The Wise Man's Fear: Patrick Rothfuss (A book inspired by mythology, legend, or folklore)

Holy smokes! This was great. I didn't have high hopes for this sequel because usually the second books don't go very well, but boy was this good.

I knew what to expect when I started reading, so unlike the first one, I was hooked immediately. I was so excited for the story to continue and to get my questions answered. Unfortunately (but really, fortunately), I've ended the story with more questions than answers, which makes me incredibly excited for the next one (please, Patrick! Write faster!!!).

I was really excited by how much this book veers off the University path. I love the University portions of the book. I'm fascinated by the classes, by the Masters and by the other students, but 1000 pages on this would get old pretty quickly. While a majority still takes place at the University, Kvote goes to many different places, and while he is really on one task for the Maer, he branches off into five or six different tasks, each one more exciting than the next. This keeps the story moving, and moving at a rapid pace. He's in the middle of a task but has to pause to fix this other task, and I'm left wondering how he's ever going to get out of that in order to finish his first task, but that cycle keeps going, which keeps me turning pages.

I was asked today why I like this book so much when I've believed firmly that I don't like fantasy of any sort (Harry Potter aside because that doesn't fit into a category), and I had a hard time explaining it. I think for me the fantastical parts of the story are so vividly explained and realistic, that I have a hard time convincing myself that what Kvote is learning at the University is unreal and impossible. It seems so possible and true, and it excites me to a level that when I'm reminded of the fantasy, I feel an acute sense of disappointment. I just want it to be real. I want to call the wind.

I think another part might be that the fantasy aspects almost seem behind the scenes. While all the magic is important to drive the story, this is a story about Kvote, not about magic or other fantastical elements. And even when he's with the Felurian, which is all fantastical, the story had a Narnian feel to it that made it enjoyable for me.

Again, I have a hard time explaining why I like this so much, when I have a hard time reading fantasy, but I think the bottom line is that Rothfuss is such an excellent writer that he makes fantasy the best of the best, and I can't help but love it. His writing, his imagination, his creativity goes far and beyond anything else I've read (sorry Rowling...).

Maybe I'm assuming too much by putting it under "A book inspired by mythology, legend, or folklore," but with all the folklore in the story, and all the legend passed around, with the Felurian which is such a mythological creature, it's hard to imagine there was no mythological or folklore inspiration in this book.