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DurosKlav posted:I've always hated the ending to the Farseer trilogy. I know its stupid but it put me in a funk for nearly a week. Such a bad, and creepy ending and not really necessary. It went a bit too far. Fitz's adoptive father doesnt need to marry Fitz's formerly pregnant girlfriend who's old enough to be his daughter as well. They could has easily passed off as a father and his daughter who lost her husband to the recent events, they didnt need to hook up to avoid a controversy, Ugh. It didnt have to be happy but it didnt need to be that! I'm shocked how much it still irritates me and its been a good 10+ years since I read it the first time. Oh, I didn't read that interaction that way at all, as what needed to happen rather than what naturally happened out of their circumstances. I thought it was just how the conversation flowed - Burrich was like "we can say that we were together before we were married" trying not to put any obligations on her and Molly was already interested in him so she's like "since you bring it up..." and makes a move on him. We also get hints through the Farseer trilogy that Burrich is actually relatively young, maybe 15 years older than Fitz - he just seems old and asexual to Fitz like how your parents seem old and asexual when you're a kid. Even Molly specifically repeats the gossip that Fitz is "the best thing to come out of the stables since Burrich" and indicates that his attractiveness is pretty well-established among the women, and they've been thrown together through very stressful, intense times in their lives and spent a lot of time together. Fitz had nothing to offer her then or anytime prior because of the "one horse can't wear two saddles" problem, whereas Burrich had finally moved past that conflict in his life. Somebody please make a Robin Hobb thread, for the new book and the older 9, there's plenty to say.
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Sep 6, 2014 23:54
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Yeah, I just started reading these Farseer books based on this thread and holy poo poo I'm 2/3rds of the way through the first one and this is fantastic. It's halfway between GRRM and Rothfuss, but without the lovely aspects of either.
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Sep 8, 2014 15:11
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Whalley posted:Yeah, I just started reading these Farseer books based on this thread and holy poo poo I'm 2/3rds of the way through the first one and this is fantastic. It's halfway between GRRM and Rothfuss, but without the lovely aspects of either. Looks like it's time to order some books.
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Sep 10, 2014 12:38
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Robin Hobb's Fits books are absolutely amazing, and I recommend them highly.
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Sep 11, 2014 14:06
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Ornamented Death posted:Yeah, I've never understood that criticism. Sure, Fitz goes through a lot of poo poo, but it's nothing compared to what, say, the protagonist(s) in a Tad Williams book go through. I...really? Now, to be fair, i have only read like 5/6 Tad williams books, but i don't remember anything noteworthy happening to the MCs. Either i am thinking of the wrong books, my memories of them has really gone, or something is weird. Anyway, Hobb isn't torture porn, she just tends to prefer not bending over backwards in order to make everyone happy in her stories.
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Sep 28, 2014 20:09
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Arkeus posted:I...really? Now, to be fair, i have only read like 5/6 Tad williams books, but i don't remember anything noteworthy happening to the MCs. Either i am thinking of the wrong books, my memories of them has really gone, or something is weird. For a while it was Fitz but then in the Tawny Man trilogy she kind of eases off of him. I haven't read anything yet about this new trilogy but I'm a little worried.
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Sep 29, 2014 02:29
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Nice piece of fish posted:Looks like it's time to order some books. I'm well into the Tawny man trilogy at this point. I can wholeheartedly get behind the recommendations in this thread. Hobb is a great author and an engaging read. While I still prefer larger and more spergy series like The Malazan Book of the Fallen and ASOIF, she compares very well to other authors in the genre. I'm happy I bought these books and I continue to enjoy them, though they are probably not worth a re-read since they lack a complexity that I enjoy in these kinds of books.
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Sep 29, 2014 12:29
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Arkeus posted:I...really? Now, to be fair, i have only read like 5/6 Tad williams books, but i don't remember anything noteworthy happening to the MCs. Either i am thinking of the wrong books, my memories of them has really gone, or something is weird. There's at least one (the middle one of the Bobby Dollar series) that has at least one elongated section of quite literal torture porn (i.e. the main character gets tortured, horribly and repeatedly, by sex), and for most of the rest of the book essentially has nothing pleasant ever happen to him ever. That book was pretty hideous, but that series has been my first and thus far only introduction to Tad WIlliams... I really enjoyed Hobb's work when I was younger and really must get round to a reread sometime.
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Sep 29, 2014 22:52
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The Book Barn> Patrick Rothfus: The Hobb Megathread.
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Sep 30, 2014 00:45
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Solice Kirsk posted:The Book Barn> Patrick Rothfus: The Hobb Megathread. This is what happens when you don't write anything for 3 years and your next book release is a month away. Everyone pretty much knows what everyone thinks at this point. As dense as the books are, there aren't many unanswered questions remaining that anyone has enough information to answer.
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Sep 30, 2014 02:12
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I finished Name of the Wind last month and Wise Man's Fear tonight. I'm really glad I didn't read these 3+ years ago when I had intended but I see the third one is still several years away? drat, I should have waited even longer  Is there a compendium of any information he's leaked over the past few years? I guess I had a bunch of questions and I don't see how he can quite wrap it up in a third book. Going to check out Robin Hobb for some new reading material, thanks. Anything else anyone would recommend similar to NoTW? I already read nearly everything by Sanderson and First Law trilogy.
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Sep 30, 2014 05:54
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There was a reread with a lot of analysis and speculation that was pretty good. (Link) The overwhelming impression I get is that the third book will wrap up the story Kvothe is telling in the inn. That is to say, all the questions and loose ends that are a part of how Kvothe ends up in his failure hotel will be answered, but there will probably be a lot of questions about the world which will remain open.
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Sep 30, 2014 06:00
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Wittgen posted:There was a reread with a lot of analysis and speculation that was pretty good. (Link) Thanks for that. Hopefully I won't have forgotten most of the stuff by the time it does come out since I think a re-read would be too long (and I think some of it really dragged in WMF). Obviously there's no hope for even any happy loose-ends unless there's a bunch of far flung "after the third day" present chapters, but drat it is depressing seeing him wither powerlessly in his fail hotel.
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Sep 30, 2014 06:06
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I read Rothfuss' entry in Rogues a few weeks ago, which then got me on a kick to re-read NotW and WMF. I really enjoyed them again, and definitely picked up on more stuff the second time around. Now I'm all set for the Auri novella (preordered already), though really all I want is book three. 
Star War Sex Parrot fucked around with this message at 06:49 on Sep 30, 2014 |
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Sep 30, 2014 06:47
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Maybe it's just because I read them back to back, but I didn't think there was enough stuff really reveal so far (it was more expanding the world) that there was a lot of foreshadowing/stuff to pick up on, was there? Of course How was the Bast Novella (that was in Rogues right?)? I liked him. But an Auri POV doesn't sound that interesting to me since I didn't care too much about her in the books 
Xaris fucked around with this message at 07:39 on Sep 30, 2014 |
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Sep 30, 2014 07:27
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Xaris posted:How was the Bast Novella (that was in Rogues right?)? Pretty good. Better than at least half of Wise Man's Fear.
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Sep 30, 2014 18:26
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Yeah I liked the Bast story. He's one of my favorite characters. The Auri novella is either going to be very interesting or very boring and I think will show just how good/mediocre of an author Rothfuss truly is.
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Oct 1, 2014 01:34
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thespaceinvader posted:There's at least one (the middle one of the Bobby Dollar series) that has at least one elongated section of quite literal torture porn (i.e. the main character gets tortured, horribly and repeatedly, by sex), and for most of the rest of the book essentially has nothing pleasant ever happen to him ever. Please don't judge him by the Bobby Dollar series. I love his books and have since I was a teenager, but the Bobby Dollar series is just plain bad. Memory, Sorrow and Thorn is much, much, much, much better. And Otherland and Shadowmarch, his other series, are good too.
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Oct 1, 2014 05:13
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Benson Cunningham posted:This is what happens when you don't write anything for 3 years and your next book release is a month away. I forgot about the book about being quiet or whatever.
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Oct 1, 2014 06:27
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I really hope this Auri novella is gonna be translated into Dutch, I dont mind reading in English but if I start reading a writer's work in 1 language I prefer not switching to another O:
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Oct 1, 2014 12:43
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I'm like 15% into the Name of the Wind and if the story doesn't pull up from Kvothe's all-consuming Mary Sueness I will have to do something else despite the overall good prose. If that's going to keep bothering me, should I keep going?
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Oct 2, 2014 19:29
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I think there are three general lines of thought (you could multiply these a bit but I think there are three main threads). The first (which I ascribe to) is that the "pull up" you're looking for happens in the framing narrative where it's clear that Kvothe has hosed everything up, irrevocably, and the "here's how that happened" story is just taking a while to get to the tragedy. The second is that he's loving up all the time, it's just that for whatever reason this isn't obvious to you (I think you're right that the story definitely hinges much more on Kvothe's triumphs, but we could just put that down to an unreliable narrator). The third line of thought is no, it never pulls up, it's more or less this poo poo forever, and you either deal with it or just put the book down.
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Oct 2, 2014 19:58
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OneThousandMonkeys posted:Kvothe's all-consuming Mary Sueness
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Oct 2, 2014 20:02
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Star War Sex Parrot posted:Easy now, he's bad at, um... oh math! And Yllish! (Yeah those throw-away lines in the second book about "My studies with Yllish and math weren't going so well" just screamed like Rothfuss was trying to tone down "Kvothe is good at everything!") Anyways, yes I would continue going. It is a "tragic" story of a guy whose hosed up everything afterall. But if it really bothers you that he's saying he's good at everything (he is the narrative after all and purposely spun his own stories about himself), then I guess you should put it down unless you understand that it's from his own perspective that he's good at everything when in reality, he may not have really been. Xaris fucked around with this message at 21:58 on Oct 2, 2014 |
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Oct 2, 2014 21:55
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Star War Sex Parrot posted:Easy now, he's bad at, um... oh math! And like everything to do with social interaction. I really don't get why so many goons have trouble embracing an autistic white knight character.
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Oct 2, 2014 22:23
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cams posted:I want you to know that, because of this post, I got really excited for a minute thinking I had somehow missed the news of Part 3 coming out. It's ok. Now that I got your excitement out of the way, the crushing disappointment from book 3 won't resound so strongly in your heart.
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Oct 2, 2014 23:56
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OneThousandMonkeys posted:I'm like 15% into the Name of the Wind and if the story doesn't pull up from Kvothe's all-consuming Mary Sueness I will have to do something else despite the overall good prose. If that's going to keep bothering me, should I keep going? No, it doesn't. And in regards to what the others say about it being a tragedy about a guy who's hosed up, it may be but it doesn't happen in either of those two books. (the mary sue only gets worse)
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Oct 3, 2014 02:31
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Benson Cunningham posted:It's ok. Now that I got your excitement out of the way, the crushing disappointment from book 3 won't resound so strongly in your heart. 
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Oct 3, 2014 04:56
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Xaris posted:And Yllish! Rather than Option A or B, Read or Don't Read, I went with option C, read it along with a buddy and laugh at how bad it is when we talk about it, since I happen to have had a physical copy and a digital. By the way, the story is only partially from his own perspective. When it's from a third-person perspective he's equally cool, unflappable, and better than everyone at everything. The amazing Greek tragedy of the guy who was just too awesome for the world to handle. P.S. I take back what I said about the prose being good, it isn't. It's also an absolute embarrassment that this is one of the highest-rated books on Goodreads. It's cliched and lazy almost beyond belief.
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Oct 6, 2014 21:00
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OneThousandMonkeys posted:P.S. I take back what I said about the prose being good, it isn't. It's also an absolute embarrassment that this is one of the highest-rated books on Goodreads. It's cliched and lazy almost beyond belief. I know, right? I was shocked when I saw the ratings for it. I understand it having a certain type of reader it's aimed at who likes that sort of pulp fantasy story, but to have those kind of ratings can't be right. (And then when I came to look it up on something awful certain it would be absolutely torn to shreds here I felt a bit betrayed. Guys, why.) Then again one of my acquaintances absolutely loves it so maybe I'll have to ask him some time to explain what it is that he likes about it. It's probably that I'm just being too haughty about things like "character flaws" and "development" or something and I just need to sit back and actually enjoy the story.
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Oct 7, 2014 06:11
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I understand why its got the ratings it does. People like me. I've read it four times. I loved it. Then didnt. Then reread it for all the hinting and side plots and clues. Then loved it again. It makes no sense to me. I hate how Kvothe is good at everything. I hate most how he's a perfect womanizer for everything except talking to Denna. But still I love it and would give it 5 starts and recommend it to all my friends. Because at the end of the day I love a pulp story. And I love a complex story. Kvothe's story is both. Sure its a simple pulp story on the surface. But you have all these sub plots floating underneath. I amazed all my friends when I pointed out the "Kote means disaster" thing (Which I picked up on my own mind you). I love the possible meaning of the gifts Auri gives Kvothe mirroring Taborlin. I love the puzzle piece feel of the Jax, Iax, Creation war, Fae mashup they have running. I love it because the world feels big and complex and Kvote's life is just a small little legend smeared upon it.
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Oct 7, 2014 07:37
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That's actually one of the things I dislike most about the series - the setting seems so bland. It seems like he doodled a map, said "academy goes here, ninjas go here," made up a generic ancient civilization and called it a day. The writing is above par for fantasy, and there are moments that are kind of cool - the 12 creepy things that killed his parents, the evil prescience tree - but I come away with such a vague notion of the world Kvothe lives in that the series leaves little impression on me.
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Oct 7, 2014 07:55
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I think Name of the Wind and Wise Man Fear get a significant boost in reviews and rating because people recommend it to their friends as a intro fantasy book. It is a good book but if the reader has never had anything like it before will get a really high rating. I know I did this, I started my 3 year long fantasy binge with Song of Ice and Fire(my friends are rear end holes), then read Name of Wind and was blown away. It wasn't till I read Lies of Locke Lamora, that I realized how better a book could be than Name of the Wind. Rothfuss even compares the two books: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/99607064quote:Seriously. 50 pages into my book, you'll have reached the point where someone is starting to actually tell a story.
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Oct 7, 2014 14:37
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Nice piece of fish posted:I'm well into the Tawny man trilogy at this point. I'd suggest that you do re-read it one day. I have read Farseer/Tawnyman 4 or so times, and each time before beginning it i am worried that it won't stand up to a re-read. It does. There is just so much that you can only enjoy as you get to know the characters better. Oh, and i also /love/ the liveships traders, but i haven't reread it since ten years ago, so i can't quite be certain about it anymore. At the time, though, i felt it was even better. It's /much/ darker though, as we have many main characters that go suffering
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Oct 7, 2014 20:36
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Calidus posted:I think Name of the Wind and Wise Man Fear get a significant boost in reviews and rating because people recommend it to their friends as a intro fantasy book. It is a good book but if the reader has never had anything like it before will get a really high rating. I know I did this, I started my 3 year long fantasy binge with Song of Ice and Fire(my friends are rear end holes), then read Name of Wind and was blown away. It wasn't till I read Lies of Locke Lamora, that I realized how better a book could be than Name of the Wind. Rothfuss even compares the two books: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/99607064 Yeah there's plenty of accessible fantasy out there, a lot of it's older, young adult vampire stuff, or under an intellectual property banner and therefore not really considered a candidate as good literature. Then there's the older, painfully derivative stuff, like Sword of Shannara (which is borderline plagiarism). Lies of Locke Lamora keeps on coming up as a good one I should try among friends.
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Oct 7, 2014 23:07
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I loved the Farseer books. Fitz is really self centered and the author kind of plays around with it. I remember there's a scene in one of the books where he's walking around town and meets his mother, and she freaks out and has to be held down by his grandmother, but he completely fails to realize who they are. There's a couple of scenes like that in every book actually.
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Oct 8, 2014 06:54
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I quit reading the Wise Man's Fear during the Felurian bit because oh my god stop it you enormous nerd. So I started reading something else. A lot of people in this thread recommended The First Law, so I'm a few chapters into the audiobook of The Blade Itself, but it seems like it hasn't really picked up steam yet. Logen is chilling with Bayaz (?), the king of the north showed up and threatened them, then Bayaz gave Logen a sword. Fenris the Feared scared a bunch of people at some council meeting, and Glokta is interrogating the guy who's been assassinating mercers. Glokta is a great character (made better by Steven Pacey's great voice acting) and I like the prose, but it hasn't really gripped me the way something like Prince of Nothing did. Does the plot start going interesting places, or does it stay at sort of this pace for a while? If the latter then I'm not really sure I appreciate it. Though from what I hear it's very character driven and the characters haven't had a great deal of development yet.
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Oct 8, 2014 15:04
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Boing posted:So I started reading something else. A lot of people in this thread recommended The First Law, so I'm a few chapters into the audiobook of The Blade Itself, but it seems like it hasn't really picked up steam yet. The Abercrombie thread is here, but the plot will start going interesting places towards the end of the Blade Itself and moreso in the next book. http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3293685
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Oct 8, 2014 15:09
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I just started the Farseer trilogy. So far seems pretty good but I was sort of left asking "why/where is this going" for the first 50 pages or so. I'm enjoying it a lot more now that I've gotten more into it. But it made me appreciate how Rothfuss opened with something in the future with foreshadowing of why he's telling this as opposed to Hobb's just having this narration start and you're kind of thrown in wondering why you're even reading it. Boing posted:I quit reading the Wise Man's Fear during the Felurian bit because oh my god stop it you enormous nerd. Eh, I didn't mind the Felurian bit, it was somewhat embarrassing and I can see how it would have turned people off, but I have a rather high tolerance I guess (I did read a lot of Shannara when I was 9  ). Anyways ulmont linked to the thread for Abercrombie, but anyways as for the Blade Itself, it really picks up in the next book. I remember trying to get into the first book a couple years back and gave up, then I tried it again last year and loved the trilogy so I"m glad I did. At first, it seems like standard fantasy trope but he improves significantly as a writer and ends up turning the tropes on their head. I'd say it's worth it to go through Xaris fucked around with this message at 16:35 on Oct 8, 2014 |
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Oct 8, 2014 16:33
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Yeah, I had the same reaction to the first Abercrombie. I mean, it ends with "and now we have assembled our party and shall venture forth." Like seriously, there's the GM's wizard dude, the barbarian, the inevitable knife chick with a history of sexual violence from the guy who is trying too hard, generic fighter because someone couldn't be arsed to create a more interesting character, and that friend who dropped in last minute with a sheet from a totally different campaign. It really felt like a DnD party getting together. I'm told the next books do better and I trust goons so it's still on my list but it didn't grab me and make it a priority. As for intro-ish fantasy Lies is good but the sequels kinda peter on. The WoT and SoIaF are good enough but are both massive undertakings and flawed in their own ways. I think what I'd really love to recommend as a Rothfuss alternative is Glen Cook, who I love unreasonably and has several series that I think hold up pretty well even deep into their runs. And chalk me down as "I'm okay with the Mary Sue-ness because the framing story tells us that he's ultimately a gently caress up and we have seen that he has real weaknesses that could lead him to being a gently caress up" camp. You can't say it hasn't been foreshadowed.
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Oct 23, 2014 19:18
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