This book is the second part of The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss, and I was not sure it would live up to its predecessor (The Name of the Wind) which I absolutely loved. However, I was NOT, I repeat, NOT disappointed. This is a great follow up and we continue the format of the previous book in that we have two narratives - the first is in the present, with events taking place in a tavern run by Kvothe, who is a "legend in his own lifetime". The other narrative is where we find out how and why Kvothe became that legend as he relates his life story to The Chronicler. The Wise Man's Fear picks up where we left off, with our hero continuing his life at the university, rubbing up against his arch enemy, Ambrose, and also spending as much time with the love of his life, Denna. He has successfully got himself into The Naming class with the eccentric professor Elodin, but becomes frustrated when he feels he's not learning anything. Continually getting into some kind of trouble, usually due to his feud with Ambrose, and always battling against not having enough money, he is given the opportunity to take a gap year and try his hand at securing a patron in the form of The Mayor of Severen. Kvothe saves his life, finds him a wife and then heads up a force to tackle a deadly set of bandits. During this adventure, he crosses paths with one of the mysterious Chandrians, who killed his family. He also falls into the Fae world and learns the ways of a man, so to speak, with the dazzling Fae seductress, Felurian. She makes him a shead (a cloak that will become vital to his legend). He also trains with the Adem, an intriguing people who I'm pretty sure were inspired by the Samurai. Here he learns skills that will benefit him in a very short space of time. Finally, Kvothe gets back to the university with no more money troubles and catches up with his friends and begins his studies once more. But trouble is brewing ... There is so much going on in this book that I could go on and on, but I won't. It was as enjoyable as the first, although for me, the section in the Fae world went on a little bit too long. We are already seeing aspects of how this young teenager is fast becoming the central figure of tales of adventure and daring do. There is plenty of action, but also plenty of time to reflect and a good deal of scene setting. As before, the excellent Rupert Degas who narrated the audio version I read was fantastic and I could listen to him all day. Yes, this book is a long one, but it's worth the time. Roll on part three ... which isn't out yet, but will definitely be a book that I will hunt down when it is released!
My STAR rating: FIVE.
Length: 1000 print pages.
Price I paid: £5.84.
Formats available: print; unabridged audio download; MP3 CD; ebook.
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