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The Wise Man's Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #2)
by Patrick Rothfuss (Goodreads Author)
by Patrick Rothfuss (Goodreads Author)
Four years after big buzz and glowing reviews turned "The Name of the Wind" into a surprise New York Times best-seller, rising fantasy author Patrick Rothfuss has finally delivered the widely anticipated middle book in his Kingkiller Chronicles trilogy.
It was worth the wait, even if Rothfuss can't get out of his own way at times.
"The Wise Man's Fear" picks up where "Wind" left off, with the episodic tale of Kvothe the Bloodless (a name he earned by surviving a brutal whipping without bleeding in the first book), a magically gifted teen in a traveling troupe of performers who grew up to become the most notorious wizard the world has ever seen.
Since then, and for reasons we won't know until the third book, Kvothe has fallen into anonymity as the unassuming proprietor of the Waystone Inn, where he's recognized one fateful day by the king's scribe known as Chronicler. Recognizing his good fortune, Chronicler persuades Kvothe to tell him the story of his legendary life over three days. "Wise Man's Fear," then, covers the second day of Kvothe's talks with the scribe.
The book follows Kvothe as he struggles to learn the higher magic of "naming" ---- an obscure talent for controlling the wind and other elements and objects ---- while searching for the Chandrian, the legendary demons who murdered his parents. Kvothe spends the first third of the book getting into and out of trouble at the generically named University ---- a medieval alchemist's version of Harry Potter's Hogwarts Castle ---- before setting off on a series of legend-making adventures.
It's a brick at 1,008 pages. And although it's not a perfect read ---- there's no discernible movement forward in Kvothe's search for the Chandrian, and we're practically screaming at Rothfuss to send his young wizard out on the road after nearly 400 pages at the University ---- there always seem to be enough brilliant moments of storytelling to propel us into the next chapter.
Rothfuss is good, no question. His writing feels almost poetic at times, and his imagination is off the charts.
And yet some of his storytelling choices are curious.
Rothfuss' decision to tell Kvothe's story chronologically through the king's scribe, for example, has forced him to write practically every scene from the wizard's point of view, resulting in a supporting cast of mostly one-dimensional characters. The only thing we know about most of the characters is what we see and hear through Kvothe.
He also lingers too long in subplots, resorts occasionally to chance encounters to advance his story and relies heavily on cliches and anachronisms ---- contemporary phrases that feel wildly out of place in a world of demons and wizards and kings.
In one scene, for example, Kvothe's friend Wilem tells the loan shark Devi that based on what he's heard about her, he thought she'd be taller. "How's that working out for you?" Devi asks. "Thinking, I mean."
Really? That's the sort of 'today' dialogue you'd expect in the Disney series "Hannah Montana," not in an ambitious fantasy setting like this.
And yet whether those sorts of things trip you up or not, it's fair to note that this is just Rothfuss' second book. You get the feeling that once he figures everything out, he'll almost certainly morph into the major fantasy-writing force his fans are demanding him to be today.
He certainly knows how to build tantalizing expectations into his story ---- hinting at everything from a legendary fae seductress to fantastic magic and morally ambiguous characters ---- and this second book in the trilogy has scenes that fairly crackle. The way Kvothe deals with tax bandits and kidnappers, for example, will stun even the most jaded fantasy readers.
There are plenty of reasons to look past Rothfuss' growing pains as a writer to get to the final book in the trilogy ---- even if takes another four years to get there.
Let's just hope he gets out of his own way enough to write a tighter storyline without all the momentum-sucking side trips and cringe-inducing cliches and anachronisms.
It was worth the wait, even if Rothfuss can't get out of his own way at times.
"The Wise Man's Fear" picks up where "Wind" left off, with the episodic tale of Kvothe the Bloodless (a name he earned by surviving a brutal whipping without bleeding in the first book), a magically gifted teen in a traveling troupe of performers who grew up to become the most notorious wizard the world has ever seen.
Since then, and for reasons we won't know until the third book, Kvothe has fallen into anonymity as the unassuming proprietor of the Waystone Inn, where he's recognized one fateful day by the king's scribe known as Chronicler. Recognizing his good fortune, Chronicler persuades Kvothe to tell him the story of his legendary life over three days. "Wise Man's Fear," then, covers the second day of Kvothe's talks with the scribe.
The book follows Kvothe as he struggles to learn the higher magic of "naming" ---- an obscure talent for controlling the wind and other elements and objects ---- while searching for the Chandrian, the legendary demons who murdered his parents. Kvothe spends the first third of the book getting into and out of trouble at the generically named University ---- a medieval alchemist's version of Harry Potter's Hogwarts Castle ---- before setting off on a series of legend-making adventures.
It's a brick at 1,008 pages. And although it's not a perfect read ---- there's no discernible movement forward in Kvothe's search for the Chandrian, and we're practically screaming at Rothfuss to send his young wizard out on the road after nearly 400 pages at the University ---- there always seem to be enough brilliant moments of storytelling to propel us into the next chapter.
Rothfuss is good, no question. His writing feels almost poetic at times, and his imagination is off the charts.
And yet some of his storytelling choices are curious.
Rothfuss' decision to tell Kvothe's story chronologically through the king's scribe, for example, has forced him to write practically every scene from the wizard's point of view, resulting in a supporting cast of mostly one-dimensional characters. The only thing we know about most of the characters is what we see and hear through Kvothe.
He also lingers too long in subplots, resorts occasionally to chance encounters to advance his story and relies heavily on cliches and anachronisms ---- contemporary phrases that feel wildly out of place in a world of demons and wizards and kings.
In one scene, for example, Kvothe's friend Wilem tells the loan shark Devi that based on what he's heard about her, he thought she'd be taller. "How's that working out for you?" Devi asks. "Thinking, I mean."
Really? That's the sort of 'today' dialogue you'd expect in the Disney series "Hannah Montana," not in an ambitious fantasy setting like this.
And yet whether those sorts of things trip you up or not, it's fair to note that this is just Rothfuss' second book. You get the feeling that once he figures everything out, he'll almost certainly morph into the major fantasy-writing force his fans are demanding him to be today.
He certainly knows how to build tantalizing expectations into his story ---- hinting at everything from a legendary fae seductress to fantastic magic and morally ambiguous characters ---- and this second book in the trilogy has scenes that fairly crackle. The way Kvothe deals with tax bandits and kidnappers, for example, will stun even the most jaded fantasy readers.
There are plenty of reasons to look past Rothfuss' growing pains as a writer to get to the final book in the trilogy ---- even if takes another four years to get there.
Let's just hope he gets out of his own way enough to write a tighter storyline without all the momentum-sucking side trips and cringe-inducing cliches and anachronisms.
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Tyson
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rated it 5 stars
Apr 20, 2011 08:06pm
I don't agree about the anachronisms. Since it's in a world that outside our own timeline, you can't accurately call anything an anachronism. With a pre-industrial society, it's tempting to assume that it's the equivalent to an earlier society in our own world, but that's not the case. Rothfuss has stated as much, though I can't remember the details. And as far as the contemporary language goes, I've found that to be a bit of a trend in fantasy lately (see Scott Lynch's works for example). Again, you're assuming that in a pre-industrial society, there's a certain way to speak. Assuming that they aren't speaking English to begin with and it has all be translated into our world, there's no reason not to translate into idiomatic modern English.
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