Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man's Fear

The Wise Man's Fear is the second volume ("Day Two") of the Kingkiller Chronicles, an epic trilogy of books by Patrick Rothfuss. Like the first volume, The Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicles, Day 1), this second book follows a young red-haired archanist named Kvothe. It begins with him studying at the University, in subjects like artificery, sympathy, and naming. But at the close of the term, he sets out to see the world, and to hopefully get a patron. A friend has set up an opportunity on the other end of the known world, with a wealthy Maer Alveron. So Kvothe sets out, and his journeys occupy much of the rest of the book, first as he learns to navigate the courtly culture in Vintas, then hunting bandits in the untamed Eld. He has a remarkable encounter with the mythic Felurian and spends a few months in the lands of the Fae, and also spends a few months learning the advanced mercenary culture and the way of the Lethani among the Adem, before rescuing two young girls from bandits on his way back home. That's all to say it is a relatively action-packed book with some interesting changes of scene.

This second book continues fascinating trajectory begun in the first volume, developing the main characters and the world they inhabit. Kvothe continues to become an engaging, complex, slightly dark protagonist, and he makes for a sympathetic yet also mythic "hero." The book suffers a bit from the oft-noted "middle-book slump," but not too much. The change of setting often makes for an interesting variety of scenery and plot, but it occasionally bogs down a little. And the main "mystery" that seems to be driving the books, a tandem of the questions of how Kvothe ends up as a rather hum-drum inn keeper in a backwards town and of how the major conflict with the Seven will resolve, are both moved forward some, but often seem to get lost in what almost seem like asides, or at least interesting facets too fully explored (case in point is the sheer amount of time spent in the world of the Fae with Feulrian, which adds some important detail as well as some mythic depth to the world and to Kvothe's character, but which goes on for maybe a few too many pages). As with the first volume, I enjoyed this one and look forward to the series' conclusion in the final book. Rothfuss has constructed an expansive story-world, and I look forward to entering it again.