The Wise Man's Fear (Kingkiller Chronicles, #2)

by Patrick Rothfuss

Discover book two of Patrick Rothfuss’ #1 New York Times-bestselling epic fantasy series, The Kingkiller Chronicle.

“I just love the world of Patrick Rothfuss.” —Lin-Manuel Miranda

DAY TWO: THE WISE MAN’S FEAR
 
“There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.”
 
My name is Kvothe. You may have heard of me.
 
So begins a tale told from his own point of view—a story unequaled in fantasy literature. Now in The Wise Man’s Fear, Day Two of The Kingkiller Chronicle, an escalating rivalry with a powerful member of the nobility forces Kvothe to leave the University and seek his fortune abroad. Adrift, penniless, and alone, he travels to Vintas, where he quickly becomes entangled in the politics of courtly society. While attempting to curry favor with a powerful noble, Kvothe uncovers an assassination attempt, comes into conflict with a rival arcanist, and leads a group of mercenaries into the wild, in an attempt to solve the mystery of who (or what) is waylaying travelers on the King's Road. 

All the while, Kvothe searches for answers, attempting to uncover the truth about the mysterious Amyr, the Chandrian, and the death of his parents. In The Wise Man's Fear, 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.

• ISBN10: 0756404738
• ISBN13: 9780756404734
• Publish Date: 1 March 2011
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: DAW Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 1008
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780756404734

Reviews

[Jo]

Trigger and content warnings are under spoiler tags.

Trigger/Content Warnings: This book features vomit, arson, poisoning, violence against women, discussion of rape, murder, and descriptions of corpses.

Having loved The Name of the Wind, there was no way I was going to miss the follow up in The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man's Fear. It's an absolute dream of a book, and I'm pretty sure this series is going to become one of my favourites.

I adore this world, the characters - especially, of course, Kvothe. I love reading about his life and his experiences, mundane and incredible. This series is very much storytelling at it's best. Kvothe is dictating the story of his life to the Chronicler, but he himself is a skilled storyteller. I become completely engrossed in this story, and it's just such an enjoyable reading experience, even when it seems like not an awful lot is happening.

The Wise Man's Fear sees Kvothe properly stepping out into the world and experiencing the things that are at the heart of some of his stories. I personally really love Kvothe's time at the University, so when I discovered he would be leaving for a time, I can't say I wasn't disappointed. I really like all the people he knows - Sim, Wil, Fela, Devi, Auri, Deena and even some of the Masters - and wasn't too keen on leaving them behind. But a legend has to live before he becomes a legend, and I soon started enjoying his adventures abroad, and the new characters we met. There's a lot that happens in this book, but I can't really talk too much about it without spoiling it. Kvothe's story takes some wild twists and turns - ingratiating himself with the nobility, hunting bandits, time in the arms of a Femme Fatale fae queen, and learning from the highly skilled and respected Adem mercenaries, among others. It was so satisfying, after being in danger so many times, seeing where he finds himself at the end of the book, and the position he's in.

I loved how incredibly sex positive this book is, too! Because of the time period most high fantasies seem to be inspired by, there's propriety to think about, and behaving in a way that is appropriate and honourable - especially for women. The Kingkiller Chronicles has this aspect to it, as well, but when Kvothe finds himself in another part of the world, Rothfuss takes that idea and turns it on his head. There, sex is just sex, and is to be enjoyed. It's not improper to have sex outside of wedlock, it's not improper for a woman to have sex with multiple men, there is no scandal surrounding sex at all. It was so refreshing, and I loved the conversations had around it, and how those people thought it was completely ridiculous for others to think any differently. It just felt so feminist and wonderful, and I loved it. That being said, while Kvothe does have a fair number of sexual encounters, they're never really on page; they're brushed over and barely described.

Despite loving this series a huge amount myself, I think The Kingkiller Chronicles could definitely be a marmite series, and it should be pointed out. At 994 pages long, I can see people thinking the book is far too long, that a lot of it could be cut and made tighter, etc. But for me, just being immersed in this world, in Kvothe's voice, is enough. It's just absolutely my bag. Rothfuss definitely has a knack of telling a story where the mundane seems interesting. But I'd also say that nothing is mundane. Kvothe is telling this story, and no-one knows his story better. There are times in his past that he summarieses quickly instead of describing in much detail, much to the annoyance of the Chronicler and Bast, but Kvothe is telling us only that which is important to his story. He has become a legend, a hero stories are told over and over. He is telling us the truth behind those stories, and though I don't know where exactly the story will go, I believe everything we read matters, is important, even if it doesn't seem so.

When I started this book, I believed the whole trilogy had been finished and published, considering The Wise Man's Fear was originally published in 2011, and that I could just order the final book as I got close to the end and contune to revel in this world. I found out before finishing the book that, actually, the final book hasn't been published yet, and isn't coming out until next year. I was frustrated at first, but I've waited for books before, and it's not like I would have had to wait 11 years like some readers would have. But then I read the final line of the book and despaired. I actually shouted, "No! NO!" at the book and slammed my hand down on the cover. Oh my god, it's such a cruel ending! It's just one line, it's kind of vague, and only really implies a possibility that I had a feeling might be coming becuase of things read earlier in the book. But that possibility is more possible now that Rothfuss wrote it himself! And I have just over a year and a half to wait for The Doors of Stone! And I am chomping at the bit to read it, I desperately need to know what happens! It's going to be an agonising wait, but I'm pretty damn sure it's going to be worth it. Though I do think the final book may possibly break my heart, and I don't know if I'll ever be prepared. In the meantime, I have ordered The Slow Regard of Silent Things, a novella from Auri's point of view, who I completely adore, and that will have to tide me over.

I am so, so in love with this series, and really loved seeing where Kvothe's story took him in The Wise Man's Fear. I honestly can't recommend this series enough!

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

Right off, while The Wise Man's Fear isn't as good as The Name of the Wind, it's still entrancing. I LOVE Rothfuss's storytelling. His world building is incredible, and since Kvothe is on the road again, we get to see so much of the world and different cultures and peoples. The world itself continues to impress.

At the end of The Name of the Wind, the plot followed Kvothe's vengeance quest to find the Chandrian. Even when he adventures seemed disconnected, the Chandrian tied it all together. In the second novel, it doesn't feel like Kvothe is looking that hard. He's switched tactics, but the depth of his search is a single missed encounter, a lot of unsuccessful dialogue, and wandering. If Rothfuss's writing wasn't so clever and his world gorgeous, I would have lost interest.

But. The worldbuilding is incredible. The pacing is trying, all my favorite characters were absent for 60% of the book... but I didn't put it down. I wasn't even tempted.

This is such a long book, but between the worldbuilding and my unanswered questions and the excellent narration by Nick Podehl, I'll be here for Doors of Stone when it's released.

[Kate (Blogging with Dragons)]

This review originally posted on Blogging with Dragons.

Personally, I liked the first book in The Kingkiller Chronicles better. It was tightly edited, started with a hugely tragic event that would shape young Kvothe’s journey into a legend and only heightened from there. In contrast, The Wise Man’s Fear spends too much time on events that seem either completely unnecessary or like they could be in an entirely different book or novella. As a result, the ending and much of Kvothe’s life at the University, what I cared about the most, is largely and regrettably skimmed over. Though the novel is still an impressive feat, I feel that Rothfuss’s editors gave him a little too much freedom, with certain events taking up too much of the book, and then consequently, the author did not a have high enough word count to finish out the novel in an unhurried way.  This was an opinion I shared when I first read this book and again when I reread it.

During both reads of this novel, I was also extremely frustrated with many of Kvothe’s actions. Throughout both books, I was forced to suffer through description of Kvothe’s maybe-maybe-not unrequited love with his beloved Denna. So I was absolutely shocked when he slept with four different women in the course of this book while still harboring feelings for her. What’s far worse, however, was that when Denna began researching the song of Lanre, the song that got his parents and his entire troupe brutally murdered by the Chandrian in the first book, Kvothe first decided to insult her on her failure to get the actual story factually correct, and then leaves town for months without warning her of the dangers of this song. Kvothe found her again months later, but once again failed to give her the warning that could very well save her life because it wasn’t “the right time.”

Kvothe was more afraid of ruining his romantic chances with Denna than he was of what could ultimately befall her at the hands of the Chandrian or her abusive and mysterious patron. I wondered how Kvothe would handle his own devastation if the worst ever did happen to her and he hadn't tried very hard to stop it. And though I never liked Denna or for that matter, Kvothe’s continued blind and stupid infatuation with her, Rothfuss’s skillful writing made me worry for her. Denna appeared only more sympathetic when she saved a young girl’s life and laid out the only logical, but very bleak, circumstances that would befall the girl if she didn't wise up and fast. And though I had often hoped that Kvothe would wind up with another girl—Devi, I most profoundly hoped for—I dreaded whatever would inevitably happen to Denna and the havoc that it would wreak on Kvothe’s life and behavior. After all, his life had already been irrevocably changed by the loss of his parents and troupe at a young age—and had forever set him on the path of revenge against a dark and supernatural force that he still does not understand—I hated to imagine what would happen if something happened to the love of his life.

But I really just could not believe the ceaseless extent of Kvothe’s willfully idiotic behavior. I was endlessly frustrated that a prodigy and genius like Kvothe could be so utterly stupid and convinced of his own invincibility. I groaned when Kvothe continued to antagonize his entitled and deadly classmate, Ambrose, multiple times throughout the book. Most people would assume that having to make an illegal gram in order to protect oneself from blood magic—which could very well render Kvothe dead or worse—at his hands would serve as enough of a deterrent to keep Kvothe from upsetting him or gaining his deadly attention. But no, instead Kvothe broke into Ambrose’s apartments to steal Denna’s ring back from him, and then again to rid himself of Ambrose’s blood magic spell. The true icing on the cake was when Kvothe, newly rich, disguises himself and travels halfway across the world to mail a letter he had forged to ruin Ambrose’s high class reputation—professedly from a young woman claiming Ambrose had gotten her pregnant. Kvothe really never learned to stop poking the bear; he believed himself capable of handling anything that the world throws at him—after all, he survived the Chandrian and the Cthaeh tree. Regardless, his action seemed even worse because present day Kvothe informed Chronicler that he got kicked out of the University by continually antagonizing and underestimating Ambrose—so the reader knew the whole time that it wasn’t going to end well.

I was also in complete anguish when Kvothe ruined his chances for a patronage with the Maer, which would allow him to research not only the Chandrian, but also the secretive organization—which was actively erased from history—known as the Amyr. Upon returning to the Maer’s house in Severn, and learning that the Maer actually shares his interest on the Amyr, Kvothe was let in on one of the many secrets of the new wife of the Maer—who comes from the ancient Lackless a lockless box that will not open, but isn’t sealed with a key. But before Kvothe learned about how this box relates to the Amyr, why it won’t open, how it is closed without a lock—he, of course— sabotaged his chances by revealing his previously private Edema Ruh ethnicity to the extremely bigoted wife of the Maer, who immediately and ­effectively cast him out. This was after months of service to the Maer, saving his life from a servant who was poisoning him, and the months’ long quest and resulting eradication of the bandits who were stealing his tax dollars.

Naturally Kvothe was very disappointed, but not nearly as much as I was. I wanted to scream. Why had I suffered through all the seemingly unconnected side stories—the months of service to the Maer, the bandit excursion, the time in the world of the Fae with the Felurian, the training with the Adem—only for Kvothe to ruin the same hopes he had since the first book in a fit of stubborn pride?  My only consolation prize was Kvothe’s rushed return to the University, where he resumed his Naming studies with the eccentric-is-too-mild-of-a-word Elodin.

But I consoled myself by rationalizing that if it weren’t for this often repeated stupidity of Kvothe, he would seem utterly too perfect. He is a natural at almost everything he picks up—the arcane, medical, languages, music, sygaldry, etc. In fact, it was almost annoying how great and special he is at everything and how his every move automatically becomes a legend. After a certain point, it really was becoming unrelatable. Present day Kvothe, who tells the story of his youth, and is utterly without magic and completely despondent, was the only other thing that thankfully dispels his mastery of literally everything. Especially because young Kvothe’s failure to pick up mathematics and chemistry at the University was only brushed upon and doesn’t really resonate, as it was in the supremely rushed ending of the book—which tried to cram an entire year of Kvothe’s study into a mere 50 pages or so. This was laughable compared to the hundreds of pages spent on hunting down bandits and training with the Adem. I would have gladly traded the entirety of Kvothe’s time spent on these pursuits to read more about his studies at the University.

I absolutely hated the parts of the book that involved the Adem and the bandits; I found them boring and felt like they would never end. The adventure with the bandits was only interesting after the actual events occurred, and Kvothe learned that the leader, was actually Cinder, a particularly horrid member of the Chandrian, for whom he’s been hunting for years. And during Kvothe’s extensive training with the Adem, I felt like I would die from boredom if I heard the words “threshing wheat,” “sleeping bear,” or something inanely similar, to describe a training move one more time. Perhaps if the reader was a fan of action or of fighting books, one might like this part of the book. But in my opinion, these parts of the book would have fit better in a separate novella. As long as these parts of the book were, they would have easily filled a novella; and for as much as they failed to move the overall plot of the story forward, they could have easily been disconnected from the novel at large. Then, a simple time-skip and a reference to the events of the novella could have been placed in the novel, the publishers could have sold an actual whole other book, and everyone would’ve been happy—me especially, at only having to read those parts once and to never pick up the novella containing the bandits and the Adem again.

Though I despised these parts of the book and found them personally boring, they stilled showed off Rothfuss's craft at world building. The Adem had a rich cultural heritage and lifestyle, combined with their religious belief in the Lethani. And though these parts of the book weren't for me,  the novel as a whole was beautifully written, filled with amazing characters, and a completely absorbing world and its mysteries, along with a wonderful sense of humor. If it weren't for all of that and the fact that even these slower parts of the book were better than a lot of entire series I have read, I would’ve given this book a lower rating.

Despite all of its negatives and slower pacing, I still recommend this series to anyone and everyone looking into getting into fantasy novels or just into the hobby of reading! My boyfriend, who has never been much of a reader, devoured these books and passionately discussed them with me on multiple occasions. And we’re both dying for the next book in this series, weeks after reading the first two books, and trying to piece together the mysteries of the Chandrian and the Amyr, the lockless box, and what happened to leave present day Kvothe devoid of magic and disguised as an innkeeper in the middle of nowhere.

3,5 stars

"There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in the storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man." (Count Threpe to Kvothe)

FINALLY! After two months of reading The Wise Man's Fear, I can finally cross it off my bookish bucket list.

WHAT I LIKED!
☴ Kvothe. He might be a know-it-all who is good at everything, but he's an interesting character.
☴ All the "gaps" between the past and the present timeline. My need to know what is going on is STRESSING ME OUT! (In a good way)
☴ The expansion of the world. It was interesting to see Kvothe come into contact with different societies and cultures.
☴ That women are portrayed slightly better in The Wise Man's Fear then they are in the first book.
☴ Elodin, who is hilarious.
☴ Vashet, who is the coolest.
☴ Devi, who is the baddest of the bad.

WHAT I LOATHED!
☴ The plot in The Wise Man's Fear is quite repetitive in relation to the plot of The Name of the Wind.
☴ The pacing in the middle is so slow and drawn out, especially the part with Felurian.
☴ Poor portrayal of women.
☴ Denna. Urgh! She's literally written to be 'Kvothe Number Two' and her relationship with Kvothe feels so forced. I couldn't detect the slightest bit of chemistry between them.

There's so many questions and theories that I have after reading The Wise Man's Fear, but unless Door of Stone comes out soon, which is doubtful, I'll just have to sit in a corner and wait... patiently.

"Anyone can love a thing because. That's as easy as putting a penny in your pocket. But to love something despite. To know the flaws and love them too. That is rare and pure and perfect." (Kvothe)

Again I've kept myself up foolishly late absorbed in this book. It's painful that I can't immediately put my hands on the final volume (as it isn't finished yet) so I might have to read some of the spin off works in the meantime. Another excellent story following the first. I can't wait to read the final book. I don't think I've ever wanted to read a book so badly. If you loved the first book you'll love this one too.
P.S. I think Patrick Rothfuss does a good job with all his characters, especially his female ones, which is a pleasant surprise in the world of fantasy writing.

[g2pro]

Read this Book, but read Name of the Wind first.