Steve Review: The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

May 31, 2011 by shanyn

Title: The Wise Man’s Fear
Hardcover, 994 pages
Author: Patrick Rothfuss
Publisher: Daw Books (Penguin)
Publication Date: March 1, 2011
Source: Purchased
Buy: Amazon

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Book Summary:
For nearly four years, fantasy and science fiction enthusiasts have been eagerly awaiting this second volume to Patrick Rothfuss’ Kingkiller Chronicles. The first volume, The Name of the Wind, won the prestigious Quill Award and was recently voted as the third-best SFF novel of the decade on Tor.com. In this linchpin book of the trilogy, Kvothe continues his perilous search for answers about the Chandrian even as he grapples with more pressing dangers.

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Steve Review:
Wow.  Did I ever review Name of the Wind on this site?  Someone look that up for me please.  Oh, I didn’t?  Dang! I wish I had. But ok, let’s start from the beginning.

Wow.  You guys should know that Name of the Wind is one of my all-time favorite books.  I do not say that about a lot of books.  At all.  Maybe 3 books/series qualify for that in my mind but NotW is certainly among them.  Knowing that background, you guys (yes, I know you are all probably still girls ) should understand how long and how much I’ve been anxiously awaiting this book’s arrival.  Wise Man’s Fear is the sequel to NotW by Patrick Rothfuss and I got a signed copy of it from Shanyn on release day!! (She really is the best isn’t she? <3 )

Wow.  Yeah, let’s get back to the wow part! WMF is 994 pages long and they seemed to fly.  I actually wished constantly that they would go slower.  As each 100 page marker ticked by I knew I was getting closer to the end of something that I had waited so long for and I could barely bare the thought.  What got me through it all then you ask? That is an easy answer, friend.  Wise Man’s Fear is a bleeping awesome book!

Wow.  There is a lot of swearing in this review.  A little over the top there Steve-o.  Let’s calm down.  The content of the book is honestly a touch slower than the first book.  You know the basic premise this time around, you’ve heard the gist of many of his most legendary adventures, and you are always reminded that he is going to survive whatever tale he is telling because he’s telling it as a humble innkeeper who has long forgotten how to be a hero and is simply waiting to die.  The interludes transition smoothly back and forth from present to past tense as the current plot and past escapades vie for the readers attention.  They both had mine as young Kvothe continues to mature and becomes infamous and Kote the Innkeeper tells the harsh truth of each adventure.  Story after story within story leading into a new story are what lead me to my last thoughts on the book ….

Wow.  You had to see that coming this time around right?  heh.  Eventually, as all good things do, it came to an end. And this was the weirdest part for me that I honestly had never experienced before.  It took me days (seriously, multiple days) to realize that I had finished the book, allow me to explain:  The days after it came out, I read Wise Man’s Fear pretty much every chance I got.  I would get home from my internship and read.  I’d finish dinner and read.  I’d postpone studying until the next day and read some more.  I finished the book at around 2:30AM one morning when I should have been sleeping for about 3 hours by that point.  I had to work early that next morning and promptly went to sleep after closing the last page.  I thought little of Kvothe and the other characters during my busy day at work but when I arrived home my mind eagerly yearned for more “story time” from Wise Man’s Fear.  I had to bite back disappointment as I realized I had already finished it.  Over the next couple days when I had a break in work, or finished a project and had some free time this same sensation repeated itself.  It took me days to realize that I had already finished the book and “story time” was done for now. That’s how well each little story of Kvothe’s past had me hooked and how current developments in his life kept me interested.  If you haven’t “TL;DR’ed” by now, let’s go ahead and just get to the points scale to clarify everything one more time!

Points Scale:
Cover: 4/5 – Dark and great.
Title: 5/5 – Perfect title for a sequel in this series
Plot: 10/10 – “Story time” was greatly anticipated each and every time I picked up this book.
Characters: 10/10 – Love Kvothe, love the people he met, love the villains, love Bast, love love love.
Writing: 9/10 – No sequel let down here Mr. Rothfuss.
Ending: 9/10 – I know writing extremely long books takes a long time, but you lost a point because the ending makes me want to start the next book so badly (even though it’s not really a cliffhanger) right now and I’m sure it’s still a ways off.

Total: 47/50 – Wow. x6. This series continues to be at the very top of my favorite literary works of all time.  The fantasy genre is at its best in these books and I cannot wait to see the series continue.

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