Customer Reviews

Wise Man's Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle)

5 star:		(377)
4 star:		(132)
3 star:		(116)
2 star:		(58)
1 star:		(31)

 

 

I love The Name of the Wind. In fact, I've been able to make myself a hero on oodles of occasions by recommending Name of the Wind to people "looking for a good book." The only person I've recommended it to who didn't really care for it was my wife. So figure that one out.

I received Wise Man's Fear from Amazon early Tuesday morning and devoured it. I was never bored while reading it - the characters were sharp, Rothfuss is a ridiculously skilled writer, and there's plenty in this book to keep you engrossed and entertained.

So why three stars? Why am I not falling all over myself to praise this one?

Because it's kind of a mess. An engrossing, brilliant, hot and swanky mess, but a mess just the same.

My biggest problem is that, with some minor, token exceptions, I know exactly as much about the Chandrian as I did before I read this book. Same goes for the Amyr and the Valeritas door in the archives. I actually feel like I know less about the framing story with the Scrael and Kvothe's slow-mo death wish. All the new things Rothfuss reveals in Book II are things that are kind of cool and groovy in their own right, but they seem fairly inconsequential to the overall story, and often they feel as if they've been dragged in from the Kvothe band's inferior opening act. It's like I've watched an entire season of a Kvothe TV series that is saving all the good bits for sweeps, which presumably doesn't arrive until Book III.

And, to dangerously and alchemically mix metaphors, Book III is going to have to do a whole lot of heavy lifting to tie up all the loose ends. I would not be surprised if the Kingkiller Chronicles isn't really as trilological as Rothfuss initially intended. (No, trililogical isn't really a word. Shut up.)

And, to move from the trililogical to the puritanical, I found it jarring that Kvothe shifted from Gentlemanly Prude to Sheenlike Horndog in about twenty pages. Lots more sex in this book than the recommended daily allowance. Kvothe also kills a lot of people in very gruesome and bloody ways, and, disconcertingly, he seems to enjoy it altogether more than he ought. He's a very interesting, compelling character, but I don't like him nearly as much as I did before this book started. But what do I know? He's on a drug called Kvothe, and if you took it, your children would weep over your exploded body. (For the record, I don't really like Charlie Sheen that much, either.)

Oh, that leads me to a minor spoiler: Kvothe also, apparently, nibbles on some obscure birth control root on a regular basis to keep his Kvothified spermies in check. This was the only moment in the book that I thought was unqualifiedly ridiculous. Kvothe loses everything he owns multiple times in this book, but somehow, someway, he holds onto his arboreal condoms? Please.

To sum up: Wise Man's Fear is a mixed, messy bag. Still love Rothfuss; still love The Name of the Wind, and will buy and devour the third book on the first day of its release.

I really liked 'Name of the Wind' (like, I guess, most people reviewing this book so soon after publication).

Is this as good? No. Rothfuss is a fine writer so this is still pretty damn readable, and it's even more epic and sprawling than the first so you can disappear into his world for even longer. But it's nowhere near as tight as the first novel. 'Name of the Wind' felt meticulously planned, with every incidental little detail part of the wider story. In "Wise Man's Fear" there's a LOT of detail, a huge chunk of which seems meaningless.

Early in the book the main character constructs an elaborate device which protects him from arrows and crossbow bolts. We learn exactly how this works in great detail - and then never hear about it again. We meet a mysterious librarian, who then vanishes from the book. Later a malevolent Arcanist attempts to assassinate a powerful noble, is foiled and then disappears until the end of the book when we're told he's been killed by someone else. We never find out why he tried to murder the noble. The book is filled with odd little dead ends: the hero decides to flee from a school where he's held semi-prisoner, organises his escape, explains various complicated details of his plan and then decides not to escape.

What makes this even more frustrating are the parts of the story that scream for more detail. The hero meets the most dangerous, evil creature in all of existence - he randomly stumbles upon it while out for a walk - and the book implies that this is the most significant event in his entire life. That gets about two pages. Just for comparison, searching through the woods for some bandits gets about two hundred pages.

Like I said, Rothfuss is a good writer. So the hundred-page digressions are entertaining and fun to read - but it is basically just a shaggy dog story, which is disappointing since "Name of the Wind" delivered so much more.

If, like me, you were so impressed with The Name of the Wind that you neglected all but the most pressing business until you turned the final page, you may have decided to give it a quick re-read in anticipation of the sequel. If you did, you probably spotted this quote in Chapter 43: "There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man."

After a long but worthwhile wait, we now have the second novel in The Kingkiller Chronicle, and its title refers directly back to the quote: The Wise Man's Fear. (And by the way, if you didn't feel like rereading book one, Patrick Rothfuss posted a wonderful web comic recap on his blog.)

Saying that the level of anticipation for The Wise Man's Fear was high is an understatement, especially given that The Name of the Wind was only Patrick Rothfuss' debut. It's not as if this is the concluding volume of a long multi-volume saga, decades in the making. The Name of the Wind struck such a powerful chord with many readers that, before long, messages started popping up left and right, complaining that things were taking too long and couldn't he write a bit more quickly?

Well, merciful Tehlu be praised, Patrick Rothfuss took his time, polishing and refining his manuscript until it stood up to his own standards. The result is The Wise Man's Fear, a novel that for the most part fulfills the promise of The Name of the Wind. You'll find the same sweeping prose, deft characterization, rousing adventure, emotional highs and lows, and just plain and simple gripping reading of the "I couldn't put this book down even if my house caught fire around me" variety.

Also, there's much more of it, in terms of sheer length. Weighing in at about 1,000 pages, The Wise Man's Fear is a heftier tale with a much broader scope. Where most of The Name of the Wind was set in and around the University, the sequel starts off there but soon has Kvothe venturing out into the world. As a result, some of the blank spaces on the map start to get filled in, giving this fantasy world a welcome new level of depth. Make no mistake, Kvothe is still front and center, but the details of the world's geography are starting to come into focus, as well as its history, with the central mystery still being the exact nature of the Chandrian and the Amyr.

And Kvothe... is still Kvothe. One of the most memorable characters to appear in fantasy in the last decade, he again carries the tale easily. Let's not forget that The Name of the Wind's blurb, as well as the title of the series, seemed to spell out several major plot points: anyone who read the back cover of The Name of the Wind knew the edited highlights of Kvothe's life even before opening the book. How often do you see that, and even if you did, how often did it actually succeed?

Here, Patrick Rothfuss makes it work purely on the strength of his main character. Kvothe, telling his own story to the patient Chronicler, has so much sheer panache that his personality has the same effect as a minor tsunami on the people around him. In some ways, he's like a taller, more musically gifted version of Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan. Sure, when he describes a noble as being as "self-centered as a gyroscope", you can't help but think that this could easily apply to him too, but his charm, brilliance and inexorable forward momentum easily make up for it.

Then -- next brilliant trick -- to forestall those readers who might get annoyed at an impossibly brilliant and already semi-legendary character, the framing story shows us a much different present-day Kvothe, now going by the name Kote, who seems to be a shadow of his former self: a small town innkeeper with the lowest of profiles and the gentlest demeanour. The fact that we still don't know exactly how we got from Kvothe the high-flying warrior-arcanist-singer to Kote the soft-spoken innkeeper creates the tension that makes these novels so powerful. Evil is abroad, war is coming, and Kvothe, so different from how he describes himself in his story, hints that he is somehow responsible -- and, to top it all, we still don't know exactly how and why. Maybe most disturbing (or exciting, depending on your perspective and amount of patience): if Kvothe is recounting his past to Chronicler in three days, does that mean that the real conclusion of the story, describing the current and future state of the world, will only follow in books 4, 5, 6... ?

Regardless,The Wise Man's Fear is another excellent novel. Just getting to read more about the young, brilliant Kvothe at the University is a pleasure, although it did feel as if the first few hundred pages of this novel moved a bit more slowly and actually could have been part of the first book, with Kvothe's eventual departure making a perfect starting point for the sequel. Then again, we know this is meant to be one long tale split across three days of narration by present-day Kvothe to Chronicler, so it makes sense to think of these books as one big story with somewhat arbitrary cut-off points. (And oh, I don't think it's a spoiler to mention that the ending of this novel is once again of the somewhat anti-climactic "and then they all went to sleep to continue the story the next day" variety.)

Patrick Rothfuss's prose is still a pleasure to read. He does high comedy as expertly as heart-breaking tragedy. He occasionally throws out a sentence that's so perfectly on point, it's not hard to see why his book-signing events draw such huge crowds: "Hespe's mouth went firm. She didn't scowl exactly, but it looked like she was getting all the pieces of a scowl together in one place, just in case she needed them in a hurry."

If the plotting is sometimes a bit transparent, with the timing and sequence of some events being so convenient that it flirts with improbability, it's all easy to forgive because -- and this is really all that matters, in the end -- The Wise Man's Fear is more sheer fun to read than most fantasy novels I've read since -- well, since The Name of the Wind, come to think of it. Plus, we finally get to read the bit about Felurian...

If you're looking for solid, character-driven, consistently entertaining but occasionally quite dark fantasy that has more heart than several other series combined, you couldn't do much better than Patrick Rothfuss' KINGKILLER CHRONICLE. And now the long wait begins for book 3...

Please note: There is a section with spoilers marked with ***. Feel free to skip if you'd like.

Let me preface my review by saying I loved Name of the Wind.

Love, love, LOVED it.

Name of the Wind is without a doubt the best fantasy novel I've read in the past 15 years. The personal, gripping, intimate nature of getting inside Kvothe's head was a true joy in that novel.

As a result, my hopes were incredibly high for the sequel, maybe a little too high. And don't get me wrong, being with Kvothe again was for a time enjoyable, like putting on a comfortable pair of jeans you haven't worn for a while. Believe me, nothing would have pleased me more than for Book 2 of the Kingkiller Chronicles to be a bravura, 5-star outing for Rothfuss.

But as much as I wanted to undyingly, unabashedly love Wise Man's Fear, I just ... couldn't. Though Rothfuss' inherent genius with prose and demonstrable wit remain largely intact, due to some inexplicable plot and character structure, and an overall lack of narrative cohesion, the sense of "realness"--the organic feeling of being in a "real" time and place that made Name of the Wind so enchanting--is gone. As readers we increasingly feel we're reading the product of Patrick Rothfuss' mind, rather than actually living within the world he creates.

(As a side note, I would have given Wise Man's Fear 2.5 stars if I could have. I rounded down because I felt the book was getting too many uncritical 5-star reviews.)

When it's all said and done, a three-word review of Wise Man's Fear could be put down thusly:

"Huh? What the...?"

That, in a nutshell, is the experience of reading the second novel of the Kingkiller Chronicles. Though occasionally exhilarating and intriguing, too often The Wise Man's Fear simply leaves you scratching your head. It's not unlike watching a movie by a famous director run amok, indulging in personal whims because they know their studio/editor won't get in the way.

A number of other reviewers have complained that the biggest problem with Wise Man's Fear is that "nothing happens," in terms of the "big picture" of the story. That accusation is accurate, but in reality it's only a symptom of the broader, overarching problem: the Story of Kvothe is now primarily being written for the author's enjoyment, rather than his readers'.

If there was one word I would use to describe The Name of the Wind, it would be "immersive." From start to finish, you FEEL that you are a part of the world, watching "real" events happen within it. In Wise Man's Fear, on the other hand, the opposite is true--a pervasive, not-quite-unseen feeling of contrived-ness underlies the proceedings. As readers we feel like we're "peaking behind the curtain," watching the author pull the strings, rather than being immersed within the world he creates.

Too often Kvothe seems to do things because "the story" requires it, not because the character himself would be internally motivated to do so. Elements of our protagonist's psychology are stripped away and tossed by the wayside, with barely an afterthought or explanation. In the end our emotional connection to Kvothe wanes; we are far less, not more invested in our hero, increasingly ambivalent to whether he succeeds or fails. Kvothe is still "the Story," but it's no longer clear whether he's a person or plot device--Kvothe the Character, or Kvothe the Deus Ex Machina.

This is not to say that Wise Man's Fear has no redeeming qualities. Rothfuss's prose is as strong as ever: lyrical, subtle, intensely, lovingly crafted. Not all of the plot is wasted either; Kvothe's struggle to earn the respect of his peers, and for himself continues to resonate--when appropriately contextualized by the author. Rothfuss seems to forget that we like Kvothe not because he is super-human, but because he is altogether TOO human, and the scenes relating to that struggle--with Devi, Ambrose, the Maer, and up to a point, with Denna--continue to compel. It is in these scenes we come to see ourselves through Kvothe.

Sadly, there's not nearly enough of them, and they come so sporadically that pacing and continuity, the book's sense of purpose, suffers. It's both baffling and shocking to see from Rothfuss, since this was one aspect he absolutely nailed in Name of the Wind. In Book 1, character motivations and actions are purposeful; the sense of who the characters were, and their place in the world felt entirely appropriate and real. But as readers of Wise Man's Fear, far too often we're asked to suspend belief, plausibility, and authenticity so the author can "tell his story the way he wants it told."

*** SPOILERS HERE ***

The most egregious offense to internal consistency is without question the Felurian sub-plot. Its sole purposes seem to be to heavy-handedly tell the reader, "Kvothe is now the most sexually experienced human being in the history of this, or any other world," and to introduce Deus Ex Machina Extraordinaire (there's that phrase again) the Cthaeh. The problems with this section are numerous, and for an author of Rothfuss' stature and formidable talents, it's frankly an embarrassment.

"Running off to the Faerie realm to discover the undiscoverable" is hardly a fresh fantasy trope, but since Rothfuss gives zero context before or after for what transpires, the entire instance feels superfluous, a waste of time. To make matters worse, the handling of the sexual content is eye-rollingly facile at best, and as others have commented, could be construed as outright offensive to women at worst. (As a side note, I just can't figure out Rothfuss's aversion to letting Kvothe remain nuanced. It wasn't enough for him to be a world-class mage, scholar, and musician, but now has to be world's greatest lover as well? Kvothe the Deus Ex, it seems, has to either be the "greatest ever," or nothing at all.)

"Surviving an encounter with Felurian" is supposed to be part of Kvothe's mystique, but as a reader it comes across as just straight-up bizarre (and not in a good way). But since Pat hinted at this whole Felurian thing on the cover sleeve of Book 1, um, well, guess we have to do it anyway, no matter how nonsensical and out of character it feels. From start to finish, it's a bad concept horribly executed, and to add insult to injury, it's not even really necessary. Both "Kvothe learns to get some" and the Cthaeh could have been thrown in just about anywhere--"Hey Bast, remember the time I banged Random Chick #77, and then blah blah blah and met the Cthaeh?"

On the whole I'm a little more forgiving of the Ademre sub-plot--though it also dragged on too long--because at least it arose from the actual in-character development of Kvothe's friendship with Tempi. But even then, the sexual content feels more indulgent than internally motivated by the character, and the effects of Kvothe's time spent with the Ademre are inconsistent with what we see later, during his interactions with the fake Edemah Ruh troop and back at the University.

*** END SPOILERS ***

In the end, for all of Pat's talent, mind, heart, and wit, as readers we end up questioning his intentions. There's no substantial character growth or plot arc, no sense of how or why any of the events being shown ultimately make a difference to us as readers--and for a book of nearly 1,000 pages, it's a nigh-unforgivable sin. It's a supreme paradox, to see such well-crafted, delicious prose mixed with such capricious plot and character structuring. As much as I love the author, and wanted to gloss over Wise Man's Fear's significant issues, ultimately I realized that I was no longer invested in the fiction. I simply no longer BELIEVED what I was reading, and the world and Kvothe had ceased to be plausible or compelling.

To be sure, if you're a Rothfuss fan, the enduring intrigue of the protagonist and the author's remarkable wit are enough to propel the book to an above-average read. But there's a part of me that thinks, no, KNOWS, that there's a better story in here than the one Pat put to paper. For good or ill, this is clearly the product Pat wanted us to have, and like Baz Luhrmann at his worst, Rothfuss' excesses get in the way of the enjoyment, rather than add to it.

...I can't give this book 4 stars. I'm keeping the $30 first edition of it because it matches my first edition of The Name of the Wind and I have desperate hopes that the third (and possibly fourth or fifth) books will redeem this funky middle one.

I am an original Rothfuss fan. I bought The Name of the Wind when it was in its FIRST HARDCOVER PRINTING and then proceeded to preach the Gospel of Rothfuss to everyone who would listen. The book is really beautiful and subtle and brilliant. I was thrilled at the thought of more of Kvothe's story in the Wise Man's Fear.

I can't tell you how painful it's been for me to admit to myself and to others that WMF was not worth the wait. Even now, I just wince to write it here. I feel so loyal to the author and the overall story. But it's just the truth. I had to admit that:

***HERE BE SPOILERS!***

1. Denna is still the most obnoxious character to ever walk the pages of English literature.

2. I don't like Kvothe as much now that I've read TWMF. That could be part of the master plan. After all, what 16 year old is really at his full character potential? What 16 year old ISN'T an obnoxious prig? I have hopes that he will improve.

3. But, the thing is, he SHOULD HAVE IMPROVED IN THIS 1000 PAGES. Or at least learned something from his adventures. Another reviewer pointed out perfectly that after spending months mastering his body language and emotional responses with Tempi's people, he still goes back to Imre with NO self-restraint. However, he's still 16. I'm trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.

4. If Ambrose is the King he kills in the end to start the war (seeing as how Ambrose is 13th in line for the throne and 4 people in that line were killed during the course of the novel) I'll be desperately disappointed. His scuffles with Ambrose, while life-threatening, are still so twee. I was so annoyed that I was constantly reminded of Draco Malfoy in this book. Never in the first one, but this one was painful. Ambrose is the pet student of the teacher who hates Kvothe. Ambrose is really rich. Blah blah blah. UGH!

5. This book has no arc. :( There isn't a climax. There isn't suspense. There were a few exciting moments including the fight to clear the bandit encampment and then his moments with the Cthae. Honestly, I don't even CARE that the Cthae is completely Deus Ex Machina at this point. I was just happy to LEARN SOMETHING NEW. I actually felt a little thrill during those (way too few) pages where Kvothe learns those precious facts about the Chandrian. And when he ran away in terror I wanted to scream "You PANSY! Get back here so we can learn some more stuff!!! You're sure not learning it!"

6. I described this book to other people as 5 separate novels with a short story and a few interludes. Not a good structure if you want to keep me engaged.

7. Women are still kind of lame in this book. Right? They're all sex-crazed and serve to teach Kvothe how to add another superlative to his list. "Over-Sexed-est 16 Year Old in All the Land." Devi and Fela work for me, but the fact that all the women put up with Kvothe's amazing amount of crap is rather disappointing. And how nice that Kvothe was able to 'name' Felurian and subdue her. Awesome. The only woman with some kind of power (and of course, it's the sexy booby kind) gets subdued. Just what I wanted.

8. The most heart-breaking thing about this read is that I don't care about Kvothe very much any more. Not just because he's turned into a Casanova and a moral-less dufus, but just because he hasn't changed at all in the ways that matter...in the ways that he might need to change for him to really be able to MEAN something down the line. And that is really a tragedy for me. :(

I will buy the third book because I have to have a matched set. I'll even look forward to it because Pat really is a beautiful writer with a wickedly awesome sense of humor. I just can't recommend the middle book to anyone, and that stings.

I have been waiting for years for this book. I love Patrick Rothfuss - I loved his first book, I love his blog, I love hearing him speak in person, I love his charity work... I'm just a huge fan all around.

That said, I was disappointed by this book. It was a good book - but not nearly the quality of The Name of the Wind.

As others have mentioned, the story just isn't as tight as NOTW. The "worst" part of NOTW was the trip to Trebon to and the killing of the draccus, if only because it seemed to drag on far too long. Each of the segments of this book have a smiliar quality to them. The University segment was long, but that moved along at a good clip. The time in Vintas dragged, as did the hunt for the bandits. The time with Felurian also seemed to drag on and on... and then, the time with the Adem. The part that made each of those segments difficult to chew on was the fact that Kvothe did not progress as a character. At the end of WMF, he knows how to make love and he is a decent swordsmen (not nearly as good as the legendary people who trained him). That's all that could be accomplished in 1,000 pages? Really?

If this was to be a 4-5 book series, I could buy this as a decent book two. I can't fathom how the series will end with one more book. Either Kvothe isn't as cool as the NOTW made him seem, or book three is going to get about 85% of the series' action in it. Too much of the story remains untold.

This is not to say the book isn't a pleasure to read - Rothfuss' skill as a wordsmith ensures that the story remains interesting (or I probably would have put the book down). Perhaps the buildup to WMF was too great - perhaps I cared a little too much about a literary character. However, I can honestly say I was disappointed - it reminded me of my disappointment at reading A Feast for Crows by George RR Martin a few years back - a good book, but a letdown after A Storm of Swords.

Let's hope Pat Rothfuss and Kvothe recapture the magic in Doors of Stone (or whatever the title ends up being).

I agree with other reviewers who have given this book mediocre reviews. It's clear from "The Name of the Wind" that there is something important in Kvothe's backstory that involves the Chandrian and the death of a king. But we barely get a whiff of these events in this book. It seems like there was just a lot of filler to get us to the third book, where all the critical events will be told.

A lot of the blame for this can be laid on the side-trip that Kvothe (and Rothfuss) take into the land of the Adem. It fills a lot of pages, but does nothing to advance the storyline. Kvothe's motive for going to this place were contrived to begin with. This section is also the silliest part of the story, by far. I really liked "The Name of the Wind" because in his treament of the details of sympathy and naming, Rothfuss was giving us something that is believable and familiar, but breaks with how a lot of (bad) fantasy treats magic. But the whole asian-martial arts analogue that Rothfuss provides with the Adem is straight-up Dungeons & Dragons nonsense. Very cheesy. The pages that were wasted on describing the meditation and unarmed combat that Kvothe learns were formulaic and dull. Also, isn't it enough that Kvothe is brilliant, cunning, has an amazing memory, the best musician in the world, an amazing lover, and can work magic? Does he have to gain quasi-mystical martial arts skills as well?

I'm writing my first review because I wanted to like this book so much, but was ultimately let down.

Judged against the first book in the series, I am forced to say that Wise Man's Fear is not as good. But judged against normal, mortal books - it's fantastic. An excellent book that I could not put down. I fully recommend it.

Compared with the first book: (*possible spoilers*)

The Good:

Wise Man's Fear is a funny book, and a sexy book. It had me laughing out loud numerous times, and hoping that I will one day get to watch an HBO production of the book.

The Bad:

The first book had a nimble and enchanting flow, moving from mystery to magic to thrill and adventure easily. Where other stories have killed important characters and I felt nothing - Name of the Wind had me crying over a broken lute. It was fully engaging and emotional.

Where the first book was nimble, Wise Man's Fear at times felt forced - as if the transitions from adventure to adventure were jarring and unnatural. Where the first book had many touching moments, the sequel has fewer and with smaller emotional impact.

The Indifferent:

Wise Man's Fear moves more slowly than the first. Don't get me wrong, I'm not some teenager with A.D.D. who can't sit still for 3 seconds. I take profound pleasure in character development, a thing that is increasingly rare in modern entertainment. I have no complaints about the length of the book or the time spent getting to know new characters. I'm just pointing out the contrast with the first book.

I just finished the book this morning. Without giving anything anyway that wasn't mentioned in the item description/amazon review, I'll say that the pages devoted to Kvothe's dealings with Felurian and the Adem consume too much of the book. Altogether, there is much of waiting and wishing for things to happen throughout the story; not enough happens to need over 1,000 pages. I feel this book needs distilled down to around half the size. I have read the likes of George RR Martin, Robin Hobb, Tolkien, and Scott Lynch. The Name of the Wind is one of my all time favorites. My reading it four times through still left me wanting to read it again. After my first read of Wise Man's Fear, I am left wanting.
My fear is that Book 3 will not regain the magic of the first.

The first half of Wise Man's Fear is an improvement over the previous book in the Kingkiller Chronicles. There is intrigue, mystery, complex interpersonal drama, great writing, and great pacing. Then halfway through the book, Rothfuss decides to let us in on the fantasies of his fifteen-year-old self, and the book goes downhill from there.

The book picks up precisely when the previous book left off, sparing little time to catch people up or re-explain everything in case a reader started with book two. I'm glad about that. I hate it when a series is up and running and the author or publisher feels that they need to throw in some exposition for people who didn't read the earlier books. Seriously...who starts a series at book two? Anyway...It goes great for a long while. I found the second half of the first book to be the best, and this seemed like a continuation of that. A lot happens, mostly having to do with Kvothe's adventures at the University and then on to a different land, where Kvothe gets some experience dealing with nobility and goes on an adventure with a ragtag group of adventurers.

Then...just over halfway through the book, the plot comes to a grinding halt. Don't want to spoil anything. So I'll just say that something happens that is totally unrelated to what had been going on in the first two books. It is mentioned in book one (I think), but only as one of Kvothe's many legendary accomplishments. Funny thing is, what happens is very similar to one of the fantasies I used to dream up before bed when I was a nerdy, lonely, sex-crazed teenager. I don't mind the occasional bit of self-indulgence from an author, but this goes on way too long, further emphasizing just how juvenile it is. After it is finally over, we are then diverted again to another side-adventure in which Kvothe learns how to fight. Once again, the teenage fantasies kick-in, and I was left chuckling and shaking my head at just how unbelievable and juvenile the whole thing is. Once again it goes on way too long. After these two bits are over, we get a bit of the good from the first half again...then the books is over.

I felt the author took too long with side-diversions and things left unresolved from book one were left hanging, especially his relationship with Denna. I'm not going to spoil anything, but I feel confident in advising anyone who hasn't read this yet to go ahead and skip the "romantic" scenes with Denna. They are frustrating, and not in a Pride and Prejudice way, but in a "Yeah, yeah, dude...We get the picture...She's hard to get! Can we PLEASE move ON!!!" way. Also, Denna is the most uninteresting character in the series. Her only good qualities seem to be that she is pretty and witty. Given the many interesting women with whom Kvothe finds himself, Denna is the least exciting.

My favorite of Kvothe's relationships is the one with loan-shark Devi, a fascinating character who practically leaps off of the page. When you read her scenes, it almost feels like Rothfuss realizes how much more interesting she is than Denna, and so stubbornly stops himself from letting her truly shine in the way she should.

C'mon Patrick! Free Devi! ...Or else make Denna more interesting. We should be given a reason to fall in love her along with our protagonist. SO far, you have given us no reason for Kvothe's bizarre obsession with her, and given us every reason to fall in love with Devi. Can't blame us for that.

The book is worth reading if you can tell yourself to go ahead and skip ahead a few pages when it feels like it is meandering. I will read the third installment when it comes out. Hopefully Rothfuss will keep it moving forward and spare us the adolescent fantasies the next time around.