his need to discover as much as possible about the Chandrian, the demons of legend who murdered his family. 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. The fantasy world has a new star. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio on MP3-CD Lib Ed; Library edition (May 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1423389298
• ISBN-13: 978-1423389293
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1,175 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,133,928 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Patrick Rothfuss always wanted to be fantasy author when he grew up. Now that his first novel is published it's generally agreed that he has achieved his dream. However, there is some debate as to whether or not he has, in fact, grown up.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1,252 of 1,356 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well worth your precious reading hours, March 19, 2007

By 

Robin Hobb "Robin" (Tacoma, Washington) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicles, Day 1) (Hardcover)

It seems to me that every year there are more books I want to read and less time for me to read them. Because my time is limited, I'm guilty of picking up the books by my favorite authors first, and fitting in new authors only when it's convenient.
Due to a stroke of luck, I've had an advance copy of The Name of the Wind by my bedside for over six months, just waiting for me to open it. Unfortunately, deadlines of my own kept getting in the way. But in a way, it's lucky that I didn't crack this book until just a few days ago. If I'd had this tale to distract me, I'd have been even later getting my work done.
I loathe spoilers, so I'm not going to discuss the plot of this book. I will say it has all the things that I demand of a book. The characters are real, the action is convincing and it has a compelling story to tell.
One of the things I like best about this book is that the magic is absolutely rooted in the book's world. Nothing seems contrived; the consistency is excellent.

The characters are very well realized. That means that when the protagonist does something clever, it's believable. And when he does something youthfully dumb, it rings just as authentically true. Because the characters are real and the magic is true to its own world, I closed this book feeling as if I'd been on a journey with an entertaining new friend, rather than sitting alone looking at words on a page.
This one is well worth some of your precious reading time. I'll wager that the books to follow it will also be.

Robin Hobb

140 of 160 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A thought after reading the negative reviews..., October 24, 2008

By 

L. Boswell (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicles, Day 1) (Hardcover)

I always read the negative reviews of books I liked. For one, I think people can be much more detailed about what they don't like than what they did. Second, I just want to know what made people dislike something I liked.

There seems to be an overall theme amongst the negative reviews that Kvothe is unlikable--but most of these reviews contradict themselves. They don't like him because he's arrogant, but then also complain that he's too perfect to be realistic and has no flaws. I think Rothfuss's intentions were to make Kvothe's arrogance one of his biggest flaws. Imagine you caught on to many subjects in school very fast, were number one in your class and had a relatively quick wit. You'd probably be arrogant, too, as I know the smart, popular people in my high school were. And it's Kvothe's arrogance that constantly gets him into trouble.

The theme of Rothfuss's book, to me, is the difference between the reality of a man's life and his actions, and the stories other men tell about him. That's why we begin with him in a quiet inn, then cut to local patrons telling wild tales. We are introduced to a character, The Chronicler, whose sole purpose in "life" is to find the truth about stories, to debunk myths and legends. But fantasy books *are* the stuff of myths and legends--dragons, fair maidens, faeries, wizards. So how do you tell the story of a renowned magical hero without the requisite exaggeration and outright lies? Without turning the hero into an unrealistic beacon of flawless unrelenting perfection? You tell both stories--the ones people want to believe, and the story that comes closest to the truth. And the truth is Kvothe is a rash, impulsive, sometimes selfish and very often stupidly arrogant man. These traits get him into endless trouble, which he sometimes weasels his way out of through his wit and talents.

You are given Kvothe's many legendary titles (like Bloodless) and then learn the slightly less-than-mystical reason why he was given that quasi-true moniker. What's masterful about Rothfuss's work here, however, is that even when you tear down the myths about Kvothe and get to the "real" story, Kvothe still emerges a hero. If that is too unbelievable for you, if it's not realistic for a character to be truly heroic and truly talented and truly great despite his flaws, then you won't like this story. It's just not cynical enough for you.

125 of 143 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A few interesting and enticing morsels sprinkled on a canvass of frustration, August 28, 2009

By 

K. Sullivan "No accounting for taste..." (Virginia - United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicles, Day 1) (Paperback)

With hundreds of reviews and several customer discussions on its Amazon page, "The Name of the Wind" aroused my curiosity. Some negative comments appeared calculated to smear while some positive comments seemed equally overdone. I do not doubt there are both heart-felt one and five star reviews posted here, but isolated comments from both camps seemed disingenuous. I had to see what all the fuss was about. (Congratulations to anyone who thought such disagreement and vitriol would help market the book... you got me!)

Of 722 total pages, I estimate that there were less than 200 pages of compelling narrative taken altogether. Most were located in the latter half of the book. It was not necessarily poorly written, there was just a lot of pointless detail. Ignoring for a moment the overarching plot device of a legendary hero narrating his tale to a scribe, the narrative of the book can be reasonably broken down into the following sections: 1. Kvothe as a trouper with his family; 2. Kvothe as a street urchin in the large city of Tarbean; 3. Kvothe at the university. The first two sections take almost 250 pages. They could have been greatly abbreviated without any ill-effect to the story. The final section also suffers from dead weight resulting in very slow pacing.

The first-person narrative introduced some difficulties for me. Kvothe seems to dearly enjoy hearing himself talk. Maybe as a hero it is his right, but he seems just a tad too pleased with himself at times. Some quips were witty while others fell flat. Some thoughts were inspiring while others were corny or self-evident. He actually says, "Attend to me as I draw back the curtain to reveal a long-kept minstrel's secret..." (page 477). Groan! I wonder if Chronicler rolled his eyes. He took himself and his tale a little too seriously at times. In a few instances, Kvothe hints at a greater context or another anecdote but refuses to share it. It felt like a bit of a cop out (planting a seed in the reader's mind without actually working for it; i.e., fully developing the narrative).

Another bitter pill for me was that a lot of the drama seemed forced or contrived. Every time things were going well or smoothly, the rug would inevitably be pulled out from under Kvothe. The tension did not seem to arise organically. Instead, it felt like the author set him up just to knock him down again.

The characterizations suffered on a couple fronts. Various characters were tired clichés (mean-spirited schoolmaster, haughty rich student) and others were not well developed. Kvothe's two best friends at the university (and their relationships) seemed weakly established.

It appears to be en vogue of late for fantasy novelists to verbalize their conscious efforts to defy the conventions of the genre. A theme throughout this book is that things did not occur neatly or tidily because this is not a story or fairy tale. Yet it still read just the same to me. Apparently telling us the story is not a story is no reliable means to escape the conventions. This is not fantasy literature's first flawed hero or legendary figure who is revealed to be less than his image.

I struggled to finish the book. It was only on my last day of reading that I decided to rate it at three stars instead of two. There is some pretty good stuff here. There's just a whole lot of frustrating nonsense you must be willing and prepared to wade through. I honestly do not know if I will read the next installment(s).