The Name of the Wind is the debut novel of Patrick Rothfuss, and the first in the Kingkiller Chronicle series. It's a great example of the fantasy genre done right, with an involved and interesting magic system, well-developed characters, an intriguing plot that seems to produce levity or gravity in the right situations, and a unique structure that sets it apart from other fantasy novels. Despite some minor imperfections, it's a great and very enjoyable book.
The book stands out in part due to its distinctive structure. The protagonist Qvothe (pronounced like quothe) takes in the traveling scribe Devan Lochees (Chronicler), who wishes to record Qvothe's story. Qvothe eventually ascents and the majority of the book is spent with him relaying his story to Chronicler and his student and assistant, Bast. This structure is interesting because despite all the excitement contained in Qvothe's past, at the end of the book there is a sort of natural denouement as the day's storytelling comes to an end and the characters each retire to their respective rooms.
As for the plot, it's well-paced and thought out. There's quite a lot of similarity between this book and the Earthsea series by Ursula K. Le Guin. Le Guin's protagonist, Ged, is taken under the wing of a wizard and eventually journeys to the university to learn magic. Much the same with Qvothe. The university and all its attendant characters are much more fleshed out and entertaining in Qvothe's world. In Earthsea, each of the nine masters at the school is simply called by their respective discipline: Master Namer, Master Hand, Master Herbal, etc. In The Name of the Wind, there are also nine masters, but each is more frequently called by their surname, for instance, Master Kilvin. Each Master is given some amount of development and backstory, and Qvothe forms genuine bonds and friendships with some.
The characters in the story are very well-developed. Rothfuss has a real skill with creating characters who react realistically to situations. In many books characters seem to do things that seem very unrealistic, for instance lying to another character to keep them from getting hurt. Piper from Orange Is the New Black does this constantly. It's infuriating because it seems so unrealistic. Why constantly lie to someone (she does it nearly every episode), when every time it ends the same way: they find out she's lied, they get angry, she apologizes, they make up. She's a moron. Why does anyone ever listen to her in the first place? In short, her character lacks verisimilitude. If a real-life friend lied to you more than once to “protect your feelings” then not only would you not remain friends, in prison you might shank them. The characters in The Name of the Wind are very verisimilitudinous. They react in believable ways. They say believable things. They act like real humans, unlike Piper Chapman.
The magic system in The Name of the Wind is very intriguing. It's a hard magic system, with fairly well-defined rules and laws that can't be broken, but can be cleverly overcome through the use of many feats of magical engineering. Basic magic in The Name of the Wind consists of “sympathy”, which involves creating a magical link between two or more items. For instance, a wizard could create a link between two coins such that raising one would cause the other to rise. More complicated forms of magic include alchemy, sygaldry (adding magic runes to items to impart magic properties) and naming. Naming is the most complex and secret of the magical arts, consisting of the much the sort of magic described by the Greybeards in Skyrim. It involves pondering the name of a thing to such an extent that one develops a deeper understanding of the thing itself, of its true nature. That understanding gives one real power over that thing. For instance, Elodin the Master Namer knows the names of several very powerful entities including the wind, granting him some amount of control over them. All in all, the magic system is well-defined and very believable.
The book does suffer from a few minor deficiencies. The pacing seemed to get muddled near the end, with brief sections of intense action followed almost immediately by sections of such subdued passivity that it seemed jarring. The novel seemed to have trouble slowing down the action enough to present a natural break from which to start the second novel. Another minor issue was that due to the author's tendency to poke fun tropes in the fantasy genre, such as memorable old mentors and dei ex machina, tropes that the author himself fell into or applied seemed particularly glaring. For instance, the main character's plotline hews quite closely to the typical hero journey. While pointing out tropes in fantasy novels is pretty amusing, it also serves to call attention to any tropes present in The Name of the Wind. If a hotel has a sign that says “Free of Bedbugs”, you're more likely to look and notice bedbugs than if they'd had no sign at all.
Altogether, The Name of the Wind is an excellent fantasy novel, and it's especially impressive when one recalls that this is Rothfuss’ first novel. The second novel The Wise Man's Fear came out in 2011, and a third entitled The Doors of Stone is reportedly in the works.