Books Like The Name of the Wind
by Patrick Rothfuss
The Name of the Wind runs on an unusual engine: a famous man, now hiding as a quiet innkeeper, sits down to correct his own legend. Kvothe tells a chronicler how he went from a child of a travelling troupe to a starving orphan on the streets of Tarbean to a student at the University, where magic is a discipline with rules, teachers and tuition he can barely afford. Rothfuss spends far more time on music, money, rivalries and a maddening love for Denna than on battles, and the prose has a rhythm that readers quote back to each other.
People love it for different reasons. You may have wanted the first-person voice of someone looking back on his own mistakes. You may have stayed for the school, for the idea that names hold power, or for a mystery about the Chandrian that keeps moving just out of reach. Some readers simply want more fantasy written this beautifully. The nine books below are sorted around those reasons, and the notes say plainly when a pick shares only one of them.
Recommended for fans of The Name of the Wind
Assassin's Apprentice
Robin Hobb
An older narrator looks back on a lonely, gifted boyhood, with regret in every chapter.
Pick this if the older Kvothe looking back on his own mistakes moved you most, and you can take a sadder, slower story with less swagger.
The Lies of Locke Lamora
Scott Lynch
A clever orphan talks his way through a vivid city, with wit and sudden heartbreak.
Pick this if you loved Kvothe outsmarting people and the street-level hunger of Tarbean, and you'd enjoy more jokes, more swearing and an actual crew around the hero.
Tigana
Guy Gavriel Kay
Lyrical standalone fantasy about music, memory and a land whose name has been erased.
Pick this if the sentences and the music mattered most to you, and you'd like a complete story in one volume with no wait for an ending.
A Wizard of Earthsea
Ursula K. Le Guin
A proud young mage learns that true names carry power, and pays for his arrogance.
Pick this if naming was your favourite idea in the book, and you'd enjoy something short, quiet and mythic instead of a thousand-page epic.
The Way of Kings
Brandon Sanderson
A huge, patient epic about a gifted young man worn down by the world.
Pick this if you want another very long book to live inside and care about how magic works, though the prose is plainer and the cast far wider.
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Susanna Clarke
Rival English magicians, deep scholarship and an unhurried, elegant voice.
Pick this if the Archives and the academic side of magic were the best part, and you're happy with a dry, Regency-style comedy of manners in place of an adventure.
The Magicians
Lev Grossman
A brilliant, unhappy student gets into a hidden college of magic and finds it isn't enough.
Pick this if you liked the school setting and a clever hero who is often his own worst enemy, and don't mind a much more cynical, modern tone.
The Eye of the World
Robert Jordan
A village boy is pulled into a vast, slowly unfolding epic with deep lore.
Pick this if you want a big traditional quest with years of reading ahead, which is a looser fit because it has none of Kvothe's intimacy.
Prince of Thorns
Mark Lawrence
A charismatic teenage narrator tells his own bloody story, with no apology.
Pick this if it was the arrogant voice you loved, but be warned that this is the loosest fit here: its hero is cruel and its violence is extreme.
At a glance
These picks were chosen for a reflective first-person voice, magic learned as a craft, lyrical prose and a clever young outsider, and each note says which of those it actually shares.
| Book | First published | Pages | Closest match on | Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Assassin's Apprentice Robin Hobb | 1995 | 400 | Regretful first-person voice | 93% |
The Lies of Locke Lamora Scott Lynch | 2006 | 544 | Brilliant orphan, vivid city | 90% |
Tigana Guy Gavriel Kay | 1990 | 688 | Beautiful prose and music | 88% |
A Wizard of Earthsea Ursula K. Le Guin | 1968 | 205 | Power of true names | 86% |
The Way of Kings Brandon Sanderson | 2010 | 1008 | Immersive long-form epic | 82% |
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell Susanna Clarke | 2004 | 864 | Magic as scholarship | 80% |
The Magicians Lev Grossman | 2009 | 416 | Magic school, gifted misfit | 78% |
The Eye of the World Robert Jordan | 1990 | 782 | Classic epic worldbuilding | 76% |
Prince of Thorns Mark Lawrence | 2011 | 384 | Magnetic young narrator | 70% |
About The Name of the Wind
The Name of the Wind is Patrick Rothfuss's debut novel, published by DAW Books in 2007. It is the first volume of The Kingkiller Chronicle and covers the first day of Kvothe's three-day account of his life. Its sequel, The Wise Man's Fear, followed in 2011, and the planned final volume, The Doors of Stone, had not been published when this page was written.
Frequently asked questions
Is The Name of the Wind finished, and should I start it anyway?+
The Kingkiller Chronicle is unfinished: The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear are out, and the third book, The Doors of Stone, had not been published when this page was written. The first book has a satisfying shape of its own, but its largest questions stay open, so start it knowing that.
What should I read after The Name of the Wind if I loved the first-person storytelling?+
Assassin's Apprentice is the closest match. Robin Hobb's narrator is also an older man looking back on a painful youth, and the book shares that sense of regret running under every scene.
Which fantasy books have a magic school like the University?+
A Wizard of Earthsea and The Magicians both spend real time in a place of magical study. The first is spare and mythic, built on the power of true names, while the second is a darker, more cynical take on a student who gets what he wanted.
Is there anything with prose as beautiful as The Name of the Wind?+
Tigana is the best answer here. Guy Gavriel Kay writes with the same ear for music and memory, and his story turns on a musician and a land whose very name has been taken from people's minds.
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