The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

The Wise Man's Fear

To start I want to say that this is the sequel to one of my favorite books of all time (The Name of the Wind). Also, that it's 994 pages long.  It can get a bit slow at parts but it's still very good and there's something in it for everyone.

This is the continuing story of Kvothe as he is telling it to the Chronicler and his apprentice Bast.  We pick up when Kvothe is at the University.  Soon after, he is forced to leave the University by his archenemy Ambrose and he travels abroad.  He goes to Severen to find a powerful Vintan noble, Maer Alveron, who is looking for a skilled musician.  He is sent by the Maer, and with four other mercenaries, he must find and stop who—or what—ever is waylaying tax collectors on the King's Road.  Along the way he becomes the first man to be lured in by the Fae Felurian and survive.  He is also trained and taught by the Adem and much improves his fighting skills (as well as his Ademic).  All the while he is searching for stories of the Amyr and the Chandrian.

I highly recommend reading The Name of the Wind before this sequel.  Many of the events at the beginning won't make much sense.  It will also be hard to understand Kvothe's motivations and desires.  The first book explains Kvothe's origins and more about sympathy (magic) and other elements in The Wise Man's Fear.
The end of this book still leaves many questions unanswered and will have readers clamoring for the final book in The Kingkiller's Chronicle.

Chime by Franny Billingsley

Chime by Franny Billingsley

"I've confessed to everything and I'd like to be hanged.
       Now, if you please.
       I don't mean to be difficult, but I can't bear to tell my story.  I can't relive those memories—the touch of the Dead Hand, the smell of eel, the gulp and swallow of the swamp.
       How can you possibly think me innocent?  Don't let my face fool you; it tells the worst lies.  A girl can have the face of an angel but have a horrid sort of heart.
       I know you believe you're giving me a chance—or, rather, it's the Chime Child giving me the chance.  She's desperate, of course, not to hang an innocent girl again, but please believe me: Nothing in my story will absolve me of guilt.  It will only prove what I've already told you, which is that I'm wicked.
       Can't the Chime Child take my word for it?
       In any event, where does she expect me to begin?  The story of a wicked girl has no true beginning.  I'd have to begin with the day I was born.
       If Eldric were to tell the story, he'd likely begin with himself, on the day he arrived in the Swampsea.  That's where proper stories begin, don't they, when the handsome stranger arrives and everything goes wrong?
       But this isn't a proper story, and I'm telling you, I ought to be hanged."

So begins the story of Briony.  She's hiding a terrible secret.  One that could get her hanged, witches are hanged aren't they?