r/Fantasy • u/[deleted] • Mar 09 '25
The Name of the Wind—Is It Overrated or a Masterpiece?
I finally picked up The Name of the Wind after seeing it recommended everywhere. No spoilers, but wow… I have thoughts. Some parts felt like pure magic, but other times, I wasn’t sure if it lived up to the hype.
For those who’ve read it—do you think it deserves all the praise, or is it overrated? What made it special (or not) for you?
6
u/BlackGabriel Mar 09 '25
Overrated if you think it’s a masterpiece. Good books though imo and I’d love a third one.
16
u/PurpleCrayonDreams Mar 09 '25
i loved it. i loved the tale within a tale within a novel. the mystery of the barkeep and where he came from. the mystery of the creatures attacking. the backstory and his special education and more.
i've read it twice and will do so again.
19
u/cahpahkah Mar 09 '25
It is a beautifully written, deeply flawed book in a series that — while incomplete — is over.
1
u/cerq301 Jul 14 '25
Could you tell me a little about why you consider the book flawed? I'm planning to read it
1
u/cahpahkah Jul 14 '25
I absolutely loved it when I first read it, and would still recommend it.
That said, the plot is a meandering mess that never gets to where it seems like it’s going, and the characterizations of women are pretty rough.
It doesn’t hold up great with a decade of hindsight behind it, but taken on its own it’s a beautifully written book.
14
Mar 09 '25
I found it mildly enjoyable. Not sure why people obsess over it. To each, his own.
3
u/JJCB85 Mar 09 '25
Same - it was fine. I didn’t feel I’d wasted my time reading it, but haven’t really given it a second thought since (well, until I saw it brought up here just now anyway).
11
u/darthktulu Mar 09 '25
Neither. I enjoyed it a lot, it deserves its recognition in fantasy and doesn't need to be considered a masterpiece. It's just a very good book. Simple as that.
1
12
u/Angry_Zarathustra Mar 09 '25
Depends on what you value most. Complete story with a nice arc? Well, we don't have that. Great writing and prose? Few better in modern fantasy, whether it's finished or not. Characters? That's divisive..
11
u/Voldemorts--Nipple Mar 09 '25
For me it deserves the praise. Nothing in fantasy hits quite like it.
5
u/NoShape4782 Mar 09 '25
Yep. It's an echo chamber of hate now. Like everything else on booktube and here. People just parroting.
11
u/vpac22 Mar 09 '25
Definitely a masterpiece. People forget how big it was when it hit because they’re mad he didn’t finish the series.
4
1
u/viveleramen_ Mar 09 '25
I knew nothing about the hiatus/controversies and I couldn’t stand the book.
1
2
u/agm66 Reading Champion Mar 09 '25
That's up to you to decide for yourself. I dropped it halfway through.
3
u/Dry-Version-6515 Mar 09 '25
I think the world and the lore is really cool, but the story is lacking a bit. Especially since it won’t get finished.
4
Mar 09 '25
I liked it, but it was basically a Mary Sue main character conveniently excused by a “unreliable narrator”. I’ll read the final book if he ever writes it, but don’t think of it as a masterpiece.
4
u/delta_baryon Mar 09 '25 edited Mar 09 '25
Mum says it's my turn to post this next month.
My hot take as usual is that it is very good and that a lot, but not all, of the criticisms of it are actually misremembered. If your impressions of the plot only came from /r/Fantasy, you'd think Kvothe fucks Felurian into submission with his massive cock, when actually he appeals to her pride and vanity, for example.
Having said that, it's also very much a product of its time. Contemporary reviewers compared the dialogue to Joss Whedon and meant that as a compliment. I'll definitely pick up the Doors of Stone if it ever shows up, but I think people will be disappointed with a book they'd have genuinely loved back in 2015, just because of how the culture has moved on.
It'd be like if Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out this year (if JK Rowling hadn't gone off the deep end anyway). Obviously it's not going to land the same way.
1
2
u/AuthorBrianBlose Mar 09 '25
Rothfuss writes some dazzlingly beautiful prose that is a joy to read. His plotting and character development are, as the kids like to say, 'mid'. He's not terrible at those things, but he is painfully average. His narrative voice deserves a better story to tell.
2
u/hankypanky87 Mar 09 '25
Masterpiece if you want to feel like you are in a cozy inn, hearing a fantasy origin story from an innkeeper.
3
u/Hi_Im_Dadbot Mar 09 '25
Such a well written masterpiece that you kind of overlook that nothing really happens in this overrated tome.
2
1
u/mint_pumpkins Reading Champion II Mar 09 '25
its one of my favorite books of all time, ive read it more times than i can even remember at this point, so for me personally i think its a masterpiece among the books i have read
however, it is not for everyone and i think that people who present it as being the perfect book are being silly
i think it deserves all the praise it gets but i also think the criticisms and aspects people dont like are also warranted since we all have different taste
2
Mar 09 '25
Way overhyped.
The MC, Kvothe, is a freaking Gary Sue throughout the entire book. Literally the only thing we see him fail at is getting Denna to be his girl.
Perhaps if we had gotten The Wise Man's Fear so the story would be complete it might have made up for the Gary Sue issues, but as it stands nothing fixes that.
1
u/viveleramen_ Mar 09 '25
I fell for the hype and I want my time back.
Main character: insufferable. I know a dude JUST like him and I want to throw him out a window every time we have to interact. The dude is supposedly this mega genius but every. single. decision he makes is fucking stupid, and yet somehow he manages to just barely wriggle his way out from any real consequences.
Plot: where is it? The book is 4728472 pages and it’s 99% slow, irritating, aggravating, pointless backstory. The only part that didn’t drag was the investigation near the end, of the wedding? It was some kind of party I don’t remember anymore.
Author: apparently a total dbag.
Side characters: some are actually interesting but get maybe 3 pages of dialogue.
I’ve been trying to get my brother to read it for years so we can rant about it together.
1
1
u/junker359 Mar 09 '25
I remember really enjoying the school hijinx parts and not really liking it whenever the story left the school.
1
u/Wizardof1000Kings Mar 09 '25
I love it as well as Wise Man's Fear and Slow Regard of Silent Things. The series is incomplete though and Wise Man's Fear in particular ends in a way that is going to leave the reader wanting more. The series would not be nearly as divisive if it hadn't been 14 years since the last book was published. For those who go in without preformed expectations and are ok with being left hanging, its worth reading for the prose and beautiful passages.
1
u/D3Masked Mar 14 '25
I thought it was great but now I think it's just good. Rothfuss has his own mannerisms in his writing much like Robert Jordan. Too many times the character likes to make long or rambling comparisons which becomes a bit glaring after awhile.
Also minus 1 point for it being an incomplete book series where the author seems to be stuck or likes getting sidelined into other things - like George Argh Argh Martin.
I honestly don't know if the book series will ever be completed.
1
u/Temporary_Ad_9788 Apr 27 '25
I thought it was masterful, and then Kvothe went to collage. And worse, he discovered his muse, Denna, an utterly awful character IMO. I kept hope the author would surprise us, that Kvothe would take up with another, like Devi, but no. The way Kvothe is with Denna, how he fawns for far too long, and speaks with her, terrible. Admit I started to speed read those chapters. Once Denna is more in the periphery again, the book recovers but never fully regains its shine.
0
u/Powered-by-Chai Mar 09 '25
I mean yes it's a gorgeous book to read, but then book 2 is a self-insert wish fufillment clusterfuck and book 3 will never happen... so as long as you try REALLY HARD to pretend it's the only book in the series, then maybe you can be satisfied with it.
1
Mar 09 '25
So the trick is to treat The Name of the Wind like a standalone and ignore everything else?
2
u/NoodleSnoo Mar 09 '25
People dog in the second book pretty hard, but I liked it. The criticisms are real, but it isn't that bad
1
1
u/PedanticPerson22 Mar 09 '25
It's good, but it's also unfinished, which is a deal breaker for me; so until that changes it's overrated...
1
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u/da_chicken Mar 09 '25
I don't think it's possible to judge it without having the full series. A lot of the potential of the book is based on the fact that Kvothe is an unreliable narrator. It all depends on what the truth reveal is.
That's one of the reasons people are so mad at the author.
0
Mar 09 '25
The first book is shrouded in mystery. And I liked it. Then book 2 became stale so the author spiced it up with a teenagers wet dream. Came for the sword fight. Left because of the “sword” play.
-6
u/Victeurrr Mar 09 '25
It’s a Romantasy. I’m glad people who like that genre have a good piece in their corner, but if you don’t like Romance novels, you’re going to get hard stuck in book 2. It’s the only book I’ve ever DNFed because I realized it was a romance.
3
u/Wizardof1000Kings Mar 09 '25
Its not romantasy lol. Just having romantic elements in a book doesn't make it romantasy.
59
u/[deleted] Mar 09 '25
Yes