The Name of the Wind

In a quiet inn in a troubled corner of the world, a red-haired innkeeper named Kote is not what he seems. He is Kvothe: arcanist, musician, and legend — a man said to have killed a king, burned down a town, and talked to gods. When a chronicler tracks him down, Kvothe agrees to tell his true story over three days. This is the first.

He begins with his childhood among the Edema Ruh, a travelling troupe, and the night the mythical Chandrian murdered his family and left him alone. What follows is a story of survival on the streets of Tarbean, of talent and stubbornness, and of a boy who talks his way into the University to study sympathy, naming, and the arcane — driven by a need to understand the creatures who destroyed everything he loved.

Patrick Rothfuss's debut is a lushly written, first-person fantasy about music, magic, obsession, and the gap between a legend and the truth beneath it. It also introduces Denna, the elusive woman Kvothe cannot stop chasing.