Welcome to the blog! This is a read-along book discussion group. We're your hosts: Rini, who has read these books before, and Kender, who is reading them for the first time. You get to see our reactions: the unspoiled reactions of a first-time reader, and the more in-depth observations of a repeat reader. Discussion is highly encouraged in the comments; please be VERY careful of spoilers! Even something like "Ooh, watch out for X, it will be important later" can be considered a spoiler! Please let's all work together to make Kender's reading experience as natural as possible!
Without further delay, let's get started! Our first book is The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss.
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Kender:
Prologue: A Silence of Three Parts
I like this brief lead-in to the story. It's a good stage-setting, and it gives me a good sense of how the Waystone Inn feels. Already I like Rothfuss' style. I appreciate how he describes the scene not by what is included, but rather by what is lacking; there are no crowds in this bar, hardly any people at all, the fire is even dead.
Chapter One: A Place for Demons
Nice symmetry with the prologue. The prologue begins "It was night again," and the first chapter starts with "It was felling night." Neat.
We find ourselves again in the Waystone, but this time the setting is different. A small group of regulars has gathered, the old man among them telling tales most of them have heard before. All except the smith's prentice, who hasn't heard this story before.
We're interrupted as another man stumbles in bloody and carrying a spider-thing wrapped up in a blanket. Kote, the innkeeper, immediately recognizes the thing, to everyone's surprise. Who is this guy?
Later the inn is closed for the night, and Kote turns in after cleaning up, to have a conversation with his... student, I guess?
Kote is apparently a man of multiple names, we find, as the student Bast calls him 'Reshi' instead. I'm guessing by their conversation that these two came to this town together; Bast is surprised to hear about the attack by the spider-like scraeling.
Kote is clearly bored here. Why did he come here?
The next night at the Waystone, everyone returns but is clearly subdued. It's not the scrael that has everyone worried, but rather a distant war and the tax that might come as a result.
In fact, nobody seems to want to talk about it. Times are tough.
Chapter 2: A Beautiful Day
We start with a description of just how beautiful this autumn day is, only to have that beauty stolen away by the scene at hand. A man is being robbed by some ex-soldiers. At least he's robbed nicely, I guess. They don't take everything, and they even leave him some of their old things when they take his newer ones. Awfully polite for bandits.
A short chapter, but I imagine that this "scribe," Chronicler, will be important. What is "this foolishness" that he's up to and seems eager to be finished with?
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Rini:
Prologue: A Silence of Three Parts
Really I just want to stop here and take a moment to admire Rothfuss' artistry. We have our three-part silence, and he uses the number three constantly here, reinforcing the concept. "If there had been a wind... If there had been a crowd... If there had been music..."
"It was in the weight of the black stone hearth... It was in the slow back and forth of a white linen cloth... It was in the hands of the man who stood there..." We get three descriptors of the man, and three descriptions of the third silence in the final paragraph. I can say, from what I remember, that numbers are important in this book, and I shall endeavor to pay attention to them.
So we have set our scene. We have an inn at night, an uncommonly quiet one. We have a man, an apparently extraordinary man, who is waiting to die. (And may I say, the imagery here is all purposely crafted to reinforce, as well. Autumn, the season of endings and dying. Heaviness, the weight of a burden. And a cut flower, which preserves its beauty for a while but eventually withers.) For what reason, we will have to wait for more information from the text.
Chapter One: A Place for Demons
Once again, we have the inn at night, slightly more crowded this time. We have an old man telling a story, and right away the number three makes an appearance again. The hero of the story has three tools: key, coin, and candle. Three friends listening to the story. We also have mention of something called the Chandrian, linked to blue fire, and it seems to be not just part of the story, but something of an urban legend. And right away, we have a title drop. Taborlin the Great knew the name of the wind, and could command it.
We also learn a little more about Kote: He's new in town, quiet, and knows old poetry. Returning to the story, another three pops up: the iron penny, the copper penny, and the silver penny. Another number comes a minute later: six, in the form of the Chandrian, which is two threes.
The mood abruptly turns ominous as Carter stumbles in, bleeding and carrying something wrapped in cloth. Kote has apparently been trained in first aid, as he quietly moves to the man's aid. Carter has a giant spider, which Kote names as a scrael, and seemingly knows more than he's telling about. He quickly tries to make excuses, but he's not fooling the reader. Again, as they're dealing with the scrael, a three: "Demons fear three things: cold iron, clean fire, and the holy name of God."
We learn that Kote is not his real name, and that he is young. He has an associate named Bast, who calls him Reshi, and master. They seem to be in a sort of mentor-student relationship. Bast knows about the scrael too, and seems to know Kote's true history, whatever it is: Kote asks him for help in covering up his knowledge of how to treat wounds. Kote knows another language, as well; he seems to have knowledge of all manner of things.
Kote's roahwood chest is sealed three times: a copper lock, and iron lock, and an invisible lock. There seems to be something about this chest, something that Kote seems to be avoiding.
Chapter Two: A Beautiful Day
It is, indeed, a beautiful day, which makes it all the more humorous when Chronicler's day takes a turn for the worse. He's robbed by a band of ex-soldiers, although they're nice enough about it, even leaving him some of their old stuff that they exchange for his. Luckily for him, Chronicler is well-prepared for such an eventuality, having most of his wealth stashed away.
We have an ominous moment with the spiderweb, recalling the giant spiderlike scrael. Additionally, there's the matter of Chronicler himself. Clearly this isn't his real name; he's a scribe, so it's apparent where the nickname came from, but it's clear that names are going to be important. What is Chronicler's real name, and why is he hiding it?
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Discuss in the comments! Next week: Chapters 3, 4, and 5.
