PopSugar Reading Challenge Book 29 or Name of the Whatever

For a book over 500 pages, I read Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. I’ve had several friends sing me the praises of this book and, at 722 pages, it fit the bill. The description on the back is pretty vague so I didn’t really know what to expect. Based on the hype all my friends gave it, I foresaw an action packed story with a lot of adventure and interesting characters. I really should have known better.

I’m going to preface this by saying I’m not a big fan of high fantasy. There’s A LOT of new rules that have to be established very quickly in order for you to make sense of what’s going on. Is it just humans or are there other races/sentient species like elves, orcs, etc.? What about dragons, minotaurs, unicorns, and other beasts? Is magic common place? Is there more than one kind of magic? Do some people have inherent powers? Is the societal structure/hierarchy based on medieval British aristocracy or something totally different? How different is the geography and the weather? What about the monetary system? How do people travel? How many different languages do I have to use context clues to decipher?

I prefer urban fantasy since you go in with a lot of the fundamentals already established. You don’t wonder if Harry Dresden will get around by flying carpet or talking horse. Is his favorite bar run by a half-Orc speaking Caeldish? No. It’s contemporary Chicago. He’ll drive a car, have his American dollars in a bank, and his favorite bar is run by a human. To conform to contemporary society, most beasties have to keep a low profile so they’re not taken as a given.

While not the most complicated fantasy novel out there, I definitely had to shrug and fake it more than a few times. Overall, Name of the Wind was a well-written and entertaining book. It drags in some places but that’s the most negative thing I have to say about the book. So why didn’t I like it more?

The hype. Everyone I know who has read the book said it was amazing and I had to read it. They all said this with the same sort of near-crazed reverence in their eyes.  That should have been a warning. It didn’t have the action I expected or the cast of characters I was anticipating. I spent most of the book waiting for something more interesting to happen. Kvothe is a good character with an interesting story but I still don’t see what the big damn deal is.

It finally picked up in the final 75-50 pages but that was a long slog. People are saying the second book is better but writers need to stop using the first book as a staging ground. I almost quit after the first 100 pages because I had no investment in the book, the characters, any of it. If it's going to be a slow progression, people need to stop selling it to me as the pinnacle of fantasy literature. 

Let this be a lesson. Even if you love a book, don’t overhype it. I'm in it enough to finish the series but I'd have liked it more if everyone else had loved it less.