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I'm pretty sure Rothfuss now writes full time. Regardless, saying a guy who worked on his book for over a decade is in the writing game for the money is ridiculous. I agree with Srice that good discussion doesn't have to be purely positive, but baseless trash talk is not good discussion. I really liked Slow Regard of Silent Things. After reading it, I feel Rothfuss did not overdue his warnings in introduction at all. It is weird. It is nothing like the Kingkiller books. Given how fantasy fans can be waiting for the next installment of a series, I can see why he was borderline aggressive about making sure people would know what they were getting into before reading it. That said, I thought it was really good. A lot of lovely sentences, and Auri's intense personification of everything around her is endearing and tragic. I liked having a POV character who actually knows what's what in the world. Kvothe tends to be ignorant of anything important going around him, but Auri knows what's up. She just has such a different perspective on the world that she doesn't care about most of things we'd care about. I was surprised by just how skilled Auri is. An alchemist so good she had her own well stocked private workroom. And at the end, was that naming or shaping? The way it was described as forcing her desires on the world along with the fact that she didn't think some professor knew about it made me think shaping, but it naming is such a more obvious answer. We have only seen hints of shaping in the main books.
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# ? Oct 31, 2014 18:35 |
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# ? May 25, 2024 14:28 |
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So I just bought the Kindle version of Slow Regard...I think people were seriously over-reacting about the "You may not want to buy this book" thing. Yeah, if you read that first line in a vacuum, it sounds weird, but that whole preface is just saying "1. You'll want to read NotW and WMF first, 2. This book is not a continuation of Kvothe's story, 3. This is not a traditional story" I think Rothfuss deserves a bunch of praise for this; letting people know exactly what to expect and what not to in the introduction, rather than letting people get burned buying something that turns out to be not what they wanted.
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# ? Oct 31, 2014 20:30 |
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Wittgen posted:I was surprised by just how skilled Auri is. An alchemist so good she had her own well stocked private workroom. So much of the University has fallen into ruin that I'd be more surprised if she didn't have access to a full lab somewhere. Her being so skilled at using it is somewhat surprising, but not the fact that she has one.
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# ? Nov 1, 2014 01:41 |
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PupsOfWar posted:There are much better choices for people who enjoy purple prose, even within the fantasy genre. It is hard to admire him for the "And it was a silence of three parts," passage when there are authors like Mervyn Peake who are that lavishly descriptive on a consistent and cohesive basis. And that's without even getting into yer canonical Great Authors. The fact that it's inconsistent might be attractive to some people. Creates contrast between the parts you're supposed to really notice and imagine and the parts you just breeze through as you process the story. Reading that kind of prose consistently would get pretty tiring, regardless of if it's good or bad lavish prose.
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# ? Nov 1, 2014 15:59 |
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It's ridiculous that this book is $10 for kindle when its not a book- it's a novella.
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# ? Nov 1, 2014 18:19 |
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It just came out. Ten dollars for a brand new book, novel or novella, is not ridiculous. If you don't want to pay that, go to a library or wait.
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# ? Nov 2, 2014 05:36 |
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Benson Cunningham posted:It's ridiculous that this book is $10 for kindle when its not a book- it's a novella.
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# ? Nov 2, 2014 08:57 |
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Calidus posted:well it sounds like we have a solution to getting the Door of Stone released faster... The real solution is to stop letting Rothfuss take on so many drat side projects.
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# ? Nov 3, 2014 01:11 |
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wellwhoopdedooo posted:I don't mean to be a dick here, but I've heard a lot about how good Prince of Thorns is, and, well... I'm not seeing it. There were a ton of interesting ideas, but they're never even satisfyingly explored, let alone fully. Any depth has to come from the reader since it's all just sketched out in the story at best. There's a LOT of books I'd recommend before Prince of Thorns if you like/kind of like Abercrombie. For starters: I really enjoyed Brett and lynch. The first black company trilogy was good but I thought the later stuff was a bit off the wall. Still, kudos to cook for trying something new. I'm still not sure how I feel about bakker. The last few books have meandered a bit but I'll probably stick with it.
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# ? Nov 3, 2014 23:15 |
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Wittgen posted:I'm pretty sure Rothfuss now writes full time. Regardless, saying a guy who worked on his book for over a decade is in the writing game for the money is ridiculous. I agree with Srice that good discussion doesn't have to be purely positive, but baseless trash talk is not good discussion. Its her perspective on the world that's key, reading this I'm pretty convinced she's very similar to Elodin in a lot of ways. Its suggested that he can basically just see the true names of things and the way she interacts with things being desperate to find their nature and place seems similar to this, its also probably this that cracked her as it has Elodin. At the end I think we see naming used its full and most dangerous way albeit in a very harmless way. Though this could be what shaping actually is, if naming is understanding the nature of something completely as to control it then perhaps shaping is understanding everything completely and thus being able to shape the world.
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# ? Nov 4, 2014 03:16 |
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penultimate paragraph of Slow Regard of Silent Things posted:But for him it was a different thing entire. For him she would bring forth all her desire. She would call up all her cunning and craft. Then she would make a name for him. Another piece of the puzzle here, I think. Maybe Auri helped Kvothe keep his word.
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# ? Nov 4, 2014 07:51 |
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wellwhoopdedooo posted:Another piece of the puzzle here, I think. Maybe Auri helped Kvothe keep his word. This didn't occur to me at first but I like it or she actually helps him become Kote and go into hiding she has offered him sanctuary already.
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# ? Nov 4, 2014 10:38 |
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StoneOfShame posted:This didn't occur to me at first but I like it or she actually helps him become Kote and go into hiding she has offered him sanctuary already. Auri is in the thrice-locked chest.
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# ? Nov 4, 2014 16:01 |
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Solice Kirsk posted:So we're all in agreement that Kvothe changed his real name and thats why he sucks at magic and everything now right? There's a part in one of the books, can't recall now, after the fire at the fishery. The professor guy quotes something in his own language, which translated to 'Expect disaster every seven years'. One of the words was 'Kote'. Wouldn't be surprised if Kvothe changed his name to disaster, and that's why his poo poo's all hosed up now.
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# ? Nov 4, 2014 20:02 |
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Effigy posted:There's a part in one of the books, can't recall now, after the fire at the fishery. The professor guy quotes something in his own language, which translated to 'Expect disaster every seven years'. One of the words was 'Kote'. Wouldn't be surprised if Kvothe changed his name to disaster, and that's why his poo poo's all hosed up now. It's in The Name of the Wind, at page 495 (Chapter 67). quote:“Do you know the saying ‘Chan Vaen edan Kote’?”
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# ? Nov 4, 2014 20:12 |
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ulmont posted:It's in The Name of the Wind, at page 495 (Chapter 67). Cheers, I'm on the other side of the world to my copies and couldn't look it up. The only reason I remembered was due to how much it struck me at the time.
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# ? Nov 4, 2014 20:15 |
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adamarama posted:I really enjoyed Brett and lynch. The first black company trilogy was good but I thought the later stuff was a bit off the wall. Still, kudos to cook for trying something new. Who doesn't love, uh, trans-dimensional Samurai warriors helping fantasy India stave off a sleeping death god who may or may not be the protagonists child? Also a revolving door of narrators because everyone keeps dying.* ... okay, they got really weird towards the end. Frankly, Cook's much better than GRRM about having characters die/drop out of the narrative when they have to, often quite unceremoniously.
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# ? Nov 4, 2014 22:28 |
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Just re-reading the series, where I stumbled upon the bit with Meluan Lackless reminding Kvothe of someone, her hating Edema Ruh, and later in the book, Kvothe reads one of these letters stating that the elder Lackless sister was disowned for running off with a troupe. Flipped through the first book, and I'm fairly certain that Kvothe's mother is the elder Lackless sister.
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# ? Nov 5, 2014 00:36 |
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Odette posted:Just re-reading the series, where I stumbled upon the bit with Meluan Lackless reminding Kvothe of someone, her hating Edema Ruh, and later in the book, Kvothe reads one of these letters stating that the elder Lackless sister was disowned for running off with a troupe. Yup
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# ? Nov 5, 2014 00:51 |
Almost completely disagree. The time lines and locations differ to much to match. However the descriptions of Meluan use the same adjectives and points of focus (neck, lips) as Denna. Hence, Netalia Lackless is Dennas mother
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# ? Nov 5, 2014 00:58 |
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M_Gargantua posted:Almost completely disagree. The time lines and locations differ to much to match. Except you are forgetting the entire song about Netalia.
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# ? Nov 5, 2014 01:36 |
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Slow Regard is killing me. I don't like to skim, but the first quarter has just been Auri looking at things on shelves. I'm going to force myself to finish it, but wow...Rothfuss really paid no regard to pacing. I'm so bored.
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# ? Nov 5, 2014 02:07 |
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Dienes posted:Except you are forgetting the entire song about Netalia. Not tally a lot less... If that's not intentional, then I don't know.
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# ? Nov 5, 2014 03:01 |
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She also jumps him when he's little because he's singing that children's song, which manages to tie together a shitload of the mysteries Kvothe is associated with. Lackless, the door of stone, the secret roads.quote:Seven things has Lady Lackless Another thing I noticed: When Kvothe is getting the history on the Lackless family, the poisoner/arcanist guy says something about how the family used to be Lockless and then it split and there were Lackless and Lack-key. I keep wondering if there's something about how the family went from being without a lock(Lockless) to being without a key(Lack-key).
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# ? Nov 5, 2014 05:23 |
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quote:In a box, no lid or locks Oh my.
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# ? Nov 8, 2014 03:36 |
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The Slow Regard of Silent Things is Rothfuss' third stand-alone release, after smash hit The Name of the Wind (tight prose, decent story, bit of a mary sue protag), and its follow up Wise Man's Fear(so-so prose, terrible story, full blown mary sue protag), which also sold like gangbusters. It is easily the worst thing I have ever read. I'm not saying this lightly. It soundly beats Peter David's (aka David Peter) Psi-man:Deathscape as the most painful piece of writing I've endured. Part of what makes it so, so bad is that it thinks very highly of itself. Condescension oozes from of every line. The foreword warns readers that this book is not like his other books, and that only special people who "love words and mysteries and secrets. For those curious about Alchemy and the Underthing. For those who wish to understand the hidden turnings of my world..." This is emperor's new clothes-esque appeal is the most compelling thing in the book. The other 156 pages are entirely ENTIRELY composed of stuff that should be cut from any other story. Chapter 1-5 is this: Chapter 1 Auri gets out of bed and combs her hair Chater 2 Auri takes a walk and then a bath Chapter 3 Auri eats Chapter 4 Auri does home repairs Chapter 5 Auri picks out a gift and goes for another walk There is nothing else. Rothfuss tries to carry it on prose alone, and he just isn't that talented. No one is. And it doesn't get any better from there. There's no dialog. No plot. I cannot stress this enough. I'm completely and utterly dumbfounded that its possible to write for 156 pages and not say or do anything. Not to mention get it published afterwords. If you want to read 156 pages of character actions, this is the book for you--opening doors, picking stuff up and putting it in other places, long walks and vague descriptions of pipes and poorly lit passageways. Twee observations about found objects and the anthropomorphization of those objects by the most infuriatingly twee protagonist of all time. I thought I was just having a bad reaction to the book, so I sat on my feelings for awhile before writing this. Maybe I have a case of hype-backlash? But no. The only faster nose-dive in quality and career trajectory has been Peter V. Brett's. If this is representative of Rothfuss' current quality standard, I expect his next book to leave a crater.
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# ? Nov 11, 2014 22:59 |
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Double-posted for accidental emphasis.
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# ? Nov 11, 2014 22:59 |
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I haven't read The Slow Regard, but I found myself getting frustrated with Rothfuss and his obsessive over-description of every single thing that happens in a scene, every word spoken and every action made, which is made all the more ludicrous by it nominally being a framing story told from person to person. He seems to have a stubborn reluctance to zoom out and describe anything at a larger scale. There's a scene in the first book where Kvothe haggles with a horse dealer to buy a horse and it could easily have been a sentence or two about how he bought a horse and rode to Treybin. I really wanted him to work on his pace and know when to leave the little details alone, but then I realised that if he did that there would be nothing left of the book. His writing is almost entirely comprised of minutiae. So it sounds like he's going totally the wrong way.
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# ? Nov 12, 2014 00:49 |
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Boing posted:There's a scene in the first book where Kvothe haggles with a horse dealer to buy a horse and it could easily have been a sentence or two about how he bought a horse and rode to Treybin.
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# ? Nov 12, 2014 01:01 |
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BananaNutkins posted:The Slow Regard of Silent Things is Rothfuss' third stand-alone release, after smash hit The Name of the Wind (tight prose, decent story, bit of a mary sue protag), and its follow up Wise Man's Fear(so-so prose, terrible story, full blown mary sue protag), which also sold like gangbusters. I had similar issues with 'nothing happening' in Slow Regard...but that's kinda the point of Auri's character. I took the "You may not want to buy this book" at face value. The story isn't for everyone. It focuses on a character who quite obviously has some kind of magically-induced brain damage and has a very unique worldview and day to day routine. I found it fascinating to read even if I plan on never revisiting it for a re-read.
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# ? Nov 12, 2014 01:03 |
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I for one, love Pat's writing. I'm currently on my third re-read of the series in as many weeks. Definitely gonna stop after this re-read, otherwise I'm gonna have the book stuck in my head forever.
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# ? Nov 12, 2014 01:44 |
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BananaNutkins posted:
The way you describe it makes it sound like it should have been released as a text based pc game instead of as a novel.
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# ? Nov 12, 2014 01:46 |
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Boing posted:I haven't read The Slow Regard, but I found myself getting frustrated with Rothfuss and his obsessive over-description of every single thing that happens in a scene, every word spoken and every action made, which is made all the more ludicrous by it nominally being a framing story told from person to person. He seems to have a stubborn reluctance to zoom out and describe anything at a larger scale. There's a scene in the first book where Kvothe haggles with a horse dealer to buy a horse and it could easily have been a sentence or two about how he bought a horse and rode to Treybin. I really wanted him to work on his pace and know when to leave the little details alone, but then I realised that if he did that there would be nothing left of the book. His writing is almost entirely comprised of minutiae. So it sounds like he's going totally the wrong way. My favorite part is the framing story has it taking place over a night but the audio book is 50 hours long. Either he talks really fast or those are some drat long nights.
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# ? Nov 12, 2014 01:54 |
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Boing posted:I haven't read The Slow Regard, but I found myself getting frustrated with Rothfuss and his obsessive over-description of every single thing that happens in a scene, every word spoken and every action made, which is made all the more ludicrous by it nominally being a framing story told from person to person. He seems to have a stubborn reluctance to zoom out and describe anything at a larger scale. There's a scene in the first book where Kvothe haggles with a horse dealer to buy a horse and it could easily have been a sentence or two about how he bought a horse and rode to Treybin. I really wanted him to work on his pace and know when to leave the little details alone, but then I realised that if he did that there would be nothing left of the book. His writing is almost entirely comprised of minutiae. So it sounds like he's going totally the wrong way. Thats not fair. Remember, he skipped over a trial that launched Kvothe into modern myth, a pirate attack at sea, surviving a ship wreck, etc.
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# ? Nov 12, 2014 03:23 |
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savinhill posted:The way you describe it makes it sound like it should have been released as a text based pc game instead of as a novel. It would be a terrible game as well, because there would be no goals, no enemies, no choices, and no character development. The environment descriptions are consistantly dull throughout. Auri says she's passing through Tumble or whatnot and then the next named place, maybe pausing to describe a dripping pipe or a leaf she named, then a few paragraphs pondering whether the leaf wants to be on the other side of Tumble. Then moving the leaf and placing it infuriatingly JUST SO before deciding the leaf liked it better where it used to be.
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# ? Nov 12, 2014 03:42 |
Solice Kirsk posted:Thats not fair. Remember, he skipped over a trial that launched Kvothe into modern myth, a pirate attack at sea, surviving a ship wreck, etc. Those are the parts that actually bother me. Rothfuss has spent so long telling Kvothe's tales of being a pretty awesome wizard. Then he goes and tells his audience that some other adventures happen but we'll just skip over it. Those parts feel even lazier to me then all the filler he adds. Why did it have to be shipwreck and being homeless? Why couldn't it just have been a simple trip where he wound up being robbed? Lets throw in this terrible event that would have been an awful tragedy to most people but its just another footnote of Kvothe's life. But if you put it in the frame of Kvothe as a lier then it would have worked if he did only get robbed but he's just adding in details to sound more badass to his future audience.
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# ? Nov 12, 2014 05:46 |
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M_Gargantua posted:Why did it have to be shipwreck and being homeless? Why couldn't it just have been a simple trip where he wound up being robbed? Lets throw in this terrible event that would have been an awful tragedy to most people but its just another footnote of Kvothe's life. That's what still sticks with me as "proof" that Rothfuss has some kind of Scott Pilgrim style last minute statement about "why do you like this" planned. Like, he's covered enough things to come across as a flawed hero, but clearly this was a moment in his life where he was inarguably the best, and he skipped it like it was nothing. There's SOMETHING going on here, and I'm riding it out to find out what.
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# ? Nov 12, 2014 06:13 |
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Yeah, you missed a lot. e: I mean seriously, it's like you read a book that you were warned you wouldn't like if you're not into conventional stories and then were shocked when it wasn't conventionally entertaining.
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# ? Nov 12, 2014 07:27 |
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It was a pretty great book. The thing is that it was basically the first and last chapters of the main books cranked up to 11 and with nothing else. If you don't like his "cut flower sound" kind of prose, where the words are pretty but the meaning is vague to non-existent, you're going to hate Slow Regard of Silent Things.
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# ? Nov 12, 2014 07:38 |
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# ? May 25, 2024 14:28 |
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I wish books had change logs. My digital copy of NotW just updated but I have no clue what changed. I thought that maybe they stuck a mention of The Slow Regard of Silent Things in the back, but nope.
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# ? Nov 12, 2014 07:45 |