Patrick Rothfuss, the Kingkiller series

[Snowy]

Surprised nobody else has posted on this series yet, it is getting rave reviews and I have been slow catching it.

The story is the reminiscence of an innkeeper named Kote (but who is in reality an infamous adventurer and magician named Kvothe) to a chronicler who has tracked him down for the purpose. What follows is his life story, told in an autobiographical manner but with occasional interludes as they come back to the troubled present.

Ordinarily I would not like a story like this - it is quite gently told, where I favour the brutal; there is not a lot of action, and a large part of his story focuses around his days at 'The University' where he is training at the Arcanum. Normally anything with the slightest whiff of Harry Potter would see me avoiding it like the plague. Add to that the books are not exactly action packed, and you are probably wondering why I am posting.

Well, put simply, the books (The Name of the Wind and the sequel A Wise Man's Fear) are fucking superb. I can't explain why, other than that Rothfuss is a masterful storyteller and the tale just hooks you and reels you in.

Thoroughly recommended.

[deetz]

Just had a look at it on Amazon and going by the cover it is the book my friend keeps raving about every time we discuss books to read.

[Jez]

I'll give this a go when i finish ice and fire which is really very good indeed btw.

cheers for the recommend snowy.

[Snowy]

No worries - if you are in doubt, look at the amazon.com (not .uk) page for it - something like 600 5* reviews with the first being supplied by Robin Hobb. An almost unheard-of level of praise for Amazon customers.

[Yodith]

I bought the first book last night on a whim on my Kindle. I'm reading the The Last Witch by Andrzej Sapkowski (the short stories set in The Witcher universe) so I'll give it a punt after that.

[brightroar]

Read the two so far, must say I enjoyed the second way more. Bit more action and tighter story.

When describing them to a friend I think my words were "like harry potter, if harry was a badass womanising psychotic rock star"

[Yodith]

I bought the first book last night on a whim on my Kindle. I'm reading the The Last Witch by Andrzej Sapkowski (the short stories set in The Witcher universe) so I'll give it a punt after that.

I didn't really like this at all. Extremely slow-paced and ponderous, very predictable (thanks to a reliance on every school/diamond in the rough cliche ever created) and the unrelenting succession of unfortunate events Kvothe faces become extremely wearisome after a while. I definitely won't be picking up the sequel.

[deetz]

Picked up the 2 books from Amazon last week. About 100 pages in and thoroughly enjoying it.

[Snowy]

I bought the first book last night on a whim on my Kindle. I'm reading the The Last Witch by Andrzej Sapkowski (the short stories set in The Witcher universe) so I'll give it a punt after that.

I didn't really like this at all. Extremely slow-paced and ponderous, very predictable (thanks to a reliance on every school/diamond in the rough cliche ever created) and the unrelenting succession of unfortunate events Kvothe faces become extremely wearisome after a while. I definitely won't be picking up the sequel.

You are not alone there mate - several friends who trust my judgement have questioned this one too

I loved them both though.

[Quietman]

Sounds like me with David Eddings' Elenium and Tamuli trilogies.

[brightroar]

One thing I really hated with the first one was how Kote announces every few chapters "Ah, and I bet you're thinking this is what happens next, because that's what happens in stories about heroes, they get the girl and kill the baddies and live happily ever after, but that's not how real life works and actually this other thing happened where I mostly got shat on from a great height because I am an arrogant dickhead".

Once, I could have lived with. But he basically says it everytime he pauses while telling his story to Chronicler. OMG WE GET IT. YOU'RE SUBVERTING A GENERIC FANTASY TROPE. YOU DON'T NEED TO ANNOUNCE IT EVERY DAMN TIME.

Kvothe is a really unsympathetic character. That's not exactly a bad thing, it can be very entertaining to read "The magical adventures of an incurable knobhead". It's just a lot more bearable in the second one because Kote isn't doing quite such an accurate impression of a chronically depressed 'nam vet who thinks he's seen everything and won't be told otherwise. He seems to be slowly accepting the fact that he's just a dude who did some shit but he doesn't know everything.

[Gibby]

So I read the first in this series and won't be reading any more.

Kvothe is a bell-end. Such a serious case of Mary-Sue (Gary Stu?) that I cannot believe the author got away with it. Oh wait, yes, Kvothe has failings... he doesn't understand women and is impatient! That makes up for him being amazing at everything else right away - the sciences, magic, languages. I could understand his knack for music, given his childhood, but still. It boggles my mind that this book has such vastly positive reviews! I can no longer trust Amazon reviews*, so disappointed was I with this book. I am quite surprised that you liked it, Snowy! Not that you are wrong to, but man, it seriously ticked all of my cliché boxes.

[Snowy]

I just....did. Sorry

When I saw this dusty old thread surface I wondered if the third book had seen the light of day - guess not!

Ah well not to worry, grabbed the kindle "The Collection Joe Abercrombie" so have the First Law (on the final book now), Best Served Cold, The Heroes and Red Country to work back through.

But yes, while I enjoyed Rothfuss, several folks I know didn't.

[Dr@gon-UK]

I did.
I even got "The slow regard of silent things" novella about the girl who live under the college.