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Atlas Hugged posted:I think it's come up in this thread before, but one of the problems with a guy like Rothfuss is that it doesn't seem like he reads. Oh, he's probably read Lord of the Rings and the major fantasy novels, he's probably read Dune or at least a synopsis of it, but they don't actually go beyond the fantasy and sci-fi genres and experience what literature can achieve when it isn't constrained to genre. Took him like 7 years to get his BA in English. lol I just found out that he took on a bigger project in 2021 to start a company to reprint out of print webcomic collections because he couldn't find a new copy of a book he gave away. Can't think of anything more apt to describe him. A guy so obsessed with surface level pop culture stuff he sinks his money into a dream project (how'd Geek Gaming tables work out Rothfuss?) to reprint web comic anthologies.
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Mar 4, 2022 10:17
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Atlas Hugged posted:If you want to read a cool book about narratives that may have truth to them but are likely exaggerated or made up entirely in the telling, about narcissism and lusting for women while thinking all women are whores and objects, and actually being called out on objectifying women and being a sexist poo poo, go check out "The Magus" by John Fowles. It's a heavy tome, so fantasy fans will feel right at home. There's also a lovely film adaptation starring Michael Cain. "The worst thing he ever filmed." I just started this last night. I read for an hour and so far it's just been about this posh Oxbridge prick and all the woman who meet him and love him and want to have sex with him but he's too cool and special to love them back. I absolutely hate him already and wasn't sure if that was the author's intention or not so I can't wait to see him get called out for being a massive tool.
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Mar 4, 2022 11:46
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pentyne posted:Now Paul Hoffman on the other hand, that's a weird dude. The Left Hand of God starts out with so much promise then literally hits points where you wonder if the same person is writing who wrote something different a few hundred pages back. iirc there's a big 'reveal' early in book 1 about some weird medical experiments and the world setting that then literally never comes up again. My favourite surprise anti-catholic screed. Hoffman went to a catholic industrial school and it left plenty of marks.
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Mar 4, 2022 13:35
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pseudanonymous posted:My perspective is that Rothfuss is talented but lazy. Nothing in Rothfuss's books suggest that he's talented as a writer. He tortures prose like a college student who just finished their first writing intensive course and that the C+ they got was an insult to their obvious talent of trying to copy other, better writing as his own. His whole thing with the Tak game and his "the pizza guy thought it was amazing" story is just peak Rothfuss huffing his own farts.
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Mar 4, 2022 15:09
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Lot 49 posted:I just started this last night. I read for an hour and so far it's just been about this posh Oxbridge prick and all the woman who meet him and love him and want to have sex with him but he's too cool and special to love them back. I absolutely hate him already and wasn't sure if that was the author's intention or not so I can't wait to see him get called out for being a massive tool. It's been a few years since I read this but the ending is definitely very slow. Then its a slow burn of suspense on an island before things really pop off. Strange book.
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Mar 4, 2022 16:02
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Rothfuss is absolutely not in any way a talented writer.
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Mar 4, 2022 19:43
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I think I've said it in this thread before, but the vibe I get from Rothfuss's writing is someone who got praised for their prose style very early in their career (like, possibly "as a kid" early) and whose style ossified on the spot. Dude clearly got complimented on his "lyrical" prose and decided he was perfect, with no need to learn anything like "moderation" or "make sure your metaphors make any loving sense."
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Mar 5, 2022 00:20
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Antivehicular posted:I think I've said it in this thread before, but the vibe I get from Rothfuss's writing is someone who got praised for their prose style very early in their career (like, possibly "as a kid" early) and whose style ossified on the spot. Dude clearly got complimented on his "lyrical" prose and decided he was perfect, with no need to learn anything like "moderation" or "make sure your metaphors make any loving sense." Isn't one of his rules for beta readers that you're not allowed to suggest edits?
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Mar 5, 2022 00:43
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Lot 49 posted:I just started this last night. I read for an hour and so far it's just been about this posh Oxbridge prick and all the woman who meet him and love him and want to have sex with him but he's too cool and special to love them back. I absolutely hate him already and wasn't sure if that was the author's intention or not so I can't wait to see him get called out for being a massive tool. As far as I can tell, you should absolutely hate the narrator. On the other hand, the first section of the book is one of the best depictions of a young adult relationship I think I have ever read. Ccs posted:It's been a few years since I read this but the ending is definitely very slow. Then its a slow burn of suspense on an island before things really pop off. Strange book. Such a slow burn that even after you finish it it may still be giving off puffs of smoke. My understanding is that this is a book he wrote before he got famous and then he used his clout to get it published, which fair enough. But apparently it's no where near as good as "The Collector".
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Mar 5, 2022 01:35
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Edit: nevermind, didn't like my post.
Coquito Ergo Sum fucked around with this message at 03:02 on Mar 5, 2022 |
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Mar 5, 2022 02:44
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Whoops, I meant the beginning of The Magus is slow, but overall it is also a slow book. I enjoyed it but the stuff that happens later on isn’t as crazy at it could be given the kind of bonkers twists we’re used to in media nowadays. Overall just a very ambiguous book.
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Mar 5, 2022 03:59
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It's ambiguity is exactly why I brought it up here. If Kvothe is potentially supposed to be unreliable, or the legends themselves are supposed to be exaggerations, Rothfuss has done a piss poor job of establishing this. The Magus does a fantastic job of leaving the question open from the word go, basically just by making the narrator so loving unlikeable. Why would you ever accept a thing he says? The events that follow only further underscore this. He's a miserable idiot and the author of his own torment. Rothfuss could absolutely have pulled this off if he'd ever read a book.
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Mar 5, 2022 04:09
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I thought Baudolino was pretty much Name of the Wind by a competent author. I dunno if Rothfuss has read that book but if he did it might give him some ideas of how to structure this type of story. Sadly there’s some sci fi series that basically compiled Name of the Wind but got further in its progress than this series. The author literally lifted whole passages from that book.
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Mar 5, 2022 06:10
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Dienes posted:Isn't one of his rules for beta readers that you're not allowed to suggest edits? Dragged this up from the previous thread BananaNutkins posted:At a convention, I met Kvothfuss and heard him speak. He mentioned that he has "literally" hundreds of beta readers, but he had a rule for offering feedback, and the rule is thus: Don't offer advice on the sentence or paragraph level. That's his wheelhouse. He's spent "literally" hundreds of hours pouring over every line so the read goes smoothly "like water rushing over river stones". We also missed the 10 year anniversary of this stellar blog post of his https://blog.patrickrothfuss.com/2012/02/concerning-hobbits-love-and-movie-adaptations/ quote:So the other day a friend forwarded me a link to the very first-ever film adaptation of the Hobbit.
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Mar 5, 2022 07:58
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Being a geek was acceptable when Rothfuss was in school to everyone except the biggest of assholes (same as today). Being a weird creep wasn't and still isn't and given the kind of stuff he writes, like that blog post, if people didn't like him it's not because he was a "geek" but because he was creepy and probably smelled like the last day of a gaming convention more often than not.
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Mar 6, 2022 00:00
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Heavy Ernest Cline vibes from that blog entry.
Coquito Ergo Sum fucked around with this message at 19:08 on Mar 7, 2022 |
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Mar 7, 2022 16:34
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Coquito Ergo Sum posted:Heavy Ernest Cline vibes from that blog entry. Rothfuss was basically the target audience for that book. The sort of people who think that relating life to fandoms is a personality trait. Still lol that Ready Player 2 went down like a lead balloon with the same audience who like RP1 and they were seriously arguing on reddit that the early leaks were just b.s written by haters, and when it turned out to be 100% true there was a collective moment where many of them went "wait, is Ernst Cline just a really lovely author?"
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Mar 10, 2022 06:24
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Ready Player One is just incredibly frustrating to me, because it's one of the most dogshit books I've read and I just loathe it and what it represents about our media consumption... ..but everyone that I personally know who loves the movie/book are very kind/inoffensive, pretty much just say "I really liked it, it was a lot of fun  " so I can't even be mad at them or argue with them about it
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Mar 10, 2022 06:36
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Atlas Hugged posted:It's ambiguity is exactly why I brought it up here. If Kvothe is potentially supposed to be unreliable, or the legends themselves are supposed to be exaggerations, Rothfuss has done a piss poor job of establishing this. You see, he uses
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Mar 10, 2022 06:49
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Scholtz posted:Ready Player One is just incredibly frustrating to me, because it's one of the most dogshit books I've read and I just loathe it and what it represents about our media consumption... It's like, popcorn media. Just something you engage with to shut your brain off and cheer the references. It's absolutely appealing to anyone who had some rooting or culture background in 80s media and entertainment. It's going to be completely unapproachable in 20 years, like Ernst Cline will live long enough to see his book literally become obsolete as no one who doesn't have some awareness of all the 80s fandoms is going to care at all about the references
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Mar 10, 2022 08:18
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Scholtz posted:Ready Player One is just incredibly frustrating to me, because it's one of the most dogshit books I've read and I just loathe it and what it represents about our media consumption... Ready Player One was great for people who loved '80s games/movies/shows/pop culture but didn't participate in discussions about it or watch stuff like Angry Video Game Nerd up to the point that the book was released. Those people then saw a book on the NYT Bestseller that reminded them of their childhood and it made them happy. I'm of the opinion that a decent author could have made some minor alterations to RP1 and it could be remembered as an all-time brilliant work of satire.
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Mar 11, 2022 02:59
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Coquito Ergo Sum posted:Ready Player One was great for people who loved '80s games/movies/shows/pop culture but didn't participate in discussions about it or watch stuff like Angry Video Game Nerd up to the point that the book was released. Those people then saw a book on the NYT Bestseller that reminded them of their childhood and it made them happy. The 2 page spread where the narrator is doing the "Everyone stood up and clapped" moment when firing off specific questions about The Princess Bride and showing off his amazing brain in the fake school hallway reads like its meant to be a mocking send up of the obsession with nostalgia, but it's not. Ernst genuinely thinks that schoolboy quiz battles about 40 year old movies are epic moments of Win. I know this because the reviews of Armada, his 2nd book, were talking about how it's literally the same thing including the real life fighter pilots solemnly saying "May the Force be with you" before going out on their do or die missions. His body of work is so bad, that retrospectively it makes RP1 worse because the only reading of the text is that he's completely serious about all of it. There's no satire or tongue in cheek self awareness.
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Mar 11, 2022 03:09
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I have read Ready Player 2 because I hate myself and love suffering and let me tell you it's easily the worst piece of published fiction I've ever seen. There were a bunch of segments that seemed too stupid and boring even for Ernest Cline, to the point I am 50/50 on whether the whole exercise was actually a deliberate troll. Not satire necessarily, but just writing dogshit out of spite. It might sound fun to hateread when I describe it that way but I assure you it isn't
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Mar 11, 2022 03:21
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In RP1, everyone fixates on a dead man's favourite passions in the hopes they'll get rich and escape poverty. Meanwhile culture has stagnated for decades; no one makes new art because everyone is so focused on 80s trivia, and not because they like it, not because they understand it, but because it is the only thing worth money. It is so close to being a damning criticism of nostalgia. The movie should have been directed by Paul Verhoeven.
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Mar 11, 2022 03:48
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Come And See posted:In RP1, everyone fixates on a dead man's favourite passions in the hopes they'll get rich and escape poverty. Meanwhile culture has stagnated for decades; no one makes new art because everyone is so focused on 80s trivia, and not because they like it, not because they understand it, but because it is the only thing worth money. Yeah, you put into much better words what I wanted to say.
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Mar 11, 2022 04:17
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Come And See posted:In RP1, everyone fixates on a dead man's favourite passions in the hopes they'll get rich and escape poverty. Meanwhile culture has stagnated for decades; no one makes new art because everyone is so focused on 80s trivia, and not because they like it, not because they understand it, but because it is the only thing worth money. Jesus christ this is the best thing ever written about RP1
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Mar 11, 2022 04:22
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Is there a vault for the best takes? Like who ever saved that movie-pitch about stoners looking for the pope's spliff in the Vatican?
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Mar 11, 2022 13:02
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pentyne posted:His body of work is so bad, that retrospectively it makes RP1 worse because the only reading of the text is that he's completely serious about all of it. There's no satire or tongue in cheek self awareness. That's how I felt about Rothfuss Book 1 after reading Rothfuss Book 2 (the Final Bookaloo).
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Mar 11, 2022 16:59
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Come And See posted:In RP1, everyone fixates on a dead man's favourite passions in the hopes they'll get rich and escape poverty. Meanwhile culture has stagnated for decades; no one makes new art because everyone is so focused on 80s trivia, and not because they like it, not because they understand it, but because it is the only thing worth money. Yeah, I feel like the book could be a very pointed satire of the modern nostalgia-driven pop culture landscape, where older richer demographics keep the media of their youth in the spotlight and strangle innovation, if only Ernest Cline thought that was a bad thing. This dude wrote a book about a dystopia of widespread poverty and complete desperation, a world where art is dead and fossilized, and thinks it's great because it means teenagers care about Ladyhawke.
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Mar 12, 2022 00:06
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Come And See posted:The movie should have been directed by Paul Verhoeven. poo poo that's exactly what I was going to post, what a tragedy we didn't get this.
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Mar 12, 2022 02:17
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I dreamed that I gave away most of my books and kept only the most important ones, among which were two copies of The Name of the Wind and one copy of The Wise Man's Fear. Worst nightmare I've had in a while.
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Mar 12, 2022 03:43
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TychoCelchuuu posted:I dreamed that I gave away most of my books and kept only the most important ones, among which were two copies of The Name of the Wind and one copy of The Wise Man's Fear. Worst nightmare I've had in a while. Owning multiple copies of tNotW is approaching Holden Caufield-esque territory.
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Mar 12, 2022 04:26
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https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/g39385874/best-fantasy-books/ Say what you will about this list but you know it has to burn Rothfuss that he isn't on here at all.
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Mar 12, 2022 16:40
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muscles like this! posted:https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/g39385874/best-fantasy-books/ Yeah lol there's a lot to say about that list, including (even worse for Rothfuss) that it seems wildly overrepresented by books less then 20 years old. Aside from Wizard of Earthsea, LOTR, and a handful of others you'd think fantasy as a genre didn't become a thing until the late 90s.
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Mar 12, 2022 16:58
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TheIncredulousHulk posted:I have read Ready Player 2 because I hate myself and love suffering and let me tell you it's easily the worst piece of published fiction I've ever seen. There were a bunch of segments that seemed too stupid and boring even for Ernest Cline, to the point I am 50/50 on whether the whole exercise was actually a deliberate troll. Not satire necessarily, but just writing dogshit out of spite. It might sound fun to hateread when I describe it that way but I assure you it isn't Good for you, I tapped out after Armada which was similarly horrendous
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Mar 12, 2022 17:02
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mewse posted:Good for you, I tapped out after Armada which was similarly horrendous To that point I had never seen a massive reviewer backlash play out in real time like it did for that novel. Just tons of critics scratching their head going "well, yeah this worked in RP1 because it was a virtual world, but now when this happens everything is supposed to be real, death and all?" and wondering if he could write anything other then shameless '80s nostalgia porn. lol no
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Mar 12, 2022 17:18
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muscles like this! posted:https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/g39385874/best-fantasy-books/ quote:The only book on this list written during National Novel Writing Month That's the most damning description of a book's quality I've ever seen.
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Mar 12, 2022 17:49
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muscles like this! posted:https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/g39385874/best-fantasy-books/ That sure is a list of books from someone who doesn't seem to actually like the fantasy genre and just dabbles at the edges of magical realism/historical fiction. Also disqualifying the Book of the New Sun as sci-fi but including the Fifth Season (but not the Inheritance trilogy or Dreamblood series) is curious. At least Rothfuss can hang his hat on the fact that Lies of Locke Lamora wasn't nominated, nor was basically anything like NotW save Wizard of Earthsea. Precambrian Video Games fucked around with this message at 18:47 on Mar 12, 2022 |
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Mar 12, 2022 18:42
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I hope that this would motivate him to want to write a great book 3 or something but instead it may just be a bitter blog entry.
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Mar 12, 2022 20:05
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It was a lovely book list of three parts.
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Mar 12, 2022 20:14
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