The Name of the Wind is, so far as I can tell, the first novel by a new author named Patrick Rothfuss; and I enjoyed it considerably.

The novel begins, as fantasy novels so often seem to, in the bar of an small inn in a little village in the back of beyond. The hero, oddly, is not one of the patrons, nor a passing stranger, but the innkeeper himself, a man named Kote. As the action begins, a demon, a spider apparently made of black stone, has attacked one of the locals and fairly sliced his cart horse to ribbons. The local seeks shelter in Kote’s inn, where he breaks in on a drinking party consisting of all of the regulars.

Kote, a quiet man who doesn’t usually intrude himself on his customers, turns out to know something about these demons; and as the action continues and the regulars head off home we discover that Kote is not who he seems. As Kvothe the Bloodless, Kvothe King-Killer, and other lurid names he’s a legend in his own time, and like the famous gunslinger has found that the legend is unpleasant to live with. He’s come to this backwater and changed his name in an attempt to outlive his past. Or not; perhaps he’s just come to die in peace.

So far, so good. Mysterious hero; evil creatures invading sleepy village; clearly Kote is going to have to reveal himself and save the village, and possibly (this being a fantasy novel) the entire world. No sweat. But here the book takes an abrupt left turn.

It seems that an author, a well-known writer of non-fiction books intended to debunk popular misconceptions, has tracked down Kote to his lair, and wants his story. And after a certain amount of discussion, Kote—Kvothe—chooses to tell it. And most of the rest of the book is Kvothe’s first person account of his life.

The Name of the Wind is the first book in a trilogy, unsurprisingly, and so we only hear about Kvothe’s early life, from his earliest days as a member of a family of traveling players through a period as a street urchin (a common trope these days, but well-handled) to his time at the Academy where he studies to be an “arcanist”, i.e., a wizard. And through his story we begin to learn the background of his world, its secret history, and of his enemies the Chandrian, and of his quest to learn the Name of the Wind, the name that will allow him to control the elements of the air.

It’s an odd way to structure a novel, but it works perfectly well; and clearly by the time we reach the end of Kvothe’s story it will be time for him to take action against the demons. I’m rather eager to read the next book.

I’ve discussed the dominant religion in Kvothe’s world, the Church of Tehlu, in the first of my “False Religions” posts.