I have almost 1500 SF/F books in my database, and I've probably read 500 more that I forgot to list. I have never read a book that was simultaneously so bad and so good. I suspect that as time passes I will like it less. You know when you go to the local Enormous Portions restaurant and go with the meat in the rich gravy with the fries and onion rings, and the mud pie for dessert, and a couple of drinks, and you enjoy it all. Until near the end of the meal, when you don't feel so good; then you

I like stories where I cannot predict what will happen next. Patrick Rothfuss writes stories like that. Good solid characters and a plot that unfolds as unpredictably as life itself.

An Opinionated look at:Patrick Rothfuss' The Wise Man's FearBy Eric AllenOne thing I can say for Patrick Rothfuss is that he has great ideas. Unfortunately, great ideas do not, by themselves, a great story make. I have heard rumors that the first book, The Name of the Wind, took eleven years of revisions and rewrites to finally get published. Whether that is true or not, his hard work paid off. Since its release, the internet hype over the future of the trilogy has been building to monumental pr...

(This review is from 2011.)In case you haven’t heard, today is the release day of the long-awaited sequel to The Name of the Wind , a delightful debut fantasy novel by Patrick Rothfuss. I’ve had the privilege of reading the book, so I thought I’d post a heads-up here for those of you who read my blog, along with a review. (Of sorts.) Also, a reminder, I did an interview with Pat (and he kind of interviewed me back) for Amazon. You can read it at this link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.htm...

There's a tendency when reading a series to rate the books against each other rather than against the world. I've seen it done to my own books: I loved XXXX of Thorns but it wasn't as good as YYYY of Thorns ... so 4*.I didn't enjoy The Wise Man's Fear as much as I enjoyed The Name of the Wind. I didn't enjoy A Dance With Dragons as much as I enjoyed A Game of Thrones. But I'm giving them ALL 5* because compared to most books I read ... they're noticeably better. I won't 4* this book to make my p...

Well, it's done. And it's been a long time coming... Back in late 2009 I finally got the book to the point where I was satisfied with it. It was an okay book. It was a book that if I had to publish it, I knew it wouldn't embarrass me. By May 2010 I'd re-written the book to the point where I was happy with it. It was a good book. It was a book I was pleased with. By my final deadline in November 2010, I'd revised things to the point where I was excited about it. It was a great book. It was finall...

There, I've read it. Now I never want to hear about it again.(view spoiler)[If I wanted to read fairy porn, I'd read some Sarah J Maas. (hide spoiler)](Vlog: https://youtu.be/OdAlfL7eVf8)

a review of three parts (revisited) dawn was coming. the keys of a laptop lay in stillness to continue a review, and it was a review of three parts.the most obvious part was a vast, echoing question made by answers that were lacking. if there had been more pages, words would have wrapped and scattered across the sheets of paper beneath anxious hands. ideas would have formed and floated and chased the question across the mind like a wisp of summer breeze. if

The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss(Kingkiller Chronicle,#2)As a middle book of the series, this book is incredible. Adored the story, the magic system, and the world Patrick has created. The thing I felt is if you love fast-paced books, you may not like this book.And such an actorish narrator Rupert Degas is!! I can only appreciate Rupert Degas for excellent and in-depth storytelling. No doubt, the narrator had a special care for the characters.Anyone can love a thing because. That's as eas...

I am SO excited to read this. Omg. AHH.EditSecond time reading this, and I decided to listen to the audiobook - I really enjoyed the narration. It was a long audiobook, but it was enjoyable every second of the way.

I'm going to have to be a voice of dissent. I found Kvothe profoundly annoying. Here's an excerpt of his typical storytelling, word for word:"I managed very little sleep that night, and Losi came closer to killing me than Felurian ever had."(Post-coital thoughts on the second girl in 20 pages. He's 16.)"She was a delightful partner, every bit as wonderful as Felurian had been. But how could that be? I hear you ask. How could any mortal woman compare with Felurian?"Felurian is a ghost/fairy from

A farewell letter to my Kvothe. WOW. Oh, wow. It just dawned on me that Kvothe and I won’t be meeting again for another, what, 10 to 15 years? Sounds about right. The inevitable long await is so disheartening and the fury's already starting to creep in.Thus, Kvothe, this's my farewell letter to you.Dearest favourite douche in fantasy,Let's get real, here, you rub people the wrong way (not me. Never me). But people do talk and the consensus is that you’re arrogant, kind of an ass, a little bit of...

FINALLY!!How much can I rave about these books? The storytelling is so engrossing, the worldbuilding super immersive, and the characters pull all the stellar elements together in a series that truly defines epic fantasy. You want to KNOW these characters, you want to see them interact, and you definitely want to go on a journey with them.After reading a lot of paperback UF novels, I felt so pleased that this book provided what felt like 4 books-worth of story and development and wonderfulness fo...

I enjoyed the first book, but did not feel the same way about this one. Fantasy books are meant to be the unbelievable, this much is certain, and the heroes that take the starring role are meant to be people of great intrigue and who can accomplish completely incredible feats, but it feels that it's pushed a bit too far in this book.Kvothe not only is an amazing arcanist, a prodigy with a memory so perfect that he can call up how people smelled on a single day years ago, but he's a musician, and...

It's hard to write a review after reading a book like this. It's like reviewing a sunset after a spring storm. Yes, that's a poetic image, and that's what Rothfuss does to your brain. I plan on selling all my worldly possessions soon and devoting my life to chasing the wind...But meanwhile, I'll try to do this book justice. It starts much as Name of the Wind ended, with Kvothe still a 15 year old at the University. It spends about 300 pages in this mode. Kvothe has a handful of new adventures at...

The Wise Man’s Fear is the second book in the Kingkiller Chronicle series with the first book being The Name of the Wind. In this book, Kvothe is sitting around his inn telling the story of his adventures as a young man. He speaks of his time at the university, a journey in Vintas, leading a group of mercenaries, and a stint with Felurian.This book was not as good as The Name of the Wind—the storytelling was off. The first book was amazing. It was like sitting around a campfire and hearing an am...

Patrick Rothfuss almost did it again. He almost wielded his magic like he did the first time; he almost teased me in the same way and made me feel like I was part of the story, but, ultimately, stumbled over his own words. This book had the potential to be like the first, though he didn’t quite pull it off. Its main problem was that it simply had too much story, which translated as a complete structural mess. The plot was good, but there was just too much of it in the word count; there was e...