Overall this book is really enjoyable. Broken into two parts focusing on the orphan origin story and montage of becoming a gritty badass in part one, and then life as a student at the arcanum and the drama that ensues in the second part. The elements which elevated this book above the other rote fantasy novels of similar formulae are include: subverting expectations and meta-commentary about "this is how things would go in a story, but that's not what happened," which would normally be hugely annoying and immersion-breaking if not for the second element: the frame narrative of Kvothe being a has-been inn-keep regaling the chronicler with his story. It's awesome that Rothfuss wrote this book in undergrad and set himself up so well for a three-part series. It's promising as a well-thought out, scoped story.

Part I: 8

in autumn, everything is tired and ready to die

The four doors of the mind used to cope with pain are sweet, forgetfulness, madness, and finally death

Unlike, for example, The Poppy Wars, this novel does a much better job pacing a sort of montage/coming of age/becoming Him. It takes about a third of the book with the believable, not-rushed-but-not-boring passage of months, learning, and solitude for Kvothe to become the goat.

He becomes a master of his instrument, self-sustaining, and hones the little Sympathy (magic) he learned from his master.

When he makes it to the city, he continues to have to learn how to survive on the streets for years. This first half of the novel is a crucial section of character development as he doesn't immediately become a hero. In fact, the book ends without him ever reaching hero-status either. He runs from fights and doesn't defend other people in need which really shows what it's like to live on the streets. It's more believable and grim.

this is where the boy who’s parents were killed learns the name of the wind and wreaks vengeance… makes for a good story eh? but it’s fantasy

let’s go. Right when I was thinking the same thing myself

Part I: 7.25

This section scores lower simply because, though Rothfuss/Kvothe keeps up the subverting expectations schtick, he does not really subvert them, and things unfold pretty much identically to how you'd expect. There's some characters that bear a little too-much resemblance to their obvious Harry Potter counterparts (especially the Moaning Myrtle stand-in who lives beneath the archives).

I enjoyed the fascination with the mechanics, and the abstract nature of the lore – it was comprehensive in the same way that Anathem's geometers are.

Throughout this section though, again unlike other popular fantasy books where boy genius/chosen one goes to wizard school and has an abundance of wealth, I very much appreciate the concern with money that has made constant throughout The Name of the Wind. Kvothe is broke and that's a big deal for much of the book adding a layer of grittiness.

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