Kvothe & Deena and the dragon nonsense? B/c that was the only part that I thought dragged and kind of went off track from the rest of the story

Arrogant, brash, sure of himself. I thought Rothfuss did a good job of hammering home that a lot of Kvothe's problems were ultimately self-imposed, regardless of his gifts or abilities. He tries to steal Denna's ring from the worst possible person, and gives them his blood, then accuses someone without proof that actually has his blood. Gah!

Kvothe and especially BAST felt so very emo. And annoying. It's like Rothfuss took all the complaints about Kvothe being a "Mary Sue" in the first book and said "Oh yeah, well here! Kvothe's an irresponsible amoral jerk now!" You mentioned Ambrose. Kvothe's relationship with Ambrose didn't move anywhere from the first book. It was just the same old same old cardboard conflict, repeated ad nauseam. Same with Denna, and the constant run-ins with her. I can't stand that character, and I hope she dies a horrible death in book 3. The sections of Kvothe's sexual escapades in fae-land and the weapons training dragged and were poorly written. I don't think Rothfuss knows another word for "sex," and the martial arts section read like it was ripped off from Robert Jordan.

I found myself frustrated at the University section at the beginning of the book because nothing had changed from TNotW, I enjoyed the sections with the Maer, unlike others, I liked the bandit hunting section, but the rest of the book was complete throwaway for me. I don't think I would have been nearly this disappointed if I hadn't enjoyed the first book so much.

First, just as his friends said Denna looking for her patron was an excuse to spend time with Kvothe, this story was an excuse to spend time with Denna and, in her drugged out state, expose some of her inner thoughts to Kvothe and the reader.

Second, I kind of saw it as the story starting to move along. It was the first real story behind one of the legends of Kvothe.

The university itself is very interesting, but the book seemed to be focusing less on what he was learning and more on Denna, money, music, etc. Again, well told, but I was itching for the story to move along. I was of hoping the book would do something similar to the Tarbean section and skip ahead a bit. Not 3 years, but a ways.

My main problem was that every time it felt like the story was advancing and evolving in an organic way, Rothfuss slammed the breaks on the plot and sent Kvothe off in another disappointing direction. The transition from the University to the Maer's palace was fine enough, if you don't mind several chapters worth of plot excised (the shipwreck, pirates, etc.) I can see why it was removed -- anything to move the story along, right? We needed to get Kvothe to Vintas. OK, cool. And everything in that section of the book, the palace intrigue, political maneuvering, Kvothe's cunning and observation really felt like it was pushing Kvothe towards a new chapter in his life. And it was. And just as things got interesting and were leading towards a culmination of several hundred pages worth of plotting... Rothfuss decides to send Kvothe out on an elongated, drawn-out bandit hunt.

I felt the air draining from the novel's lungs. So now we have to start a whole new plotline just when things were getting REALLY good in Vintas. The Bandit Hunt. Great. What was the overall purpose? To introduce Kvothe to Tempi AND to show a brief glimpse of a Chandrian (who makes a hasty exit to no last impact). OK well several seemingly endless pages later, everything's wrapped up and we can get right back to Vintas, right?

Nope. He sees Feleurian one night (out of the blue), runs off after her, and the plot is sidelined AGAIN for a hundred pages of Kvothe: SEX GOD! He can't lose his virginity in a human way that reflects his growth into manhood, he has to pursue and subdue an anotherworldly Fae sex goddess who teaches him some combination of the Kama Sutra and the Malaysian Pile Driver that makes him the master cocksman of the universe. Oh and he gets a cloak and some plot exposition from a powerful talking tree. Can we get this over with please?

So now he comes back and he's banging half the universe, but OK, **NOW** the plot can start getting interesting again? Nope, Tempi's in trouble for teaching the Ketan and Lethani, so now he's going to run off and defend him in Admere. For the love of God, we don't have THAT many pages left in the book and we're off on another tangent. But it's OK because now not only is Kvothe a 16-year-old Sex God, he ends up being the only barbarian admitted to the world's baddest martial arts order as well. But as long as he ends up learning something from it, right?

Wrong. He goes back to the University and he's back EXACTLY where he was before, still headstrong, still angry, only now this time he has money. And the book ends.

I haven't mentioned Denna at all until now. Because the fine, mysterious, intriguing character from the first book became an annoying, obnoxious, forgettable buzzkill in this book. Every time she showed up -- magically, wherever Kvothe seemed to be -- she was the literally equivalent of 17-car pileup in a deep fog. The dynamic of their relationship never changed, and the sum change in their relationship from book to book is nonexistent.

And yet, for all the problems I had with the plot -- and there were many -- it was the details, the universe, the sense of wonder, the dialog, the humor, Rothfuss's prosaic writing style... it was the little things that I loved most. Overall I didn't think too much of the book. Taken on its own, it was fine. It just didn't seem to add up to much in the end, and the narrative kept tripping over itself so much that it never was able to maintain any momentum after the first half of the book or so. Disappointing.