In The Wise Man's Fear, Kvothe searches for answers, attempting to uncover the truth about the mysterious Amyr, the Chandrian, and the death of his parents. Along the way, Kvothe is put on trial by the legendary Adem mercenaries, forced to reclaim the honor of his family, and travels into the Fae realm. There he meets Felurian, the faerie woman no man can resist, and who no man has ever survived...until Kvothe.
Now, Kvothe takes his first steps on the path of the hero and learns how difficult life can be when a man becomes a legend in his own time.
Although I liked this one, the whole story took place in only a handful of locations which, in hindsight, makes it seem to me like a whole lot of very little actually went down, but with a lot more words thene might otherwise be needed. IMO, when setting up for additional stories, the current book should set up the reader's desire for the next installment throughout the story. This one just felt like a string of "point in time" anicdotes
Still, I'm loveing the pacing, the style and especially the worldbuilding. I like the time spend with the Adem the most, and appreciate the details of their cultural design. I just hope that this series has a decent progression and an EVENTUAL conclusion (cough SoIaF)
The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss is his second novel and sequel to The Name of the Wind, released in 2007. A third book, The Doors of Stone (working title) is projected to finish off the series.
I haven't read The Name of the Wind but The Wise Man’s Fear's execution does not necessitate any reading of the first book to enjoy it as a single work. After having read it though, I certainly want to get a copy of the first book and the last when it’s released.
The Story
The Wise Man’s Fear is a continuation of the story of Kvothe a warrior, musician and wizard. It’s autobiographical, a tale told mostly in the first person by Kvothe- a recording of his adventures as he saw them, not as the legendary figure he is known as. It is then a series of adventures, strung together by Kvothe’s …
The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss is his second novel and sequel to The Name of the Wind, released in 2007. A third book, The Doors of Stone (working title) is projected to finish off the series.
I haven't read The Name of the Wind but The Wise Man’s Fear's execution does not necessitate any reading of the first book to enjoy it as a single work. After having read it though, I certainly want to get a copy of the first book and the last when it’s released.
The Story
The Wise Man’s Fear is a continuation of the story of Kvothe a warrior, musician and wizard. It’s autobiographical, a tale told mostly in the first person by Kvothe- a recording of his adventures as he saw them, not as the legendary figure he is known as. It is then a series of adventures, strung together by Kvothe’s participation in them. It reveals a complex and varied fantasy world with enormous depth. There are various side adventures that help build the character of Kvothe in the reader’s mind and there’s a grand story of mythic proportions that simmers just below the surface of the narrative. Who are the Amyr ? Who are the mystical Chandrian? We are presented with two Kvothes, the one in the present who is less than impressive, that seems to have lost some of the power and prowess described in his own retelling of the Kvothe of song and legend.
A note on structure
The story is split into two time frames, the present is presented in the third person, where Kvothe is telling a story of his deeds to a character called The Chronicler. These short snippets(5 to 10 pages each) of third person narrative are dispersed throughout novel breaking up the main text, which is Kvothe telling his story in the first person.
This structure works well, at close to a 1000 words, even Rothfuss' talented use of first person point of view needs a change in pace and perspective to keep the work fresh.
Harry Potter Goes to College
One of the first thoughts that occurred when reading The Wise Man’s Fear, especially the early part of the novel, was that it had a “Harry Potter goes to College” feel to it. By which I mean, it captures a wizardly university atmosphere in the same way the the Harry Potter books evoked the atmosphere of English boarding schools. It’s no surprise to note that Orson Scott Card has likened it to a darker, adult Harry Potter. For older readers of fantasy, I am reminded of elements of the Earthsea novels by LeGuin.
A literary Magpie
Rothfuss has described himself as a literary Magpie and while the book is original in craft and execution their are references or subtle hat tips to predecessors, for example a quaint love poem spoken by one of the characters uses a (Anglo Saxon I think) poetic form employed by Tolkien. Though The Wise Man’s Fear samples from the genre its not merely a reimagining or a repackaging. I think that Rothfuss is actually doing something quite subversive. There are two tales told; one is what’s occurring in the present the other the heroic backstory to Kvothe. By the end of the book I am not sure if I quite believe the image that Kvothe has put forward in his tale to the Chronicler. The parts of the book set in the present show Kvothe as less than impressive -compared to his image at least. This is not your ordinary heroic fantasy, there’s elements of course in Kvothe’s retelling, but I get the feeling that Rothfuss is heading in a different direction- a more honest deconstruction of the hero perhaps.
Final thoughts
Briefly – Buy it and the The Name of the Wind as well.
This book read like it was half the size, a testament to Rothfuss skill in presenting 900 or so pages of first person narrative. Though we know as readers that Kvothe can’t die (at least until the end of the series) Rothfuss manages to constantly have important things at stake, whether it’s people that are close to Kvothe, or his possessions. Rothfuss has crafted a character who’s life and aspirations are important to the reader – I felt pangs of anxiety when his loot was ‘stolen’ or when he was helpless to render assistance to Denna.
I am in awe of Rothfuss ability to render the playing of a musical instrument as an action scene. The bard, often a staple of fantasy, rarely gets in the spotlight for his raison d'être – Rothfuss puts it front and centre.
It’s a rare, original fantasy of epic proportions.
Rothfuss did it again. The Wise Man's fear sucks you in and won't let go until the end. It's such a great story and continues the reputation of greatness that Rothfuss started for himself in The Name of the Wind.
Great read, better than the first one. Lots of awesome 'Taborlin the Great' moments. The interludes (scenes at the inn), however, left something to be desired. Pretty much all the action takes place in Kvothe's story, there's almost no reason to set it at the inn (unlike the first book). It feels like there is so much left to do, I can't imagine how [a:Patrick Rothfuss|108424|Patrick Rothfuss|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1226875325p2/108424.jpg] will finish it in one more book.
The fact that I finished a 992 page book between Wednesday night and Sunday morning clearly indicates that I enjoyed it. I love the device of framing the story of young Kvothe by the present day Kvothe telling it to the Chronicler. The adventures are dashing and the characters interesting. It is highly episodic. Kvothe faces one crisis after another at the University , as he does in the The Name of the Wind. In this book, he also goes afield and has different sorts of adventures.
While the world building is still weak when compared to some other great authors, he continues to make up for it by excelling at the small rather than the large. He tells the story of a single man's life in such an engrossing and compelling way that you can't help but be sucked into it, and he manages to cover the normally mundane details without boring me the way many other authors do. I really enjoyed seeing some other aspects of Kvothe, and the secondary characters are certainly fleshed out a bit more than they were in the first book (though they still have some distance to go there, IMO). It was also quite nice to see some additional characters from his life that clearly existed, but hadn't received any time in the first book, for example, some of the other professors. Patrick Rothfuss remains one of my favorite authors, …
While the world building is still weak when compared to some other great authors, he continues to make up for it by excelling at the small rather than the large. He tells the story of a single man's life in such an engrossing and compelling way that you can't help but be sucked into it, and he manages to cover the normally mundane details without boring me the way many other authors do. I really enjoyed seeing some other aspects of Kvothe, and the secondary characters are certainly fleshed out a bit more than they were in the first book (though they still have some distance to go there, IMO). It was also quite nice to see some additional characters from his life that clearly existed, but hadn't received any time in the first book, for example, some of the other professors. Patrick Rothfuss remains one of my favorite authors, and I'll continue to anxiously await his future work.
