The Wise Man's Fear

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Continuing to careen on the most exciting and enjoyable reading experience that is Patrick Rothfuss’ tale of Kvothe the Bloodless, this week I encountered a most thrilling tirade of mystery, revenge, romance, and glorious violence and adventure in The Wise Man’s Fear.

This book depicts innkeeper Kote, aka legendary hero Kvothe the Bloodless, continuing to chronicle the various adventures and mishaps that earned him his reputation and inspired so many stories. Amongst other anecdotes, Kvothe regales Chronicler and Bast with exciting stories of his vendetta against Ambrose, his time in the employ of a high-ranking member of Vintish royalty, his adventure into the Fae realm, and his encounter with a nightmarishly familiar foe.

Significantly larger than its predecessor, The Wise Man’s Fear is that classic second book where the world becomes bigger, the characters more developed, and chaos occasionally runs rampant.

After loving the first book so much, I was super keen to get stuck in to this one and, while it absolutely delivers a most wondrous reading experience, there are moments where things start to drag a little bit. Many of the adventures depicted in this story take a more chaotic jaunt into the fantasy realm, particularly with Kvothe's dalliance into the world of the Fae and, while the entire thing is very interesting and stunning to read about, one does find themselves stopping and wondering just where the book is actually going. Maybe it’s because there’s a deeper delve into high fantasy, or it could be the mixture of European faerie tale morphing into Eastern, quasi-karate kid territory at one point, but I found that there was a slight discord happening within the world, which made it easier to zone out and put the book down; something that I struggled to do with The Name of the Wind.

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Regardless, Rothfuss’ prose is still crisp, poetic, and exciting, successfully cementing emotional attachments to the characters from the readers. Many of the situations described deliver a most delicious and tangible sense of emotional satisfaction, both for the characters and the reader, and it’s always good when a certain line or action causes you to squeal with delight or face-palm yourself. That’s the type of reading experience that Rothfuss gives us with these books and it’s particularly important because, in a world where we consume hundreds of images and characters and artistic tropes daily, it’s hard for artists to create a story or a character that can actually illicit those sorts of genuine emotional responses.

Praise of Patrick Rothfuss!

The Wise Man’s Fear is the second book in series on Kvothe the Bloodless, written by Patrick Rothfuss and published in 2011 by Gollancz, London.