The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man. My name is Kvothe. You may have heard of me. So begins the tale of a hero told from his own point of view-a story unequaled in fantasy literature. Now in The Wise Man's Fear, Day Two of The Kingkiller Chronicle, Kvothe takes his first steps on the path of the hero and learns how difficult life can be when a man becomes a legend in his own time. Editorial Reviews The Wise Man's Fear was worth waiting for. It's about as good as this kind of fantasy can possibly get.... This is an extremely immersive story set in a flawlessly constructed world and told extremely well. I don't want to criticize it and analyse it--I don't want to step that far away from it. I want to sink down below the surface of it and become completely immersed. - Jo Walton This sequel carries the first book's ideas and wild exuberance further, with aplomb. By combining bold choices with bolder sincerity, Rothfuss has found one of the secrets of great storytelling. He doesn't reinvent the wheel, but he knows damn sure how to ride it. - The Onion A. V. Club The best epic fantasy I read last year... I gulped it down in a day, staying up almost to dawn reading, and I am already itching for the next one. He's bloody good, this Rothfuss guy. - George R.R. Martin The Wise Man's Fear fairly leaps off the page, whatever the setting and circumstances - Locus As seamless and lyrical as a song from the lute-playing adventurer and arcanist Kvothe, this mesmerizing sequel to Rothfuss's 2007's debut, The Name of the Wind, is a towering work of fantasy. As Kvothe, now the unassuming keeper of the Waystone Inn, continues to share his astounding life story--a history that includes saving an influential lord from treachery, defeating a band of dangerous bandits, and surviving an encounter with a legendary Fae seductress--he also offers glimpses into his life's true pursuit: figuring out how to vanquish the mythical Chandrian, a group of seven godlike destroyers that brutally murdered his family and left him an orphan. But while Kvothe recalls the events of his past, his future is conspiring just outside the inn's doors. This breathtakingly epic story is heartrending in its intimacy and masterful in its narrative essence, and will leave fans waiting on tenterhooks for the final installment. (Mar.) - Publishers Weekly Narrator Nick Podehl arrives at the end of this long audiobook, the second in the Kingkiller series, as engaged and fresh as he was at the start.... Podehl adeptly presents the broad cast of characters - from moneylenders and courtesans to kings. One of the most fascinating portrayals by Podehl begins with a young mercenary from the Adem who says little. And when he does speak, he has a flat voice, mostly devoid of expression. Podehl builds on this when Kvothe returns with him to study among the Adem, where the mercenary develops a recognizable pattern of speech reflecting many of the culture's characteristics. (AudioFile) The best epic fantasy I read last year.... He's bloody good, this Rothfuss guy. -George R. R. Martin, New York Times-bestselling author of A Song of Ice and Fire Rothfuss has real talent, and his tale of Kvothe is deep and intricate and wondrous. -Terry Brooks, New York Times-bestselling author of Shannara It is a rare and great pleasure to find a fantasist writing...with true music in the words. -Ursula K. Le Guin, award-winning author of Earthsea The characters are real and the magic is true. -Robin Hobb, New York Times-bestselling author of Assassin's Apprentice Masterful.... There is a beauty to Pat's writing that defies description. -Brandon Sanderson, New York Times-bestselling author of Mistborn - From the Publisher The Wise Man's Fear is a beautiful book to read. Masterful prose, a sense of cohesion to the storytelling, a wonderful sense of pacing.... There is a beauty to Pat's writing that defies description. - Brandon Sanderson The best epic fantasy I read last year.... He's bloody good, this Rothfuss guy. - George R. R. Martin The bartender Kvothe continues telling his story to the Chronicler, relating his years as a student of magic at the University, the scandal that forced him to seek his fortune abroad, life in a strictly hierarchical society, a dalliance with a woman of the Fae, and his ongoing search for the mysterious Chandrian, who were responsible for his family's death. In this sequel to The Name of the Wind, mysteries deepen and the characters grow even more fascinating. VERDICT Reminiscent in scope of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series and similar in feel to the narrative tour de force of The Arabian Nights, this masterpiece of storytelling will appeal to lovers of fantasy on a grand scale. - Library Journal Narrator Nick Podehl arrives at the end of this long audiobook, the second in the Kingkiller series, as engaged and fresh as he was at the start. The story of Kvothe continues as he begins another year at university, where he struggles to pay tuition and literally sings for his supper. Podehl adeptly presents the broad cast of characters-from moneylenders and courtesans to kings. One of the most fascinating portrayals by Podehl begins with a young mercenary from the Adem who says little. And when he does speak, he has a flat voice, mostly devoid of expression. Podehl builds on this when Kvothe returns with him to study among the Adem, where the mercenary develops a recognizable pattern of speech reflecting many of the culture's characteristics. J.E.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine - APRIL 2017 - AudioFile A walloping sword-and-sorcery fest from Rothfuss, the second volume in a projected trilogy (The Name of the Wind,2007). Readers of that debut--and if you weren't a reader of the first volume, then none of the second will make any sense to you--will remember that its protagonist, Kvothe (rhymes with quoth), was an orphan with magical powers and, as the years rolled by, the ability to pull music out of the air and write songs that make the minstrels weep.The second volume finds him busily acquiring all kinds of knowledge to help his wizardly career along, for which reason he is in residence in a cool college burg, barely more than a town, really,that has other towns beat by a league in the arcane-knowledge department, to say nothing of cafs where you can talk elevated talk and drink Veltish coffee and Vintish wine,as good post-hobbits must. For one thing, the place has a direct line to a vast underground archive where pretty much everything that has ever been thought or imagined is catalogued; for another thing, anyone who is anyone in the world of eldritch studies comes by, which puts Kvothe in close proximity to the impossibly beautiful fairy Felurian, who makes hearts go flippity-flop and knows some pretty good tricks in the way of evading evil. Evil there is, and in abundance, but who cares if you're dating such a cool creature? Rothfuss works all the well-worn conventions of the genre, with a shadow cloak here and a stinging sword there and lots of wizardry throughout, blending a thoroughly prosaic prose style with the heft-of-tome ambitions of a William T. Vollmann. This is a great big book indeed, but not much happens--which, to judge by the success of its predecessor, will faze readers not a whit. For latter-day D&D fans, a long-awaited moment. For the rest--well, maybe J.K. Rowling will write another book after all. - Kirkus Reviews