Number 1 on New york Times Besteller list!

[Boneman]

Sorry, but I gotta do it here,as well. (Bring on the slaps, I can take 'em.)

Patrick Rothfuss went straight in at Number 1 on the New York Times bestseller list for Hardbacks. Hardbacks!!

Not many fantasy books do that...

 

[rai]

I have no idea what book you are talking about. I would think the book title would be somewhere in the title or body of this post. Or is this some type of easter egg hunt??

 

[digs]

The Wise Man's Fear, second book in Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles.

 

[Boneman]

I have no idea what book you are talking about. I would think the book title would be somewhere in the title or body of this post. Or is this some type of easter egg hunt??

ooops, sorry. Just too excited, it must have slipped my mind.

Thanks, digs!

 

[rai]

is this a good chronicle? What would you say it's similar to?

 

[Interference]

I'm pleased for your pleasedness for his success, BM

 

[Rosemary]

I'm not surprised that's he has reached #1 already.

A brilliant writer

 

[Rane Longfox]

That's pretty impressive. Name of the Wind is the only paperback from the genre to crack most of the general paperback charts recently too. Can't see the fuss myself, but there must be something out there.

 

[Rosemary]

There is, young man! All of his readers

 

[Boneman]

is this a good chronicle? What would you say it's similar to?

That is so difficult to answer. On the one hand you could say it was Harry Potter for adults - orphan goes to univeristy to learn magic that will help him avenge the death of his parents - but that does it a grave disservice, because of the worldbuilding, the depth of the writing (IMHO, naturally), and the characterisation.

On the other hand, I'm struggling to think what would compare. I think it's one of those books that defines fantasy in a different way, for us, much like Peter Brett did in The Painted Man (The Warded man in the USA). Because the story is narrated to Chronicler, who arrives at the (fallen) hero's inn, it's mostly in the 1st person, so the action never strays from Kvothe. As he's looking back, he presages very well the fact that bad things have happened, and I can't remember reading a book that's done this in this way, and succeeded. Dracula?

Read it and see! The Name of The Wind - the first in the trilogy is in paperback, and by the time you've read it three or four times, so will Wise Man's Fears, be!

 

[Perpetual Man]

That is so difficult to answer. On the one hand you could say it was Harry Potter for adults - orphan goes to univeristy to learn magic that will help him avenge the death of his parents - but that does it a grave disservice, because of the worldbuilding, the depth of the writing (IMHO, naturally), and the characterisation.

On the other hand, I'm struggling to think what would compare. I think it's one of those books that defines fantasy in a different way, for us, much like Peter Brett did in The Painted Man (The Warded man in the USA). Because the story is narrated to Chronicler, who arrives at the (fallen) hero's inn, it's mostly in the 1st person, so the action never strays from Kvothe. As he's looking back, he presages very well the fact that bad things have happened, and I can't remember reading a book that's done this in this way, and succeeded. Dracula?

Read it and see! The Name of The Wind - the first in the trilogy is in paperback, and by the time you've read it three or four times, so will Wise Man's Fears, be!

Hear, hear!

(But is it really going to be only a trilogy...)

 

[digs]

Do you really think it's redefining the genre? I liked The Name of the Wind (though nowhere near as much as some people), but I was slightly underwhelmed after all the hype, and don't particularly remember anything much original.

I'm not trying to start an argument, I'm just curious about what you think Rothfuss has done differently.

 

[rai]

Do you really think it's redefining the genre? I liked The Name of the Wind (though nowhere near as much as some people), but I was slightly underwhelmed after all the hype, and don't particularly remember anything much original.

I'm not trying to start an argument, I'm just curious about what you think Rothfuss has done differently.

yes, I'd like to know this. Not to start anything, I am really interested. Also, I read the first Harry Potter book and really I am shocked it went on to the great sales it has had. I am just saying great sales do not mean it's a great book of all time.

I have not read any more Harry Potter but people do say it gets better, but I just mean the first book I didn't see anything out of the ordinay for me to get excited about.

I have to say Rothfuss does sound like something I'd like to read, I would like HP better if it wasn't aimed at young adults (or kids).

 

[williamjm]

Patrick Rothfuss went straight in at Number 1 on the New York Times bestseller list for Hardbacks. Hardbacks!!

Not many fantasy books do that...

It was in the UK top 10 list as well, although not as number 1.

 

[Boneman]

Rai: Harry Potter (especially the first book) was definitely for children - as was The Hobbit - but was a good story, and millions of adults enjoyed them. I'd say go to a library and read the next couple, and see. My favourite was book four The Goblet of Fire.

Not sure that I mean redefining the genre, per se, but it's so hard to categorise... I feel it defines fantasy at a level that only a few writers have done - Orson Scott Card's Seventh Son series is perhaps the one that springs to mind. For me, it's because I find that I care about the heroes in Rothfuss's and Card's books, which is an incredible skill as a writer, which so few have. Never took to Frodo and Sam, or any of the other characters where I truly wanted them to succed - it was more passive watching of an adventure. Most books you read, think:'that was good' and put it down - maybe even decide to read it again in a few years.

But Rothfuss's books are different: Name of the Wind and Wise Man's Fears are both written in 1st person, and I cannot imagine many other books doing that, in what is an epic tale, and getting away with it - his take on fairies (the fae) has been tried before, but it's what he doesn't say about them that's so intriguing. Bast almost has cloven hooves and horns, and the clever way he opens the story where the hero is 'fallen', and then takes us back to when he was 'rising' so we know there's some great storytelling to come, that will let us know the how and why of the whole tale. So I think it will be a book that may well be 'imitated' by other writers - their styles will change to encompass the realness of what goes on. I'm not saying this very well but here's what one reviewer said (and I can't credit him, forgot who it was!)


"The characters are very well realized. That means that when the protagonist does something clever, it's believable. And when he does something youthfully dumb, it rings just as authentically true. Because the characters are real and the magic is true to its own world, I closed this book feeling as if I'd been on a journey with an entertaining new friend, rather than sitting alone looking at words on a page.
As with all the very best books in our field, it's not the fantasy trappings (wonderful as they are) that make this novel so good, but what the author has to say about true, common things, about ambition and failure, art, love, and loss."

I'd say it's the very 'believability' of his world, but particularly Kvothe himself, that sets it apart. And I don't think either book is perfect (only SHOGUN reached that height IMHO), and there are things I'm not sure I like in WMF, but Shogun apart, there hasn't been any book that I know I will re-read over and over and still get more from each read.

PM: I'd love it to be more than a trilogy - as long as I don't have to wait four years between each one!

 

[ratsy]

I am currently reading Wise Man's Fear, and while I feel like it is missing something; i can't seem to put it down. Rothfuss does a great job of keeping the reader turning the pages. There are few authors that grab at me like he does. Hobb, Sanderson are a couple. Good book so far.

 

[Tansy]

Was that not part of Brandon Sanderson's review of TWMF Boneman - sounds familiar?

 

[Khale]

I loved Name of the Wind but am absolutely struggling to finish Wise Man's Fear. This book is just dragging on and on and on (about 80% done). I seriously believe you will easily be able to skip this book and go straight to the third book when it comes out without missing anything.

 

[Boneman]

Was that not part of Brandon Sanderson's review of TWMF Boneman - sounds familiar?

Could well be - I cut and pasted it, forgot where it came from! (Sorry, Brandon, if that was you...)

And if you did skip WMF, surely there's every chance you'll be saying "Who?" Why?" "What?" when all is explained, because you're skipping all the plotlines that have been laid...?