The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick RothfussMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
It's never a good sign when you are in the midst of a book and you keep turning through chapters wondering to yourself, "I wonder when this part will end. Because surely it will get better after this." And the problem with The Wise Man's Fear is that this happened not once. Not twice. But three times. So what, you may say. Is that so many times? However, the book is almost 1,000 pages long!!! And when this happened, the boring bits were not just bits. They were hundreds(!!!) of pages.
It started off just fine. A bit of rehashing of Kvothe's life at the University. Three hundred pages go by. Kvothe must leave the University for a time, and so as a reader, I thought, "Great. Introduce some new settings and characters, and so forth." Sadly, Rothfuss should have stuck with the University. He was on solid ground there.
Let me break down my woes with this novel one by one.
#1. The story "developing" Kvothe's relationship with the Maer. Um...boring. No character development. No plot advancement. Well, okay, two things happen. Kvothe's mysterious aunt appears with a locked box. And that was clever enough. And Kvothe's money problems are solved. I have mixed feelings about this. I was sort of sick of the whole, "Oh no I'm so poor and what shall I do and I have to borrow from Devi again!" On the other hand, now he's almost wealthy. It's just a little too convenient for my taste. Of course, it is Kvothe's expertise in all things, and literally, I mean all things, that saves the Maer, and earns Kvothe his fortune, not to mention a fawning over that any sixteen-year-old child well deserves. Which leads me to...
#2. Kvothe's hubris was a minor issue to me in the last book, but I felt like there were enough moments of self-reflection to overcome his ego. Not so in installment two. Nope, not one whit of self-awareness. Just straight-up ego. All over the place. There is literally nothing Chuck Nor...oh, excuse me, I mean Kvothe can't do. Rothfuss tries to play it down. He attempts to make Kvothe seem humble. But his false sense of humility only serves to fan the flame that is rapidly growing into a conflagration of vanity. When there is no flaw in this very young hero, it makes it really really hard to swallow his tale. I almost felt as if I were talking to one of those young boys I used to teach who just had to impress everyone with how they were better at anything and everything that anyone and everyone else had ever taken on. So if you played basketball, they played better. If you were a musician, they played every instrument on the planet. Honestly, if you want your character to be relatable, the character has to be real. And at least in this book, Kvothe was not.
Moreover, Kvothe does not learn from mistakes. And yet he gets away with it. Most people learn not to touch a flame once they've been burnt. But he keeps antagonizing people that he knows he should not antagonize. It causes silly problems that do not develop the story. And so it is frustrating to watch. He seems so childish and yet he's perfect at everything. It just doesn't sit well with me. He's a walking contradiction (which I agree that most people are, in some way). But this contradiction goes too far. And it makes him just seem like the kind of guy I would go to any lengths to avoid.
#3. Running around after bandits... on a mission for the Maer to catch the thieves stealing taxes from the King. Detail after detail after detail of every little step taken in the forest. Every little fight started by a thug, Dedan. Every little movement, word or motion taught to Kvothe by Tempi, the great Adem mercenary. Just find the thieves den already and be done with it. Again, one-hundred-plus pages wasted to give one tiny important detail. One of the evil Chandrian lives and is out and about. Up to no good! What is his purpose in leading a den of thieves, you might ask. Good question. No closer to knowing that answer than I was after reading the first book. Hello...did you learn nothing from Lost??? You've got to give your audience something! I beg of you!!! But no. Sadly. There is nothing you can find on the Chandrian or the mysterious Amyr who may or may not be fighting said Chandrian. Wha???? So there's that boring bit.
#4. The Fae. Really? Hundreds of pages of yawns-ville. Seriously, folks, I do not get the point of this section. Rothfuss could have saved hundreds of pages of text and pared this down to something much more simple. I got a cloak or shaed and met this tree or Cthaeh. And I hooked up with a fairy who makes all men crazy for wanting her. I am Odysseus, however, and I got away successfully because of course, I bested that fairy and put her in her place, even though she's like 1,000 years old or whatever. Did I mention I'm like all of sixteen. Because I'm sixteen. I'm so awesome!
Oh, and BTW, I've been going on and on about how magic isn't really the HP kind of magic, but hey, why not a fairy and her magically making me this shaed and what not. I mean, my magic is super cool and real and all science and self-mastery and whatnot. So it's superior to that whole witch/wizard thing which is really just a lot of childish nonesuch! Adding in fairy magic, well, that isn't at all inconsistent with magic as it exists in these chronicles.
Hello! Am I the only one bugged by this? It's totally not in keeping with the way I saw Rothfuss's world. And I liked that about the story. Don't get me wrong, I love HP with all my heart. But this was different, and that's what I liked about it. The magic was mortal.
#5. The sex. Give me a break, please! I'll say this in Rothfuss's favor. It wasn't detailed. There were no racy, overt details. But I have a HUGE beef with casual sex. And it did not endear Kvothe to me anymore. So not only is he an egomaniac. He's a womanizer. Great! Now I love the guy.
#6. Ademre. BORING...surprise! More detail about Kvothe and how awesomely he handles all situations that arise. How he is so willing to sacrifice himself for a friend who is teaching him the Chinese art of Tai Ch...oh, I mean Ketan. Because the Ademre are blonde, folks...BLONDE! No Karate/Taekwondo here to see folks, just move it along. Of course, Kvothe masters yet another language and the ancient Chin...I mean Ademre art of the Lethani (fighting with honor and all that). He's humbled by being a barbarian among the civilized folks. He's barely able to best a ten year old who's not so good at Ketan but who can best an unbeatable tree with thousands of lethally sharp leaves. And seriously, again, what is up with so much detail?
And back to the casual sex. Only now, Kvothe is amongst the Ademre who are so advanced and who, of course, understand that sex has nothing(!!!) to do with being in love. Being as the Ademre are so civilized and what not. Of course, their casual sex does not lead to unwanted pregnancies or diseases. All because they are sooooo enlightened and don't believe that a man has anything to do with a woman's pregnancy. How convenient! I just say that casual sex has no adverse consequences. And it is so. GIVE ME A BREAK...I mean seriously.
#7. We get it. Edema Ruh are the greatest race that ever lived. They are masters of the stage. They are masters of music and poetry and all things art. They are the best...at everything. And the world is mistaken about how perfect a race they are. Did I mention that Kvothe is Edema born? Yes, Edema Ruh, that is. Because he is. Edema Ruh. So please please remember that. And that they are the best, at everything on the planet. Okay?
End of my "issues." And onto the bigger problem here. I'm invested enough from The Name of the Wind to want to know what is going to happen. But I'm afraid that Rothfuss is never going to deliver the goods. So far, he's failed to give us enough about the Chandrian, which is, correct me if I'm wrong, supposed to be the driving conflict of the story. Well, at this point, it isn't driving anything at all. And that is the problem. I can't decide if I keep reading on to the next book...whenever that may be coming out. (Maybe by then I'll have forgotten this experience.)
Upon further reflection, I have to say this. It really was okay, and some parts were better than that. I mean, it is 1,000 pages long and I did read the whole thing (although I may have been slightly skimming at some points and I wish I would have skimmed even more). But it is a let down from the past novel. I mean, he's told us who Kvothe is in The Name of the Wind. And I think that's why I'm sad about this book. I liked Kvothe. And now, not so much. I was excited to find out more about the mysterious Chandrian. Instead, I found out about boring fairies, boring royals, and the boring Ademre.
I'll cross my fingers and hope that the next installment is an improvement.
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