That's kind of the point of heroic fantasy books. They're always about the exceptional adventures of an exceptional individual. The Kingkiller Chronicles actually deconstructs this; we know from the very beginning that the whole thing comes crashing down at some point, probably because of something stupid that Kvothe did. His luck (and make no mistake, Kvothe is very, very lucky) will eventually run out, and he winds up a fugitive who has lost everything he has ever loved, cared about, and worked for in the space of about a decade. He's only 24 or so in the framing story.CrimsonBlack said:
The first chapter isn't anything like that, it's actually very poetic and does a good job sucking you in. It's in the latter end of the 2nd book that Kvothe transforms from awkward virgin teenager to sex machine. Not that this is ever the focus or it ever gets smutty.DementedSheep said:
It's told from a first person perspective so you shouldn't go in expecting all the politcal drama and scheming that ASOIAF has. It's a very different series. Out of all the authors I've read, Rothfuss probably has my favourite writing style. It's hard to describe, but for me, he could be writing about the most mundane things and it'll still be incredibly interesting.Kontarek said:
While I don't entirely agree with the "Main character is a tool" bit, I can understand that.Hawki said:
Just like the other guy said, there's none of that in the first book. Later in the second book it gets a little bit (or a lot of bit) mary-sue-ish, and he sleeps around a lot, but you get the impression that this is just him jumping too hard into a world that he just discovered, and it bites him in the ass, hard (Not literally).DementedSheep said:
If you loved ASOIAF and are looking for something comparable the best bet is probably Joe Abercrombie, starting with his first book The Blade Itself of the First Law trilogy.Kontarek said:
Well the company holding the rights to an adaption of the series has done absolutly nothing with it. Earlier this year the right would have expired, but the company pushed out a horrible, horrible "first episode" of a tv series out a day before the rights would have expired and got to keep the rights. The "first episode" aired basically at midnight on an unknown channel, because they knew it was sh*t and just wanted noone to actually watch it. But it's on the internet now and WoT fans are not pleased.rodneyy said:
I agree with how annoying the accounting is. The amount of time Rothfuss dedicates to adding up the pennies is irritating.Azahul said:
And Sanderson's big epic series The Stormlight Archives (book 1: The Way of Kings, book 2: Words of Radiance, book 3 due next year and 10 planned in total) is even better! Except for the sake of this discussion it's way to big to fit in a movie and would be way to expensive to produce for TV.Verrik said:
I've bought the second book, just haven't got round to reading it yet. The last fantasy novel I read was First King of Shannara, which has not only put me off Terry Brooks, but the fantasy genre as a whole right now. Taken a detour with The Martian, but whether I plough into another fantasy novel so soon is another matter. That, and I'm actually reading the novelization of Pacific Rim.Verrik said:
Huh, you're right. The beard is still awesome. I had a vague memory of having heard him with this deep, booming voice, but that clearly isn't him.CrimsonBlack said:I agree with how annoying the accounting is. The amount of time Rothfuss dedicates to adding up the pennies is irritating.
Also, his beard may be awesome, but his voice is not. This is coming from a British person - he has the most bland American accent. When you said you love his voice, I went and looked up an interview on youtube... not impressed. Bring me a writer who sounds like Jeremy Irons, and I'll be impressed.
