A Wise Man's Fear
This series has given me a reading experience unlike anything before it and I feel lucky to have stumbled upon it so late as my waiting time for the third book is greatly diminished from the hardcore fans. Where do I start? How does a relatively poor writer review the words of someone infinitely more talented?
To begin with it inspired so many feelings that had me all over the place but the whole time I felt the gentle nudging of Patrick Rothfuss weaving it all together so it was a comfortable journey. There is so much building and growing done in this book that it just swept me away every time I picked it up. I’ve heard from other readers this is a love/hate book though I cannot imagine how anyone who enjoyed the first one, could not have enjoyed this one and why if you didn’t enjoy the first one, you would jump into another 1000 page yard by the same fella. I got exactly what I expected after reading The Name of the Wind.
The pacing has a life of it’s own. Sometimes I feel like I am sliding down an incredibly gentle slope that picks up speed ever so slowly but has me on a track so I know I’ll never fall off. Other times the tension and excitement was like a thousand giants charging across a vast distance that started with a tiny rumble but grew and grew and left me horrifyingly stuck to what I was reading but wanting to turn my head to avoid the inevitable. Every detail felt important and I loved the way Rothfuss seemed to effortlessly draw so much from so little. He takes a moment and peels back layer after layer of emotion and detail, it is fleshed out without ever being, or even approaching, an overly ponderous exploration and he makes it entirely relatable to the reader. Don’t ask me how the hell he does it but he does.
I read this over the course of a few busy months whilst renovating a house and finished it last night. Often times you forget a book or what has taken place but every time I picked this up the story came flooding back as did all my feelings for the characters. Kvothe, Auri, Bast and Dev are like points of a compass and at any time one will be there to point you on track and steer you down a pathway into their lives. They are unflinchingly full and real, despite coming from unreal place.
In terms of the narrative we at last leave the University and for me that was the major pay off of this book. We’ve seen Kvothe go through many things during his time at study so the chance to see him venture into the outside world and start to earn the reputation that we know he has, is exactly what I was hoping for. Encounters with Bandits, the challenge of bringing together a group of mercenaries, earning their respect and leading them to victory, not to mention some serious boom boom time with the hottest faerie in the forest, Felurian.
I love Bast as a side character because he is my voice, which makes me a pretty powerful guy, which in turn is pretty cool. I felt like his struggles mirrored my own as it was upsetting to see the incredible man Kvothe seemed to be when compared to the man he currently is and it is Bast that expresses this the most. It was heartbreaking to see Kvothe get his ass kicked by a well-trained soldier in the present and the inability of Bast to accept this had happened or justify it to himself was similar to what I felt. I expected him to be all-powerful and that sense of ‘something is wrong here’ that Bast seems to puzzle over was something I felt myself going through. I am desperate to see him reclaim his former glory. I only hope Rothfuss is too and can figure out a way for it to happen.
Amazing book. I don’t want to see Kvothe become a killer of kings but when the third book does come out I will be eagerly waiting in line to get my copy.
