This wasn't a book. It was the introduction to the book. It was a hint at character development in a really tiny way with a bit of unrelated plot drizzled on top. I don't know if it's the author to blame or the publisher for slicing it this way. However you look at it, that's the main reason this got such low marks.

Still, I should say something about the writing itself. Mr. Rothfuss has a pretty good handle on his world and writes most of his characters with a careful and accurate brush. There's little danger in getting folks mixed up because of their dialogue or actions. It's less the mechanics of his writing that bothers me than the organization of it.

This book is written in the third person, but most chapters are first person retrospectives of the main character's life. It's a story being told, and as such the author gets some leeway in commenting on things with the benefit of that character's hindsight. It's a neat structure and I didn't mind it at all. It became distracting later on, though, when these interludes (not the whole-chapter breaks, just the short commentary ones) would creep in and kill the pacing of the story. It seemed to happen most when the main character would remember a specific woman, when once again (for the 300th time) words were not sufficient to describe something and he has to have a quick flashback within a flashback to make a poetic metaphor.

Most disconcerting to me was that by 60%, I no longer cared for the main characters. They annoyed me. My sympathy was lost and try as I might to find it again by the end, it just wasn't there.

I have the second book laying around here, but I have a strong suspicion that it won't see the top of my to-read list.