Review: The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

So what was the Wise Man's Fear? What should ever wise man travelling on the roads of the Commonwealth do their best to avoid?

Rothfuss does not give a straight answer but 993 pages which make up this book suggest a variety of things which would make this a very instructional book about what to fear: folly, devious women, prejudice, secrets, having true-red hair, being of the Edema Ruh, arrogance, ignorance etc. etc.

The magic lasted only until the pages ran out themselves. I was not left feeling exhausted. Actually, reading this has been a chore and feeling slightly annoyed that I had spent time reading this. What have I gained?

Kvothe's story shows how easily reputation gained can be just as easily discarded by others, that being poor sucks and requires uncommon intelligence and audacity to make up for it, that learning languages and cultures are useful, that some women can be frustrating to get into bed with etc.

How can a book so difficult to put down be frustrating? It goes nowhere. Stripped of all the wonderful peoples, places and twists and turns of the road less travelled (all the way to the Stormwal Moutains, which reminded me of Brisingr and Chris Paolini's books), there is barely any plot. But books without any apparent plot make up with depth of character, feeling (Mrs Dalloway etc).

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I'll give it a day before I finish this.