Adult “Harry Potter”-style series is irresistible

This first novel in the Kingkiller Chronicles is a brilliant addition to the fantasy genre and already has a huge fan following. A sort of adult Harry Potter, our multi-named protagonist is everything you want in a hero: a warrior/musician who is strong, courageous, brilliant, respectful of women … and full of magic. And yet the novel begins with Kvothe as a broken man tending an inn in the middle of nowhere. How did he get that way? The rest of the novel is his re-telling of his life to a Chronicler who wasn’t sure that Kvothe the Bloodless even really existed.
The story starts with Kvothee as the young son of the couple who lead a traveling actors’ troupe. The troupe takes on an elderly “arcanist” who takes responsibility for much of the 9-year-old Kvothe’s education, but who after several years goes his own way. Not long after, the troupe gets slaughtered by mystical creatures known as the Chandrian. Kvothe alone survives, and then flees into the woods where he learns to live off the land for several years, and then at the age of 12 or 13, makes his way to a hard-hearted town which brutally pummels him into shape for his next adventure. Finally, he makes it to University (a sort of Hogwarts) where those seeking an education beyond the ordinary, and who can pay for it, attend and work their way up the ranks. Kvothe arrives alone, starving, penniless, but determined to make the University’s vast Archives (sort of like the renowned library of Alexander the Great) both his playground and his tool for revenge against the shadowy Chandrians who killed his family. He immediately makes some powerful enemies who thwart him at every turn, and it is through sheer grit and happenstance (and a lot of luck) that he survives at all.
He discovers his true love at the wise age of “almost 16,” but she is a will o’ the wisp who will not be pinned down, which apparently adds to her allure with Kvothe, and all men in general. While he makes money through his fabulous lute playing, and loses or spends it again in a heartbeat, Kvothe is always a breath away from starvation. Aside from his lady love, Kvothe has befriended two fellow students, a female money-lender with a soft spot for the young lad, an Ophelia-like dropout from the University who lives underground, and one of the nine Masters who run the University and who is a brilliant lunatic whose favorite haunts is the campus’ insane asylum where he had been interned.
Kvothe’s many adventures are glorious and terrifying, and his life is always in danger. We are continually reminded that this is the tale of Kvothe as told by a much older Kvothe, through interruptions in the story-telling which introduce us to the deep sadness and “silence” within the older Kvothe, and that also remind us how dark his story will become. His sole friend in the present time is Bast, an enigma who calls Kvothe “master” and is something other than completely human. Bast’s story is yet to come. Can’t wait to start the second Chronicle!