Review: The Kingkiller Chronicle 1 & 2

The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss

On friends’ recommendations, I went ahead and listened to these 2 books. It takes a storytelling/memoir approach to tell the personal experience of Kvothe. Kvothe is still a fairly young man at the present time when this story is being told. Most of the stories in the first 2 books are things that have occurred years ago while Kvothe is growing up and during his early adventures.

Patrick’s world building is quite impressive. The characters and cultural differences are gave you the sense of a real world. He is a also a very good writer at a technical level, I just love the way his sentences flow. It adds to the narrative experience of an audiobook and very pleasant to listen to.

There is a but in here, though. The first 2 books, while very good, have a huge issue - they don’t bring you to any conclusion and left me unsatisfied with the overall story. Yes, this can be a clever trick to get me to wait for the third book. And I certainly will. But it’s hard for me to recommend heartily these 2 books RIGHT NOW to an eager reader. You will very likely leave wanting. At a combined 1600+ pages, I really wish I know more about Kvothe and his real story by the end!

This issue also makes clear the difference between Kvothe the legend and the Kvothe the person we are listening to. There seems to be quite a gap between the two personas and there is no easy way for you to reconcile them. Kvothe is coming across as an unreliable narrator as he clearly says that he’s been spreading rumors on his feats and adventures. We are to believe that Kovthe’s current story is the truth, but I have my doubts.

So many questions after these 2 books.

Recommended that you wait until book 3 is published. 😄