#a wise mans fear

[purplepotatobread]

There is no way Bast doesn't have some type of ADHD. Bro is leaving everything everywhere. Get him those little tracking devices or some shit.

[lostbetweenthepagesofthesebooks]

The Wise Man's Fear is the second book in the Kingkiller Chronicle. This book follows similarly in format to the first book. We start in the present tense, a continuation from whatever had happened in the first day with Kvothe, Chronicler, and Bast - whom I did not mention in the first review. (Listen, it was a long review, I was aiming not to be overwhelming). Bast is Kvothe's apparent apprentice and he is Fae. And it's clear that they have a fairly strong history and Bast knows just how powerful Kvothe is (or was). The characters have a few chapters of their preamble, before continuing into Kvothe's past once again.

Warning: mild spoilers ahead

The Wise Man's Fear

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2 Characters: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Plot: ⭐⭐⭐

This book... I don't know... It's kind of like some movie sequels, you know? I really tried to dig through my memory (and internet) to find sequel's that were just okay, and I couldn't find a good example because either it's movie sequels were terrible or sequels that did better than the original. This is neither of those. This book is okay. The main gripe is Kvothe spends way too much time it certain spots of his past.

Kvothe gets himself into a situation that leads him needing to spend some time away from The University. Fine. Great. Let's explore more of Rothfuss's world. Kvothe, with a help of a friend, manages to get situated close to a very, very, very wealthy man; which is important for Kvothe's studies and some of his other activities, which I didn't get into too much detail in the first post to not be too extra, but Kvothe is also apparently a wicked lute player. Kvothe must help Maer Alveron with woe-ing a woman because since Kvothe is also very good at writing music, he must be good at writing, enough so to woe a woman with his words (also.. to write her songs). There's some drama here too, more addition's to the world building. Until Maer send Kvothe away partially as punishment and partially because he trusts Kvothe.

Here is the first example of spending too much time in a spot. And I partially get it. We don't want to rush the plot and make everything suddenly happen at once. But... we have to sit through Kvothe trying to wrestle with how to write to a woman. Because he essentially has no practice. He has a love interest from the first book, but he is so focused on keeping her in his life as a friend that he could never, ever cross that boundary and lose her. Anyways. A lot of time spent. At The Maer's estate, not doing a whole lot. And the drama here is more so like political drama, not super fun, maybe just interesting enough.

Then Kvothe is sent away on a mission for the Maer with an interesting crew of mercenaries. One a typical hot-headed, male mercenary. One female mercenary. And the third is part of a civilization called the Adem. They're essentially meant to be a superior warrior class and known to verbally speak very little, for they do a lot of gestures to truly communicate. The fours time on the road and finally tracking down a group of bandits causing the Maer a lot of (economical) trouble takes a little time, but this portion isn't nearly as drawn out. It builds just fine, and the battle is actually pretty epic. Kvothe does some badass magic... and then he does some chaotic magic. Basically - the crescendo here slaps.

The four are headed back to the nearest town after their epic battle. They're out in wilderness and then... we hear an ethereal singing. Now, in the first book, we briefly get mentioned to that the Fae realm exist. And Bast is a faerie. So... you can imagine where we're going to get taken here. The singing belongs Felurian, one of the oldest and most beautiful Fae; she's widely told stories about... in a myth sense. EXCEPT. She is real. And Kvothe take's it upon himself to literally chase her singing, and beautiful, naked Felurian down... into the Fae. (In the stories they tell about her, she's almost described like a siren... a beautiful singing voice to attract men to their deaths).

Now one would think this would be awesome. Some magical stuff is going on in the too-real-world, right? And the Fae is all the rage right now. Well slow down. We get to the Fae realm, which is at first just Felurian's domain. Sounds cool and beautiful. And then. AND THEN. We spend PAGES of watching these two fools just straight up fucking. Kvothe is also apparently just a master at e v e r y t h i n g, including sex. How? If Kvothe has barely even kiss a girl, how is he an apparent sex master? Kvothe-barely-kissed-a-girl sweeping a centuries old Fae off her feet. HOW. I'm literally begging someone to make any of that sequence make sense to me. Also... Rothfuss very clearly does not know how to right sex scenes. Or even remotely intimate scenes. And that's okay. People have their niches... their lanes; and they need to stay in them.

We do get to meet an interesting creature in the Fae, the Cthaeh. The Cthaeh is omniscient, he can see all possible futures. But he's thoroughly malicious. He's awful enough that the story stops to jump into the present due to Bast having an outburst over Kvothe meeting this thing. It's the Cthaeh's goal is to drive other's into their worst possible futures. Now we don't get anything that dramatic in my opinion after meeting the Cthaeh, so we're bound to see it's impact in the following book. I'm sure Bast will make a point again of how Kvothe's meeting Cthaeh led to some of the worst outcomes in Kvothe's story.

We also get to see Felurian make a, what sounds like the dopest, cloak for Kvothe. It's actually called a shaed and it's like... living shadow. It sounds beautiful and mystifying and dangerous all in one.

After the Fae... we get stuck again. After Kvothe escapes the Fae, he find his trio of now friends, tells them the tale and they all decide they need to go back to the Maer. Except for the Adem mercenary, Tempi, who must return to his people in Ademre and answer for teaching Kvothe some of the ways of fighting that is learned in Ademre. Again, not trying to spend too much time explaining all of the book. But these two travel to Ademre together because Kvothe hopes to help clear Tempi's name, and he clearly wants to learn more of the fighting ways of the Adem. Which he does. Then we spend a lot of time of Kvothe getting his ass handed to him by women... and Kvothe just being constantly flabbergasted at such. Eye roll.

Actually, Ademre does sound and seem very interesting. It was certainly more interesting than reading about all the sexy sexness in the Fae. (Yes, I'm still irritated all this time). But again... Rothfuss spends. so. much. time. here. And I get that adequate time needs to be spend learning any type of art form - the art of fighting, the art of language, the art of music - but there are ways to show the passage of time in writing without needing to spend that much time on pages.

Eventually Kvothe leaves Ademre and makes it back to the Maer. We get to learn a little more about the wicked group that Kvothe is attempting to chase down without alerting too much attention. And then Maer's lovely lady gets greatly offended to learn about Kvothe's background - Edema Ruh. Maer obviously chooses his lady, but can't deny all of the aid Kvothe provided. For once in his life, Kvothe is finally financially stable and certainly does not need to worry about Universities tuition.

We make it back to the University briefly and learn that interesting tales are now being told about Kvothe's adventures. And they don't all add up to what really happen. So... does this mean that maybe some of these nicknames Kvothe is known by, and borderline myths that surround him, are just fabricated stories that Kvothe has let run rampant? Because as of right now, this is definitely my running theory. We have one more book apparently. Kvothe told the Chronicler he only needed three days to tell his story. The Name of the Wind is day one and Kvothe is 15-16 by the end. A Wise Man's Fear is day two and he's 17 by the end. Present day Kvothe looks young, but "act old"... a lot of people say 25-31. Between the age and the stories that surround Kvothe... just seems like we have a whole lot to get through in the third book. Unless, of course, my theory is correct.

We also learn more about Bast and he's ulterior motives here. We realize that Bast seems to be willing to stop at nothing to achieve his ends. We learn in the first book that Bast is desperate for Kvothe to become The Kvothe again. And in this book, we learn what he's willing to do. Interesting little Fae. I'm definitely looking forward to reading his novella, The Narrow Road Between Desires.

All in all, the second book isn't bad, but could've been better. Like I said numerous times at this point, just felt like a lot of time was wasted in certain parts. But it still had it's highs, and as a whole, as of right now, I still really like the series and can't wait to see it's completion. Rothfuss might not be able to write smut, but he's doing a pretty damn good job with world building in fantasy, which I am a big fan of so far.

Read on beautiful people. 🤘📖

[leftinimaginationemily]

I made some tiny books 📚

[climbthemountain2020]

I can't live laugh love in these conditions, Patrick

[eliza-makepeace]

[iagi-san]

Kvothe is ambisextrous (bisexual) but he hasn't realized yet, an essay:

Okey, so this is my delulu shit and you can go with me or against me I don't care. Here we go:

Disclaimer: The author is totally cool with that idea so don't think that it couldn't be canon, because it COULD.

First, HAVE WE SEEN HOW OUR BOY TALKS ABOUT SIMMON?! Like dude, you have a gigantic crush on your mate, we get it. The only time the word "I love you" is written in the whole books is directed to Simmon from Kvothe. He says that they argue like newlyweds. When Simmon is reading that poem Kvothe makes the point to describe how handsome is Simmon. When he returns to Imre Simmon says that he is dating Fela, Kvothe makes a monologue on how Sim is the perfect boyfriend and he is just a turd (this boy as zero self esteem at his core)

Second, at the begining of the second book, at his first encounter with Denna, he gets jealous because that gentleman is really hot and has a lovely voice and it's totally unfair (we get it kid)

Third, all that bit pre-adem with Tempi, that boy got a crush on Kvothe and there are so many scenes when it could be turned out as a slow romance lol (they would be so cute as a couple)

And last, we get to his relationship with Bast. Patrick himself has joked multiple times that they are couple, or at least that Bast has a MASSIVE crush on our innkeper lol. So Kote and Bast own together the Inn, what two other men have an Inn? Exactly, Deoch and Stanchion who are a polyamorous couple and is where we discover the word "ambisextrous" that casually Kvothe knows and no one else among his friends (has he looked it up on the Archives? I totally can see our young Kvothe searching more info about his feelings)

Getting back with Bast, he is a Fae, a pansexual satyr nonetheless (pun intended), their chemistry doesn't go unnoticed among readers, specially the tenderness (that scene with Bast singing a lullaby to a wounded Kote), care (how he stitches him up and swapes his injuries althought Kote says that it's not necessary) and how he talks to him and about him to Chronicler (that bone chilling oath he makes towards his master).

At his own Kote sees Bast as someone a bit immature and who is like a child, I don't see quite romance on his side but who knows, he treats him with a lot of respect and care to not hurt his feelings.

Finally, my take is that Kvothe may not be as straight as he portrays himself to be and I'm desperate to read more fics with that in mind.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk

[dykedvonte]

I hate the stretch lines in the front of Curly's uniform because that means the devs rushed to make a model in like a month or so and thought "They gotta at least know he has huge knockers, gotta know he's got back pain." Cause like what is the thematic importance of his tits having overhang?

What responsibility is that representing? Breast reduction? It shows an inherent greed in his character due to the excess and heshouldletmeholdone and that he clearly is blinded cause if he tries to look down his damn ladder all he's seeing is his own cleavage.

[qpjianghu]

“It had flaws, but what does that matter when it comes to matters of the heart? We love what we love. Reason does not enter into it. In many ways, unwise love is the truest love. Anyone can love a thing because. That's as easy as putting a penny in your pocket. But to love something despite. To know the flaws and love them, too. That is rare and pure and perfect.” ― Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man's Fear // Mysterious Lotus Casebook

[foreverchangingfandomsao3]

jate jage nu’vaabi liniba an’gycese (good men don’t need rules) (4,650 words) by foreverchangingfandoms Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody/Obi-Wan Kenobi Characters: CC-2224 | Cody, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano, Asajj Ventress, Stitch (212th medic OC), Clone Trooper Waxer (Star Wars) Additional Tags: Character Death, Ahsoka Tano Dies, Getting that one out of the way so you know what kind of fic this is, Ahsoka Tano is Obi-Wan Kenobi's Padawan, Angst and Feels, Angry Obi-Wan Kenobi, That's Not How The Force Works (Star Wars), Jedi Culture & Customs (Star Wars), Gentle Obi-Wan Kenobi, At least he's gentle towards the end, Soft ending compared to the beginning, POV CC-2224 | Cody, Grief/Mourning, Jedi funeral preparations Series: Part 2 of Codywan week 2024 Summary:

Good men don't need rules; Obi-Wan has them for a reason. Ventress finds out precisely why that is when she kills someone dear to him.

My fill for “There are three things all wise men fear; the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man” for @codywanweek

[for-hiraeth]

You know why we're not having The doors Of Stone? Because The Waystone Inn lays in a silence of three parts, AND THE THIRD PART IS THE DEEPEST AND HEAVIEST PART.

[susandsnell]

Scarecrow fans, what do we think of Batman consistently showing him less compassion, especially as compared to the other rogues? I have my own take, but I’m curious about yours!

[bookcub]

The Narrow Road Between Desire by Patrick Rothfuss comes out in November, which will center on Bast.

[simauita]

Props to El'the Mola for being the only sane person at the whole University.

[quotes-from-the-bookery]

"When it first happened, I thought to myself it was not so bad. Others have had worse wounds. Others have died. I was luckier than them.”

He drew in a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “I tried to think it was not bad. My life would continue on. But no. Life stops. Much is lost. Everything is lost.”

Then he said, “When I dream, I have two hands."

[realdonkeykong]

I think the funniest result of Patrick Rothfuss taking so long between books is that, since enough time has passed between books 2 and 3 of Kingkiller that social progress (and his knowledge thereof) has made several strides forward, the current latest release (a spinoff about Bast) has unintentionally canonized the town of Newarre as a haven for Queer people in a world where otherwise, there is one gay relationship between two very minor characters. Kvothe fully went into hiding and chose to live in Gayville, Temerant and we love him for that

[annot8]

Denna and Auri

My two best girls