SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

What are your final thoughts? Are you awaiting book 3 as eagerly as I am? Discuss away!

You may want to re-title this thread. :) --I think you meant to set up the spoiler thread.

I was more eager for book 3 before I read this one. That's all I can say about this one without spoilers.

For me it is better than book 1 even though Kvothe is basically a god and I can see why that irks some readers. I don't mind the slow pace too. Really enjoyed the book (except for the fairy lovefest part).

In the first book some of my favorite parts were the music, Kvothe and his court lute. Is there any music in Wise Man's Fear?

Is is just me or is a book that is supposed to be a transcription of Kvothe's story told on day two a little long when it takes 43 hours in audio format? That was just a symptom of a larger problem for me. As much as I loved the first book, warts and all, I was annoyed and frustrated at this book. Nothing happened. No peril. No growth, other than his lovemaking skills. Nothing. Other than seeing how far he has fallen.

43 hours, hm, that's a bit much. I liked a lot of the first book, the world he created. My biggest issue with it was basically Kvothe seemed totally self-centered...but... he was a teenager, lost his parents, etc. I did think he wasted time repeating things, i.e., it will take me a day to tell my story--no, 2 days--no, wait, make that 3 days. Also I thought he was a bit of a braggart: I did this, I did that (sounded like 'I am Oz the great and terrible'). For now, maybe I'll put book 2 off for awhile. (No peril...??)

Beagle, there were lots of music still in book 2. I would've been mad if there were none as it is also my fave thing from book 1.

Flash Beagle wrote: "For now, maybe I'll put book 2 off for awhile. (No peril...??)"

None at all. Save yourself the pain. There must be at least eight million books worth reading before this.

Sandi wrote: "As much as I loved the first book, warts and all, I was annoyed and frustrated at this book. Nothing happened. No peril. No growth, other than his lovemaking skills. Nothing."

Sandi I have experienced this exactly.

Book 2, WMF, fell flat and empty. The pacing changed to geological time scales, the dead-end character sketches outgrew the action scenes like algae in a picturesque canal and the mindnumbingly boring asides sprouted like rampant mutant mushrooms from alpha-centauri.

Oh, in my opinion. [I'm watching The Good Wife on Netflicks if you get that.]

Silvana wrote: "Beagle, there were lots of music still in book 2. I would've been mad if there were none as it is also my fave thing from book 1."

Thanks, that's good to know.

Murkypoke wrote: "Flash Beagle wrote: "For now, maybe I'll put book 2 off for awhile. (No peril...??)"

None at all. Save yourself the pain. There must be at least eight million books worth reading before this."

Thanks, that's helpful for expectations.

Some books are directly about gaming or have gaming as a significant part, i.e., Erebos, Ready Player One, The Three-Body Problem, those are obvious, but a book that is not about gaming but heavily influenced by it, such as The Wise Man's Fear apparently is (from comments in the other thread), would be interesting to me in terms of development, influence and the approach to steady reveal.

If I know or set an expectation ahead of time about moving through levels, with all the circuitous routes, options for different venues before I get to something exciting, that type of thing, then I can see reading this, maybe not finish it, but read for comparison just to see influences, I would find that interesting. At least for awhile. I'm not a gamer; the idea of world only goes so far but I'm curious; almost superimposing gaming images in an experimental way.

No hurry on it though but it does change expectations and gaming, social media are going to keep influencing books. I'm reading Seveneves and social media definitely plays a significant part.

So knowing ahead of time that it will be Game Over, go to Level 3 without any conclusion to speak of is helpful. I read nonfiction and lots of other things so this would be like a study.

I was significantly less impressed with this one. When I read it, there were so many reviews out that I didn't take as much time as I do now, so while my details on why are fuzzy, I remember the general impression.

One, although I enjoyed the magical college, I did think it was largely a re-hash of the first book. But as I enjoy the premise, I didn't mind.
Two, I was pretty ambivalent about the section where he skips over a shipwreck--I mean, it was kind of funny, but in retrospect, rather a mean authorial trick. After all, so far Kothe's life review has gone chronologically. So is Rothfuss going to go back to it?
Three, I felt like the role women play continue to be very problematic. Basically, Kothe acts like an adolescent bursting with hormones. Which he is, but I could have lived without the extended sex fantasy in fairyland. It read like wish-fulfillment filler. I was also annoyed by Denna, who seems to be the bad girl who Kothe wants to redeem with his love, sort of.
Four, I ended up being very uncomfortable with the Adem section. I wanted to like it, but I felt like there were native-other stereotypes in play that didn't override my wanting to like it.
In retrospect, Rothfuss seems like he is re-writing the classic odyssey fantasy I grew up with (really, we're kind of doing the Belgariad here, or the Wheel of Time) and there's not enough uniqueness to it to really impress me anymore.

Sandi wrote: "Is is just me or is a book that is supposed to be a transcription of Kvothe's story told on day two a little long when it takes 43 hours in audio format? That was just a symptom of a larger problem..."

Good point, I listened to the audiobook and didn't think about it taking much longer than would fit in a day.

I enjoyed the beautiful writing and good characters, but after 1000 pages/43 hours of listening was disappointed that none of my questions were answered. Kvothe talks at great length about him learning a method of fighting, then in real life was confused when his techniques failed and a soldier kicked his ass. Why can't he fight or do magic? Why does his sinister assistant Bast need him to recover his abilities? What is in the locked chest? Where is Denna? Why is he called KingKiller and why is he hiding in this village as an innkeeper? Who is he hiding from? On and on, and there are no answers.

Having made these complaints, I did really enjoy it and look forward to book three.

Carol. wrote: "...there's not enough uniqueness to it to really impress me anymore. "

Yeah - that. The edge was there in Book I though - that something really special was being set up... and then...
fail.

I think your points regarding women and other stereotyping are important and I share your concerns.

What really makes or breaks a book for me has to be the author's voice – do I enjoy living in his headspace, does something about the word choices or world building terminally jar me out it? I've got to say, something about Rothfuss' lyrical use of language just makes me happy to be reading it, and I would forgive him for quite a lot.

That said, the pacing in this one seemed really off. Didn't mind enough to stop me enjoying it though, even if I wanted to skim over some of the Felurian or Adem bits. I loved the fact that he just skipped over the ship wreck, it makes me trust that the author knows his craft so much more.

My second read through was a revelation. Well, a minor one, but still. I think it's interesting that so many people seem to think all the open questions were a detraction, while I really loved riddling through them, like a Game of Thrones truther obsessed with finding out who Jon Snow's parents are.

Speaking of parents, any one else get the feeling we've met Kvothe's aunt? And that the Chandrian might actually be the good guys?

Maria wrote: "I've got to say, something about Rothfuss' lyrical use of language just makes me happy to be reading it, and I would forgive him for quite a lot."

Yup, I agree. I preferred the 1st book but enjoyed this 2nd book, and am waiting till the 3rd book to see if that further redeems book 2. I'm hopeful that all of this will have been necessary, and I'll look back and go AH-HA!

Overall, I wasn't concerned by the treatment of women in the books. They've been varied (so often the women are good only. Or sexy only. etc) and played important roles and not all been love interests. Kvothe's viewpoints do tend to skew towards adolescent angst, but I think that's believable and not a reflection on the author. I think the 3rd book may reveal some deeper understanding of the characters. If not, I'm okay with that; I expect Denna's story as told by her would be vastly different (she may have her own "Epic" tale that we'll never know, so to speak. I would LOVE to see that though, or a similar one). This is Kvothe's tale, so I expect it to be skewed towards him.

Agree with Maria too. The storytelling is amazing enough to keep us engaged throughout most of the book.

What makes you think we've met his aunt? I completely missed it.

And yes there is a possibility that the Chandrian might not be the real evil here. And Denna's song might be closer to the truth than what Kvothe wanted.

yes i agree with Silvana. i think the Chandrian arnt exactly the villains i thought while reading the first book. come on book 3!

Kvothe's Aunt: Lady Meluan Lackless, who Kvothe helps the Maer woo.

My theory is that her sister Netalia that ran off with a Ruh is Kvothe's mother Laurian. We know from the first book that Kvothe's mother was probably of noble birth. Two noble women of a similar age that ran off with Ruh in the same story? If it's not a red herring this doesn't seem probable.

When Kvothe first sees Meluan, he remarks that she seems familiar. Probably looks a bit like his mother.

The clincher for me is a song Kvothe's father writes to tease his wife, that gets a strong reaction from her:

"Dark Laurian, Arliden's wife
Has a face like a blade of a knife
Has a voice like a prickledown burr
But can tally a sum like a moneylender.
My sweet Tally cannot cook.
But she keeps a tidy ledger-book
For all her faults I do confess
It's worth my life
To make my wife
Not tally a lot less"

Not tally a lot less = Netalia Lackless
Say it out loud, and it sounds basically the same.


... And if that theory's true that has some interesting implications if we look at the Lackless skipping rhyme and what could come up in the third book as well as what that unopenable box at the inn might be.

I love this kind of stuff.

I've just finished, and I think I enjoyed this even more than the first book. I completely understand the concerns about pacing - especially the whole Felurian sequence. And I understand being frustrated that little was resolved. But this is a middle book of a trilogy that resolves almost nothing in 1000 pages and still leaves me wanting more. That makes it a 5 star book in my mind.

Maria, that's an interesting theory!

Maria wrote: "My theory is that her sister Netalia that ran off with a Ruh is Kvothe's mother Laurian. We know from the first book that Kvoth..."

I had that same idea as well. Unlike the first book, I find myself making predictions with this one. I also think the thrice locked chest is that Lackless heirloom chest and Kvothe hasn't opened it yet.

Is Denna's secret patron the 8th, unfallen leader of the old empire? Or a Chandrian? Or is she in training to be an Amyr?

Overall, I am as inlove with this book as the first. I gave them both 5 stars which I rarely do.

There are a few disappointments. I had assumed that the story would not end until Kvothe was kicked out f the university, since it had been referenced so much. I seems like a lot will happen post-university, so I assumed that would be the logical stopping place. I also thought that his first sexual experience being with the fae goddess of love was a bit much, but he did need magical, heroic item given to him to lead a proper story book life.

It is great writing that I can see takes time, so I will gladly wait and pine for the third book to come out.

Cool theories! I'll have to ponder that a little.

WMF was a little less perfect for me. The lyrical writing was still lovely, but I found the adventures a bit more abrupt and less logical (I agree Melanie that the fairy land part was a bit much) and I really loathed Kvothe telling a couple girls who'd just been raped for days that not all men are like that. Pick your moments, Kvothe and Patrick.

But if I stopped reading every book that tried to undo bad things done to women with a platitude, I'd have to quit reading entirely.

I am also unsure how even 1000 more pages are going to wrap this story up! I had assumed three days would be three books, do we know if that has been debunked?

I'm not sure where to post this, but maybe this thread is a good place?

https://www.ohjoysextoy.com/patrick-r...

Patrick Rothfuss wrote a comic, illustrated by the talented artists of Oh Joy Sex Toy, discussing the sexualities of some of the characters in the Kingkiller Chronicles.

Put off reading this for awhile. I liked The Name of the Wind even though Kvothe drove me crazy sometimes. This book has some good things but it is very long and rambling and then it ends.