I've just been given this book as a present? What do you guys think about it? Is it and its sequel any good?
>>7690295
from what i've heard, it's a mary sue novel.
>>7690301
no i think it's a patrick rothfuss novel
>>7690295
Perfectly Acceptable Beach Reading (TM)
It also reminded me of a PnP Campaign that was run by a buddy of mine years ago. His gf demanded to play with us, and he kept on gifting her greater and greater powers, to the point where she was successful in all things. We eventually confronted him and he claimed it was so that she would have a good first experience in tabletop RPG. Eventually he didnt talk to us anymore.
>>7690460
The sequel is 100x worse tho, and let no one think I believe this stands alone as a literary work outside its genre ala Stanislaw Lem or something.
>>7690295
Yeah, i love the first one and the second one. It have so many feels.
Also the Auri adventures aare confy as fuck. Love the Elodin scenes too.
>>7690295
It's garbage.
>>7690295
It's like most other contemporary fantasy trash. Good for wasting time. but still pretty shit.
First book is a fun read, really enjoyed it. Book two really sucks, didn't even want to finish it...
>>7693058
This. I felt I was reading Book 2 just in case I missed something good
the part withFaelurianjust dragged forever
>>7693058
> reading for fun
>>7690295
rothfuss was a meme author, and had no discernible talent. He was shitposting, and is literally genre tier fiction. clearly a juvenile author.
>>7690295
Read Steven Erikson instead familia.
>>7690295
Rothfuss is a meme author, and has no discernible talent. He is shitposting, and is literally genre tier fiction. clearly a juvenile author.
>>7693397
There's nothing wrong with reading for fun if you're not reading shit for fun.
Read Finnegans Wake. That's lots of fun.
this b8 thread will get 40 replies saying "it le sucks"
I read the first book because people used to praise it in fantasy forums. I found it unimaginative and boring. I was expecting something light and entertaining, but the book fails really hard at world and character building and it's just bad.
>>7693696
But it does suck.
I think it's fantastic. The sequel is even better.
People critique the book saying that the protagonist is a super hero meant for self insertion.
Those people are idiots confusing the narrators thoughts with their own.
The main character narrates himself and he is very biased in his descriptions. He thinks every decision he makes is correct (even in retrospect) and overlooks many failures due to his immaturity. That immaturity is a developed character trait and it's part of the characters personality. Too strong of a personality for self insertion to be possible, I might add.
But the people, environments, exploration, magic system, scale, etc are all fantastic.
It is fairly reminiscent with the Fable video game if you've played it.
nigga P Ro kills it in these books.
Supreme prose, supreme comfynes, supreme bromance, supreme fairy fucking
Doors of Stone is gonna be the biggest boner jam since Robert Jordan died
>>7690295
> I've just been given this book as a present?
idk, have you?
It's good for what it is, a really entertaining fantasy novel. People critique it for not granting valuable insight into the sublime metaphysical aspects of the human condition or whatever, but that's complete wank, read it if you want to.
>>7694846
>The sequel is even better.
Lies. If the first book is an 8/10 or a 7/10, the second book is a 4/10.
>>7690318
Hue
>>7693386
Amen, could easily achieved what he was aiming for in under half the time.
>>7695586
Nah it actually held up quite well maybe 7/10
While the whole story is mary sue, It's a good book and i look forward to finishing it.
>>7695586
I don't see any reason for the disparity. The sequel was more of the same with a couple of improvements and less wandering around.
>>7694846
I don't think you get what the author was trying to get across, Kvothe was a legend, but now hes just a man whos fallen from grace. Its suppose to be really arrogant from his perspective, because the man was basically a god.
>>7693673
> Responding to trolls on /lit/
> responding using one of the /lit/ meme books
>>7695795
>because the man was basically a god
he seems to think so, but that is certainly not the case
I recall him jumping off a cliff because he was asked to, getting wrecked by an ex student because he was all talent and no skill, failing to get the girl, risking his life because he thought he was backed into a corner numerous times, etc
He was certainly not a god. He was a performer from birth tasked with building himself up. He's certainly embellishing his story and he even plays his mistakes off as success or necessity. Though I suspect that more because of a lack or perspective than arrogance; he's certainly narrow minded.
>>7695810
Here's a bit I stole from some blog somewhere about all the claims Kvothe made at the start of the first book.
>My first mentor called me E’lir because I was clever and I knew it.
it means see-er, doesn’t it?
>I have been called Kvothe the Bloodless
Because of taking the nahlrout so he wouldn’t bleed when he was whipped.
>I burned down the town of Trebon.
Yes, well, it was the draccus really. You were trying to stop it.
>I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life.
More than the night, months. Maybe a year.
>I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in.
he was just let back in again straight afterwards.
The actual writing is pretty good for a fantasy novel. He has a pretty good sense of pacing in his sentence and paragraph structure to the point that it feels well written, but incredibly comfy to read. I'd give it a 9/10.
>defending the mary sue crap with 'oh it's just his perspective'
fucking no, that's not how unreliable narrators work
Humbert Humbert works because he slips up and lets implications of reality through his lolita-tinted glasses
Kvothe does not work because we don't see anything besides all the ninja/elf/school/goldigger/etc babes wanting his dick, all the people crying tears of joy at his music, all his enemies being meanie meanie pants jealous of his greatness, all the students showing up to be impressed for his minor corporal punishment, all the wizards being impressed by his audacious wizarding, and all the fictional world revolving around his dick
>But what about these minor difficulties that he triumphs over and everyone ends up sucking his dick even harder for overcoming?
'No you don't understand, my half-japanese half-angel half-demon catgirl OC isn't a mary sue because she has character flaws like 'clumsy' and 'wears glasses!'
It's really remarkable how awful Kvothe is. There are concepts which could have been really fucking cool in these books that get NO GODDAMN screentime because the book is a neverending Kvothe wankfest.
A spirit of pure evil with deterministic knowledge of the universe bound into a tree? Fucking cool shit. What does it do? Fuck if I remember, I think it called Kvothe a cuck and he was like 'no u' then smugly fucked an elf for 20 more pages.
Cultural clashes based on relative degrees of biological knowledge and intimacy? Don't worry, that's all just a setup for Kvothe to fuck a ninja MILF and get an underdog victory over the savages as he does their culture better than they do in a coming of age ceremony. Like the 3rd one where Kvothe gets his dick sucked for proving himself as a 'real man now not a boy fuck off mom!!!'
Not to mention that Rothfuss wrote a short book about an interesting side character who was basically 'le manic pixie dreamgirl' but not actually slobbing Kvothe's knob, which perhaps could have gone somewhere...
... if the plot hadn't been basically her fapping about getting ready to meet and please Kvothe.
tl;dr they are the 'Twilight' for the stereotypical awkward nerd. The king of the trashheap of wish fulfillment genre fiction.
>>7695910
>deterministic knowledge
Non-deterministic surely
>fucking no, that's not how unreliable narrators work
You don't just get to decide unreliable narrators work only one way. A biased and embellished story works really well here considering the personality of the main character. Your problem seems to be that there is no narrator-less or reliable narration in addition so you can be told what's what. The whole point is for you to read between the lines and to prevent you, a mature adult, from foreseeing events that child characters couldn't.
Anyway you're mentioning great parts of the story, what's the problem? Can't deal with his arrogance? This doesn't seem to be a case of too much you didn't like and not enough you did.
As for the twilight nonsense, this series is the very opposite. Bella had almost no story behind her, the events came purely from Edward. She had very little personality too so was actually a possible self insert character. Though that falls short for male readers since Jacob held no plot points, he was just good looking.
>>7690295
writing is pretentious but it's going to be satisfying read anyways if you're into the sort of clever underdog winning stuff + magic schools.
2nd books is okay outside of the sex fairy queen segment dragging on too long. Doesn't help that it's followed by a training arc that also dragged on too long. If not for the book ending with magic school shenanigans again that's a guilty satisfaction, the 2nd book would be complete garbage.
>>7690295
Read pic related if you want a more likable and clever MC. Starts out a bit slower though.
>>7695910
Quality post
>>7695952
laughin hard at this completely inadequate response.
>>7695910
>I hate these books but I've read all of them
fucking lol
>>7695910
Man, I know a girl that told me she liked this book. I never quit got around to researching what’s the deal with it. Now I’m reading this
>Kvothe does not work because we don't see anything besides all the ninja/elf/school/goldigger/etc babes wanting his dick
thinking to myself: I guess I don’t need to be shy of recommending Shadow & Claw to her anymore.
>>7697044
>I immediately stop reading books as soon as I dont like them.
Reading rothfuss as that paperback that sits next to your toilet is perfectly acceptable, but dont pretend that anons criticism arent spot on.
Not to mention, the second book was 5x worse than the first.
>>7697044
Someone has to take one for the team. Kinda like that scientist that got himself shot, burned and bit by a bullet ant just so the world can have a pain scale.
>>7697059
Eh, I just don't get why you would read the much longer (and yeah, much worse) second book if you couldn't stand the first book, let alone why you'd read the spin-off novella after reading the other two and hating both of them.
That anon's mostly right (I haven't read the Auri thing, though), but seriously why would you subject yourself to that?
>>7695910
This is a very harsh but accurate post. There are some really cool ideas in the book but its all tarnished by the author's obsession with Kvothe being the best ever at everything.
I'd recommend The Spook's Apprentice books by Joseph Delaney instead. Night Angel trilogy and the Assassin's Apprentice are pretty ok too
>>7697034
the irony is strong with this one
>>7697059
>I immediately stop reading books as soon as I dont like them
Now that is a perfectly justifiable reason for hating NOTW. The false starts were kinda bullshit.
>>7697091
>but its all tarnished by the author's obsession with Kvothe being the best ever at everything
that belief is actually a major character flaw. You should work on that.
