Reviews with content warning for Rape - The Wise Man's Fear

I'm quite disappointed to be honest, but my feelings about the book are very mixed so it's quite hard to give it a star rating that feels right.
The main positive for me is the incredible, detailed and original world building. I felt really engrossed in the world and loved learning more about how this world works.
For the most part I also found the story very compelling and intriguing, although it is quite scattered in a real-worldy kind of way which I'm aware some people didn't like.

Despite all that, the negatives for me almost made it unreadable at times. The main issue for me was that I found Kvothe thoroughly unlikeable, for most of the book he's constantly bragging about everything he does and how brilliant he is at everything he tries. I found this very grating. However it was almost unreadable due to the way Kvothe talks about women. I won't get into the details so this can remain spoiler free but at times I felt like I was reading a fanfic written by a 14 year old boy or an incel. I was cringing and sending pics to my friends/boyfriend of some paragraphs because I actually couldn't believe what I was reading. It felt very much like reading an incel's sexual fantasy who wishes that they could be Kvothe and I absolutely hated it. (also mild spoiler, there's a bit where Kvothe almost literally says "not all men" to a SA victim, seriously.)
So I am very torn. As I say, the story is compelling and intriguing and the world building is very impressive but at times the writing got so bad in terms of female characters in particular that I really don't know that I could bring nyself to read the 3rd book if it's ever completed.

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xjr's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

While in general I enjoyed the plot more of the second book, it being slightly more witty and answering a lot of the first book's questions, I also had more gripes with it.

It is the consequence of the way Kvothe decides to tell his story. Some adventures relevant to the plot were skimmed over leaving only an interesting and at the same time infuriating synopsis. Worse, Kvothe argues in one of the chapters why this is the case and let's just say I did not personally appreciate it. At the same time, other chapters are long-winded while providing little more than charming writing and showing what's been already established. Admittedly, it for the most part makes sense within the universe and framing of the story, it's just not my preference.

What I did appreciate was how this book delved deeper into the multifaceted layers of culture, language, court society, and at last tangible exposition on the mysterious realm of the Fae!

As always it ends with a cliffhanger and many things are still up in the air so I'm hoping this series gets finished properly before the end of my life time.

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darkefyres's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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navya12's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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acasiamae's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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jennalve's review

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adventurous dark medium-paced

3.75

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piplodocus's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny hopeful inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

While I enjoyed reading each of the components of this book, ultimately that is what they were: components. It felt like this book was made of several story arcs, which didn't ultimately propel the main narrative of this series forwards. There are some great concepts, beautiful writing, and some genuinely funny lines which made me chuckle However, this was bogged down by a poor structure, as well as truly awful writing concerning the female characters - perhaps I'm just too far flung on the asexuality spectrum, but I felt so frustrated by how almost every female character in the book was objectified, and I certainly felt that a whole arc on

Spoiler

Kvothe learning sexual techniques from a mystical Fae

was unnecessary.

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