The Wise Man's Fear
Patrick Rothfuss, 2011
The second day of Kvothe's story: he leaves the University for courts, forests, and faerie, while the quiet innkeeper he became keeps his own counsel. Kvothe's voice is plain and wry, carrying wonder and melancholy through a long, digressive telling that often feels solitary.
Feels like wonder, melancholy and serenity. About solitude, freedom and war.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy a storyteller's voice, fairy-tale detours, and a hero recounting his own clever mistakes. Be ready for a long, digressive middle volume that assumes you already know the first book and withholds the ending of the larger tale.
Why read it
It offers the pleasure of a voice that can make a court, a forest, or a faerie realm feel lived in, while the quiet present keeps its own tension.
A page from the book
Why we tell ghost stories when we are already afraid of the dark.
Except for stories, of course. Tales of poisoned kings and duels and old wars were fine. They dressed death in foreign clothes and sent him far from your door. A chimney fire or the croup cough were terrifying. But Gibea’s trial or the siege of Enfast, those were different. They were like prayers, like charms muttered late at night when you were walking alone in the dark. Stories were like ha’penny amulets you bought from a peddler, just in case. Patrick Rothfuss.The Wise Man's Fear debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list in 2011.
Books that feel like this
More by Patrick Rothfuss
The Name of the Wind
Patrick Rothfuss, 2007
A gifted, stubborn boy tells how he became a legend — and what his music, magic and mistakes cost him.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is The Wise Man's Fear for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy a storyteller's voice, fairy-tale detours, and a hero recounting his own clever mistakes. Be ready for a long, digressive middle volume that assumes you already know the first book and withholds the ending of the larger tale.
- What is The Wise Man's Fear like?
- Kvothe's voice is plain and wry, carrying wonder and melancholy through a long, digressive telling that often feels solitary. Feels like wonder, melancholy and serenity. About solitude, freedom and war.
- What should I read after The Wise Man's Fear?
- If you liked The Wise Man's Fear, try The Mark of Athena (Rick Riordan), The Two Towers (J.R.R. Tolkien) and The Alloy of Law (Brandon Sanderson).
A taste of the feed
What six months of missing someone looks like when it finally ends.
Percy smiled at her - that sarcastic troublemaker smile that had annoyed her for years but eventually had become endearing. His sea-green eyes were as gorgeous as she remembered. His dark hair was swept to one side, like he’d just come from a walk on the beach. He looked even better than he had six months ago - tanner and taller, leaner and more muscular. Percy threw his arms around her. They kissed and for a moment nothing else mattered. An asteroid could have hit the planet and wiped out all life, and Annabeth wouldn’t have cared.
The Mark of Athena · Rick Riordan
What it takes to imagine an enemy's life instead of his death.
It was Sam’s first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man’s name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil of heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.
The Two Towers · J.R.R. Tolkien
Some evenings the only way to breathe is to leave the ground behind.
He smiled, then flared his steel and Pushed off the top of the streetlight to send himself in a wide arc through the air. Mist streamed past him, swirling as the wind rushed against his face. It was thrilling. A man never truly felt free until he’d thrown off gravity’s chains and sought the sky.
The Alloy of Law · Brandon Sanderson
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