The Wise Man's Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle, Book 2) Kindle Edition

Don't get me wrong. The 2 books that I have read are AWESOME! Thanks to being burned by GRRM, I no longer have the patience to wait YEARS in-between books. Save your money and your sanity and avoid this series, until it is completed. If the rest of the series is never completed then your welcome for saving you time and money, and an endless supply of frustration.

I'm torn on this review. I thought TNOTW was THE BEST fantasy novel I've ever read. I could not put it down. This week, bored, I re-read TNOTW and looked up AWMF. I realized it was already on my Kindle but I didn't remember buying or reading it. Yet, it was at 100%. I started reading it again and sort of, kinda remembered the first few chapters. By the time he left the University I was in all new territory. I can only assume what happened was that I read the first few chapters, got bored and skipped to the end. Most of the book was completely new to me.I see and understand most of the 1 star reviews. This book wasn't as good as TNOTW. Its slow. There are a lot of side stories. I'm also sick of his unresolved and strange relationship with Whatever The Hell Her Name Is This Week. The Flurian side story drug on Way too long. This could have been covered in 1 chapter, 2 at the most instead of near a 1/4 of the book. I am also extremely frustrated with an author who seems to be either flat out lazy or who doesnt care at all about his readers. I agree with every bad review and scathing opinion of the author.However... Its apparently been Years since I bought this book. The second time around I see amazing and subtle points I never noticed before, things you truly have to Think about (a sentence, a gesture, a story...might mean far more than realized). I think I --and others -- forget just how Young the protagonist really Is in this installment (16-17 at University?)...how young he might Still Be as the story teller/inn meeper Kote ... 20-21? 25? We don't know.I couldn't put it down. I caught myself reading on my lunch break and staying up too late. I devoured this book in 2 days. I found myself thinking about Kvothe at work, wondering, picking apart seemingly subtle and unrelated points, questioning...Maybe I am reading too much into this book. Maybe its all nonsense. Maybe it isn't. We'll have to wait until book 3 to find out. I'll probably be dead by then but I was highly entertained on my way to the grave (lol).So 3 stars for now. I reserve the right to change my review based on book 3...if I'm not already dead before publication.

I read the sequel because I thought the first book was just a slow introduction. Again, just like the first book, the initial and final chapters of this sequel were written with compelling cinematic finesse. But after the long slog of the middle chapters I will not be tricked by the final chapter into reading the next book (if the author can even pull it together to write the third book in the series). The plot of this second book goes nowhere. All action in this book can be reduced to thirty pages, a whole ten pages more than the first book. Kvothe (the protagonist) has incredible talent and promise but self-destructs in the end. The reader starts to get the impression that Kvothe is not some deep, gray, character but just some dope with immense talents and a high I.Q. but no motivation to compel him to accomplish what he desperately wants. He spends too much time intoxicated and playing his instrument: This must be the author's attempt at character building because this book is 90% characterization, 9% world building and 1% plot. Kvothe's actions, thoughts and mentalizations are too far removed from realistic self-interest and motivations in both the economic and psychological senses of the words to take him seriously as a character in fantasy. When I read, I want an escape. It does not matter that the characters' motivations are black, white, or gray; whether, they are resolute or indecisive, capable or incompetent, skilled or untalented; whether the story is a fortune, tragedy, or farce. What matters is the story is great and transports the reader somewhere else. This book is missing everything that makes a book great except a few scraps of a compelling mythos, the completion of which, may never happen because of writer's block. The author is too busy finding catharsis reliving his life through his protagonist instead of writing a story. It would be more satisfying to get involved in office politics or in your neighbor's religion than to read this book.

Another author with a long unfinished series. I actually enjoyed parts of this book, just not the main character or his ?girlfriend? idk what she is really?What really soured me on the series and has made me write it off is the behavior of the author. Once upon a time we were told the series was complete & editing was in works for the final book, now if anyone even mentions the final edition the author flips his lid- like seriously acts like the world’s biggest a-hole bc how dare we, the readers care about when he’s gonna get off his video game and give us the book we have been waiting for?Never mind the fact that he has the leisure of sitting there, gaming on live stream for hours each day because we bought his books to begin with, without us readers he’d be working a 9-5.So yeah, Patrick Rofuss & Patrick Rothfuss alone is the reason why I will never put a dime towards anything with his name on it.

Why oh why did I start this series before reading more about it?I loved these first two book but it's been many years since the author has put out anything else and it's not looking good that he'll finish the series.This book is a solid 4 stars for me. But the fact that the story isn't likely to be finished, or at least finished anytime soon, really takes away from it's value.

There is no point to a story without an ending. I didn't read all that just to find out there's no point because the third book of the trilogy hasn't been written. You can't call it a trilogy if there aren't 3 books. Such a shame as I was REALLY enjoying it. But a waste of time if I never find out what happened. It's like if Tolkein had stopped 2/3rd of the way through Lord of the Rings. Would we all still love it? No.

(Spoilers contained) Having enjoyed the first book, I’m left slightly frustrated during and after reading this. I have to agree with the other 3 star reviews on the whole, the plot doesn’t quite progress, and is very self indulgent in places. It gets side tracked in massive chunks for no reason. I was waiting for the Felurian Fae section to reach a conclusion but it just went on and on for hours to no real benefit other than he learned how to shag really well and got a really useful cloak out of it. Then, when that was finally over, we launched straight into another extremely lengthy saga into the Tai Chi world of the Adem warriors where he was immersed In the wisdom and teachings of the Lethani (a bit like the Tao) and also got to exercise his new shagging skills freely. That went on for hours and hours too. I enjoyed the section where he killed the rapist bandits and rescued the girls a bit more. He came home to the University as some kind of hero legend. Then he went into Tarbean to send a fake letter to his arch enemy pretending to be a pregnant ex lover. Why did he do that? It just seemed quite a petty thing to do for someone who was supposed to have learned new wisdoms of the world, it was far from “Lethani” and would serve no purpose other than stirring up trouble with his arch enemy and undoubtedly lead to crippling trouble for himself. Besides, given Ambrose’s rough treatment of women I doubt he would even care anyway. All that aside, the Denna thing didn’t progress in the slightest, we’re no closer to any enlightenment on the Chandrian and the Amyr. We are also no more enlightened about how Kvothe came to be innkeeper Kote, who Bast is and how they’re together, the mysterious sword on the wall (which isn’t the Adem sword), the Skrael, the “king killer” thing “poet killer”... In fact there’s nothing that is answered in any way whatsoever, and given that there hasn’t been a sequel for a decade, I doubt the author really has the answers either. I can’t help but think that there is an awful lot to cram into the third book to keep us up to speed. This book was far too long for what it was I can’t imagine how long the next one will have to be!

This is a difficult book to rate and review, because I enjoyed reading it and had a great overall experience, but at the same time have quite a few criticisms. I know many people liked this less than the first book, but I’m not entirely sure I agree. I find the university parts some of the least compelling and engaging, and so taking a big trip away and exploring more of the world was fantastic for me. I really enjoyed most of Kvothe's adventures, there's a good variety of them, and there are some great new introductions to the world (I'm very interested in the Cthaeh).However, I understand and share a lot of the frustration with this book. The story felt quite rambling. It’s definitely taking its time along Kvothe’s journey, and it feels like we’ve barely touched on the things Kvothe is famous for. He still feels a long way from the legendary character teased in the first book. It also feels like we’re circling around and ending up back where we started. This feels like an odd move for the middle book in the trilogy, which I would expect to be breaking away from the ‘origin story’ a little more. In addition to this, the secondary characters still feel underdeveloped and Denna is even more aggravating than before.But despite all this, the tale and the telling of it are so exciting and compelling throughout, I raced through the book and couldn’t put it down, and I want more! I’m still very invested in Kvothe’s story, and now there are interesting new hints that Kvothe might not be the hero we think. I’ve read other people's suggestions that this could be a villain’s story in the end, and while I don’t think it will be quite that simple, I think this is a good observation.Still a very enjoyable read, still both frustrating and awesome, and I still can’t wait for more.

The book follows the same pattern as the 1st one (albeit a lot longer). I felt while reading this that nothing was happening or building and like the first book, spent time on stories and going off on tangents that (so far) don’t really have any connection to the overall narrative.That said, the last stage of the book was good and tied some of the bits together.I’m not excited for another instalment if this is the kind of offering coming in the 3rd book. Given how long it’s taking to come out, I’ll probably not bother

... But steal the neighbours' moon.Fair enough.People often trot out the old saw "write about what you know". I think that a lot of people get confused by this, and it might be better phrased as "know enough about your subject that you don't embarrass everyone", which would probably lead to a lot less abandoned first novels about boring humdrum suburban lives.Rothfuss knows fantasy, and it was interesting, as I was reading the book the second time through, to see who he had begged, stolen and borrowed from. I must say I think his taste in influences is first rate. Perhaps he could read a little more James Branch Cabell, perhaps he could pay a little more attention to Poul Anderson or Ursula LeGuin, but wit and humour are both there, and he doesn't waste too many words, for all the doorstop size of these books. The worldbuilding is fresh and full and vivid and engaging enough that it doesn't clunk and clank and throw me out of the tale when big lumps and dollops of it are incorporated into the narrative - unlike the efect when so many writers try to display their chops - or is it that they just don't know that the world is for the writer to know, the story is for the reader to read? Whatever, this is one of the rare occasions where it (pretty much) all works, with traditional elements melded to influences and sparks and strands of originality, then forged into a whole. What puzzles me is the people who seem to feel there is some kinship here with Rowling's work - I find that bogstaggering. 'Oh! He goes to a School of Magic, does he? That must be like Hogwarts then'. - As if there aren't any others. Oh dear oh dear. So, anyways: Old, new, borrowed and blue, a legacy of folk tale and fantasy make a happy marriage here, and the offspring has an undeniable charm.A few things ring hollow: first and foremost, for me, the details of the domestic economy of a traditional inn. Making bread without using water in the dough doesn't work, and there is usually some oil or butter too, never mind what else might go in to a decent loaf. Boiling freshly pressed apple juice? Ouch. And calling the resultant liquid 'cider' is anachronistic in flavour. An innkeeper would be more likely to ferment the stuff, specially in an inn with so little business, as booze keeps better and you can charge more. A cask of whiskey that big? In an inn with so little business? You'd lose so much to the angel's share that it would be uneconomical. I could go on, but there was enough to like about the setting and the writing that I will exercise forgiveness and forbearance. And where do you find a 17th century inn - or the equivalent - to practice being an innkeeper for a few months so you get the details right? Tricky. So I guess I really HAVE to forgive a lot of that.Felurian having an oral faux Kama Sutra irked me. Bumpkins and poachers and the odd woodsman turn up, every dozen years or whatever, and she instructs them out of the equivalent of some manual from a Sanskrit Court Pundit's pen? Hardly. And if she swims in a sea of blissful carnality I find it hard to imagine she needs to stick labels on the waves. I can understand that this might be a convenient source of metaphoric shorthand and that it can make the task of writing about sex less onerous and 'real', but it was one of the few true failures of the Rothfuss imagination, for me - an easy way out that led to a swamp.The borrowing behind the Adem somehow annoyed me much less, as it seemed far more appropriate, and I thought it was far less of a problem for the old 'suspension of disbelief' malarkey, even if it did stick out like a sore ear.Niggle niggle niggle, and it still gets FIVE STARS. Because what there is to like about it far outweighs the reservations I have.Read this book, it is good for you. There, said it. Rothfuss' work is a bright star, or three, glimmering above a dismal fog of mediocre writing.Well done that man.Keep it up.And thank you.