Name of the Wind

by Patrick Rothfuss

In spite of its clever plot devices and cliff hangers to keep the pages turning, it was quickly clear that the author is at best lazy and at worst sexist. Most women characters were purely objects of desire. The author made blatant decisions, not bound by any sort of historical accuracy or real world (it's fantasy, do whatever), to put women into a tired trope and dominate the story with a boys club.

After finishing, I looked up to see if others found the same and I found some thoughtful write-ups:

• Feminist Literary Analysis of The Kingkiller Chronicle
• The Absence of Women a fantastic writeup with even some simple suggestions to make it better
• Name of the Wind Revisited, a gender-swapped and improved version of the story.

All in all, the fantasy and world building is top notch. I wonder why Rothfuss chooses to write women this way. I'm curious if it improves in later entries, but it reminds me of the age of Foundation and leaves me wanting to read LeGuinn.