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Pros: I love the small bits of genuine kindness that Rothfuss sprinkles through Kvothes otherwise, rather troubling and traumatic life/Bast 🙌💯
Con: Kvothe really was a bit clueless at times, especially with Denna. Of course he was just a 14-year-old boy so that must be taken into account.
Full Review:
Kote is the Innkeeper at The Waystone Inn. An unassuming, pleasant little watering hole that has its handful of regulars. There's the usual talk, of how the roads are bad and times aren't what they were. That is, until the night one of the men brings in the body of something that attacked him on the road. It's a crackling, exo-skeleton, creepy Spider Demon. All the men are frightened and Kote is silent.
A day or so later, Devan, or Chronicler, as we'll come to know him, is robbed on the road. They take his clothes, basically everything except his satchel, which he's thankful for, since that's his livelihood. He's basically a traveling Scribe. People hire him to write down their stories. Only right now, he's in search of a rumor that Kvothe, a figure out of legend, is somewhere nearby.
He literally stumbles into Kote's camp and unwittlingly saves Kote and kills one of the Spider Demons. Since Chronicler is wounded in the fight, Kote feels obligated to bring him back to the Inn. He does so and is intercepted by Bast, furious at the fact that Kote, condescended to only leave a note, "if you read this that mean's I'm dead."
Well he obviously isn't and they have Chronicler to deal with. Bast grumbles but helps Kote clean up and gets everything settled. A day or so late, Chronicler is strong enough to come to the main room and meet the man he met on the road.
After a vague attempt at conversation, Chronicler explains what it is he does and they eventually get on the topic of why Chronicler was on the road in the first place. He admits that he's following a rumor that Kvothe, Kingkiller, Kvothe, the Bloodless, a man who was the youngest to be admitted to and expelled from the University, a school for magic. Kvothe, who burned down the city of Tarbean. Kvothe who did all these other grant, impossible things. And Chronicler's beginning to think that Kote, may in fact, be, Kvothe, I mean, not that far off.
He eventually just asks and well, since Kote breaks a bottle with his magic, yeah, that proves Chronicler right. And so Kote, now Kvothe, agress to tell his story since he knows that only he can tell it, how it should be. Honestly and without limits, all the cold, bitter, painful, scarring truth of it. His parents, his Troupe, Ben, Denna, the Univeristy, all of it must come from him, since he is the source of truth.
What follows is a dark and gritty look into the life of Kvothe. His parents, leaders of the troupe of Edema Ruh are brutally slaughtered by the Chandrian, a sort of Justice League of Nightmares because his father was writing a song about them. He was poking a snake in the grass.
Kvothe is forced, at a terribly young age to fend for himself and fight for survival. At points when I would have long since given up, Kvothe always manages to find the strength, sheer grit and force of will or just pure dumb luck to make it through. He's heroic in a realistic way and it's easy to see how he becomes a legend. And once you've finished The Name of the Wind you're eager to start The Wise Man's Fear since Kvothe and his exploits are now legendary in your mind and you want to see how that legend grows.
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