I struggled to finish this book. All you need to know about Kvothe, the main character, is that he immediately becomes THE BEST EVER at everything he attempts, for no apparent reason other than storytelling convenience. Sadly, the interesting aspects of this fantasy world that surfaced during the narrative were quickly lost to more yammering from Kvothe, the least-convincing fifteen year old character I've encountered since the TV version of the Archie gang, and a damn sight less interesting magical boarding school student than Harry Potter at his most boring.