The Wise Man's Fear

"The sea in a storm, a night without the moon, and a gentle man's rage are the three things that all wise men fear."

Kvothe is my name.

Princesses have been taken by me from slumbering barrow kings. I destroyed Trebon with fire. I've spent the night with Felurian and come out from it with my life and my sanity intact. I was kicked out of the university before most individuals are permitted to enroll. I go on moonlit routes that people are afraid to mention during the day. I've penned songs that made minstrels cry, spoken to gods, and loved women.

I think you've heard of me.

This is the start of an unmatched fantasy novel that tells the narrative of a hero from his own point of view. Now in The Wise Man's Fear, Kvothe is forced to leave the University and go abroad in search of his riches due to a growing rivalry with a strong member of the aristocracy. He sails to Vintas alone, impoverished, and adrift, where he soon becomes caught up in the machinations of courtly life. In an effort to discover who (or what) is belaying travelers on the King's Road, Kvothe takes a party of mercenaries into the wilderness, discovers an assassination attempt, and battles with a competing arcanist while trying to win over a powerful noble.

Kvothe keeps looking for information in an effort to learn the truth about the Chandrian, the enigmatic Amyr, and his parents' deaths. Along the journey, Kvothe enters the Fae world, must recover the honor of the Edema Ruh, and is placed on trial by the fabled Adem mercenaries. He encounters Felurian there, the faerie lady who no man has ever survived despite his inability to resist her... until Kvothe.

When Kvothe embarks on the heroic journey in The Wise Man's Fear, he discovers firsthand how challenging life can be for a man who rises to fame in his own right.