[openasocket]

I felt pretty much the same way when reading it. "The Name of the Wind" is rather unusual as a novel because those first chapters are pretty fundamentally different than the rest of the novel. Not just in terms of plot, but I think also the general tone and style. I don't actually have a count, but I think it's a good 50-100 pages before the novel falls into its rhythm. It's not that the beginning is bad (in my opinion, obviously) it's just that there's a lot to set up and he does so without using a bunch of exposition.

[ghostbrainalpha]

That's really interesting. The first few pages come pretty close to poetry in my opinion.

For me its those interludes that raise TNOTW into a class above the normal Harry Potter Copycat Formula that is so popular now.

I never even considered the possibility that, those bits would be putting people off. It's pretty clear that its those sections were Patrick Ruthfuss strives for perfection, that is taking so long to complete the series. He can churn out pages, once he gets "into the rythm" of more common storytelling.

[openasocket]

I should add that I like the other interludes, and now when I re-read that first part I enjoy it. It's just the initial reading of the set up, introducing Chronicler, the stuff with the scrael, etc. I didn't know where Ruthfuss was taking this.

[didsomeonesay]

"And, well, I thought. If I have to carry the damn thing, I might as well read it. So I started reading, and there, on page four—of a book that started on page three, mind you, were five bowls of stew."

https://www.tor.com/2011/03/07/best-sff-novels-of-the-decade...