This is the second book by Patrick Rothfuss, the first being The Name of the Wind. It's a high fantasy, although it's in the realm of a Midsummer's Night's Dream rather than Lord of the Rings. Medieval Universities, courts, warrior tribes and Fae are on the menu but Rothfuss' shtick is to take an unusual approach to telling the story.
Well, perhaps not that original, his protagonist, Kvothe, is a bard, the last of his family, a precocious genius and a young man making good. After Graeme Green it's text that can be run through at quite a pace without pausing too long. However, Rothfuss has a charm which is a lack of over writing and imbuing his character with a lack of centre, a number of gentle but interesting flaws and a cast of supporting characters (and they are no more than that) that are just developed enough not to answer guilty to the charge that they've been seconded from 'Generic Fantasy Pool Number 1.'
Rothfuss has obviously done quite a deal of research into medieval society and the world rings true enough for the levels of technology and even the information available (at a mundane level) to scholars and medics.
Yet I finished the book with a pretty deep sense of disappointment. This is the second book with the same character but I still don't know where it's going. The books don't really stand alone, yet at the same time they do't deliver a Big Bad nor do they really offer a sense of progress. I'm off to Rose Tremain next and I am looking forward to someone who knows how to write a narrative rather than a story.
Is this worth a read? Truth be told, I enjoyed it. Can I honestly recommend it? No.
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