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LASER BEAM DREAM posted:So what was it that caused the books to be liked by so many people after the first read like myself and, I’m assuming, a bunch of other people in this thread? I'm convinced that no one has read it. Fans may have opened the book, moved their eyes up and down across the page and catalogued the plot points, foreshadowing, and sequel hooks, but I think very few people have actually read it. I know I didn't when I first scanned it back in high school. The Kingkiller books are actually uniquely suited to this form of scanning. Most of Kvothe's characterization is done via epithet, which makes it easy to look for and remember the important plot points that happen to him.There's a lot of dialogue, but little of it actually has substance, so you can't really miss anything if you read it too quickly. The prose is flat, so although there's a lot of "lyricism" present none of it ever sticks out and causes you to think. The important stuff, like Denna, the Mean Tree, how good Kvothe is at sex, how he understands what it's like to be poor, are all discussed ad nauseam, so again, it's impossible to miss. The obnoxious chaptering encourages a "one more chapter" mentality. The supporting characters are all stereotypes that are easily understood with only a moment's thought. As for why people actually like it, I'll guess that people might find the mechanical puzzle-solving clever ("How's Kvothe going to get out of this one?"), or they might consider Rothfuss' premises interesting. What are the Chandrian going to do and how is Kvothe going to fight them? What's in the box? Where are all the demons coming from? How is the Mean Tree going to mess Kvothe up? Who's the king that Kvothe kills? Any of these might be cool premises that might have a cool payoff. It's about a badass dude that is smart and powerful enough to interact with forces that have existed since the dawn of time. It grants political and interpersonal agency to a figure that's pretty much like you, the middle class male reader. It's like the Silmarillion if you didn't have to work to understand the text. It may not make for a good novel, but it might make for an okay TV show. It does make for a great Wikipedia/TV Tropes page, and since the fans aren't actually reading this crap, they can enjoy it on the same level that it's suited for. Fans like it because they think it's a list of cool plot points. Personally, I liked it because I thought it was about a character who did reckless, dangerous things and cheated his way out of consequences until he couldn't anymore. The third book, potentially, would be about redemption. Instead of cheating his way out of trouble, Kvothe would actually resolve something, thereby addressing all the previous times he got away with stuff that he shouldn't have. It might actually be about that, we'll have to see in 2025. But I wouldn't be able to go back to the series now that I actually read.
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Oct 10, 2017 16:27
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Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny also strikes me as a book that successfully tells the story of a roguish and powerful male protagonist who despite his intelligence and skill suffers enormous setbacks that can only be overcome by creative thinking and complex schemes, rather than the application of the appropriate puzzle piece. Unlike Kingkiller, there's a genuine political struggle as Sam attempts to overthrow his peers, the Hindu-styled techno-gods of a new world, that oppress humanity into primitive submission. The supporting cast is broadly drawn, but they all have engaging arcs, including a creepy, self-styled god of death and an impressively ferocious female villain. Language-wise, it's genuinely witty, with some pointed philosophical commentary and some tense action and battle scenes.
pospysyl fucked around with this message at 18:04 on Oct 10, 2017 |
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Oct 10, 2017 17:54
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The cute arguments and loopholes that Kvothe comes up with to get out of trouble (or even get a prize) when he breaks a rule or law might seem clever, I suppose. Otherwise, it's applying Knowledge A or Spell B to get out of Problem C. It's less that it's bad or dumb and more that it's uninspired, especially when compared to better books.
pospysyl fucked around with this message at 18:22 on Oct 10, 2017 |
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Oct 10, 2017 18:20
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Ccs posted:Wait I'm on board with the other stuff but how is putting stuff into chapters obnoxious? Or is there a specific way Rothfuss uses chapters? There are just a lot of them. In the first book, there are I think over ninety chapters, each anywhere from 2 to 15 pages long. I'm not sure how Rothfuss decides how to start a new chapter, because there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to them. A tense action sequence might be divided up into four or five chapters. Sometimes he'll start a new chapter in the middle of a sentence. It's like how Goosebumps uses chapter divisions, only without the self-awareness.
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Oct 11, 2017 16:35
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Ccs posted:TV consumption has been presented as a risk factor for Alzheimer’s while reading has been shown to decrease stress levels and ward off cognitive decline. Is that a causative or correlative effect? I already know the answer to this.
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Jun 16, 2018 19:19
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