What's so good about The Name of The Wind?

[Roxxsmom]

The "hero's journey" as laid out as a collection of traits was spectacularly Euro-centric. It does not really relate to all types of fiction or storytelling. (Which is part of why some folks find it more annoying than others.)

This is quite true. It also ignored female-centered tropes in storytelling.

I tend to be suspicious of anything that encourages people to write to a set formula or to change their writing or stories to fit a pre-determined checklist. I've no doubt it fits many story types very well, but I don't see the point of trying to cram a literary square peg into a round hole.

 

[sheils]

The prologue, in particular, that bit about the silence of four parts (or whatever it was) had me wondering, "WTF is this? The kind of beginning everyone tells us all never to write, and for good reason."

Totalllllly agree. I just thought it was bad writing trying too hard. Didn't get into the book until Kvothe started talking.

 

[Maxx]

I cringe a little when I talk to people about books and mention how much I love fantasy, and this is the first series they mention. If it gets them into the genre, I guess I'm all for it.

I didn't personally think this was amazing. As others have said, it's ripe with wish fulfillment, and reads like a D&D campaign. I'll read the last one, if he ever gets around to finishing it, but it won't be at the top of my list.

I thought the narrative strategy was interesting. I tried hard to like the book and sort of failed.

 

[kindratiah]

I started reading TNOTW maybe five or six times and every time I gave up about ten pages in due to overpowering boredom (not something that happens to me often with Fantasy). I also do not get the hype for this book. Starting a story off by going on and on about how many "parts" a silence has...I mean, come on. No. No thank you.

I can see that book being very helpful for people with insomnia, though.

 

[Kjbartolotta]

LOL, this thread is back, need to reread it to recall if I weighed in. Discourse upon sex-god ninjas ahoy.

 

[Maxx]

So much seemed so promising -- the embedded first person narrative, the traveling acting troope...maybe that's about it...anyway, I tried hard to like it.

 

[Introversion]

Starting a story off by going on and on about how many "parts" a silence has...I mean, come on. No. No thank you.

I'll have to go against the grain here by saying that I've read and re-read TNotW, and quite liked it. I thought those early passages about the different kinds of silence ("The cut-flower sound of a man waiting to die") were powerful, beautifully-written and I was hooked early.

I wonder if this boils down to a preference thing for pacing? TNotW is often very leisurely, but that doesn't bother me if the characters and world-building interest me, which it did here. (The Lord of the Rings is similarly thick & slow, and even more densely written, and I loved that as well.)

No arguments about the cringe-worthy parts of the second book. Oy.

 

[Princess Of Needles]

It's very readable, which makes readers connect to it easily. For all its flaws, the voice is very good. I enjoyed the first book, though I don't worship it like some people seem to.

Can't say the same about the second book. After 100 pages of fairy sex and poetry about the moon, I wanted to chuck it across the room.

Rothfuss worshippers can be pretty obnoxious, though. I remember one who posted that he didn't like Scott Lynch because he felt like he was ripping off Rothfuss...to which Rothfuss himself pointed out that Scott Lynch's book came out a year before his.

 

[kindratiah]

I'll have to go against the grain here by saying that I've read and re-read TNotW, and quite liked it. I thought those early passages about the different kinds of silence ("The cut-flower sound of a man waiting to die") were powerful, beautifully-written and I was hooked early.

I wonder if this boils down to a preference thing for pacing? TNotW is often very leisurely, but that doesn't bother me if the characters and world-building interest me, which it did here. (The Lord of the Rings is similarly thick & slow, and even more densely written, and I loved that as well.)

No arguments about the cringe-worthy parts of the second book. Oy.

I don't know. I'm actually all about world-building myself and as a reader, I tend to have a lot of patience. I had no problem getting through all of the Song of Ice and Fire books, or any of the Lord of the Rings books- which are often accused of being dense and slow. There was just nothing about Rothfuss's world or the way he described it that captured me, and Kvothe seemed like a pompous Gary Stu.

 

[Kjbartolotta]

I'm rereading this whole thread again when I should be writing, or at least cleaning the house. Why do I find it so entertaining? Help.

 

[Filigree]

I can't help you. I slogged my way through the first book. It had excellent moments sprinkled through a lot of what I considered word-barfing. I wasn't interested enough to look at the second book.

I did buy all of Scott Lynch's books that were available, even though they sometimes fall into a similar 'trying too hard' trap. To be honest, Rothfuss himself caused some of my later aversion, from his behavior taking over a panel he was invited on at the last minute. I'd already read TNotW, and formed my opinion of it, though.

 

[PeteMC]

I read the first one. Absolutely none of the things in the back cover blurb actually happened in the book. I won't be reading the second one, but I'm *still* laughing at Putputt's wonderful review!

 

[Maxx]

I'm rereading this whole thread again when I should be writing, or at least cleaning the house. Why do I find it so entertaining? Help.

Good question. For me the entertainment comes with a little warning: don't drift into strategizing your writing in such a way that it ends up with some of the problems that Name of the Wind has. But then I guess the entertaining part is imagining how you can introduce a little extra self-awareness into your self editing. It's like picking up a little optional self-identity as in "I'm a poor scholar, but a good tennis-player etc. etc." Always useful and even entertaining.

 

[Kjbartolotta]

Good question. For me the entertainment comes with a little warning: don't drift into strategizing your writing in such a way that it ends up with some of the problems that Name of the Wind has. But then I guess the entertaining part is imagining how you can introduce a little extra self-awareness into your self editing. It's like picking up a little optional self-identity as in "I'm a poor scholar, but a good tennis-player etc. etc." Always useful and even entertaining.

Heh, you give me more credit than I'm worth. But I suppose a constant question that pops in my head while I'm reading this thread is "How much wish-fulfillment do readers want?" and "How much can they stand before it lapses into powergaming". Everyone has a different standard, I suppose. But I think the ongoing challenge for me with NotW is how much we're supposed to believe Kvothe is an unreliable narrator, and how much Rothfuss is just trying to write the most powerful, amazing character ever.

I should mention that this books takes it's digs around here, but out in IRL meatspace everyone I know loves it and tells me it's the best, including (and more often than not), people who sniff at fantasy as being all power fantasies and nerd stuff. I think a part of some of the frustration people have towards the series, especially since a very popular musical-writer keeps talking up making it into a movie.

 

[jjdebenedictis]

I think the first book described an old sailor as "a driftwood scarecrow with sapphire eyes", and I thought, "Dang, that's a nice line."

The rest of the prose seemed very good, but that's the only time I really thought it was great.

 

[Introversion]

don't drift into strategizing your writing in such a way that it ends up with some of the problems that Name of the Wind has.

To be fair, I’d cheerfully take 10% of its sales though...

 

[Maxx]

To be fair, I’d cheerfully take 10% of its sales though...

I guess that's the thing...even with something that looks like fantasy...people (including me) seem to ("literally") buy into narrative gimicks that suggest a certain level of sophistication. (Guessing again) I guess I long ago decided I wanted to try to write with fewer literary gimicks and more flat out plot. I think for me in terms of keeping at working on writing novels that is a good plan HOWEVER I can see the attractions of a lot of the narrative strategies in Name of the Wind ON THE OTHER HAND, having chosen a seemingly sophisticated set of narrative strategies, I think you have to be more careful in all other respects (or at least I think I would need to be more careful just to keep a clear view of what effects I want to have on the reader). So in some ways I feel like I learned a lot from trying to read the first 150 pages or so of the book and I can see why people want to make it into a musical (or just a movie? or both?).

 

[Myrealana]

I just finished this book. I admit, I haven't read the whole thread, so I may be retreading some old territory, but you will have to put me in the "meh" category for this one.

I had heard over and over again how this book was so unique and revolutionary and how I would positively be unable to put it down, so I made room in my schedule and dug in.

It wasn't worth the time investment.

Sure, the world-building was excellent. The amount of detail and thought that went into every aspect of the world and society was fabulous, but I didn't feel a connection to any of the characters, except Abenthy, who disappears quite early. (Maybe a little for Bast, but that's it.) In fact, other than Kvothe, I thought all the other characters felt like window dressing instead of fleshed-out people. Kvothe himself was just too perfect, too "Mary Sue," for my liking. He's good at everything, only gets into trouble because he's impulsive and too good at things, and then whatever consequences he may face quickly fade. By the end I was bored with Kvothe and it left me with no interest for reading further.

I give Rothfuss an A+ on the amazing level of work he did on creating the world, the magic system and the society, but a C- at best on giving me people to care about in that world.

 

[Harlequin]

I totally missed the resurrection of this thread.

Myrea... yeah, pretty much. It's testament to the power of voice, and the fact that voice triumphs over structure.

The series will never be finished IMO, and that's reason enough to avoid it, independent of anything else. Authors leaving big series hanging makes it harder for debut writers with fantasy series, because fans are so tired of books never being completed and no longer trust that the next book will arrive.

 

[Coddiwomple]

Fine.

I'll have you all know -- that little kid in the corner? Crying, because some mean grownup just stole her candy?

That's me, thankyouverymuch.

I LOVE both books, but now I can't look at Wise Man's Fear again without puttputt whispering in my ear by way of this hilarious and accurate review

 

[MonsterTamer]

The series will never be finished IMO, and that's reason enough to avoid it, independent of anything else. Authors leaving big series hanging makes it harder for debut writers with fantasy series, because fans are so tired of books never being completed and no longer trust that the next book will arrive.

Brandon Sanderson - he who finishes all the things.

 

[Cal_Darin]

I started reading it when I was in a bit of a bad spot mentally, and I think Rothfuss writes beautifully. I liked the practical approach to magic that still allowed for a great deal of wonderment and mysticism (sympathy vs naming, that sort of thing).

I then started writing and opened my story with a section like the Silence one. Did not go over well in critiquing.

I have no defense for the sex-goddess interlude.

Also if you get a chance, the Audiobooks are pretty good. Though the narrator makes the Adem sound kinda like the Swedish Chef.

 

[BethS]

I started reading it when I was in a bit of a bad spot mentally, and I think Rothfuss writes beautifully. .

Have you read his novella, The Slow Regard of Silent Things ? This story will not make sense to anyone who hasn't read the first book, but if you have, I think Slow Regard is an amazing work. I walked around looking at the world in an entirely different way after reading that. Rothfuss is capable of incredibly good writing.

Despite the sex-goddess interlude.

 

[Cal_Darin]

Have you read his novella, The Slow Regard of Silent Things ? This story will not make sense to anyone who hasn't read the first book, but if you have, I think Slow Regard is an amazing work. I walked around looking at the world in an entirely different way after reading that. Rothfuss is capable of incredibly good writing.

Despite the sex-goddess interlude.

Absolutely. I loved Slow Regard, even if it was a bit of a mess. But Auri is a bit of a mess. So it worked. The imagery was beautiful.

My current theory on why we haven't gotten the third book, by the way, (since it's apparently been done and being edited because he got a bad read?) was because his initial readers sent it back with

"I really like this. But the part where he goes back and bangs a sex goddess AGAIN is really unnecessary. Especially the part where she brings other sex goddesses to check out his amazing penis..."

And Rothfuss's response was to add more sex goddesses. Just. All the sex goddesses. And a few ninja-sex-goddesses as well for good measure!

 

[Harlequin]

The pacing of the first two novels is such that i cannot see a way for him to write the third novel and actually finish the story. The plot hasn't advanced at all, and if he wants to keep it as a trilogy then he will have to do an awful lot of time skips.

Alternatively, it will need to be a rather longer series. I keep expecting that to be the route he takes but we'll see I suppose.