Rothfuss is a skilled story teller himself and wisely gives us breaks in Kvothe's story telling periodically to bring us back to the present day. Each time he does he increases the air of foreboding that he had established at the beginning of the book that portend it's not just Chronicler who is going to catch up with Kvothe, but other, more otherworldly creatures as well. As Rothfuss has Kvothe telling his story he is feeding us the information about his character, his abilities, and how his desire for knowledge of the Chandrian continued to consume him during his early months at the University.
As Kvothe is laying the groundwork for his war with the Chandrian, Rothfuss is leading us to believe that some sort of fell creatures are seeking out Kvothe, and his worst battles are still to come. We still don't know the story of what happened during the balance of the intervening years that lie between the present and when Kvothe was still in University as The Name Of The Wind comes to an end. In fact like all good story tellers Rothfuss has actually generated more questions than answered questions with his opening book.
We still know as little about the Chandrain as before Kvothe went to University, but we do know that as a student in university he was still a prodigy with a gift for learning magic quickly, and might even be capable of learning how to speak the names of elements in the right way to control them--hence the book's title. We also know that whatever peace was to be found at the Wayfarer Inn has been shattered and not just by the arrival of Chronicler.
The Name Of The Wind is a fast-paced and entertaining first book of what promises to be an exciting series. Patrick Rothfuss has woven a nice net of past, present, and potentials to catch our interest and whet our appetite to find out what the future holds; both for the younger Kvothe, and his present day self as well.
You can pick up a copy either by ordering directly from Penguin Canada or through an on line retailer like Amazon Canada.
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