The Wise Man's Fear

Executive Summary: I've seen several people say they didn't enjoy this book as much as [b:The Name of the Wind 186074 The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1) Patrick Rothfuss http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1270352123s/186074.jpg 2502879]. I guess I'm the opposite. The things that mostly annoyed me in the first book costing it that extra star that all of my friends seemed to give it were gone or reduced in the sequel.Full ReviewOne of my major gripes about [b:The Name of the Wind 186074 The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1) Patrick Rothfuss http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1270352123s/186074.jpg 2502879] was the main character. In many books an unlikable main character is easily enough to ruin a book. For some reason, I didn't find it the case here.Kvothe is a prodigy in many things, but at the same time, I find him incredibly arrogant and lacking in common sense. Mr. Rothfuss's narrative, supporting characters and beautiful prose kept me interested in the story despite this.With the sequel we find Kvothe is a little older, and thankfully a little wiser. As the story progresses, he is humbled, and bested on several occasions, and by the end of book I started to like him rather than loathe him as I mostly did through [b:The Name of the Wind 186074 The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1) Patrick Rothfuss http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1270352123s/186074.jpg 2502879].With this book we also get several changes of scenery. About half of book follows Kvothe on adventures outside of the University where he always seems to be especially arrogant and stupid to me.He is a lot more cautious and humble outside of that setting. This doesn't prevent him from being his own worst enemy from time to time, but it is reduced to a more tolerable level for my liking.Mr. Rothfuss loves to embed stories within stories within stories, and this book is no different. There are some really great stories told that seem unrelated to main narrative at times, but you really have to wonder.I like the idea of a “bard” main character rather than the stereotypical fighter/magician type. Through most of two books Kvothe travels not with a sword, but a lute.My favorite part of this series has to be the supporting cast. In particular I love Auri and Devi, and want to know more about both. Like Kvothe I'm intrigued by Denna, and want to know what secrets she's hiding.His friends Wil and Sim and the university are great as well. Mr. Rothfuss introduces some interesting new supporting characters in this book as well. I particularly liked Tempi, and learning about the Adem.I blew through this much lengthier sequel in about a week, and if not for work, I probably would have finished it much sooner. I had been avoiding staring this series for the very situation I now find myself in: stuck waiting for the 3rd and final book to come out. Thankfully I have many other books to keep me distracted in the meantime.