Ghost Story has sadly been pushed to summer 2011.

 

I am so looking forward to this, I loved the first book and was pissed when i found out no date for the other one. ><

 

This was one of the best fantasy novels I've read in a long time, and it's rare I really look forward to the next book in a series. Rothfuss is a great writer and storyteller; he hardly did much worldbuilding at all, just taking generic fantasy tropes and building his story around them.

About Kvothe being a Gary Stu: possibly, but I also think he's an unreliable narrator. He no doubt did do a lot of the things he claims, but there's more than a hint that he embellishes his tales.

I did get a little tired of "Yay, I have more money than I've ever had in my life! Wah, I lost it all again!"

I really like the theory someone commenting on my review proposed:

Spoiler

Denna is a Chandrian.

Obligatory link to my review.

 

I can't wait for this - I've been anticipating it for ages

 

Yeah, I had a similar thought. It would be terribly awesome, wouldn't it?


Roll on Wise Man's Fear!

 

Whoa, I wish I'd never learned the name fpb. That's a special level of retarded.

Edit:

Referring to the comments section of your review, of course.

 

I call epic troll. At least, I really, really hope so.

 

God-damn my curiosity! 'Ha, I've read the book, screw that spoiler. OH SHI-!'
Now I can't stop thinking about how awesome that scenario would be and especially how well this theory fits.

 

I fear my curiosity is going to ruin the story for me.

 

Spoiler

Especially given the whole 'killed an angel to keep her' thing. I doubt he would have had to do that if she was all sunshine and kittens.

 

Okay remember. We didnt hear Kvothe say that. Chronicler said that. Kvothe himself says that the best myths about him are the ones he started; that alot of what he has done has been embellished. We see that first hand when the people in the tavarn talk about the time he was attacked outside the university.

So why it may well be true that "Kvothe had gone looking for his heart's desire. He had to trick a demon to get it. But once it rested in his hand, he was forced to fight an angel to keep it." Im willing to bet theres alot more going on than just that.

 

Right, I'm just using that as material to theorize. We don't really have proof for anything at this point, and as unoriginal as the basic concept is, I fully expect to be thrown for more then a few loops of the course of this series.

The only things we really know about Denna at this point is that Kvothe loves her, Bast met her once, men fall for her all the time, she'll go to great lengths to get money, she's well educated, and Kvothe doesn't have her any more.

As for speculation on other topics:

Spoiler

I suspect Auri is actually a fea, and theorize that Tarpis is one of the amyr.

 

Spoiler

I actually disagree with this. While you can find some similarities/coincidences (pale skin, showing up after Chandrian attacks, her interest in Kvothe), there are some things that don't quite fit. While she seems to be very worldly at times, other times she's really naive (i.e. the denner resin incident). Also, you can't forget the possibility of red herrings. Personally, I think the pale skin thing was a pretty obvious herring. It's something that you'd catch on a close reading, but if you think about it, it doesn't make sense. The Chandrian description talks about skin as pale as snow. The way I see it, that's really pale, as in everyone comments on it and it gets noticed a lot. Denna's skin gets mentioned once, and it's just described as "pale," which is a pretty wide range.

I prefer the idea that her mysterious benefactor is one of the Chandrian. He was actually in the house for the Chandrian attack at the wedding, and he only came to Denna after she'd expressed some interest in Kvothe. That gives the Chandrian a reason to control her - she (essentially) controls Kvothe, or his heart at least. They have reason to keep an eye on him; after all he's implied to be one of few, if not the only person, to see the Chandrian and survive, and Denna gives them a way to do it covertly.

Just my 2 cents.

 

Damn, I really need to reread Name of the Wind. While I remember most of the references that have been made in this thread so far, there are enough that are fuzzy (like "denner resin") that rushing into Wise Man's Fear with my current background knowledge might be a bad idea.

Also, I like how Wise Man's Fear is coming out near the end of my Winter Quarter. This is a bad combination. >_<

 

Wise Man's Fear - 10 days before my birthday. Fuck Yeah.

I read this book a while back after seeing a recommendation on, guess where, George R. R. Martin's blog. I loved this book. I've read some other first time writers, but Rothfuss is truly the best (Locke Lamora pending, thats my next read) at creating a world.

Kvothe is my favourite type of hero, a trickster. He uses his mind and is actually funny. As well as that, the mysteries in the book were actually mysterious - I found that I was fascinated by the Chandrian, and I spent ages thinking up theories to try and explain them. The scene where Elodin is trying to discourage Kvothe by telling him to jump off a roof, and Kvothe does thinking that Elodin will catch him, only to almost die has stuck with me to this day.

Some brilliant genre-savvyness and characters are the books strength. It knows its a fantasy novel, and so do a lot of the people. Well, I could go on all day. Ill just say for now, goddamn am I jealous of Joe. Autographed book. Lucky bastard.

 

Spoiler

Spent the last couple days rereading just for the hell of it. One thing that I had completely forgot about got my interest. Near the beginning a group of traders passes through the town where he is hiding out and one of them recognizes him and talks how he saw him play in Imre and he saw the place in Imre where Kvothe killed someone near the fountain. Anyone think this might be what gets him kicked out?

 

Spoiler

Given that it's also mentioned that Ambrose is directly involved in Kvothe's expulsion, I strongly suspect that he's the one who gets killed.

 

Spoiler

Or Hemme. It would likely be much more of an accident if it turns out to be Hemme, similar to when Kvothe got pissed and said the name of the wind against Ambrose.

 

Spoiler

Hemme is a faculty member of the University; I'm pretty sure that he would be able to hold his own against young!Kvothe. Ambrose, not so much.