The Wise Man's Fear
core novel 2011 The Kingkiller Chronicle
Record
| First published | 2011 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.55 (639,769 ratings, collected 2026-09-11) |
| Page count | 994 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780756404734 |
| First-edition date | 2011-03-01 |
| First-edition publisher | DAW Books |
| First-edition country | US |
Synopsis
The second novel of The Kingkiller Chronicle continues Kvothe's first-person account of his youth, told to Chronicler at the Waystone Inn. At the University, Kvothe's escalating rivalry with Ambrose Jakis, a powerful nobleman's son, brings him before the masters and leaves him with tuition debts he can only cover through the moneylender Devi. He leaves the University and travels abroad to Vintas, where he enters the service of the Maer Alveron in the city of Severen. There he becomes entangled in courtly politics, helping the Maer court a wife and confronting a plot against him, while he continues his search for answers about the mysterious Chandrian who killed his family. His travels also bring him back into contact with Denna.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Kingkiller Chronicle
- Series: The Kingkiller Chronicle core; position 2 of 2 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Patrick Rothfuss
Awards (verified)
- David Gemmell Legend Award (Best Novel), 2012: won
Notes
- Day 2. #1 NYT debut; Gemmell Legend Award 2012.
- From the series record (The Kingkiller Chronicle): Day 3 (The Doors of Stone) unreleased, no announced date as of Aug 2026; documented milestones: editor's 2020 'not a word' statement, author's 2021 public apology.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series The Kingkiller Chronicle: position 2 of 2: previous The Name of the Wind (2007)
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wise_Man%27s_Fear
- https://www.blackgate.com/2012/06/16/the-wise-mans-fear-by-patrick-rothfuss-wins-the-david-gemmell-legend-award/
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