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BananaNutkins posted:
The superhero stuff is REALLY YA. It's not bad, but I didn't find much in the first book and didn't bother with the second. I feel like Way of Kings is a total slog. Those books could be edited down significantly without losing anything other than EPIC FANTASY page counts. Mistborn was at least not up it's own rear end - well, maybe the third book a little.
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Oct 25, 2015 08:32
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| # ? May 11, 2024 09:53 |
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“Can a magician kill a man by magic?” Lord Wellington asked Strange. Strange frowned. He seemed to dislike the question. “I suppose a magician might,” he admitted, “but a gentleman never would.” In 1807, at the height of the Napoleonic Wars, English magic has been dead for generations. The remaining gentleman-magicians scoff at the thought of "practical magic" in favour of historical theories of sorcery. But the York society of theoretical magicians stumble unto Mr. Norrell: a reclusive scholar, master of a library of both books about magic and books of magic, and the first known practical magician in countless years. Once challenged, Norrell sets out to prove himself the master of English magic. But he meets his match in Jonathan Strange - apprentice, friend, partner, and eventual rival - as both seek to bring about a new age of sorcery. The battle of spells and manners cleaves through an England tempered by the whimsy and terror of magic. It is a world that never was, but whose enchantment cannot be denied. Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell betrays craftsmanship beneath its flights of fancy. Superficially, her novel is a pastiche of 19th century writers with a coat of fantasy paint. But fully appreciated, it is a comic fantasy that freely wields the language of comedy, history, and fairy-tales, never settling for anything simple. The fantasy is inseparable from comedy of manners and the complex imagined history of English magic (represented by footnotes that approach wonder with humorous faux-pedantry). But while Clarke's sense of the comic and the fantastic is impeccable, the novel suffers from shallowness: it's a brilliant fantasy, but it does not seem to find greater meaning or depth in its fantasy. For most people it will probably sparkle brightly enough to distract from the whiff of kitsch. Alongside works like Lord of the Rings, the novel stands out as one of the few truly successful examples of the "world-building" obsessed over by lovers of genre fiction. At a thousand pages, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrelll is of epic proportions for a comedy. But as fantasy, it outshines anything Kingkiller Chronicle has to offer. BravestOfTheLamps fucked around with this message at 22:09 on Sep 11, 2017 |
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Oct 25, 2015 15:16
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BananaNutkins posted:Codex Alerra were very mediocre. It's not re-hinted in book 2, it's openly spelled out. I agree with you about the later books retreading the same ground a bit - books 4 and 5 didn't really add much to Tavi's arc, but I think they were worth it for the Fidelias and Aquitane sections. It's refreshing to see villains who give the whole "I'm doing this for the good of the realm" speech, and then actually mean it. I wouldn't say the magic system was underutilised, were you expecting more than the giant sunlight death laser?
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Oct 25, 2015 22:07
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Strom Cuzewon posted:
I do wish there were a few more moments of creative reapplication of the rules of the system over the course of the series. The crazy poo poo like what you have spoilered there drop off a little bit
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Oct 25, 2015 22:22
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For gently caress's sake. http://blog.patrickrothfuss.com/2015/11/a-beautiful-game/
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Nov 24, 2015 22:11
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That blog post is custom tailored to give me an aneurysm. This is the moment where I decide I am not reading book 3, regardless of when it comes out. I'm getting off this crazy loving boat. Everyone, it's been great. I'll see you in threads for authors worth giving a gently caress about.
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Nov 24, 2015 22:50
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I know, right? He likes Fallout 4, no way I'm reading anything by that tasteless hack. It's gotta be a bad joke, right?
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Nov 24, 2015 22:53
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I don't know if you are doing satire at some meta level my simian brain can't comprehend or if you genuinely don't think that blog post is one of the most ridiculous loving things you have ever seen an author write.
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Nov 24, 2015 23:21
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Do note that this "Write book 3" vs. "Play Fallout 4" thing is for more writing time over and above the time he's already spending writing.
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Nov 24, 2015 23:27
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Wait what, he's streaming himself playing for 3 hours a night? http://worldbuilders.org/what-should-pat-do Uh..
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Nov 24, 2015 23:30
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jivjov posted:Do note that this "Write book 3" vs. "Play Fallout 4" thing is for more writing time over and above the time he's already spending writing. So zero plus, oh wait he's playing fallout 4. Still zero. Gotcha.
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Nov 25, 2015 00:32
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Benson Cunningham posted:So zero plus, oh wait he's playing fallout 4. Unless you're suggesting that he's just straight up lying, he says that he spends a given quantity of time each day working on writing the book.
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Nov 25, 2015 00:37
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jivjov posted:Unless you're suggesting that he's just straight up lying, he says that he spends a given quantity of time each day working on writing the book. With the quantity in question being zero.
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Nov 25, 2015 00:38
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What would be the point or purpose to him lying to his fan base about working on his next novel?
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Nov 25, 2015 00:39
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Every time I see Rothfuss it just reminds me that while some (very dumb) people apparently consider him the next GURM, he manages to look significantly creepier. GRRM looks like your standard old weird guy. Rothfuss looks like he helps harvest people's kidneys for beer money. He also looks like a token 40-year-old Goon
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Nov 25, 2015 01:00
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jivjov posted:What would be the point or purpose to him lying to his fan base about working on his next novel? So, your inability to tell satire and true statements from one another aside, countless: -Keep people engaged so they buy the book when it comes out -Keep people engaged so they continue buying his side projects -Make sure his publishing house doesn't sue him or revoke his contract (or penalize him to a lesser extent) -Talk about writing his book because it's easier to do than actually writing his book -Avoid further vitriol from people for not writing The list goes on.
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Nov 25, 2015 01:02
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Benson Cunningham posted:So, your inability to tell satire and true statements from one another aside, countless: You forgot the biggest: To cue the whiteknight fans to fellate him. Seriously, that was the most self-serving poo poo I've ever seen in a blog post. Because of course you can only choose to do ONE and an adult can't loving manage his time.
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Nov 25, 2015 01:19
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As a gimmick to raise money for charity, I can think of worse "stunts". And again, this is for his free time. After his work writing time.
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Nov 25, 2015 01:30
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jivjov posted:After his work writing time. You still believe in Santa, don't you.
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Nov 25, 2015 02:24
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jivjov posted:As a gimmick to raise money for charity, I can think of worse "stunts". You put stunts in quotes. Do you mean to imply this isn't actually a stunt? Is there a specific stunt another writer has done that this should make me recall? Please help me understand.
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Nov 25, 2015 03:07
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Benson Cunningham posted:You put stunts in quotes. Do you mean to imply this isn't actually a stunt? Is there a specific stunt another writer has done that this should make me recall? Please help me understand. I don't see anything wrong with it. He's raising money for charity and potentially devoting extra time to the book. It's a win win for everyone. Yeah, it's a stunt, but a harmless one.
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Nov 25, 2015 03:50
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jivjov posted:I don't see anything wrong with it. He's raising money for charity and potentially devoting extra time to the book. It's a win win for everyone. Yeah, it's a stunt, but a harmless one. That has nothing to do with my question of why you put stunt in quotes.
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Nov 25, 2015 03:55
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Benson Cunningham posted:That has nothing to do with my question of why you put stunt in quotes. Because I felt that the use of the word 'stunt' was carrying an underserved negative connotation. Rendering it as "stunt" was an attempt to distance the word from said connotation.
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Nov 25, 2015 05:51
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Benson Cunningham posted:I don't know if you are doing satire at some meta level my simian brain can't comprehend or if you genuinely don't think that blog post is one of the most ridiculous loving things you have ever seen an author write. Also Fallout 4 is a really mediocre and boring game so I guess he's feeling right at home there. edit: I mean, I can read it as an angry response to fans constantly pestering him to GET THE gently caress ON WITH THE WRITING - the concept of writing on stream is absurd enough to be a joke - and with most other authors I'd regard it as one but this sadly looks serious.
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Nov 25, 2015 11:45
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Yeah, it is a serious bon mot to his fans and it's for charity so in a vacuum it's pretty great. The blog post is still written in a way that makes me wish I could spend my money on getting him to eat his beard on camera instead. e: really he should just do what Brandon Sanderson does and have a little bar on his site that shows what stage he's at in the book and gives an approximate percentage of how far through it he thinks he is. ManlyGrunting fucked around with this message at 20:45 on Nov 25, 2015 |
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Nov 25, 2015 20:30
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Haha, oh man, Rothfuss is never gonna get this thing done is he?
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Nov 25, 2015 21:55
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Pash posted:Haha, oh man, Rothfuss is never gonna get this thing done is he? He still actively working on it, so there's no reason to assume it won't eventually be released
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Nov 25, 2015 23:23
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Minus all evidence that he has lost interest in the story, would rather invest his time doing literally anything else (including streaming a game he openly despises on said stream), and hasn't mentioned a completed first draft left, yes all the confidence in the world he is going to buck up and finish off the king killer duology.
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Nov 26, 2015 00:08
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Benson Cunningham posted:Minus all evidence that he has lost interest in the story, would rather invest his time doing literally anything else (including streaming a game he openly despises on said stream), and hasn't mentioned a completed first draft left, yes all the confidence in the world he is going to buck up and finish off the king killer duology. The game stream is explicitly taking place after his normal writing hours for the day.
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Nov 26, 2015 00:14
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jivjov posted:He still actively working on it, so there's no reason to assume it won't eventually be released The structure & pacing is a mess. It's positioned as a 3 day tale, over 3 books, covering Kvothe's life, up till the point he becomes a bartender in a small town, without hope or magic. This backstory has a background of a country in chaos, while Kvothe is somehow responsible for causing, but he's still able to fight some mysterious monsters. The first book kept to it's structure reasonably well, and established the characters and the narrative. The second book, meandered a lot, repeated itself (I still don't understand what it's like to be poor. Please tell me again) and went on wild tangents to involve sex-ninja's and sex-goddesses that only Rothfuss, sorry Kvothe, are able to tame. The third book simply has to cover too much to wrap up what was promised in the first in any kind of satisfying manner. In 2013 he was predicting "It probably won't be 2015, but probably it isn't gonna be this year as well", ie. 2014 is the most likely date. The initial premise was of a story that would explain his name, "The Broken Tree" and "Kvothe Kingkiller", and his claims, "I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in." Then there's also the Amyr and the Chandrian, and his hunt for them, and the resolution of his parents murder. Presumably the "doors of stone" are important in some way, and have to be explained. There's simply too much. Given how much has left to be covered, in 1 single day, with Rothfuss' peculiar verbiage, and the 2 year delay, during which he's been diligently using his established "writing time" without letting cons, interviews, football, video games interfere with, his opinion that Doors of Stone will be shorter than Wise Man's Fear it's all a little hard to believe. Personally, I expect him to announce that his editors have "forced" him to break his third book in to two, and then when the story is still not complete, announce that a fifth is "necessary" to really finish the story. etc. etc. etc.
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Nov 26, 2015 01:29
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Of course we shouldn't forget that he released A Slow Regard For A Secondary Character. Clearly he's been writing but when you start writing books about secondary characters people have good reason to wonder about your priorities. At least GRRM has trickled out some teaser chapters from TWOW so people have reason to believe he's doing something. Though HBO's made clear what happens with ADWD's biggest cliffhanger.Trammel posted:Personally, I expect him to announce that his editors have "forced" him to break his third book in to two, and then when the story is still not complete, announce that a fifth is "necessary" to really finish the story. etc. etc. etc. Pretty sure Kingkiller's supposed to be a trilogy in a larger setting too, like after Kingkiller there was going to be a trilogy focused on Bast and then more after that.
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Nov 26, 2015 02:35
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I don't think it's too crazy to assume that he's telling the truth about writing the book. Though heck, I always found the focus on time to write a book to be a weird criticism!
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Nov 26, 2015 03:40
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Trammel posted:The structure & pacing is a mess. It's positioned as a 3 day tale, over 3 books, covering Kvothe's life, up till the point he becomes a bartender in a small town, without hope or magic. This backstory has a background of a country in chaos, while Kvothe is somehow responsible for causing, but he's still able to fight some mysterious monsters. While that's a decent enough breakdown, I'm not sure why you quoted my post when you made it....as none of this has anything to do with the eventual release of the next book itself.
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Nov 26, 2015 03:52
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robertjordan.txt
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Nov 26, 2015 04:57
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Trammel posted:The initial premise was of a story that would explain his name, "The Broken Tree" and "Kvothe Kingkiller", and his claims, "I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in." Then there's also the Amyr and the Chandrian, and his hunt for them, and the resolution of his parents murder. Presumably the "doors of stone" are important in some way, and have to be explained. There's simply too much.
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Nov 26, 2015 06:11
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TychoCelchuuu posted:Hasn't some of this already been explained? It's been a while since I read the books but we've covered Trebon, Felurian, and being expelled. Maybe also The Broken Tree? In any case that's like half the things, at least, right? Trebon and Felurian yes, the "broken tree" is such a vague allusion, I don't know. I don't think Rothfuss can cover off Kvothes "romance", the king-killer, the Amyr, the Chandrian, the doors of stone, meeting Bast and his transformation into the crippled barkeep in a single day's talking or a single book. I don't think he'd want to either. TNOTW was 250,000 words. WMF was 400,000 words, and if generously, half the things have been covered, that's still another 2 books. The idea of having Kvothe tell his life story over 3 days in 3 books is broken. The audible version of Wise Man's fear is 42 hours long for a start.
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Nov 26, 2015 06:41
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If he can avoid spending half of the book rehashing "LOOK HOW loving POOR KVOTHE IS OH WOE IS HE AND HIS FINANCIAL SITUATION" he might be able to do it. But this is Rothfuss we're talking about, so we can probably count on the first chapter or two his benefactor's wife has his funding pulled and we get another dozen chapters of him playing for room and board while working at the lab and so forth.
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Nov 26, 2015 06:59
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The Slithery D posted:robertjordan.txt That's my thought exactly. His "Final Book" turned out to be three separate books after all, because neither he nor Brandon Sanderson could fit the climax of the series into just one book. I can't see how Rothfuss will manage this with Doors of Stone. And of course, both are/were prone to incredible long waiting times between books.
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Nov 26, 2015 07:24
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Srice posted:Though heck, I always found the focus on time to write a book to be a weird criticism! It's not that it's taking a long time to finish the book, it's that it's taking a long time to finish the book by the standards he set for himself. If he'd said in 2011 the next book would be in 2016, there'd have been some grumbling but people would have mostly gone with it. But he said in 2013 that the next book would be in 2014. Three years later, all we have is The Random Adjectives of Random Things.short story.
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Nov 26, 2015 08:00
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Looks like old man Roth did an AMA on reddit. It's fairly depressing to read. His tone jumps back and forth between depression and outrage at the world. He also refused to comment on book three. He then insinuated that people who care more about it than his charity are poo poo heels. Never change Pat.
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Nov 26, 2015 16:43
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