The Wise Man’s Fear ~ Patrick Rothfuss

The Wise Man’s Fear is the second book in the Kingkiller Chronicle. It is a direct continuation from the first book The Name of the Wind. I read The Name of the Wind back in June last year after a friend lent it to me and I wished I had reread it to refresh my memory before reading its sequel.

It’s a little hard to write a review on a sequel as so many things are already established and the events of this book do sort of spoil the first one. So I’m going to (to the best of my ability as it’s been such a long time) combine the two into one post.

If you love fantasy novels, like me, then I highly highly recommend the Kingkiller Chronicle. But, be warned, the books are longer than your average novels and there tends to be a very long wait between the books, so there is no release date for the third (and possibly final) book.

I had never heard of the Kingkiller Chronicle until a friend saw me reading one of Anthony Horowitz’s Power of Five and told me if I liked them, I would like the Name of the Wind. Fair to say, within a few pages I was unbelievably hooked.

The Kingkiller Chronicle is the story of Kvothe, son of Arliden, a teenager who grows up to be a fairytale character with many titles: Kvothe the bloodless; Kvothe the Arcane and Kvothe the Kingkiller.

We meet Kvothe as an adult who has disappeared and become Kote, an innkeeper who does not seem to have the same skills that his teenage self was renowned for. Kote agrees to tell his story to the Chronicler (a collector of stories is probably the best way to describe this character).

Teenage Kvothe is extraordinarily clever, cunning, inventive, a little bit annoying, ignorant, arrogant, oblivious, but overall a well-intentioned sweetheart. At least that is my opinion on him, there seems to be a few people who do find him irritating and he often makes really stupid decisions that you find yourself rolling your eyes at or complaining. I found that part of his charm.

My absolute favourite part of these two books is Kvothe being a musician. Kvothe plays the lute and I have never read a book where the author has managed to write the playing of an instrument, especially a string instrument, so accurately and beautiful. As a string player myself, I find these passages so enticing and have been brought to tears by the beauty of the writing. It makes me want to spend more time practicing my instrument. Kvothe’s relationship with music is something I relate to intimately and I never thought I would find anyone who had the right words to describe that.

The only comment I do have about these books is that I wish that there was a list at the back of the books on how to pronounce the names like there is at the back of the Inheritance Cycle books.

Overall I give the Wise Man’s Fear five stars. And really recommend you go read these books!

C🌙