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.
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This is the second book in the Kingkiller series and was bought for me by a friend. I read the first book last year, The Name of the Wind, and it took me while. While I obviously knew this was epic fantasy, it’d been a while since I’d read an epic fantasy book and I struggled to get into it. That isn’t to say the first book’s boring, it’s not, a lot happens, it’s just the writing style was slow and the book lacked pace.
This book was very much the same, and I even set myself aside a month to read it, like I did with Stephen King’s IT which is not much longer than this book. I didn’t need a month, I finished the book in just under two weeks. I was more prepared going into this one and I found that I was able to get into it quicker as there was less than needed to be set up. This is not a book/series which you can read out of order. While there may only be two books published at the moment, there’s so much in the second book which relies on you having knowledge of the first and no helpful intro is given for those just starting. So, you’ve been warned.
We begin back at the inn where an adult Kvothe is recounting his tale to a scribe. We dip from past to present throughout, edging ever nearer, slowly, to the king-killer part of this series and why Kvothe is a man of such great renown.
In this book Kvothe leaves the university for new lands to try and gain a patron so he can leave his money worries behind. What he stumbles into is a plot to kill the leader of the land he’s been sent to before being sent away himself to deal with bandits, something Kvothe is not all that experienced in. While there he stumbles into the fae world, learns the ways of the Adem mercenaries, and finally gains new insight into the Chandrian who killed his family.
We see Kvothe mature in this book which is welcome. While he is extremely smart, he doesn’t necessarily think his actions through clearly, especially where Denna is involved. I’m hoping that in the next book we will finally get more concrete information about Denna and her patron, as the lack of information and Kvothe’s resistance to confront her about it or search for it himself, which he could do, is frustrating. And as it will probably be a while before the next book is published I’m going to need a lot more to keep me interested.
There’s a reason I don’t really read epic fantasy and it’s because I can’t deal with the wait between books, and knowing I’ll have to read them again beforehand doesn’t always fill me with the greatest joy. While I enjoyed The Wise Man’s Fear, I found The Name of the Wind a slog to get through and the thought of having to revisit it doesn’t fill me with a lot of joy.
I think this is quite possibly the first time I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the second book more than the first. We got to explore more of the world, see new cultures, experiences and languages, and we finally see Kvothe let his guard down around his friends and show them the person he is, even if it rare. It is these moments of weakness where those who love him the most could hurt him that helped Kvothe become more relatable. As a smart ass student, I’m sure some will be able to relate to that, but it’s when his vulnerable side comes out, which it did more in this book, that Kvothe becomes more real and his struggles seem intensified.
I enjoyed the book more than the first. Rothfuss clearly has an untapped well of creativity to come up with something as unique as this, but for me I just wish the pace was a little bit quicker. If you’re looking for an epic fantasy, I would read the first book just so you can read this one.
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