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Publications:
"I was reminded of Ursula LeGuin, George R. R. Martin, and J. R. R. Tolkien, but
never felt that Rothfuss was imitating anyone. Like the writers he clearly admires,
he's an old-fashioned storyteller working with traditional elements, but his voice
is his own. I haven't been so gripped by a new fantasy series in years. It's certain
to become a classic."
-The London Times
"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."
-amazon.com
"No ordinary fantasy full of pointless quests and overblown drama. Rather, it is a
finely tuned coming-of-age story, full of humor, action and the occasional dose of
magic."
-San Francisco Chronicle
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"The debut novel from Patrick Rothfuss -- the first installment of an epic fantasy
trilogy entitled the 'Kingkiller Chronicle' -- not only lives up to its
extraordinary pre-press hype (DAW president Elizabeth Wollheim called it "the most
brilliant first fantasy novel I have read in over 30 years as an editor"), it
surpasses it. When fantasy fans begin reading THE NAME OF THE WIND, they should be
fully prepared to lose all contact with the outside world while immersed in this
highly original and mesmerizing tale of magic, love, and adventure."
-Strange Horizons
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"THE NAME OF THE WIND is a tale filled with wit, humor, and danger, and if it
sometimes lacks the complexity epic-addicts have been trained to expect from Martin,
the loss is trifling. This is a refreshingly different epic, the mostly first-person
narration creating a sense of intimacy and comfort, reminding us that you don't
necessarily have to dig down into the raw neurosis of a character (or an entire
cast) in order to find yourself deeply moved. [...] Rothfuss himself, with his
poetic prose and deeply empathetic vision of a world out of time, [earns] a
legitimate comparison to Tolkien."
-B & N
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"THE NAME OF THE WIND is quite simply the best fantasy novel of the past 10 years,
although attaching a genre qualification threatens to damn it with faint praise. Say
instead that THE NAME OF THE WIND is one of the best stories told in any medium in a
decade. Author Patrick Rothfuss teaches English at the University of
Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and he describes himself in self-deprecating terms as a
perpetual student, role-playing geek, and connoisseur of rejection letters. That's
all about to change. His debut novel combines the intricate stories-within-stories
structure of The Arabian Nights with the academic setting of the Harry Potter
series, and transforms it all into a brooding, thoroughly adult meditation on how
heroism went wrong. More entries in the series, dubbed 'The Kingkiller Chronicle,'
are promised; they can't appear fast enough."
-Onion AV Club
Click here for full review
"Writers like George R.R. Martin and Gene Wolfe are old hands at revitalizing old
tropes, giving fantasy the depth and humanity of the great literary novels, but
Rothfuss sets out to retell what should be the most familiar tale of all, in the
most familiar mode (the triple-decker). Remarkably, he does make it fresh again in
this opening book, complete with an interesting take on magic that adds both
emotional impact and intellectual excitement. So bring on volume two!"
-Locus
Click here for full review
"From his childhood as a member of a close-knit family of the nomadic Edema Ruh to
his first heady days as a student of magic at a prestigious university, humble
bartender Kvothe relates the tale of how a boy beset by fate became a hero, a bard,
a magician, and a legend. Rothfuss's first novel launches a trilogy relating not
only the history of humankind but also the tale of a world threatened by an evil
whose existence it desperately denies. The author explores the development of a
person's character while examining the relationship between a legend and its reality
and the truth that lies at the heart of stories. Elegantly told and layered with
images of tales to come, this richly detailed 'autobiography' of a hero is highly
recommended for libraries of any size."
-LIBRARY JOURNAL (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.
-PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (Starred Review)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All
rights reserved.
"...an engrossing story, well-written, with a richly developed world. It's been a
long time since I've read an original fantasy novel that kept me turning the pages
as this one did."
- Vicki Palmquist, Children's Literature Network
Author Quotes:
“[THE WISE MAN’S FEAR] was worth the wait. I gulped it down in a day,
staying up almost to dawn reading, and I am already itching for the next one. He's
bloody good, this Rothfuss guy.”
-George R. R. Martin,
author of A GAME OF THRONES
'It is a rare and great pleasure to come on somebody writing the way (Patrick
Rothfuss does), not only with the kind of accuracy of language that seems to me
absolutely essential to fantasy-making, but with real music in the words as well....
Oh, joy!'
-Ursula K. Le Guin,
Bestselling author of THE WIZARD OF EARTHSEA
"Folks, this is the real thing. Though it's considerably darker than the HARRY
POTTER series, this is also a bildungsroman -- the story of the childhood,
education, and training of a boy who grew up to be a legendary hero.
Not a word of the nearly-700-page book is wasted. Rothfuss does not pad. He's the
great new fantasy writer we've been waiting for, and this is an astonishing book. I
don't recommend it for pre-teens, mostly because it moves at an adult-fiction pace
and has some truly disturbing events. But he does not describe gore (though the
action is intense) and while there is some sexual tension, nothing is shown that
would shock a teenager.
If you're a reader of fantasy or simply someone who appreciates a truly epic-scale
work of fiction, don't go through this summer without having read it. At the very
least it will keep you busy till the last HARRY POTTER comes out. But I warn you --
after THE NAME OF THE WIND, the HARRY POTTER novel might seem a little thin and --
dare I say it? -- childish. You have been warned."
-Orson Scott Card
"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
"This is a magnificent book, a really fine story, highly readable and engrossing. I
compliment young Pat. His first novel is a great one. Wow!"
-Anne McCaffrey
"THE NAME OF THE WIND marks the debut of a writer we would all do well to watch.
Patrick Rothfuss has real talent, and his tale of Kvothe is deep and intricate and
wondrous."
-Terry Brooks,
22-time New York Times bestselling author
"Patrick Rothfuss gives us a fabulous debut, standing firmly on the main stage of
the fantasy genre and needing no warm-up act. Jordan and Goodkind must be looking
nervously over their shoulders!"
-Kevin J. Anderson,
New York Times bestselling coauthor of
HUNTERS OF DUNE
"THE NAME OF THE WIND has everything fantasy readers like, magic and mysteries and
ancient evil, but it's also humorous and terrifying and completely believable. As
with all the very best books in our field, it's not the fantasy trappings (wonderful
as they are) that make this novel so good, but what the author has to say about
true, common things, about ambition and failure, art, love, and loss."
-Tad Williams,
New York Times bestselling author of MEMORY,
SORROW AND THORN, OTHERLAND, and SHADOWMARCH
"Hail Patrick Rothfuss! A new giant is striding the land. THE NAME OF THE WIND is an
astonishing novel that just happens to be the writer's first. The bestsellers' lists
and the award ballots are beckoning toward Rothfuss, and readers will be clamoring
for more of the riveting life story of Kvothe. Bravo, I say! Bravo!"
-Robert J. Sawyer,
Hugo Award-winning author of ROLLBACK
"THE NAME OF THE WIND is a rare find these days, fit for lovers of fantasy and
newcomers to the genre alike. It fires the imagination and stirs the heart. In Pat
Rothfuss's sure hands, the reader will experience a journey to the very heights of
fantasy. I for one never wanted to come back down."
-Sean Williams,
New York Times bestselling author of THE BLOOD
DEBT
"This is an exciting and intelligent fantasy debut. Rothfuss clearly knows
exactly what he's doing. Once I was started reading, I didn't want to put
THE NAME OF THE WIND down, and when I did I kept thinking about the
world and the characters and worrying about what was going to happen to
them."
-Jo Walton,
World Fantasy Award Winner of Tooth and Claw
"This is a story about stories -- myths and legends and tavern tales,
and the lies we tell ourselves in the silence of the night -- and the
scary truths behind those stories. It's the story of Kvothe, a man
who sought the truth of a legend and, in the process, became a legend
himself. Kvothe himself is as vibrant and real a hero as you could
want: brave and shy, wise and ignorant, humble and arrogant, sometimes
all at the same time. THE NAME OF THE WIND is a tale told with
warmth and sadness and quite a bit of humor, a Harry Potter for
grownups. Come and meet Kvothe -- you'll be glad you did."
-David Levine,
Hugo Award Winner
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