The Wise Man's Fear

Too long for how little the story moves, certain sections of the book drag on for 100's of pages with nothing substantial to show for it.

In the first book we were set up to believe the Chandrian are the thing that pulls Kvothe forward in life, despite this the entire book reveals only one short poem about them. Denna is this mystical figure who people tell stories about, who fate pulls to Kvothe over and over again. Yet by the end of the second book he's still too shy to say he likes her, still too immature to say sorry, and not even a kiss is shared between them. One exhausting section can be summarized with: Kvothe has sex with an ancient being, meets a spooky tree, and gets a cool cloak. It felt like hours wasted on a teenager's fantasy while the relationship with the main woman makes zero progress. This is insanity and there is no end in sight.

Also, Patrick Rothfuss is a captivating writer. Unfortunately it's pointless to read his words because they go nowhere. Quite literally the book ends where it began. Kvothe is back at the university and little has actually changed.