I really liked the way the story was told, but the whole thing was really not much more than the foundation for the actual story. It still is a good read, because it is witty and funny but also sad and terrifying at moments, but there never was much of an arch (?) in the story. Just little interesting parts of Kvothes life. So I think it'd work better in an omnibus with at least the second, if not also the third book. It did make me very curious for the second book though. Must be quite a story to need a 600 page introduction