The Wise Man's Fear

Locations
Call Number: Fantasy / Rothfuss, Patrick, Adult Book / Fiction / Fantasy / Rothfuss, Patrick
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Traverwood Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fantasy / Rothfuss, Patrick	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fantasy / Rothfuss, Patrick	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Fantasy / Rothfuss, Patrick	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Malletts Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Fantasy / Rothfuss, Patrick	4-week checkout	Due 04-23-2024

Kvothe takes his first steps on the path of the hero as he attempts 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 the Edema Ruh, and travels into the Fae realm where he meets Felurian, the faerie woman no man can resist.

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Awesome book submitted by marielle on July 7, 2012, 10:39am This is the second book in a trilogy, following "The Name of the Wind."

This book is even better than the first! I love these novels. Well worth reading.

Fantastic Sequel submitted by brielle on July 8, 2012, 12:14pm I really super uber enjoyed "The Name of the Wind," and as soon as I finished it I requested this book, the sequel to it. It is a bit more promiscuous that the first, so be aware, but it was just as enjoyable.

eh submitted by unknown on August 2, 2013, 9:52pm 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.

Sink your teeth into this submitted by Susan4Pax -prev. sueij- on July 8, 2014, 8:31am A second outstanding novel from Patrick Rothfuss. Really, all I'm going to say is that if you like to sink your teeth into huge (it's 994 pages) well-written novels, and fantasy is OK with you, then this simply must go onto your "to read" list.

Qvothe's story submitted by jdgerich on August 15, 2015, 2:05pm Can't wait to read the third book! This answered several questions about his life, but many more remain.

Wordy but excellent followup submitted by eknapp on June 23, 2016, 2:58pm Kvothe narrates his autobiography to Chronicler for the second day. One more to go.

In The Name of the Wind, Kvothe mastered music, survival, thievery, and sympathy magic. In The Wise Man's Fear, our hero learns physical combat, leadership, and (cough) how to please a woman in such a way that the poets will sing of his prowess. And in the "today" framing chapters, we see once again that Kvothe is diminished, and we are left to wonder how and why. It's a great hook.

Rothfuss has taken to heart the Mary Sue criticisms of his first novel. In this one he keeps meeting people who are better than he is: sympathy, combat, naming...he even flunks out of a couple courses at the Arcane University. It's a good thing, as Kvothe's mastery and domination of ALL THE SKILLS was one of the few weak points in volume one.

By contrast, the biggest weak point in v2 is that it turns into a romance novel for 100, 200 pages. Which isn't as much as it sounds considering that WMF weighs in at over 1100 pages. But sex scenes are not PR's strength. I couldn't wait for the fairy-schtupping chapters to come to an end.

There's an entertaining bit of world-building later in the book. The relatively advanced culture that teaches Kvothe to fight thinks that women give birth spontaneously, with no help from men (they even find the word for man-mother--"father"--hilarious and pitiful). This leads them to believe that men are biological dead ends and that this is why they are full of anger and violence. It makes for an amusing discussion.

It occurs to me that while the narration-wrapper is skilfully incorporated, Kvothe is giving away an unlikely number of sacred secrets that ought to get him and others killed: demon-names, the fact that he spoke to the C'thaeh, Ademic national training secrets that he swore to keep, etc.

Good book submitted by steveiew on June 22, 2018, 1:00pm If you take out the strange romance bit this is a really great book. But the hundred pages spent on the time the main character spent with a fey creature is weird and unnecessary. The biggest issue is that the author is taking forever working on the third book.

Understanding High fantasy and world building is a prerequisite... submitted by Kikumatsu97 on June 24, 2018, 2:11pm This is not a gateway fantasy book. The story has some ling roads, but they are for the sake of telling the story, for the sake of letting you in on the details. I especially love the travel involved in this sequel. We learn about the ways of other folks and get more info on characters from The Name of the wind. The songs in the story are so great, scenes in the puns and halls are so entertaining. I love this book.

Wise Man's Fear submitted by SBNB on August 5, 2018, 3:25pm This is an excellent continuation of Kvothe's story from Name of the Wind. I loved it, although I think Name of the Wind is a hair better. (I thought Kvothe's mention of his choice of contraception was weird.) I can't wait for the third installment!

Gets right to it submitted by jayzwack on August 11, 2018, 7:01pm Just as good as Name of the Wind, without the slow build. Really liked this one from start to finish.

As good as the first submitted by Princess Cimorene on August 15, 2018, 5:47pm This book expands the world Rothfuss has created a lot. It seems like some of the information is superfluous, but according the the author, every single detail is significant and I suspect the finale will bring everything to light and surprise and satisfy readers on an amazing scale. Can't wait to see how it's all connected.

Roadtrip! submitted by no_ur_onions on August 22, 2021, 4:53pm The story and world both get a lot more complex in this sequel. Again the writing is great, the book is long, and the main character is believably smart and dumb simultaneously. Would probably still suggest waiting to read this until the series is finished though, just to minimize your breathless waiting.

Still one of my favorite series submitted by lfmarcus on August 10, 2022, 9:11am Echoing a lot of the other reviews, but references to this and Rothfuss' other books have worked their way into how my partner and I communicate (inside jokes, little references, etc.). Super memorable, and can't wait for more.

Sophomore Slump? submitted by Julia13 on June 9, 2023, 4:44pm I think it's difficult to decide whether this book is worse than, equal to, or even better than the Name of the Wind. Without a doubt it could have used some tighter editing, but the way it expands the story and pulls in new settings sets it apart.