The beautiful game
Mar. 15th, 2011 01:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
saelindFair warning: Now that I'm on spring break with lots of free time on my hands I will be making lots of useless posts on the ElJay. Except I swear that this post is not useless. Book reviews are never useless! Or so I say...
So, for the past couple of weeks y'all have had to put up with a fair amount of squeeing on my part over Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicle--The Name of the Wind, and then The Wise Man's Fear which came out two weeks ago. It makes me *so sad* that no one (as far as I know) on my flist has read these books, because I am sure that at least a good chunk of you would loooooooove them. Why? Well, let me tell you.
One of the reviews on the back of The Name of the Wind essentially describes Rothfuss as the second coming of Tolkien. Now, holding Tolkien in the right and proper reverence causes one to view this statement with a fair amount of skepticism. Yet...you can't not make the comparison. Not after reading The Name of the Wind, and certainly not after reading The Wise Man's Fear. I've read a good chunk of fantasy books in my brief life, and I have not felt this enthralled, excited, emotionally invested, and ultimately completely taken in since the days of Harry Potter and my first read-through of Lord of the Rings. George
My biggest fear (no pun intended) in reading this book after the loooongass wait was that it would fail to live up to its own expectations. I've come into too many second novels after being so excited about the first only to be vastly disappointed. The world-building or intricate plots begin to collapse under their own weight (*cough* George R.R. Martin *cough*), or the storytelling is not as good, or...something. So I went into this book both with excitement and extremely high expectations, but also with a cynic's trepidation that it would somehow fall flat.
But to harbor those fears does not do Mr. Rothfuss nearly enough credit. I should have known, really. It was just as beautiful a ride this time around, and if anything even more. What most impressed me this time around was the depth, intricacy, and subtlety of the world he has built. As Tolkien has taught us, creating a fantasy world is hella, hella lotta work--if you want to do it right, that is. You need a history, you need developed customs and cultures of the countries you are creating, you need a mythology. He gives us that. All of that. But it's subtle, as I've said. He doesn't hit us over the head with the world he's created, or the magic. You can believe that the world you are reading about is real. Which, for me at least, is what good fantasy is all about. And an added bonus along those lines: as I've discussed with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cairistiona7 many a time, too often fantasy writers just want to thump you over the head with it all, all "HI HERE THERE BE DRAGONS AND SPARKLY MAGIC POOOOOOF." None of that here. The magic system actually makes sense here, none of that hand-waving that goes on in so many others.
And the best part is even thoguh it is long--994 pages, to be exact--it never feels it. It did take me two weeks to get through (thank you, midterms), but it never felt tedious. If anything, I put off reading it at times because I know the next one won't be coming out for years and I wanted to savor it while it was new.
Is it perfect? No. Particularly as I have a tendency to be driven crazy by arrogant male teenage twats that seem to be at the heart of all fantasy stories--even as I love Kvothe he drives me MAD. I've also become a super-sharp critic over the years, especially regarding feministy stuff--the jury's still out over how I feel about the whole Felurian plotline, or how the Adem are constructed. But those are minor, minor quibbles. I love the world he has created. I love the characters he has created, and I really love how much more he developed the minor characters in this novel. My love for Wil, Sim, Fela, and Devi (and Elodin, ahahahahahahaha) has grown exponentially.
Bottom line: As a fantasy lover, these are the kind of stories I live for. It is a shining gem of the genre, and irregardless of genre it is just damn good storytelling. Which, really, is what we're all here for, right?
And now that all that's said and done I'm about to go be a crazy fan and wait in line for three hours at his NYC booksigning in Brooklyn. Fweeeeeeeee!
So, for the past couple of weeks y'all have had to put up with a fair amount of squeeing on my part over Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicle--The Name of the Wind, and then The Wise Man's Fear which came out two weeks ago. It makes me *so sad* that no one (as far as I know) on my flist has read these books, because I am sure that at least a good chunk of you would loooooooove them. Why? Well, let me tell you.
One of the reviews on the back of The Name of the Wind essentially describes Rothfuss as the second coming of Tolkien. Now, holding Tolkien in the right and proper reverence causes one to view this statement with a fair amount of skepticism. Yet...you can't not make the comparison. Not after reading The Name of the Wind, and certainly not after reading The Wise Man's Fear. I've read a good chunk of fantasy books in my brief life, and I have not felt this enthralled, excited, emotionally invested, and ultimately completely taken in since the days of Harry Potter and my first read-through of Lord of the Rings. George
My biggest fear (no pun intended) in reading this book after the loooongass wait was that it would fail to live up to its own expectations. I've come into too many second novels after being so excited about the first only to be vastly disappointed. The world-building or intricate plots begin to collapse under their own weight (*cough* George R.R. Martin *cough*), or the storytelling is not as good, or...something. So I went into this book both with excitement and extremely high expectations, but also with a cynic's trepidation that it would somehow fall flat.
But to harbor those fears does not do Mr. Rothfuss nearly enough credit. I should have known, really. It was just as beautiful a ride this time around, and if anything even more. What most impressed me this time around was the depth, intricacy, and subtlety of the world he has built. As Tolkien has taught us, creating a fantasy world is hella, hella lotta work--if you want to do it right, that is. You need a history, you need developed customs and cultures of the countries you are creating, you need a mythology. He gives us that. All of that. But it's subtle, as I've said. He doesn't hit us over the head with the world he's created, or the magic. You can believe that the world you are reading about is real. Which, for me at least, is what good fantasy is all about. And an added bonus along those lines: as I've discussed with
cairistiona7 many a time, too often fantasy writers just want to thump you over the head with it all, all "HI HERE THERE BE DRAGONS AND SPARKLY MAGIC POOOOOOF." None of that here. The magic system actually makes sense here, none of that hand-waving that goes on in so many others. And the best part is even thoguh it is long--994 pages, to be exact--it never feels it. It did take me two weeks to get through (thank you, midterms), but it never felt tedious. If anything, I put off reading it at times because I know the next one won't be coming out for years and I wanted to savor it while it was new.
Is it perfect? No. Particularly as I have a tendency to be driven crazy by arrogant male teenage twats that seem to be at the heart of all fantasy stories--even as I love Kvothe he drives me MAD. I've also become a super-sharp critic over the years, especially regarding feministy stuff--the jury's still out over how I feel about the whole Felurian plotline, or how the Adem are constructed. But those are minor, minor quibbles. I love the world he has created. I love the characters he has created, and I really love how much more he developed the minor characters in this novel. My love for Wil, Sim, Fela, and Devi (and Elodin, ahahahahahahaha) has grown exponentially.
Bottom line: As a fantasy lover, these are the kind of stories I live for. It is a shining gem of the genre, and irregardless of genre it is just damn good storytelling. Which, really, is what we're all here for, right?
And now that all that's said and done I'm about to go be a crazy fan and wait in line for three hours at his NYC booksigning in Brooklyn. Fweeeeeeeee!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
on 2011-03-15 06:17 pm (UTC)My library hold for The Name the Wind is *still* pending... but I think now there's only 1 other person ahead of me. So eventually I'll read it and get back to you on whether your review is spot on, or, er, whether you're blowing a lot of wind (keeping with the whole wind theme here). *g*
Have fun at the book signing. :)
no subject
on 2011-03-16 02:05 pm (UTC)Thanks! It was super-fun, the people working at the bookstore gave out free cookies to the people waiting in line, which made it all worth it! As well as getting the book signed, of course *g*
no subject
on 2011-03-16 02:34 pm (UTC)Speaking of fantasy books with magic that makes sense within its given universe, right now I'm reading a Jim Butcher Harry Dresden novel, which is very much in that category, and adding even more to my love is that in this one, Dresden makes a geeky Tolkien joke!
"On the street outside the shop stood two figures. they were dressed more or less identically: long black robes, long black cape, big black mangles, big black hoods that showed nothing of the faces inside. One was taller than the other, but other than that they simply stood on the sidewalk outside, waiting.
'I told these guys last week I didn't want to buy a ring,' I said. I glanced at Shiela. 'See that? Witty under pressure. That was a Tolkien joke.'"
That's from "Dead Beat", which seems to be about zombies, although I'm not fully into it enough to know for sure (and I really need to get to the next chapter to see what happens with these Nazgully guys). Butcher's books skirt *almost* too close to horror for my comfort level, but Dresden is such a smart*ss wizard, and there's so much humor woven throughout, it gives it a lighthearted tone that makes it more of a fantasy romp than a "make you sleep with the lights on" horror story. Which I don't like. If there's going to be zombies, I want it very clear that the universe in the story is Not Real Life. LOL
no subject
on 2011-03-16 05:43 pm (UTC)"If there's going to be zombies, I want it very clear that the universe in the story is Not Real Life."
LOL exactly!! I'm not a fan of horror at all, but this seeems like it would be a good compromise! *adds to Books to Read list*
no subject
on 2011-03-16 06:45 pm (UTC)I'd love to see it in PJ's hands!