Books Like The Name of the Wind

Why Each Pick

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

The classic that shares The Name of the Wind's two biggest ideas: a gifted, proud boy at a school of wizardry, and magic built on knowing the true names of things. Ged's arrogance unleashes a shadow he must hunt across an archipelago, much as Kvothe's pride keeps landing him in trouble. Le Guin's novel is spare and brief, at 183 pages, against Rothfuss's 662.

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

Another clever orphan who survives on the streets of a dangerous city, like Kvothe in Tarbean, before being trained by a mentor. Locke grows up to lead a gang of con artists in a fantasy Venice, and the novel alternates present-day schemes with flashbacks to his childhood. It is grittier, funnier and far more profane than Rothfuss.

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

For readers who loved how sympathy works like a science, with rules, costs and limits. Sanderson builds magic systems with the same care, and Kaladin's backstory unfolds in flashbacks the way Kvothe's story is told from the Waystone Inn. It is a true epic, with several viewpoint characters, wars and 1,007 pages, and it opens a planned ten-book series.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

For readers who came for the prose. Morgenstern writes with the same lyrical, storyteller's voice, and her traveling circus recalls the troupe Kvothe grew up in. Two young magicians are bound to a contest they barely understand, a rivalry that turns into romance. It is quieter and more dreamlike than Rothfuss, with little action and no school.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

The best-known magic-school story, with the same pleasures of lessons, rivalries, forbidden areas and a gifted orphan proving himself. Harry's rivalry with Draco has echoes of Kvothe's feud with Ambrose. It is written for younger readers, shorter at 309 pages and far lighter in tone, and the seven-book series is complete.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

For readers who enjoyed Kvothe's years as a street urchin and his talent for clever plans. Kaz Brekker, a criminal prodigy who grew up in the slums of a mercantile city, assembles a crew for an impossible heist. It is a young adult novel with five narrators instead of one, a faster pace, and a story finished in two books.

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

One of the defining epic quests of modern fantasy: young villagers swept away from home, with one discovering he can channel a dangerous power. It shares Rothfuss's sense of ancient legends that turn out to be true. The pace is slower, the cast much larger, and the series runs fourteen books, completed by Brandon Sanderson after Robert Jordan's death.

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

The loosest match here: grim political fantasy with many narrators rather than one gifted hero telling his own legend. It shares The Name of the Wind's slow-burning mysteries and an old evil stirring at the edges of the world. Martin is darker, more violent and more sexually explicit, and like Rothfuss's trilogy, the series is still unfinished.