Chronicler dipped his pen and Kvothe looked down at his folded hands for as long as it takes to draw three deep breaths.
Then he began to speak.

After a run of epic fantasy novels that didn’t really impress me, I picked this up, the last of my Christmas presents, noted with dismay that the last page was numbered 662, sighed and started reading.

But in fact I really really enjoyed it. For once, the world-building and languages worked for me; the coming-of-age story of the disguised magician hero had some new wrinkles; the university setting of much of the book has of course echoes of other fantasy educational establishments, but remains very much its own; and basically, Kvothe as a character engaged my interest and I needed to find out what happened next. And having reached page 662, I still want to know what happens next, and will get more books in the series in order to find out.