A couple of months ago, I was talking to one of my friends about how it would be nice to read some whimsical escapist fiction as the world economy crumbled. Heroes fighting along clearly-defined roles of good and evil might take away some of the ambiguities surrounding global politics and financial policies. Some sort of Indiana Jones or James Bond of the fantasy world. After a week, my friend handed me The Name of the Wind. This is its sequel.The Facts
Length: 994 pages.
Publisher: DAW Books, Inc.
This is Rothfuss's second novel. It is part two of three.
Quick Summary
His name is Kvothe.
Okay, okay. Sorry. There's more to it, but that sentence seems to capture this series perfectly. The story is told in two parts: the overarching frame (third person) includes a character by the name of the Chronicler recording the life story of the mysterious and powerful Kvothe, lying low as an innkeeper after faking his death. The main storyline concerns itself with the actual past itself (first person); the "interludes" into the present are short, merely spanning a couple chapters at the beginning, the end, and a couple in-between. As well, Wise Man's Fear takes place in a sword-and-complicated-spells world, so watch out if the fantasy genre makes you sick. That said, I only noted a couple of times when generic high fantasy writing intruded unexpectedly.
The Bad
Rothfuss needs his editor to watch dialogue more closely. In the dialogue, it's not infrequent for a character to say something like, "I'm sorry Bast." Note the lack of a comma after "sorry"? I do. It happens often enough for it to be a problem, and it drags me out of my immersion.
The second thing I tended to notice more after it was pointed out by a friend of mine. I was telling him how great this series was becoming, specifically after Kvothe spends time in the Fae. This friend told me he had heard it was a good series, but the author tended to Mary Sue a lot of the sex scenes. And it's true. Kvothe is a virgin until the Fae, but after that he seems to entrance the female folk with a wave of his arm or a smile behind his beard. And then he simply leaves, no better or worse off. I suppose the author attempts to taint this with the knowledge that Kvothe might not be the most reliable narrator (there are snippets when we learn Kvothe fails almost as much as he succeeds), but it still bugs me, and wore on the realism of the text.
With that in mind, it might also be necessary for me to point out something that only struck me when reading the second novel in this trilogy. Kvothe astounds everyone with his intelligence and resourcefulness. But he starts to gain diminishing returns on episodes of profound skill. When reading the first book, I was simply awed; now, however, I find myself asking (note: perhaps rarely), "Really, Kvothe? You've enchanted and befriended these people, too?" I mean, hey. Kvothe is still one of the coolest cats around. But does his one-upmanship ever get old? Maybe.
At least he could beat the snot outta that Potter kid.
The Good
Finally. I've been waiting to get to this part. Because frankly, I loved this book. It's 900+ pages and there wasn't a lull in the whole novel. I love the whole basis of the first-person fantasy novel. I love the stress of poverty Kvothe goes through (if you've ever been scrambling for simply a dollar, you'll be able to relate). Kvothe as a young man (rather than a boy, as in the first novel) is incredibly fun to read about, and his skill with magic and Calling the Wind and his decimation of an entire troop of bandits is, well, just amazing.
What makes this book truly great, however, is perhaps the shadow of the overarching plot: Kvothe as innkeeper. You'll notice this about me, perhaps: I'm drawn to the absolutely broken characters. And present Kvothe is exactly this. He'll tell a wild story of how he's charmed the God of Desire, called down lightning and used a body for a link, and learned the remarkably effective fighting style and philosophy of the mysterious Adem.
And then, in the "real world", he'll get beaten to a bloody pulp by two thugs.
It's strange, and sad, and it simply makes me want to read more. Is Kvothe an unreliable narrator - did he actually accomplish his feats, or merely hope to? Is he only fabricating this story? Was there ever a Kvothe, or only an innkeeper who could spin a tale?
Or did something darker happen to him? He's lost his ability to use sympathy; he's lost his ability to fight. And the worst part is - after he tells his tale and you're pumped up on how awesome Kvothe is, he starts to believe it, too. But it's all a lie: he's lost something, and the only thing he gets back from telling this story is a false hope that he can find it again.
So he gets robbed, and the faith is shaken once more.
Final Thoughts
Like Super Sad True Love Story, this one won't keep you bored. I burned through this book incredibly fast. It is, frankly, an artistically beautiful premise, and I can't wait the four or so years it'll take Rothfuss to write the final segment. Seriously.
Arbitrary Score: 4.4 out of 5.
Next book: Absurdistan, by Gary Shteyngart (2006)
Special Note: Although the image for this novel included "A Novel" in the lower left-hand corned, it seems my actual copy substitutes the above for "The Kingkiller Chronicle: Day Two." They're finally learning! ;_;
Special Note: Although the image for this novel included "A Novel" in the lower left-hand corned, it seems my actual copy substitutes the above for "The Kingkiller Chronicle: Day Two." They're finally learning! ;_;
