The propensity of publishers and authors to commit to multi-book series these days brings both challenges and rewards for the reader. If you like a set of characters, a premise and a setting, it can be exhilarating to know you face a long series, that you can wallow in that world for many days or weeks of reading.
On the other hand, if you find a good book in this genre, it can be frustrating if the later books in the series have not been published yet. Worse yet if they have not even been written. One never can count on an author finishing a series, and to make a commitment to a world and then to have to wait endlessly for the other books can be maddening. I have in mind David Gerrold's Cthorr series, four books of six having been published over a decade ago, and yet the final chapters apparently will never be written as the author has apparently lost interest.
I would rather wait until a series is complete, preferably all available in paperback, before I start the first book, but sometimes that just doesn't happen.
With that in mind, finding a great book, such as The Name of the Wind, means one takes a calculated risk. If you dive in and the book is not that great, you've wasted little. But The Name of the Wind is very good - compelling characters, inventive setting. And right now, the second book is listed as available in April 2025. I don't know if I will even be alive then. I am hoping that it is simply that the publisher does not yet know when the manuscript will be ready.
The novel's premise is that the great magician and warrior, Kvothe, is relating the events of his life to a Chronicler. The Name of the Wind is day one of three days of retelling, and covers his childhood as a member of a traveling theatrical troupe, surviving the slaughter of his parents and the rest of the troupe by the mysterious Chandrian, his struggle to survive as a thief and beggar in the city, and finally realizing his dream to be admitted to the University where he begins to learn magic. Along the way, he gathers a mentor, a girl he loves from afar, and a rival at the university. He uses his talent for music and his disregard for the rules to survive. His willingness to take risks leads him to great adventures and builds his reputation.
The Name of the Wind ends with Kvothe still in university, but with hints of great deeds still to come. I can't wait for the next volume.
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