Wing, I was thinking the same thing, but its "My first real lover" whom I assume we haven't met.


Joe, I can't stand reading books with as many different viewpoints as Sanderson puts in. It's why im struggling with my WoT reread so much.

 

A span is eleven days, as pointed out near the start of Name of the Wind: "That had been two span ago: twenty-two days."

Anyway, just finished Wise Man's Fear, and will write up a fuller review tomorrow, but I will say this: fucking awesome.

 

Was a great book.

Spoilers

What I cant understand is what has happened to kvothe in the present? Has he changed his name and lost his power? The scene with the robbery confused me. I also believe that more of the next book will be in the present as it is implied in the present that the chandrian are still around, so I have no idea what is going to happen there.

Ill rate it a 9.

 

Explained in Name. He's played the role of Kote so convincingly that he's convinced himself that he's Kote, not Kvothe.

 

A few more things I've noticed:

Chronicler in the beginning of TNofW mentions meeting up with Skarpi after seeking out Kvothe. I have to assume at this point that Skarpi is most certainly one of the Amyr.

Second thing: Bast is a scary dude. Obviously he's a very powerful fairy-thing, seeing as Felurian tells Kvothe that the fae lose much of their power in the normal world. Frankly, just the way he approaches the soldiers at the end of WMF sent chills down my spine.

It was eerie.

 

Totally agree. He was a pretty loveable guy at first, but then wow he became a scary motherfucker. Curious to see how that turns out.

So yeah, here's my bigger review, and spoilers and stuff: The Wise Man's Fear is just a great book. Like Name of the Wind, it's immersive as all get-out, and I realised this early on when I was grinning like an idiot and going, "I love this fucking world". The longer length and grandiose and varied content in this book was great, but I was a bit surprised Kvothe hasn't been kicked out of the University yet, but that he didn't led to a nice happy-ish ending in the story, despite the all-too ominous appointment of Hemme as Chancellor and the ever-present threat of Ambrose. I really hope the next book starts out with Kvothe bashing Ambrose's head into the ground in Imre, as hinted at in Name of the Wind.

Because yeah, Ambrose was strong dickery, as expected, but the whole malfeasance plot had one of my favourite scenes right off the bat: Kvothe Vs Devi. Devi is awesome, and I'm very glad she got increased prominence. Same to Fela, and rounding out Sim and Wil some more was always appreciated. Oh, and Elodin. So much :awesome from him.

The strong opening aside, I was a little glad Kvothe got some travelling into him and headed out in the world (Oh, and the recounting of A Brief Journey was fantastic. I don't know if I would've liked to see another thirty-chapter saga of poverty, so I'm glad it got skimmed and turned into a humorous side thing). Maer stuff was solid, mostly because Alveron is insane and I couldn't help but wonder if Lackless is actually Kvothe's aunt or something (Remember in Name of the Wind how Kvothe's mother reacted a little badly to him singing about Lady Lackless? Gotta wonder why...). The bandit hunt was good, mostly because of Tempi. I like Tempi.

But, the real winner was the bandit camp battle. Holy fucking shit wow. And then the big post-Adem fake Ruh slaughter. Double wow.

Felurian stuff dragged a bit, but I liked Felurian herself and the Ctheah. Same with the Adem - I liked Tempi and Veshtus (and lol'd at the "how babies are made" conversation Kvothe had with Penthe. No idea where that came from), but I didn't realise it until Kvothe was given the choice to stay or not - I kinda wanted him to move on. From there it was all a smooth ride.

As for Denna... Well I do like her. Sympathise with her a little. Not sure if I quite like her habit of showing up everywhere so coincidentally (Hope there's something to it), but her stuff is solid and I think Kvothe could do worse.

The Chandrian plot was well-paced too. Little morsels of information all working towards a bigger picture I can't wait to see. Can't help but wonder if we've met a few of them before or not, same with the Amyr...

As for the interlude stuff, I very much enjoyed the one chapter where Kvothe starts up the legend of the Chronicler, just to prove a point about letting him tell the story as he wants. That was awesome. Same Kvothe seems to have been de-powered majorly, not sure what Bast is up to, and, as always, I really want to see the lead-up to it all.

Awesome book. And you know the best part? It's given me a sudden urge to write. I think it was the reminder that writing, despite its occasional bumps in the road, is an awesome thing if you pull it off, and I want to at least go out there and try... After I reread this book, of course.

EDIT: And what happened to Sovoy? I miss that guy.

 

Agreed.

Bast is an awesome and fearful character that I enjoy reading about. Its been made clear that he loves Kvothe and has been going to great lengths to wake him of his self induced role playing, that's what has me so excited.

Spoilers and all that jazz.

The book as a whole was wildly enjoyable, it had me smiling, laughing, cussing, and in some places furiously yelling angrily (particularly the parts involving Denna). Though given that I gotta admit that the most enjoyable part of the book was the epilogue:

'...he made his way downstairs. There, behind the tightly shuttered windows, he lifted his hands like a dancer, shifted his weight, and slowly took one single perfect step.'

Reading that and his fight with the soldiers had me all but frothing at the mouth for what would come in the 3rd book, finally he seems to be slowly waking up. On this particular point, and the manipulations of Bast has me also wondering how far he'd go to wake up Kvothe...maybe the real names of the Chandrian that Kvothe spoke will be playing a part if everything else fails toward the end.

Does anyone know the expected release of the third?

 

Well, he'll be aiming for one year, but will most likely end up being three years. If we go by what happened in the past.

I was initially thinking that book three might be faster, simply due to not having to worry about book four, as it is only a trilogy. However, I recently read that the next series he writes will also be based in the same universe, and I think/hope to god that it will be the story progressing from the three days at the Waystone Inn.

I really really want my books to arrive from Amazon, so I can reread NotW and then WMF straight after, but i've still got over a month until their delivered, and as such I think I may as well just reread them now on my comp, and then again in a month.

 

Well he already said that the next series is not going to be about Kvothe but it may be set in the next universe. Anyway can't wait to read the third book.

 

Got it, read it. Took me about 14 hours of straight reading, taking a break to attend classes and go out drinking on Saturday but that's 14 hours well spent. Overall I'll rate it 8.5/10.

SPOILERS

Some parts of the books did feel like they dragged on, but I still enjoyed the way they fleshed out even the minor characters. Like during the camping sequence, the mercenaries are unlikely to be seen again, but they got developed rather well.

Same about the Adem part. Also, the talk about Mother-Men made me giggle.

I liked the Maer very much. That is the way I'd expect a man born into power to act. And I, too, thought that Lackless was Kvothe's aunt.

About Felurian - the initial "I can't believe you're a virgin" bit aside, I didn't think it stretched out that much. It gave us a bit of insight into how Kvothe came to know about the Fae, and might be setting up the scene where he first meets Bast (which should be in the next book as the story will go on until he ends up as the innkeeper we see now). Also, it showed the making of his cloak of shadows. Seriously, people (especially Taure) complain when the wands in HP fanfiction get made in minutes and here when some (apparently) really impressive magic cloak needs a couple of months to be made....It could have been glossed over but I liked the way it was done.

The Tree-Fae-Oracle thing, whatever it's name was, was interesting. Bast's reaction to it and the way Chronicler settled it was even more so. The effect it's words had on Kvothe and Felurian's response was also cool. Though when Bast mentioned that the Sithe keep a strong vigil on anyone approaching that thing....makes me think something is going on there with how Kvothe just stumbled upon it.

Denna: I don't think she's a bitch and I definitely don't think she's one of the Chandrian, especially after the whore-yourself!peptalk she gives that girl and what the Cthaeh said about her. That said, there is definitely something fishy about her. She knows enough Yllish to first braid her hair to say "Lovely" and then "Don't talk to me". Her talk about stones and their stories, which I thought wasn't as much idle talk in fun as Kvothe thought it was. Her random turning up wherever Kvothe seems to go and her constant desire to learn about magic and talk of her patron giving her access to secrets she can't find anywhere else. Then there is her song, the way it portrays Lanre and the apparent ease with which she found the information.
In summary, Denna is probably much more than she seems but most likely not a Chandrian. Her patron might well be one of them, but quite easily could be something else altogether, but he's definitely suspicious.

About the Amyr and Chandrian: Personally, after reading TWMF, I'm thinking that it's not so simple as the Amyr being the nice guys and the Chandrian being evil. I think it's more like two different evils. In support of this I present Denna's song, which if she made up from information found in old histories, shows the other side of the coin. History is after all a big story and purely subjective. One man's hero being another's villain and all. Also, in TNOTW, in the chapter where Skarpi is arrested, he was telling about the way someone empowers Tehlu and some others to go after Lanre/Haliax. Their attitudes and empowerment didn't make them out to be particularly kind and all, more like angry and righteous.

Did anyone else think for a moment that Denna's patron had something to do with Caudeus? When Kvothe feeds him the bull about working on some genealogy that he helps with and later Denna tells Kvothe her patron has her working on some of the same?

Also, Bast is awesome. No other words need be said.

Also, I want a whole lot more of Elodin.

And did anyone else think the mention of the Tahl people with magical songs in chapter 38 was a sort of foreshadowing? That and Halix's posturing in book one - "Who keeps you safe from the Amyr, the Singers, the Sithe?" We have some idea of the Amyr and the Sithe, but what about the Singers? At first I thought it referred to what Tehlu and company got changed into in Skarpi's second story in Tarbean but now I'm not so sure.

On an unrelated note, I'm exceptionally glad for the lack of fanfiction that exist for this series. Can you imagine how much slash the end of the first scene of the chapter "Interesting Fact" and later Kvothe and Elodin's private naked night will generate? It will happen, no doubt, I'm just glad that it will take at least a few more days.

/Spoilers End
So, TL;DR summary: Awesome book, well worth the 3 years I had to wait for it. I don't think Denna is a Chandrian but both she and her patron are definitely fishy. The Chandrian and Amyr are most likely different grades of evil, the Amyr not being the good guys most people think and Haliax not being as evil as thought either.

 

Finished it last night: Amazing read. Honestly, I liked it at least as much if not more then the first one, though my favorite parts were Bast's chants.

@Denna:

I think her behavior was pretty reasonable. Kvothe's opinion seems to be the only one that really mattered to her, and he pretty much told her that her song was awful and needed a complete rewrite. Later on when they met back up, it sounded like she thinks Kvothe just wants to get into her pants.

If she were one of the Chandrian, why would she let her patron beat her? Why wouldn't she just make like Cinder and take what she wanted? On top of that, the poem that named them and gave the signs seemed to imply that only one of them was sane. Whatever else Denna may be, I'm fairly certain she isn't crazy. That idea dosen't seem plausible to me anymore.

@Felurian:

Aside from the virgin bit, it was fairly well done. I liked the making of the shadow cloak, and The Cteath was interesting. Aside from that, it felt like it dragged on a little to long.

@Vince and the camping trip:

Had some interesting bits, but the camping trip felt like filler. Never enough to really lose my interest, but I did with it would hurry up.

@Lady Lackless

Did anyone else notice how often the number seven shows up in the riddles about her? Maybe Heliax likes to crossdress when he's not busy slaughtering traveling entertainers and wedding guests.

 

I think I am pretty much onboard with the "Meluan being Kvothe's aunt" theory.

From Chapter 8 of NotW

Sure, there's that bit about family, but I think that can be chalked up to an Unreliable Narrator. There's also the scene in Chapter 11 of NotW where Kvothe chants a rhyme about Lady Lackless and his mother chides him for it, saying:

The only discrepancy beyond the bit about family that I mentioned above is the fact that Kvothe says his mother's name is Laurian, and Meluan's sister is supposed to be named Netalia. This can be easily explained by a name change, however. One more supporting point for the theory is that Kvothe finds Meluan to be strangely familiar; a resemblance to his mother would explain that.

Anyways, regarding Wise Man's Fear as a whole, the last time I had such an immersive reading experience was when I was going through a weeklong marathon of the Codex Alera books early last year...so it's been quite a while. This book was absolutely fantastic on many levels, and reading it absolutely validated what Rothfuss said at the Seattle booksigning about how he pays careful attention to every single detail.

That said, I agree with the sentiments regarding Felurian/time in Adem taking too long. I enjoyed them, to be sure, but at some point during both I found myself wanting to get on with it. I did like how we were shown the Adem aren't all-knowing with the whole man-mothers bit.

Things I'm looking forward to in the third book: Meluan finding out that she is Kvothe's aunt, Kvothe beginning to use names with more intent and mastery, his expulsion from the University, Kvothe finding the Amyr, Master Ash being revealed as an agent of the Chandrian (or a Chandrian himself, to be honest), perhaps some more backstory on Lorren knowing about Kvothe's father, the Lackless box, the locked door in the Archives, and last but not least, Auri's backstory. There's more I want to know, of course, but this is most of what comes to mind.

 

Why do people keep mentioning Kvothe being expelled in book three? His claim that he was expelled from the university at an age younger than most enter it was already satisfied by his expulsion at the end of Name. Why do you think he'll be expelled again?

(His other claim that he was forced to leave the university has also been satisfied in WMF.)

 

Spoilers:

Lackless is definitely Kvothe's aunty. Interesting how that will play out.

I've read a lot of these posts and I think a much undiscovered theory is that of Brendon, Kvothe's mystery guest during his stay with Maer, being Denna's patron. First there is what we don't know of him.. In his opening scene he plays coy on his position in the nobles of Vintas. However, later we are never enlightened as to his actual linage or whatever. He never get's a tittle like lord or duke or whatever, but always goes by Brendon. You'd think that after a bit Kvothe would fill us in on who Brendon really was. Alittle digging would have told us. It shouldn't be that hard, but as it's never mentioned we can assume it was or it's waiting to be revealed later.

Next there is the obvious bit where he is "out of town" the same time Denna leaves abruptly. Also another bit to point out is that in their first meeting, Brendon says "..I've even been learning how to dance." In fact it isn't the only time he mentions dancing. When he describes tak he talks about the world and how to play it. How to play the game and how it resembles a dance. Later when Kvothe is talking to Denna he asks what she can tell him about her patron. She says "He's a suprisingly good dancer."

I do believe there is another connection but I can't find it. I do believe that in the grand picture there will be a conneciton- I think it will be to the Amyr and not the Seven. Despite the song Denna writes.

I'll also be interested in meeting Basts in the story, I wouldn't mind another trip to the Fae. Also I like the idea of Skarpi being an Amyr. Also the Maer will be back with his connection to Amyr (probably when we discover the Lackless relation).

Oh and just a crazy idea. If the Sithe are enemies of the Chandrian, and they guard the tree which holds the Cthaeh and the Cthaeh has a grudge against one of the seven if not all, then maybe the Sithe followed "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" line of thought. Maybe the plague sent into the future by the Cthaeh will catch the Chandrian. The stories not over yet.

 

I agree with the first, but I don't think the second has been satisfied. He wasn't so much forced in WMF, as took an opportunity given the likelihood of high tuition and such. He could come back whenever he desired.

In NOTW, Kvothe says something along the lines of 'when Ambrose's revenge came, I was caught unaware and forced to leave the University.'

I get the feeling that the context of that is permanently, given that we can assume he kills a man in Imre, plunges the nation into war, and has a bounty on his head for that and probably more.

So I think it's safe to assume he'll be forced out of the University then.

 

Finished the book the day before yesterday, and have been ruminating over it. Like a few people, I was left with a faint feeling of dissatisfaction, but that could just come from knowing it'll be another three years before the story continues, hehe. And this book does have the hardest job, being the middle story--it isn't really a beginning or an end.

So here are my thoughts on a few things:

Denna-- I did find myself annoyed with her at times, but think about it this way: for most of their story together, she's had this idea of Kvothe as this boy who she wants to be more forward, but thinks that neither of them really know what they're doing. So she sees him as sweet and earnest and inexperienced (otherwise he'd be more explicit about his feelings for her). Only to find out when they meet up again that he's been wining and dining and bedding all sorts of women, and either there was a reason he wasn't that way with her (did he find her unattractive?) or he was going to change to be that way with her (which was kind of a betrayal of their original relationship). So I kind of see it as the same thing Kvothe felt when he first saw her with another man--way back when they were first on the caravan together, except much stronger. "If he's this way with women, why didn't he ever want anything from me?"

Kote and the robbers-- The way I read it, Kvothe was doing fine up until he had the second soldier in a hold, and then the man broke out of it--and then a bit later when Kvothe couldn't break the soldier's grip. A bit after the fight, when Bast came back and was cleaning him up, they did that bit of magic with the tooth and the milk to fix Kvothe's injuries. And then Bast laid his hand on Kvothe's face, and Bast suddenly looked very tired--I took this to mean that Bast used his magic to feel how Kvothe felt, and discovered just how weary his teacher really was. It wasn't a matter of Kvothe having inferior abilities, it was that he was running himself into the ground, and Bast hadn't noticed the extent of it up until then.

Lady Lackless and her box-- I'm a hundred percent on board with the idea that she is Kvothe's aunt. That's the first thing that popped into my head when she revealed her sister had stolen away with the Ruh. As for the lockless box, I too think that it is the one that is up in Kote's room. And I was wondering who else had the thought that it was the box from the story about Jax and the moon--and that maybe what is inside has to do with the name of the moon, and the Creation War (which they said was supposedly begun when the Ctheath (or whatever it's called) spoke to Jax about the moon) that split the fae and the normal world apart.

It's kind of frustrating trying to wrap your head around all these pieces to see how they fit together. More than once I've wondered if the Chandrian really are victims somehow--like maybe they can't move on until no one remembers them, and so they systematically wipe out anyone who talks about them. Or maybe they're somehow tied to the world of the fae, and that's why they can't die, so they're trying to find the box to give the moon back its name so the two worlds can be one again.

Blah. Anyway, I guess that's the mark of a good story if it keeps you thinking about it long afterward. I'll probably be back when I remember the multitudes of other things I wanted to say about it.

---------- Post automerged at 06:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:17 PM ----------

I like the way your mind works.

 

I'm not so sure that Meluan is Kvothe's aunt. I'm pretty sure that it was mentioned that she was about 18, which would make her only 2 years older than Kvothe. Assuming that he was born right after his mother ran away, Meluan would have been only 2, and it doesn't seem like she would be able to develop such a hatred of the Ruh over losing her sister at that age. Not to mention that her sister would have been on the order of 14+ years older. Not terribly unusual, but definitely a weaker tie between them than if they were only a few years apart. Of course, if I'm wrong on Meluan's age, then all bets are off. I don't think I am though.

I suppose that it could still be a possibility even if I'm right on the age, provided that her parents made frequent references to the Ruh as thieving bastards and told her many time about how the horrible troupers stole her sister away, but it just doesn't feel quite right

 

Hm, you might be right about that. But I did go back and read a few parts (when the Maer first discusses her with Kvothe, and when Kvothe first meets her at the dinner party) and I didn't find any mention of her actual age, just that she was young and that all the young men tried to court her. But I figured if the Maer had already cultivated a 'fondness' for her, it meant he had to have known her for some time, which in my mind put her in her mid twenties at least. And Kvothe never mentioned anything like 'she was about my age'.'

I can imagine a little girl (maybe 8?) having her big sister leave and suddenly all the responsibilities of the family fall to her. Hero worship betrayed, her family always worried the same thing might happen to her--I'll bet she'd be under a lot of pressure.

 

Yeah, I could agree with that. I guess I just saw her as being in her late teens rather than mid twenties. Could have sworn they mentioned her age at some point, but I just went back and checked a bit as well and couldn't find a mention either.

If she is Kvothe's aunt, her reaction if/when she finds out will be priceless. At least until she learns that her sister is dead.

 

Finally finished the book this morning, and it wasn't what I expected. Which isn't to say it wasn't good. I really thought Kvothe would be done with the University by now. My loosely organized thoughts:

Spoilers!Spoilers!Spoilers!

Denna
I don't think she's a Chandrian. Connected to them certainly, probably through her patron, but I don't think she's 'supernatural' in any way. It doesn't make sense. She's known Kvothe since before he got into the University, and he just wasn't important enough back then for anybody to bother with. The Chandrian couldn't be bothered to take two seconds to kill him in the beginning. Also, the part about her braiding, 'don't talk to me' in her hair, I don't think that was literal. I think Kvothe was interpreting her body language and manner. First, she managed to braid something that was almost 'lovely' in her hair. Second, I doubt Kvothe could read something as complex as 'don't talk to me' even if she could braid it off the top of her head. Could be wrong, but that's my impression.

I don't hate Denna as a character, but I do think the Denna/Kvothe romance is more than a bit ridicules. I mean, he met her once when he was fifteen, they had a couple of conversations, and that's it; he loves her for the rest of his life. And the random running into each other, you only get to pull that one so many times. She just turns up in Severin, then again in Tarbean. I actually hope it is a plot of some sort at this point. The scene where Denna put me of the worst was actually in tNotW. Remember when Kvothe plays Sir Savien's Lay because he's awesome like that. And then Denna manages to sing Aloine because she heard the song elsewhere, once. What the hell was that?

Meluna
She's Kvothe's aunt. I'd put money on it. I've been sure of it since he first met her and thought her profile seemed 'familiar'. It's how their conversation started, she caught him staring. I'm really looking forward to whatever comes of this.

There was a brief period where I was terribly convinced Meluna was going to turn out to be Denna. And then Kvothe would be forced to choose between helping the Maer and following his heart or some shit like that. Really glad that didn't happen.

Ambrose
Has anyone noticed Ambrose's relatives are dying? First it was the family that were shipwrecked(!suspicious) in the beggining of the book, then at the end someone else in the line of succession bought it . I can't remember, it might have been a duel or something. I'll go find sauce if anyone really cares. The point is, Ambrose is getting closer to that throne. Looks like Kvothe's gonna get to kill Ambrose after all.

Amyr
There keeps being imagery of Kvothe as one of the Amyr. I'm not saying that's what will happen, but there was at the beginning with Auri, when she calls him her Ciridae(sp?), and again when he kills the bandits in the forest. Both times it's mentioned that the blood on his arms looked like the tattoo's of the Amyr. I have a hunch that the Lockless family will end up connected to the Amyr somehow.

The Adem
So yeah, the whole man-mothers thing was like lolwhut? But it does make you think about what the removal of a patriarchal link would mean for a society. Tempi is still my favorite Adem though. I thought the language and some of the culture, like the Atas of the sword, was pretty interesting. That said, I didn't like most of the Adem characters all that much, didn't hate them, it was just kinda blah. I had higher hopes for a nation of mercenaries.

The Edema Ruh(not)
I liked this part. And Kvothe thinking about what he did to that one guy and smiling sometimes? Our little Kvothe is growing up. And he's growing up scary. I approve.

Also, I'd really like to meet some real Ruh at some point. I wonder what they'd make of Kvothe?

The Chandrian
I seem to remember from tNotW that Haliax/Lanre wanted kill everyone to keep them from hurting or somesuch. Don't know if that matters. But when did Kvothe become determined to kill Cindar? I mean, it makes sense. But I remember him saying in the first book that he didn't have any delusions about being to kill the Chandrian, he just wanted to know the truth about what happened to his troupe.

Author's Appeal
At this point Rothfuss has made a point to have gay characters, strong female characters, and a main character who is the victim of racism. I'm alright with that. If I can address the question of a feminist agenda(and I don't blame you if you want to skip the rest of this paragraph): You typically get two kinds of fantasy settings. In one women are slotted into their historic role as the weaker sex. It's not exactly fun to read(for me). I mean, I get to deal with it in real life. Yes really. It's nothing at all like it used to be, but it happens. Today I had a customer who wanted me to call a male cashier over to help me lift something. Her(yes her) comment: "we need a man". The second kind of setting will swing to the other extreme: Yes, of course women can do anything just as well as men. Kind of a thrill, but it just handwaves the whole issue. Overall, I think Rothfuss manages to balance the book pretty well. The Adem are Matriarchal, but women have more traditional roles in most countries(it seems). There are female students at the University, but the ratio is 1:10. There are (non-Adem) female mercenaries, but probably not as many as men. Okay I'm done now.

Malfeasance
Okay first off, that thing where Kvothe used the dead body to start killing people? That was crazy awesome, and just psycho-crazy, which made it more awesome. I like my protagonists with a few screws loose.

Second, how is the law against malfeasance(serious malfeasance) enforced? Is it the church, the government? Wouldn't 'normals' have a pretty hard time dealing with a majorly pissed off arcanist. Does the University deal with it? Do they have a hit squad or something? (Actually, that would be kind of awesome)

Kote
At this point, I'm assuming Kvothe changed his real name, like Elodion was freaking out about. Also, I wonder what the hell must have happened to Denna if Kvothe is just moping around? Is she dead? I mean, if she was in trouble, I can't imagine any force on earth could stop Kvothe from going to rescue her.

Felurian
I'm just glad Kvothe didn't survive the night because the was saving himself for Denna and refused to have sex with her. I had real fears of this. I wonder if he does end up going back to her, and that's where he meets Bast, or something.

Story
Someone mentioned how tWMF left them dissatisfied somehow, and I felt something similar. I think it's because by the end of the book I was honestly wondering if things were going to work out alright. The first book was pretty straight up adventure, despite the framing device. This book made me wonder if I was reading a tragedy in the making. It's probably good writing. I mean, I'm not just excited for the next book, I'm genuinely concerned about what's going to happen to Kvothe. It's going to bother me in the interim.

Other
Ceasura: Damn, I really liked Folly as the name of his sword. Not that his 2000y/o Adem sword isn't cool.

Remember when Felurian jokingly referred to the directions in the Fae as grinning and grimward? I'm going to remember that turn of phrase forever. Forever. It is that awesome.

The Ctheah
What the fuck is this. I mean, I don't hate the idea exactly, but damn that came out of nowhere. That said, it is an omniscient evil tree. And Maedre mean 'the broken tree'. eh? eh? I have high hopes.

tl;dr Nope, no way I can condense that down, not even going to try. It was a good book though.

*edit Holy crap I didn't realize how long this was till I saw it posted. Eh, sorry?