Both of us had read this before, and is one of our all-time faves. We would place it in the sci-fi/fantasy pantheon of greats that would include Tolkien's magnum opus. Jen read it again in preparation for this year's release of the sequel:
Jen agrees with our friend Glenn Loughridge that Wise Man's Fear is as good if not better than Rothfuss' first book in the series. Both are in my queue, but first I had decided to read:
Do you know anything about what life would have been like around 1800 on a man-made island that served as a Dutch trading post adjacent to Japan that served as the world's only window into that closed, mysterious empire? Haha, nor did I. It's amazing what can be done with such a slender sliver of history; I highly recommend this historical fiction. If you come from a Reformed tradition, as I do, you will have an added degree of attachment to its central character, Jacob de Zoet, the Dutch bookkeeper confined to this island. (I also recommend listening to Fresh Air's interview with the author, David Mitchell.)
I just finished this 30 minutes ago. Wow. Two down, 19 to go, and I already deeply, deeply love the friendship between Lucky Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin which is at the center of the series. (You may remember them from the movie, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.)
Didn't finish it.
