The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss
This is the second novel in the “Kingkiller Chronicles” the epic fantasy by Patrick Rothfuss which charmed and delighted me despite the fact that I’d lost my taste for epic fantasies. I liked THE NAME OF THE WIND enough that I decided to pick this one up and continue following the adventures of Kvothe the Bloodless.*
At nearly a thousand pages, this novel demands a certain time commitment. Part of why I lost my taste for epic fantasies was the idea that I would spend a dozen hours on something that might not have a satisfactory ending. I have to say that there were points at which I considered closing the book and taking it back to the library unfinished. If you’re used to three and a half minute songs, it’s hard to sit through an entire symphony. The first section, for example, concerns Kvothe and his usual trials and tribulations as a poor University student. He studies for classes, struggles to make his tuition payments, and antagonizes his long-time enemy Ambrose. Much of the first novel dealt with the same issues, and when the “life at university” section stretched on past three hundred pages, I got a little bored with it. It was interesting, in a way, but it didn’t have much plot. Fortunately, I stuck with it just long enough to see that the “life at university” section had an end.
In the latter two-thirds of the book, Kvothe has other adventures besides that of his time at the university. They are fantastic adventures, and establish him as a doomed but larger-than-life hero who has done it all and seen it all. He’s not a bad character, but I do get a little tired of the way he always seems to do the right thing, and how he’s so often better than everyone else. Yes, okay, hero, larger-than-life, got it. Just gets a tad overdone at times. I am a little tired of reading about people studying. Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter, Ged–they all have to learn mystical things at the hand of a master, and it’s a respected trope, I’m just a little tired of it. I hope in book three Kvothe drops out of school and joins a band or something.
In general, the plot of this novel feels more like episodes in a long-running television show than a single story. The only overarcing storyline that connects Kvothe’s disjointed adventures together are his fruitless search for information on the Chandrain and his equally fruitless love for the prostitute Deanna who keeps jerking his chain. The fact that Kvothe is alive to tell the story does suck some of the tension out of the tale. Something happens to put a little tension back in, but I won’t go into spoiler details.
In a way, this novel reminds me of the novel AZTEC by Gary Jennings. I heard that the reason why Gary Jennings wrote AZTEC as a novel is that he had trunkloads of fascinating research on the peoples of pre-Cortez Mexico, and the best way to show this research to his readers was by creating a larger-than-life hero who traveled through the lands and had many amazing adventures. Kvothe does something similar. As he travels through his lands and has many adventures, he shows us the varied and fascinating peoples of Rothfuss’ fantasy world. Sort of a guided tour.
This is, in my opinion, the greatest strength of these novels. Rothfuss’ world is intricate, detailed, and fascinating. I love that when he presents new cultures, he doesn’t depict them as idyllic, but recognizes that no culture is perfect. His description of how magic works seems so intuitively logical that it seems ridiculous that no one on earth has replicated it yet. The details of the world don’t just include magic. Rothfuss has thought out everything from herbalism to linguistics. No one can argue that Rothfuss isn’t a meticulous worldbuilder. While I don’t like to make assumptions about an author based on the content of his book, I’d hazard a guess that Rothfuss is an intelligent and very educated man. While it moves slower than I like ( I do adore YA, bear in mind) all the pieces eventually fit into place. Kvothe grows as a character. Things that happen at university don’t make sense to him until several hundred pages later, when he’s had a little experience. I imagine when the next book comes out, I’ll probably pick up a copy, and I’m likely to purchase copies as presents for some readers I know.
I recommend this for people who like epic fantasies, and for those who like intricate worldbuilding.
*I think that it’s not necessary to have read the first book in order to enjoy this one.
