A Wise Man's Fear

OwaynOTT · 14-03-2011 11:28am #1

Just finished the book yesterday with a marathon reading session on my day off.
Just wondering what would be other people's feelings after finishing it.
I enjoyed it quite a bit, particularly the bits with Kote, Bast and The Chronicler.
A slight niggly worry for me is how little everything actually moved forward.

pljudge321 · 20-03-2011 4:58pm

OwaynOTT wrote: »

Just finished the book yesterday with a marathon reading session on my day off.
Just wondering what would be other people's feelings after finishing it.
I enjoyed it quite a bit, particularly the bits with Kote, Bast and The Chronicler.
A slight niggly worry for me is how little everything actually moved forward.

Yeah, at the rate the actual story is progressing it definitely feels like having only one more book to cover Kvothe's age period of 17 at the end of Wise Man's Fear to his current mid thirties might be selling him short considering it has taken two full books to cover the 12 - 17 age period.

OwaynOTT · 24-03-2011 12:57pm

Well it definitely be one more book though? The fantasy landscape is littered with series that have taken more installments to complete the story than originally planned by the author.

Paddy Samurai · 24-03-2011 10:32pm

OwaynOTT wrote: »

Just finished the book yesterday with a marathon reading session on my day off.
Just wondering what would be other people's feelings after finishing it.
I enjoyed it quite a bit, particularly the bits with Kote, Bast and The Chronicler.
A slight niggly worry for me is how little everything actually moved forward.

I'm about 250 pages into it,and I'm getting the same feeling.
While I'm enjoying it,I was hoping a bit more would happen story wise.:(

ixoy · 30-03-2011 11:35pm

Just finished it and really liked it. A lot more happens in the second half of the book, shaping the legend but I can see what people are saying. Structurally the story is definitely set to be told as a trilogy (being told over three days).
I do notice that at times Rothfuss seems to race past certain events:

such as the shipwreck that Kvothe escaped from

so maybe we're going to fast forward over some events.
I would be quite happy if there's more than one instalment left, given how good the first two are.

groovie · 14-04-2011 8:00am

Given what's already happened he just needs to steal princesses from the sleeping barrow kings, get expelled from university, and he's bang up to date.

I'm slightly disappointed that he has not got to grips with

the chandrian

yet, though. He's not getting any younger, is he?

Trojan · 14-04-2011 8:02pm

Is this on sale in paperback? What's the going rate? I'll be in Dublin at the weekend, might try a couple of places for it, assuming Chapters is cheapest.

ixoy · 14-04-2011 8:52pm

Trojan wrote: »

Is this on sale in paperback? What's the going rate? I'll be in Dublin at the weekend, might try a couple of places for it, assuming Chapters is cheapest.

Large trade paperback only - it'll be a while before the regular paperback is out.

ixoy · 14-04-2011 9:17pm

Someone's gone and recorded their take on "Tinker Tanner" (from the books):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_Jbzl2Vkv8

Sounds like an Irish folk song almost.

Trojan · 28-04-2011 1:51pm

AWMF: pretty good read. If it was any other author I'd have said it was incredible, but unfortunately he has to live up to his previous.

I felt that too little happened over the course of the book, especially considering the size of the book. Also there is a risk of The Hogwarts Effect* sneaking in. I feel that he should be finished with the University by now, and he definitely should have more of an idea of where the Chandrian are. There's 15 years missing to bring us up to date, can he really do that in book 3 without rushing through everything?

Speaking of which, any rough estimates on book 3 date?

* I don't know if there's such a thing, but that's what I'm calling it.

Teferi · 28-04-2011 1:58pm

The 3rd book is going to have be the size of a couple of yellow pages stacked on each other if he is to wrap everything up nicely.

I reckon he will realise this during the creation of the 3rd and split it. I'd be very surprised if it wasn't.

Sir Ophiuchus · 01-05-2011 1:14am

I have no problem with it stretching past three books, but what I suspect will actually happen is the trilogy willl end after being brought up to the present day, and a second trilogy will focus on Kote becoming Kvothe once more.

pljudge321 · 01-05-2011 8:12am

Sir Ophiuchus wrote: »

I have no problem with it stretching past three books, but what I suspect will actually happen is the trilogy willl end after being brought up to the present day, and a second trilogy will focus on Kote becoming Kvothe once more.

This seems pretty likely, it will be enough of a stretch to fit the rest of Kvothe's life story into the last book without trying to deal with the current events as well.

01-05-2011 10:40am

I still wish he'd move on from the whole "I'm poor I'm poor I'm poor" theme.

I'm finding it amusing how many comparisons he makes to "it's like when a lover..." at the same time going on about his lack of experience with women. He must have made up for it in the 3rd book, big time :pac:

ixoy · 01-05-2011 12:55pm

bluewolf wrote: »

I'm finding it amusing how many comparisons he makes to "it's like when a lover..." at the same time going on about his lack of experience with women. He must have made up for it in the 3rd book, big time :pac:

But he made up for it big time in this book really - it was a significant part of it.

01-05-2011 12:56pm

ixoy wrote: »

But he made up for it big time in this book really - it was a significant part of it.

Shhh I'm only halfway through!!

ixoy · 01-05-2011 1:04pm

bluewolf wrote: »

Shhh I'm only halfway through!!

Opps - much embarassment

I just misunderstood you and thought you had finished it.

01-05-2011 1:05pm

ixoy wrote: »

Opps - much embarassment I just misunderstood you and thought you had finished it.

No you're right, I phrased it badly. I assumed as he's still a pup bumbling around in the forest there wasn't much time to catch up!
I'll finish the rest before I mouth off again

01-05-2011 7:40pm

I see what you meant :cool:

Coriolanus · 03-05-2011 10:16pm

Finished it last night. Not a patch on the first and there's a bit of a MarySue emerging.
They're enjoyable so far, but we'll see if the third book continues the downward trend.

JD1763 · 06-05-2011 11:10am

350 pages into the first one and really enjoying it. In fact finding it very hard to put down and now face the debacle of reading something else first or launching straight into the second one!

pH · 12-05-2011 10:22pm

Got to agree, it's not as good as the first.

I was reading it on a kindle, and at 33% he was still basically in the same story from book 1 ... at university, feuding, no money etc.

And for me, it then got worse, I hated the narrative jumps, disliked the Felurian part and the Adem part, the bits with the Maer was better, but overall not nearly as good as the first book.

Morag · 03-06-2011 5:24pm

I was going to wait until it came out in paper back to get it but as I wandered in my local library looking for s alittle light reading over the long weekend, I found it sitting on the shelf. So if you are a member of any of Fingal's library you can reserve it. I should be returning it this Tuesday.

Fluorescence · 18-07-2011 8:10pm

It's only about 7/8 years to the present day though; he's only early-mid twenties at the Waystone Inn. Don't forget that 2 of those years is him hiding away with Bast.... Still, I'd imagine the final book will be the largest of the lot (not that I'm complaining

).

Also, there's some people that reckoned the thing near the end of Book 1 where he get's expelled and whipped for calling the wind on Ambrose counts as the "getting expelled from the University younger than most people are admitted in" thing (despite the masters not actually expelling him). There's not actually too much for him left to do besides kill a king. After all, the Chandrian are still wandering the world when Kote's telling his tale to Chronicler.

Anyone want to hear some theories? [possible spoiler alert] I think that Denna's patron is Bredon, and that he is perhaps an Amyr or a Chandrian (not sure). I'm also convinced Master Lorren is one of the Amyr who's job is to prune the Archives of information about themselves (he only took Kvothe aside after his inquiry about the Amyr and scratched that line out from the ledger, he left the Chandrian request alone). I thought that maybe Elodin and Auri are somehow related (siblings maybe) who are now estranged. Their appearance as described in the books is kind of similar, and they did seem to know each other on the rooftops that time. Just a thought.

Anyone have some theories themselves?

Saltfeather · 20-07-2011 4:54pm

gotta agree the 'i'm poor' 'i'm poor' is grating
i don't think Auri is Elodins sister, after he seems so surprised when she talks at all and his behaviour around her doesn't suggest past history to me. I like your theory on the hidden Amyr though:D
also the huge different in young Kvothe and Kote is so vast in character difference makes me wonder what 'broke' him and will the next book really bring us up to date? hope so, sincerely tired of short series that whoops sorry turn into long series with unnecessary filling to make up the extra books *sigh*

Fluorescence · 20-07-2011 6:28pm

Saltfeather wrote: »

gotta agree the 'i'm poor' 'i'm poor' is grating
i don't think Auri is Elodins sister, after he seems so surprised when she talks at all and his behaviour around her doesn't suggest past history to me. I like your theory on the hidden Amyr though:D
also the huge different in young Kvothe and Kote is so vast in character difference makes me wonder what 'broke' him and will the next book really bring us up to date? hope so, sincerely tired of short series that whoops sorry turn into long series with unnecessary filling to make up the extra books *sigh*

Well Rothfuss apparently already had everything written when he published Name of the Wind, he's only rewriting the books now to patch up the extra storylines and stuff he added to his original tale (it wasn't being framed by Kote's storytelling beforehand). Kote does say in the beginning of Book 1 that he "loved, lost and was betrayed" so maybe Denna betrays him so deeply he runs away and changes his name. Methinks that's why he can't use his magic anymore (remember how horrified Elodin is when he thinks Fela's changed her Name?).

looksee · 21-08-2011 5:41pm

I am about three quarters through Wise Man's Fear and I am loving it! I don't care how fast the story is going, I love his writing style, and his ideas.

IRL_Sinister · 26-09-2011 12:32pm

For the people that are saying the story moves too slow and that he needs to write more books:

He has already written all three and is releasing one each year.

On that note, when I picked up this series I actually had no idea what it was about. I went into my local bookstore here in Toronto and asked "Hey, I want a book with lots of magic, lots of character development and a well thought-out plot" (I love books from the likes of Trudi Canavan). So when I actually started reading The Name of the Wind I was, honestly, disappointed by the lack of intense magic and spells. However, the plot and character development has more than made up for it. The Amyr, Chandarian and the "stone door" looming in the background have more than made up for any doubts and disppointments I had when reading it initially.

For the people that haven't read A Wise Man's Fear in full yet: the story progressed quickly (and intensely) towards the end of the novel. I was pleasantly surprised by how Rothfuss dealt with the end of the novel. I like the guy's post outlining the theories, I think they are well thought-out but we won't know until 2012, unfortunately

To be honest, I really enjoyed this series, it's just a shame when I bought the first one I didn't know he was only going to release one a year (I would have bought them all simultaneously otherwise). I recommend it for people. The one thing I need to warn you about, though, is there isn't really the "intense" spell-casting and magic throughout the novels like some of the other titles I like. However, the character development and plot are of the highest quality so it will appeal to a majority of the fantasy readers out there.

Zapp Brannigan · 26-09-2011 6:15pm

IRL_Sinister wrote: »

For the people that are saying the story moves too slow and that he needs to write more books:

He has already written all three and is releasing one each year.

On that note, when I picked up this series I actually had no idea what it was about. I went into my local bookstore here in Toronto and asked "Hey, I want a book with lots of magic, lots of character development and a well thought-out plot" (I love books from the likes of Trudi Canavan). So when I actually started reading The Name of the Wind I was, honestly, disappointed by the lack of intense magic and spells. However, the plot and character development has more than made up for it. The Amyr, Chandarian and the "stone door" looming in the background have more than made up for any doubts and disppointments I had when reading it initially.

For the people that haven't read A Wise Man's Fear in full yet: the story progressed quickly (and intensely) towards the end of the novel. I was pleasantly surprised by how Rothfuss dealt with the end of the novel. I like the guy's post outlining the theories, I think they are well thought-out but we won't know until 2012, unfortunately

To be honest, I really enjoyed this series, it's just a shame when I bought the first one I didn't know he was only going to release one a year (I would have bought them all simultaneously otherwise). I recommend it for people. The one thing I need to warn you about, though, is there isn't really the "intense" spell-casting and magic throughout the novels like some of the other titles I like. However, the character development and plot are of the highest quality so it will appeal to a majority of the fantasy readers out there.

Really? :P

As far as I know he hasn't got it all written yet. And we're probably going to be waiting another 2 years for the next one.

Fluorescence · 26-09-2011 8:40pm

Zapp Brannigan wrote: »

Really? :P

As far as I know he hasn't got it all written yet. And we're probably going to be waiting another 2 years for the next one.

He wrote them years ago, and then rewrote the first for publishing - adding in extra sideplots and expanding characters etc etc*. The second was released 7 years after the first because it took him faaaar longer than expected to tie all the extra stuff from book 1 into his existing material for book 2. As for the 3rd? Who knows? Maybe he learned a lot from A Wise Man's Fear and will have it ready much quicker. Maybe it will take him even longer as it now has to incorporate 2 volumes worth of extra material and not just one.

*Some of this "extra" stuff includes the whole current day frame story (of the older Kote), characters like Auri and Ambrose, and other bits and pieces - none of which was in the original versions that he had fully written almost 10 years ago.

Tenger · 10-10-2011 12:03am

ixoy wrote: »

Large trade paperback only - it'll be a while before the regular paperback is out.

And amazon have it for $19 in the kindle store.........will have to grab it, just finished book 1, so can't wait.

nesf · 21-11-2011 12:09pm

Missed "The Name of the Wind" so got to read that and "A Wise Man's Fear" back to back there. Very enjoyable. Now onto Tigiana for something that's tied up in a single book.

Trojan · 25-11-2011 7:51pm

On re-reading, I've downgraded my internal review from 7/10 to 5/10. Initially I thought it was better, I think, because I was looking forward to it so much after NotW. But it is a flawed book particularly in light of how impressive the first book was, and how much meta-thought Rothfuss has put into the art of storytelling.

The specific criticisms I'd have are the lack of story arc, the lack of forward progress, the Mary Sue issue with Kvothe, the opposite with a thoroughly annoying Denna and the Kote character, and just an all around malaise.

Good enough to keep the trilogy going, and I'll still be pre-ordering the 3rd book.

Tenger · 26-11-2011 12:52pm

Trojan wrote: »

...... the Mary Sue issue with Kvothe, ......

Good enough to keep the trilogy going, and I'll still be pre-ordering the 3rd book.

After googling that bit of literary knowledge I would agree. Apart from his short temper he has no flaws it seems, and an uncanny bit of luck throughout. It has gotten a bit bland,
"I tried it out and guess what I was great at it, which was nice"

(Speaking of wish fulfilment, being kidnapped by a nympho faerie who decides to teach you loveplay after taking your virginity!!!!........that is out there)

Personally I love the meta-story, that we are being told the story by someone who knows the ending. In most fantasy the action/drama unfolds with the reader. Kote is a sad character who is the shell of a legendary person.

Obviously we are waiting to hear how Kvothe became Kote, how the 'Kingkiller' name came about, how he befriended Bast, how he delay with Ambrose, what happened with Denna, etc (Isn't Ambrose in the line of succession for Vintas?)

1st book blew me away, 2nd filled a gap but left me a bit let down. Lets hope 3 delivers. (And wraps it all up, after Jordan and GRRM I have no patience for procrastinating authors)

Trojan · 27-11-2011 9:53pm

What annoyed me most is that I was trying to figure out what it was reminding me of, and I finally realised: "Lost". I loved the first season, puzzled through the second, was irritated by the third and gave up by the fourth: the writers didn't even pretend to make an effort to tie the plot together (I read reviews of the finale to see what happened - BS finish, as expected).

I think (hope) Rothfuss won't be quite that bad, but it's hard to see how it'll be finished in one more book and many people, including on here, reckon that it's a 6-parter, not a trilogy.

It's quite interesting, on a meta level, to look at this series, GRRM and WOT and see how they are going to be closed off. Sanderson is doing a superb job, but we know he can't get 100% coverage on closing out the hundreds of separate plot threads. GRRM is just having fun, not sure I can blame him, but could be a long time before that series is finished.

And speaking about a long time waiting for a book, Scott Lynch has had a lot of personal problems, but we're now onto at least the 10th official release date, if not more, for TROT. Looking forward to it, but rather the author and publishers were more honest about actual release dates.

nesf · 27-11-2011 10:06pm

I'd agree the book is flawed in some ways, my thing is though that I feel one needs to suspend one's critical mind when reading fantasy similar to how you have to do it when watching an action film and so on.

ixoy · 27-11-2011 10:18pm

GRRM has described himself as a gardener, in terms of writing. He plants some ideas and tends to him but isn't too sure how it's going to grow. He has an idea of the ending but not in between - and that's obvious now with the increase in the series length and that it appears to be getting bogged down.
The Wheel of Time was also not clearly plotted in advance and it too suffered expansion.
Let's hope this is not the case here too, although I also fear that Koth will suddenly go: "I know I said I'd be telling you the tail in three days but seems like we've got a bit of time. Reckon we'll make it a week!"

On the other hand - credit to Erikson who said the Malazan Book of the Fallen would be 10 books and stuck to it, despite the insane epicness of it all.

Trojan wrote: »

And speaking about a long time waiting for a book, Scott Lynch has had a lot of personal problems, but we're now onto at least the 10th official release date, if not more, for TROT. Looking forward to it, but rather the author and publishers were more honest about actual release dates.

To be fair to Lynch, from reading his blog I don't think he's ever promised a date. That's his publishers.

Tenger · 28-11-2011 2:34pm

Trojan wrote: »

.....Scott Lynch has had a lot of personal problems, but we're now onto at least the 10th official release date, if not more, for TROT. Looking forward to it, but rather the author and publishers were more honest about actual release dates.

Dammit!! I had forgotten I was waiting on that series too!!!

Although I will also be fair to him, at least he has warned us in advance that it will be a 7 part series. He even has titles so that must mean he has a bit more groundwork down that GRRM or Jordan. (Wasn't WoT originally planned as a trilogy?)

Coriolanus · 28-11-2011 9:51pm

nesf wrote: »

I'd agree the book is flawed in some ways, my thing is though that I feel one needs to suspend one's critical mind when reading fantasy similar to how you have to do it when watching an action film and so on.

And yet scifi is almost the exact opposite. I read a lot of fantasy in my teens and early twenties. These days though, I find sci fi a lot better, other than a select few fantasy authors.

nesf · 28-11-2011 9:55pm

Nevore wrote: »

And yet scifi is almost the exact opposite. I read a lot of fantasy in my teens and early twenties. These days though, I find sci fi a lot better, other than a select few fantasy authors.

Most sci-fi isn't that great either. Most literary fiction isn't to be blunt about it! And that has a higher standard than either fantasy or sci fi generally. You get the odd exceptional author in all genres but by and large critically reading popular works is going to leave you disappointed.

Fluorescence · 02-12-2011 1:58pm

The difference between Rothfuss and, say, GRRM though is that Rothfuss had all 3 books fully written before Name of the Wind was published. The story has been written and it's complete. However, when he edited the first book, he added in a lot of extra stuff, which he has to continue with in book 2 and 3 which makes for an arduous editing process.

Whereas with Martin, he has an idea of where everything's going but no concrete plans or mapped out plotlines to work from.

Teferi · 20-12-2011 7:58pm

Pat Rothfuss is doing an Ask Me Anything (basically a Q+A) over on reddit at the moment. Check it out here.

He hasn't answered anything as of yet, so you can still ask questions.

Coriolanus · 20-12-2011 9:31pm

Awesome.

Do you have any plans to write more fairy porn?
Also, what are the closest real life equivalents of 'thousand hands'? How about 'twisted lotus flower'?

OwaynOTT · 23-12-2011 2:01am

ixoy wrote: »

GRRM has described himself as a gardener, in terms of writing. He plants some ideas and tends to him but isn't too sure how it's going to grow. He has an idea of the ending but not in between - and that's obvious now with the increase in the series length and that it appears to be getting bogged down.
The Wheel of Time was also not clearly plotted in advance and it too suffered expansion.
Let's hope this is not the case here too, although I also fear that Koth will suddenly go: "I know I said I'd be telling you the tail in three days but seems like we've got a bit of time. Reckon we'll make it a week!"

On the other hand - credit to Erikson who said the Malazan Book of the Fallen would be 10 books and stuck to it, despite the insane epicness of it all.

To be fair to Lynch, from reading his blog I don't think he's ever promised a date. That's his publishers.

Ah now Erikson is doing two further trilogies, isn't he? And what about Esselmont books, which will very soon stand at 4. I think I read somewhere that they planned on having 20 books.

AnCapaillMor · 05-07-2012 2:32pm

Just finished this on audio book(so forgive the possible misspellings) and f*** me it was good. Love the way it's written from his point of view with the odd interludes. I like the level of detail on his life(not jordans 2 pages of describing what rand wore) but his day to day going ons.

Preffered it to the 1st as he got out into the world, the ambrose rivallry was getting tiresome.

Is the maers wife kvote's aunt, can't remember where hs mother came from but the maer's wife has a hatred for ruh stemming from her eldest sister running off with the ruh.

Denna is the only thing that really pissed me off to no end, fer fecksake ask her out or tell him to politely piss off. It'll get interesting with her backer, definately seems to be one of the chandrian, especially after they seemed to be involved with the bandits.

stesaurus · 06-07-2012 11:49am

AnCapaillMor wrote: »

Is the maers wife kvote's aunt, can't remember where hs mother came from but the maer's wife has a hatred for ruh stemming from her eldest sister running off with the ruh.

Yeah it really has to be.

There's also the song his dad sang that upset his mother and she wouldn't let him sing it. Called her 'Tally' short for Netalia Lockless

AnCapaillMor wrote: »

Denna is the only thing that really pissed me off to no end, fer fecksake ask her out or tell him to politely piss off. It'll get interesting with her backer, definately seems to be one of the chandrian, especially after they seemed to be involved with the bandits.

Her backer could be

Bredon, he goes missing a lot and has a walking stick, white hair, can dance etc. Maybe he's one of the Amyr

Love the 1st 2 and can't wait for the final in the trilogy. You really have to wonder just how much of a fúckup Kvothe is going to cause to end up a shadow of the man he was as Kote.
Maybe he

causes Denna's death?

AnCapaillMor · 06-07-2012 12:13pm

s.welstead wrote: »

Yeah it really has to be.
There's also the song his dad sang that upset his mother and she wouldn't let him sing it. Called her 'Tally' short for Netalia Lockless

Going over it in my head again and it definately is

when he first saw her, he thought she looked familar, so obviously she looks like her sister\his mother

Denna

i think is the on the opposite of the coin Kvothe's on, i think the amir did something to her, there's stories about them willing to do anything for justice. Listening again to the first book, when the amir formed they spoke of stopping things before the happened, you could throw the the Cthaeh into mix. Denna is willing to do anything to get her goal, so she puts up with the beatings. I loved that part in the book when kvothe was going to confront her about the beatings and she asked casually about the scars on his back. Both are being manipulated somehow by either side.

Bredon's actually a good point i just remembered the rumours of him and pagan rituals

Yeah will be interesting to see how it goes

but i don't think he'll cause her death, he'll find out that he's being manipulated and go into hiding to avoid this or he visits the cthaeh again

Tym · 15-07-2012 1:45pm

I think he'll do a Robbin Hobb and have another three books detailing his life after he tells the story. Oh, btw in the first book, in an ungaurded moment, the chronichler mentions that Kvothe actually looks 21, but mostly looks older.

AnCapaillMor · 15-07-2012 3:04pm

Heh!!, i actually started hobb last night. Dunno where i'm getting it from but i think kvothe's 27. Listening to both books a second time, picking up alot of things that one would find on re-read.

AnCapaillMor · 15-08-2012 9:02am

If the books\story are driving you mad like they are me, here's a good place to discuss and check out some theories and stuff you might've missed out on.

http://www.reddit.com/r/KingkillerChronicle/

redpanda26 · 29-08-2012 12:46am

I read both books not to long ago and enjoyed them both, but im having a memory lapse at the moment, who is bredon again?

A Wise Man's Fear

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