Day One of the Kingkiller Chronicles: The Message

So as you may have seen previously I am reading the Kingkiller Chronicles Trilogy. I finished Day One yesterday and was so impressed with the whole story. Instead of recounting the story I thought I would tell you what I got from it. So yeah…. here we go.

Thar’ be spoilers ahead…

Kvothe has many amazing adventures throughout this book and the whole time he manages to explain how extraordinary he is without sounding full of himself. However, at this re-telling he is posing as a common innkeeper in the middle of nowhere; ahem… I mean Newarre. His assistant Bast thinks that remembering who Kvothe is versus his mild-mannered-alter-ego Kote will remove him from his funk.

“It’s like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.”

The problem seems to be that when we alter this story we begin to believe it. We make so many mistakes and then punish ourselves by fading into the background in order to atone for our mistakes. We then become that unremarkable person, because that is who we believe we are. We see Kvothe has become this innkeeper whole-heartedly and instead of worrying of the war, he worries about his inventory and the fact that not many people travel and fill his inn at night.

The very begining of the story he kills a monster that had been roaming the woods. He fears that by killing it he has shattered this new identity and attempts to flee. What kind of hero would do that? His sidekick Bast is worried that by hiding it is effectively killing the hero.

I think that Bast’s concern for his friend is a great way to motivate and makes you root for this character. You are excited to see who Kvothe was and excited to see who he will become in equal measure.

I loved this book and have already started reading The Wise Man’s Fear: Day Two.