The Wise Man's Fear

 "The Wise Man's Fear" is the second in what is supposed to be a trilogy(though I'm starting to have doubts as to how he can possibly conclude it with only one book).

 This one is much like his first, "The Name of the Wind".  Except it is really damn long.  1126 pages long.

  First, I did enjoy the book.  Rothfuss is a very solid writer, this ant no hack.  He is great a stringing together a sentence, but I'm starting to wonder if he can actually string a full story together.

 Why?

  Well for one, the first 400 pages are a retreat of the first novel.  More Kvothe at University, nothing really new going on here.

 Finally Kvothe leaves the University, he travels 1000 miles(somehow in only 16 days with a shipwreck, eh?) to a distant city where he enters the service of some high and mighty dude.  Denna shows up yet again.  Kvothe pines after her.  Hey this sounding familiar?

 Finally about half way through the book, Kvothe yells at Denna, and is promptly sent out on a mission to eliminate some bandits.


 I should add, that each time Kvothe travels to a new location, the story becomes interesting.. for a time.  But each time Rothfuss overstays, and the reader becomes deadly bored with the location, hoping each time a new chapter arrives that Kvothe will move on.  Kvothe always manages to stay longer than I care for, making me wish they had cut quite a few chapters.

 There is one horrible part where Kvothe enters the fae realm, I kept assuming it would end.. but chapter after chapter Kvothe somehow remained in this most intolerably dull location.

 It does pick up some at the end, Kvothe learns to fight, saves some girls, stuff actually happens, etc.  Why couldn't more of the book been like that?


8.8/10