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Karnegal posted:I read a really good blog post last week from a PhD student who studies folklore on why the majority of fantasy authors have a really poor understanding of myth, legend, and folklore. I've been trying to find it again for the past few days, but I've had no luck. At any rate, there was a specific call out on Rothfuss for inaccuracy in the area. I really wish I had the article, it was a good read that sounds like it would be useful, but I'm sure the biggest single thing is that most modern SFF authors started out as SFF nerds, and SFF nerds are a group that is notoriously reluctant to step outside of its own fandom for reading material. Meaning that the people writing this fiction have read older works inspired by this folklore, but haven't read the source material. Like they're all familiar with Tolkien and DnD, but fewer of them are familiar wtih Malory-era Arthuriana, pre-Malory Arthuriana, the Mabinogion, the Kalevela, the Eddas, Arabian Nights, etc PupsOfWar fucked around with this message at 04:56 on Jul 5, 2014 |
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Jul 5, 2014 04:39
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Has anyone sussed out the calendar for the Rothfuss' world? I finally put together that there's 11 days to a span, but past that I'm a little hazy.
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Jul 10, 2014 20:26
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jivjov posted:Has anyone sussed out the calendar for the Rothfuss' world? I finally put together that there's 11 days to a span, but past that I'm a little hazy. The wiki covers the calendar fairly well. http://kingkiller.wikia.com/wiki/Span
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Jul 10, 2014 23:12
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Sagnid posted:The wiki covers the calendar fairly well. And so it does. I didn't even think to look for a wiki for a two book series.
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Jul 11, 2014 00:36
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I just plowed through the two books in this series over the last week or so, and on the whole I enjoyed them. However, the Felurian section went on for far too long, and Kvothe and Denna's relationship just goes nowhere. Every scene with the two of them is pretty much the same, with no resolution in sight. Is Rothfuss really going to string it out for another god-knows how many pages? Also, when Kvothe follows Denna that one time and she's talking to the girl, seemingly encouraging her to be a whore - why was that never mentioned again? What were we supposed to infer from that scene? That Denna is some sort of pimp? That whoring isn't so bad really? I guess the latter would fit with her character, but Kvothe never so much as mentions it again, which is weird because it's the only insight we ever get as to what she's doing when she's not with him.
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Jul 14, 2014 12:50
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Bardeh posted:I just plowed through the two books in this series over the last week or so, and on the whole I enjoyed them. However, the Felurian section went on for far too long, and Kvothe and Denna's relationship just goes nowhere. Every scene with the two of them is pretty much the same, with no resolution in sight. Is Rothfuss really going to string it out for another god-knows how many pages? I read it as just confirmation of what was previously suggested - that Denna isn't exactly a whore, she doesn't sleep with men for money, instead she lets them buy her gifts and take her to meals and things, then if they start pressing for sex she runs away to a new town. That's why she disappears sometimes and Kvothe can't find her.
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Jul 14, 2014 13:02
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Maud Moonshine posted:I read it as just confirmation of what was previously suggested - that Denna isn't exactly a whore, she doesn't sleep with men for money, instead she lets them buy her gifts and take her to meals and things, then if they start pressing for sex she runs away to a new town. That's why she disappears sometimes and Kvothe can't find her. Yeah that makes sense. I thought that she was actively encouraging the girl to actually sleep with the men, but I just went back and re-read the passage, and she's telling the girl that she has to make up her own mind about what to do in that situation. Another thing that stuck in my mind was the whole tuition thing when Kvothe gets back to the University at the end of TWMF. It doesn't make sense. Kvothe deliberately screws up his interview to make his admission higher, then comes to an arrangement with the bursar to get half of everything over 10 talents. But the University would still need to be paid the whole sum, so presumably the bursar is overcharging Alveron. But if that's the case, why not just do admissions as normal, and just tell the bursar to overcharge Alveron anyway? Even better, just ignore the whole stupid thing and say that the arrow-catch invention sold a shitload and have the money come from there. The plot device is already there, for gently caress's sake!
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Jul 14, 2014 13:53
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Bardeh posted:Another thing that stuck in my mind was the whole tuition thing when Kvothe gets back to the University at the end of TWMF. It doesn't make sense. Kvothe deliberately screws up his interview to make his admission higher, then comes to an arrangement with the bursar to get half of everything over 10 talents. But the University would still need to be paid the whole sum, so presumably the bursar is overcharging Alveron. But if that's the case, why not just do admissions as normal, and just tell the bursar to overcharge Alveron anyway?
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Jul 14, 2014 15:51
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Bardeh posted:Yeah that makes sense. I thought that she was actively encouraging the girl to actually sleep with the men, but I just went back and re-read the passage, and she's telling the girl that she has to make up her own mind about what to do in that situation. Going by memory (I don't have the books here to check), I think Denna actually comes close to discouraging that course just by being truthful about the risks of it. If she were going to give advice, I think it would be to go home and grovel before it's too late. (Which possibly suggests that Denna tried and it was too late - but I may not be remembering that accurately.)
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Jul 14, 2014 16:02
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Bardeh posted:Another thing that stuck in my mind was the whole tuition thing when Kvothe gets back to the University at the end of TWMF. It doesn't make sense. Kvothe deliberately screws up his interview to make his admission higher, then comes to an arrangement with the bursar to get half of everything over 10 talents. But the University would still need to be paid the whole sum, so presumably the bursar is overcharging Alveron. But if that's the case, why not just do admissions as normal, and just tell the bursar to overcharge Alveron anyway? I was just thinking about this and it really only makes sense if you assume the bursar has some insane dedication to the school rather than himself. If Kvothe passes his exams like normal his tuition (as an example I can't remember the real numbers) is 5 talents so the university gets 5 talents. If Kvothe screws up his exams and the tuition is 15 talents the university gets an additional 5 talents and the bursar gives Kvothe 5 talents. This nets the university more money but it is such a minor amount the bursar would have to be insane to think it really made any sense at all.
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Jul 14, 2014 16:55
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Lyon posted:I was just thinking about this and it really only makes sense if you assume the bursar has some insane dedication to the school rather than himself. I think it only works if the bursar is willing to risk his job and cook the books, then share the profits with Kvothe. It makes no sense for him to do that in the context of the story, especially not so suddenly. Extra especially because rear end in a top hat-teacher-who-hates-Kvothe is Chancellor now and would presumably be keeping an eye on him. Like I said, Rothfuss already has a perfectly good way to make Kvothe's constant money worries go away - his invention and the cut he gets from every sale. It's even mentioned very shortly before the whole stupid scheme we're discussing. It's a minor thing, but because it's so baffling and right at the end of the book, it stuck in my mind.
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Jul 14, 2014 18:10
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It would be ironic if, after all this discussion, this was what Kvothe gets expelled for in book three. Especially if he gets found out almost immediately precisely because it's such an idiotic scheme. Is there any indication elsewhere that mathematic ability is one of Kvothe's many talents?
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Jul 14, 2014 18:14
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Maud Moonshine posted:Is there any indication elsewhere that mathematic ability is one of Kvothe's many talents? No, he actually explicitly says at one point that he's useless at it and gave up the class when he tried to study it. I wouldn't say it's even a matter of maths, though. It's just a profoundly illogical plan.
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Jul 14, 2014 18:22
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Can't wait for all new Kvothe adventures with lacking money! So far he has done precisely 2 cool things: killed a bunch of bandits with magic and fought a drugged up not dragon with magic. I'm hoping the next book is all about the awesome poo poo that people talk about him for because another solid book of pining and bitching about being poor just ain't gonna cut it. Plus I'm way more interested in the present day stuff than his story. Bast is awesome and I want more stories in the world after all this boring stuff is done.
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Jul 14, 2014 19:10
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Karnegal posted:I never saw it, so sadly the reference is lost on me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIHdywKjl00 This really captures the reference, I think. All these blog links have really punctured the idea I had that maybe the books were more clever than they appeared at first glance and Kvothe is written as having idiotic views on certain things on purpose.
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Jul 14, 2014 20:57
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Bardeh posted:I just plowed through the two books in this series over the last week or so, and on the whole I enjoyed them. However, the Felurian section went on for far too long, and Kvothe and Denna's relationship just goes nowhere. Every scene with the two of them is pretty much the same, with no resolution in sight. Is Rothfuss really going to string it out for another god-knows how many pages? Denna hyst saved the girl from rape and is laying out her options. Since sexual exploitation is going to be part of the deal for an impoverished girl, yeah, Denna advocates prostitution insofar as if the girl is going to be raped, she may as well get paid. Her other option is to do the Denna, flirt, gad about, etc. etc. but no sleep around, which is the hard mode version, but allows for you know, dignity and stuff. It's actually a really big moment for us understanding who Denna is and what she's all about, since she'd been obscured by Kvothe's hormonal haze up until that point. That's one of those older Kvothe gets it, young Kvothe doesn't. Young Kvothe, being a dumbass, kinda skated by that moment without it registering. Later, he goes around assuming, among other things, that Denna sleeps with all her guy friends which makes it a. okay for him to sleep with other girls and b. means Denna should want to sleep with him, right? Which he gets super pissy about because he's fedora tipping child. People talk about the two of them going nowhere but Denna slapping him down hard over that was progress for both of them, frankly. Old Kvothe is telling us the story with Denna and the girl so that we too can marvel at his dumbassedness, since that's sort of the theme of the series. 'How I squandered endless amounts of talent by being a hosed up wreck of a human being, by Kvothe.'
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Jul 15, 2014 10:38
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Just finished the books. Yes, gender relations and Mary Sueism are big problems. But they pale in comparison to the "span of days" issue. I swear to loving God that the term once appeared three times in the same sentence. That poo poo is brutal when you're listening to the audiobook because you can't just glaze over it.
The Little Kielbasa fucked around with this message at 16:09 on Jul 23, 2014 |
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Jul 23, 2014 12:39
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Solice Kirsk posted:I'm hoping the next book is all about the awesome poo poo that people talk about him for because another solid book of pining and bitching about being poor just ain't gonna cut it.
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Jul 23, 2014 15:56
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mallamp posted:The point is that he didn't actually do that much awesome poo poo. I'd drop the series if I were you... Uhhhhhhhh, he really did kill a bunch of bandits with magic, really did get schooled by a super secretive fighting culture, really did fight a dragon thing, really did get put on trial and win, and really did gently caress a sex demon and survive. Rothfuss is honestly loving everything up if he was trying to go for "I fell rear end backwards into success" with Kvothe. edit: Oh! He also really is one of the best sympathists, really is one of the best musicians, and really is one of the best artificers. I'm sure I'm missing some stuff, but honestly the stupid impressive things everyone claimed he did pretty much happpened the way they were told. At least so far. Solice Kirsk fucked around with this message at 19:23 on Jul 23, 2014 |
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Jul 23, 2014 19:18
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Solice Kirsk posted:Uhhhhhhhh, he really did kill a bunch of bandits with magic, really did get schooled by a super secretive fighting culture, really did fight a dragon thing, really did get put on trial and win, and really did gently caress a sex demon and survive. Rothfuss is honestly loving everything up if he was trying to go for "I fell rear end backwards into success" with Kvothe. If you just accept that he is Buckaroo Banzai now, it will save you pain later.
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Jul 25, 2014 04:25
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Benson Cunningham posted:If you just accept that he is Buckaroo Banzai now, it will save you pain later. Eeeh, I think it's less like he's supposed to be flashman, more that in spite of all his Banzai-ness he's still a gently caress up where it counts. Mostly because he's used to coasting on his innate awesome and never actually learned to deal with people. Again, despite sex goddess shenanigans he fucks up big time with Denna, mostly because he believes that sex goddess shenanigans entitles him to Denna's affection and she drops him HARD as a result. He IS everything you heard about in the stories, but Denna is still dead, the apocalypse is coming, and Kvothe can't do poo poo about it.
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Jul 26, 2014 10:55
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the JJ posted:Eeeh, I think it's less like he's supposed to be flashman, more that in spite of all his Banzai-ness he's still a gently caress up where it counts. Mostly because he's used to coasting on his innate awesome and never actually learned to deal with people. Again, despite sex goddess shenanigans he fucks up big time with Denna, mostly because he believes that sex goddess shenanigans entitles him to Denna's affection and she drops him HARD as a result. He IS everything you heard about in the stories, but Denna is still dead, the apocalypse is coming, and Kvothe can't do poo poo about it. We've seen little evidence of much of that yet. A lot of people are hoping the third book is some kind of masterpiece redemption of the series, but the general consensus is that it won't be. The prose is a ton of fun to read, but the content is lacking in cleverness or depth. It's fine to disagree with the above opinion. Also, on his ability to deal with people- he trained his whole life as an actor in a troupe of actors and he has a genius level IQ. It's a writing flaw that the only manifestation of what I imagine to be severe PTSD is that he is somewhat socially awkward.
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Jul 26, 2014 18:16
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The Denna/Kvothe relationship is just stupidly written unless there is a narrative reason that she needs to be so weird about the whole thing. Like every other woman in the book, she's clearly very into Kvothe (despite his creepy as gently caress Nice Guy nature), but they can't just have a relationship because... If the narrative explains why they can't be together (Chandrian stuff, probably) than it isn't Kvothe's fault and he remains good at pretty much everything that he can be good at. In general, he doesn't gently caress up so much as circumstances beyond his control conspire to dick him over. When people don't like him, they're written as racists or just dicks -even though he's wildly unlikable. He isn't a gently caress up "when it counts" he gets hosed over "when it counts."
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Jul 27, 2014 03:00
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I'm just eagerly awaiting the 3rd book because then Rothfuss can hopefully write more about the world he created and waaaaaay less about Kvothe.
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Jul 27, 2014 04:44
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Karnegal posted:The Denna/Kvothe relationship is just stupidly written unless there is a narrative reason that she needs to be so weird about the whole thing. Like every other woman in the book, she's clearly very into Kvothe (despite his creepy as gently caress Nice Guy nature), but they can't just have a relationship because... Now I know I haven't read the book in forever but I'm p. sure he, e.g., thought she was sleeping with all those dudes and therefore she would approve of his new PUA ways and thus want to get in on the action. Like, iirc their last big interaction was precisely him loving up because he's a horrible nice guy autistic AND because he thought his magic sexness entitled him to Denna. Like that was the whole point of the arc to me, neatly enclosing what a tremendous gently caress up he is despite seemingly boundless Mary Sue ism. Like yeah, the next few books need to be real on the ball to make the rest worth it but the sex goddess subplot works (for a given value of works) for me because it is wrapped up in the book. I mean there's that, Denna's encounter with the girl in the city, and the doom tree's method of getting under his skin ("oh no, your damsel is in distress, go be the hero in all those stories of yours!") all circle back around pretty competently to: no, Kvothe's complex is really loving this up.
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Jul 28, 2014 11:48
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Solice Kirsk posted:I'm just eagerly awaiting the 3rd book because then Rothfuss can hopefully write more about the world he created and waaaaaay less about Kvothe. I like reading these books because they're fuckin' comfortable and familiar Every Fantasy, like what you read when you were twelve, except the protagonist's friends are better written and the dialog is generally super engaging instead of just utilitarian. Plus, there was that one story about the moon, and that was dope. What's so interesting and unique about his world to you? To anyone?
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Jul 28, 2014 14:23
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For me at least, it's the story structure. I'm a sucker for stories within stories, but then you hide all the interesting information about how the world works in stories within the story in the story, and it's just too much fun.
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Jul 28, 2014 14:35
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I just like his writing, and I feel like he'd be best paired with someone who can gently suppress or at least tighten up the length of some of the bad bits (sexy sex goddess of sex and death) and help bring a missing foundation to his sort-of-generic D&D fantasy world. Or maybe that's what editors do? I'm a bit fuzzy on how the sausage is made. Come to think of it, are there any writing pairs anymore that aren't either one author sponging fame off the other or getting license from the estate to ghost write? Edit: I feel like a lot might be solved by practicing, you know, writing, and that his books will gain a maturity if he would just hurry up and write a bunch more. Bhodi fucked around with this message at 16:27 on Jul 28, 2014 |
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Jul 28, 2014 16:25
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the JJ posted:Now I know I haven't read the book in forever but I'm p. sure he, e.g., thought she was sleeping with all those dudes and therefore she would approve of his new PUA ways and thus want to get in on the action. Like, iirc their last big interaction was precisely him loving up because he's a horrible nice guy autistic AND because he thought his magic sexness entitled him to Denna. Like that was the whole point of the arc to me, neatly enclosing what a tremendous gently caress up he is despite seemingly boundless Mary Sue ism. Like yeah, the next few books need to be real on the ball to make the rest worth it but the sex goddess subplot works (for a given value of works) for me because it is wrapped up in the book. I mean there's that, Denna's encounter with the girl in the city, and the doom tree's method of getting under his skin ("oh no, your damsel is in distress, go be the hero in all those stories of yours!") all circle back around pretty competently to: no, Kvothe's complex is really loving this up. The thing is, the Denna relationship just never makes sense. He doesn't screw up by acting all PUA (which is certainly lovely), he screws up because the narrative needs him to fail. If Denna actually didn't like him then it would 100% make sense that all his wildly shifting approaches wouldn't work because you can't magically game a woman into wanting to gently caress you. However, even if we buy his initial "I am not skilled in talking to ladies" (even though every lady he meets want's to sex him), it still doesn't hold up because Denna pretty much confesses her love for him in book 1 while drugged. So even if he was the shyest dude ever -he's not- once we get past the period where she's drugged, I cannot fathom a legitimate reason for him not to say "Hey, while you were under the influence of the resin, you said some things that make me think you want a relationship of some sort with me. If that's true, I pretty obviously like you, so maybe we could go on a date to musicville sometime." Shyness doesn't even make sense as an excuse since within a couple months of the dragon affair he is off wooing his aunt with songs and letters. Like, I know he constantly tells us that he is totally oblivious to ladies, but the text doesn't actually support that. It's the same as his claims about being "really truly poor" when in reality he's just living a middle-class life around a bunch rich people. If we were supposed to see his new approach to sex as not working, he wouldn't be having sex with every lady he meets. EDIT: The tree/Denna thing is just awful - "oh no the girl I like is in danger! Better run off to martial arts land for a few months."
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Jul 28, 2014 20:19
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Speaking of the resin, Rothfuss sure likes to mention Denna's perfectly white teeth a lot. Will he follow up on that and have her involved with fantasy drugs, or is Denna just so perfect by coincidence? I'm mostly expecting the latter.
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Jul 28, 2014 20:28
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Sunsetaware posted:Speaking of the resin, Rothfuss sure likes to mention Denna's perfectly white teeth a lot. Will he follow up on that and have her involved with fantasy drugs, or is Denna just so perfect by coincidence? I'm mostly expecting the latter. Given her "OMG" reaction when she finds out she ate some resin, I imagine she just has perfect teeth because she is the love interest of the protagonist.
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Jul 28, 2014 21:43
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Karnegal posted:The thing is, the Denna relationship just never makes sense. He doesn't screw up by acting all PUA (which is certainly lovely), he screws up because the narrative needs him to fail. If Denna actually didn't like him then it would 100% make sense that all his wildly shifting approaches wouldn't work because you can't magically game a woman into wanting to gently caress you. I read the Denna making moves on him as the older Kvothe telling us poo poo that he now knows was super important but at the time he didn't really process (because he's actually a dumbass; see also, Denna' conversation with the girl.) That said I don't think its totally fair to say Kvothe should have assumed Denna was don't the drunk honesty thing. The reason sleeping with super impaired people is considered unethical is because we expect a disconnect between how they feel drugged and how they feel sober. I don't think Kvothe was TOTALLY unreasonable in classifying Denna's advances in the same category as her desire to go play with the fairies. E; re the white teeth. It's not just that she's fantasy heroes love interest, its that she's the love interest as described by said hero. Bast even calls Kvothe out on this when he reminds him that she had a crooked nose. Again, that's the narrative calling am other out on his poo poo, from that point on your looking for him to be exaggerating her looks and down playing her flaws. the JJ fucked around with this message at 08:36 on Jul 31, 2014 |
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Jul 31, 2014 08:32
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Karnegal posted:It's the same as his claims about being "really truly poor" when in reality he's just living a middle-class life around a bunch rich people. I mean, gently caress, I'm almost 30 and I'm just getting over that poo poo. Kvothe's supposed to be fifteen or something. I don't know if Rothfuss is intentionally writing this but even if it's an accident, it's a super believable accident if you've lived any part of your childhood that broke.
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Jul 31, 2014 15:18
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Also, he's still poor enough that buying a street snack is an impossible luxury. How is that not poor? I do agree that it's kind of irritating that he has resources enough that he could permanently solve his cash problem if he just focused on it and made good choices. But I understand why he doesn't. One, he's a teen. Two, he's Kvothe, and Kvothe is really bad about working towards his goals.
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Jul 31, 2014 15:46
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Wittgen posted:Also, he's still poor enough that buying a street snack is an impossible luxury. How is that not poor? I'm just going to quote something I wrote 20 pages ago instead of rehashing it Karnegal posted:Really, truly, poor people don't attend the most prestigious educational institution in ye olde world. He has two sources of income (being a virtuoso lute player and making magical loving devices). Given the setting, his life and means are wildly better than the vast majority of people in his world. In reality he's living a middle class to upper middle class life, but he's jealous of his rich friends. Can you point to any text in the Imre sections that show Kvothe going without food for long periods of time or lacking the materials he needs to complete his studies? If you have to work to go to college, you're still immensely privileged, particularly in ye olden times. As to growing up poor and it sticking with you - sure that's totally a thing. But he didn't grow up poor. He grew up in a relatively wealthy group of elitist traveling performers. The first part of book one is the rue and pals thumbing their noses at the towns people they're preforming for (they should of offered us more and beds, but we wouldn't take their licey beds because we have nicer poo poo anyway). He is certainly poor for his couple years on the street, but I have a hard time buying into that being a real big life experience since he seems to ignore that it happened most of the time. I mean, there's a whole list of stuff wrong with the Tarbean section as it doesn't fit with the rest of that book, and the whole section is resolved when he just wakes up one day decides to be awesome again and promptly solves all his problems in an afternoon.
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Jul 31, 2014 18:42
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Karnegal posted:I'm just going to quote something I wrote 20 pages ago instead of rehashing it People who go through traumatic events often cope with them by ignoring them or pretending they didn't happen. Kvothe certainly doesn't come across as an individual who is mentally healthy enough to confront that past head on.
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Jul 31, 2014 21:21
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Chichevache posted:People who go through traumatic events often cope with them by ignoring them or pretending they didn't happen. Kvothe certainly doesn't come across as an individual who is mentally healthy enough to confront that past head on.
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Aug 1, 2014 02:25
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Chichevache posted:People who go through traumatic events often cope with them by ignoring them or pretending they didn't happen. Kvothe certainly doesn't come across as an individual who is mentally healthy enough to confront that past head on. Yeah, but it doesn't affect him at all. Suppressing bad experiences isn't some sort of magical cure for psychological trauma. He really just decides he's better one day and then the time spent there never impacts the narrative again until he decides to wander through in the end of book two. I don't recall any horrible flashbacks there, he just goes through like a baller tossing money to the guy tending the mentally ill kids and listening to people talk about how good Kvothe is at sex.
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Aug 1, 2014 04:31
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Karnegal posted:Yeah, but it doesn't affect him at all. Suppressing bad experiences isn't some sort of magical cure for psychological trauma. He really just decides he's better one day and then the time spent there never impacts the narrative again until he decides to wander through in the end of book two. I don't recall any horrible flashbacks there, he just goes through like a baller tossing money to the guy tending the mentally ill kids and listening to people talk about how good Kvothe is at sex. Who is the person who tells you it doesn't affect him and that he's so cool and awesome that he overcomes through sheer willpower?
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Aug 1, 2014 04:42
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Chichevache posted:Who is the person who tells you it doesn't affect him and that he's so cool and awesome that he overcomes through sheer willpower? Are we going back on the unreliable narrator wank? I thought the thread had come to the consensus that if that's what was going on here, this was a real lovely attempt at it, but I could be confusing it with a discussion of the book elsewhere. To summarize: if Rothfus wanted to do an unreliable narrator he did a piss poor job of it. If you're going to do unreliable narrator, you need to either write a short story or give enough evidence that that's what's going on as the story is happening. We're at what, 2500 pages of book at this point? What are people hoping for with the unreliable narrator thing? If we get to 3500 and we get a "haha, that was all bullshit" are people going to be happy? They shouldn't because that's a godawful pay off. It's like reading a murder mystery where you finish the book only to find out that the murderer was a character you never met. It's wildly unsatisfying and just plain lazy writing. We have no significant evidence to support the unreliable narrator theory. It really just stems from fans of the book saying "man, these books would be better if Kvothe was an unreliable narrator." And that's true. That's not what the book is though. In fact, all evidence points to Kvothe not being a liar. Bast is clearly a powerful Fey being, but he's following Kvothe like a puppy. He only really contradicts Kvothe on his physical description of Denna. And that scarcely counts since beauty is subjective and we tend to think the people we love are better than they are. It's not like Bast is calling him out on any actual facts. I assume people like the idea because they see it as going along with the idea of the book as a genre deconstruction and an examination of legend and folklore vs reality. The issue is that it's not a particularly good deconstruction. It's primarily a lot of Rothfus via Kvothe going "oh look at what a cleverpants I am" - "but that would only happen in a story -haha reader you know that this is a story; indeed a story within a story. gently caress am I clever  . The folklore vs reality thing only works if you buy into the absurd way that Rothfus seems to think these sorts of stories spread. I 100% buy a world where people have legends about a guy who hosed an ancient sex/death goddess and lived. I don't buy that a teenage virgin does it with no proof and the rumor is spread 1/2 way across the known world inside of a couple of weeks.This also highlights a problem where the various things the book is allegedly doing contradict each other. If Kvothe is an unreliable narrator, we would assume he's full of poo poo about Felurian. If he's full of poo poo, then how do these legends even spread? We can't chalk this up to Kvothe as an unreliable narrator because all the people we encounter in the present know the story. Maybe he could convince a few gullible saps that he knows or some children, but people hundreds of miles away aren't going to be talking about it -it would be a kid giving a "my uncle who works at Nintendo" story except that the majority of the adult population instantly buys into it. That's one of the big problems with having the subject of your legends being someone who was alive and doing all that stuff like a decade ago. Legends need a much more significant separation from the figures that inspired them. The whole unreliable narrator theory just seems like a way to avoid calling out Rothfus for bad writing. His poo poo just doesn't all hinge together. The guy should have probably just have stuck to writing a book about a middle-class kid going to rich-kid wizard school, since that seems to be what he really wanted to do in the first place.
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Aug 1, 2014 06:58
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