Reviews Literature / The Wise Mans Fear

The Wise Man Better Stop Farting Around

I was told one fact about The Wise Man's Fear before starting it; it has an eleven chapter long sex scene. I can honestly say that isn't true, but what happens in that particular section of the book is much worse than childish, wish fulfillment bone jumping.

This section comes two thirds of the way into a one thousand page book, and I was at the end of my tether, reading it. Our hero, Kvothe, has gone into the fairy lands to gather bits for a cloak, being made by his fairy sex partner, whom he met whilst hunting bandits, on a mission for some noble, in exchange for patronage, so that he might afford his study fees at magic college, so that he'll have the powers to track down and kill the murderers of his family. I despaired at how much this book was getting off track with its nesting doll approach to adventure. A lot is happening, but to little narrative consequence; even if he gets his cloak, or patronage, or picks up some more skills, our hero still isn't any closer than he was by the end of the last book to resolving the story.

A lot of people complain about how much of a Mary Sue Kvothe has become by this point. I had been quietly hoping from the last book that he was simply a talented con artist who had a knack for taking credit for the amazing things that happened around him. But this sequel assures us that he is the real Mc Coy; a man capable of screwing a sex monster into submission despite being a teenage virgin; a guy so quick to pick up martial arts, he becomes the only person in history to be permitted special training with the race of violently xenophobic mercenaries. Well screw that guy, he isn't relatable anymore. Especially not when he starts comparing women to musical instruments for him to play, and then justifies the sexism by arguing the reader doesn't like music like he does. Weird how such a perspective does nothing to deter every woman in this book from instantly falling in love with him.

Once again, this was a frustrating read. Especially because it isn't a bad one for most of the time. It is written with skill and humour, and whatever faults there are in the pacing and characters, they are mostly made up for by the writing itself. I enjoyed most of what I read, but was deeply annoyed by what I wasn't reading. My only consolation is that with only one more book in this trilogy to go, well have to start seeing great strides in plot points to catch up.