The Wise Man's Fear - Patrick Rothfuss
Book 2 of 36.
I finished an 1100 page book in a week. I kept myself to a timeline so that I hit my goal of reading 5 books a month but found that it was unnecessary. The Wise Man’s Fear (Kingkiller Chronicle) was such a good read that I couldn’t put it down. I would say the second book is better than the first for a number of reasons.
The book documents Kvothe’s adventures at the University and his feud with another wizard that forces him to take some time off. This leads him to to Severn, where he saves the Maer’s life and helps him win the heart of Lady Lackless with his songs and poetry. His services to the Maer send him on the road for a month to track down bandits. After this successful endeaver, he somehow ends up in the Fae. The Fae is not part of the mortal world. Kvothe is held in the Fae with Felurian, a woman who kills men by driving them crazy with desire for her. He escapes uses his wit and returns to the mortal world where only three days have past but Kvothe has spent months, maybe a year in the Fae. After the Fae, he travels to Haert and proves himself worthy of learning how to fight; earning himself a sword and an invitation to stay and continue his studies as part of the Adem but he refuses and returns to Severn, hoping to be rewarded by the Maer for sucessfully catching the bandits.
The Maer’s wife finds out Kvothe is Edema Ruh (band of traveling performers) and is disgusted. The Maer, having to appease his wife asks Kvothe to leave at his earliest convenience but provides him with a letter of credit which provides payment for the tuition at the University. When Kvothe returns to the University, he is wealthier than he’s ever been in his entire life.
In addition to all the excitement of his adventures, we also learn more about Kvothe in the present (reminder: Kvothe is retelling his adventures to the Chronicler). He seems to have lost all his powers - you would never have known that the innkeeper was capable of doing anything he has described to the Chronicler by the way he handled himself against soldiers that rob the inn.
The story ends again with a big cliff-hanger. We learn that the robbery was orchestrated by Bast, Kvothe’s student(?) and assistant at the inn. Is Bast trying to remind Kvothe of who he is and bring back the powers he once had? Who knows. We’ll have to wait and see. The one thing I dislike about the storyline is probably Kvothe’s relationship (or lack there of) with Denna. I absolutely hate how she randomly appears no matter how far or where Kvothe travels to. I understand its a fantasy series but the fact that theres no purpose (to be seen anyway) to these encounters irks me. I don’t know. Maybe its just me. But anyway, check it out and let me know what you think.
