Does Name Of The Wind get better?

[denstorebog]

About one third through. I'm normally not inclined to stop in the middle of a read, I usually just force myself through if it's tedious. And TNOTW is tedious right now. It's not downright bad (well, it's a bit bad) - it's just so... generic. It hits every note of a typical Forgotten Realms fantasy novel - orphan boy with big powers, check. Ancient evil starting to stir, check. Fantasy mainstays like a generic inn, a generic city (with exactly two parts, the 'rich' part and the 'poor' part) and a generic world - in the sense that there's no worldbuilding at all so far, just an inn (in the present time) and said city (in the flashback time) - no sense of whether the writer has actually designed a world for this or not.

The writing's the same - not bad, just.. functional, generic, describes what happens and that's it. Ok, sometimes it's bad. I cringe at the dialogue between Bast and Reshi or whatever their names are. "How are you feeling, Bast?" "I'm feeling tired, Reshi." "Really, Bast?" "Yes, Reshi." Alright, we get your names already.

I picked this up because it was supposed to be awesome. So far it's completely forgettable fantasy 101, the Feist-y stuff that I read when I was 15. Is there a great story waiting in the last two thirds that I might as well stick around for, now that I've done the leg work, or is my initial impression more or less valid for the whole book?

[Spring Bass]

Your initial impression is mostly correct, and I'm afraid it's not going to get a lot better. In fact, the last section of the story-within-a-story is overly drawn out and dull.

I enjoyed most of the book on my first read, but that's because I liked Kvothe. If you don't like Kvothe or the magic system, then the rest of the book really doesn't stand on its own too well.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

I really enjoyed NOTW and TWMF.

[Tears of Lys]

On one hand (on the surface), it IS a stock fantasy story with the cliches you mention. However, if you're interested in digging a little deeper, you'll find lots and lots of puzzles and hints dropped that are leading up to quite a dynamic denouement (or so we hope.)

I love a story that doesn't yield all its secrets at once, that becomes richer with rereading it. I've reread NotW and Wise Man's Fear, the second book in the trilogy, around 4-5 times now and continue to find more depth to it.

[Guest]

It continues like that ad nauseum. Abandon it and read something better to start the new year off right :)

[polishgenius]

The writing's fantastic. But if it's not your bag, you're probably not going to get that much out of this series.

The second book does start to make more clear an interesting undercurrent in terms of putting together clues from various stories told and other interactions had to find out the truth about the history of the world and Kvothe's own past and future, but you're gonna struggle if you're not feeling the prose and dialogue.

[SkynJay]

Ya, it doesn't change. If your enjoying it, you will continue to, and vise versa. Myself, I liked it through out.

[Shryke]

Kvothe also isn't as generic fantasy orphan hero as he appears. One of the things to remember is he's telling the story. Alot of stuff, especially later in the story, has different implications when you look at what's actually happening and not what he says is.

Also, doesn't sound like you've made it very far anyway. The story picks up to some extent once he hits the University.

But no, there's not gonna be a drastic change.

[sologdin]

i haven't read it, and therefore have neither opinion to offer on the novel nor credentials on which to base one--but nonetheless advise that you should keep reading it even though you hate it, despite everyone else saying that it's consistent in form and content, and furthermore to buy the second installment just in case it awesomes up, and thereafter to engage in heated debate about the novel, author, irate fanbase, and detractors of all aforesaid, on fantasy message boards such as this one, perhaps even repeating your inquiry about this book once you begin the second one.

[AverageGuy]

I liked it, but not because there's a sudden leap in quality or a later change in style. If you're not enjoying it, you can probably put it down.

[jurble]

Read both books, rothfuss' style and pacing bores me but i like the whole mytharc. i've read a bunch of rothfuss interviews and he seems to think he's doing some sort of deconstruction/subversion of the fantasy genre, but i get the feeling the dude never read much modern fantasy and thinks the genre is stuck in the Dragonlance era, though on his blog i see that he read the first law this year, so maybe he's finally catching up

[kcf]

I really enjoy Rothfuss's books, but I understand why some don't. And a lot of people don't like Rothfuss's writing at all (while a lot love it).

As for the cliche - Rothfuss is doing a lot of commentary of what a fantasy hero is and what the expectations of said hero are in a fantasy book. He embrasses the cliche and then tears them apart. Of course, that processes can be very annoying at times.

The big thing I think Rothfuss has going for him is his engaging story-telling. I love it. However, if you are not finding his storytelling engaging, than you'll probably have a tough time going forward. At halfway through I still recommend going a bit further, but you won't find any huge shift as things go forward or into to the second book.

[Spring Bass]

His readable prose is definitely one of the virtues of both NOTW and TWMF. I found both books to be a breeze to read, even when what was actually happening was eye-rollingly annoying (a frequent event in TWMF).

[Sci-2]

As for the cliche - Rothfuss is doing a lot of commentary of what a fantasy hero is and what the expectations of said hero are in a fantasy book. He embrasses the cliche and then tears them apart. Of course, that processes can be very annoying at times.

Where is this happening? (Not trying to be a dick, I just don't see it at all.)

[Tears of Lys]

Well, perhaps an over-simplification, but here goes: Kvothe himself spells it out pretty clearly. He's trying to be a hero. He actively builds his reputation. We see how word spreads of his deeds and how they are sometimes warped into something he didn't even plan. At the same time, we are treated to tales of old heroes and we are led to question how much of what we're told is true and how much of that has been warped by time and re-telling.

We know that many people consider Kvothe a hero and many also consider him a villain. We won't really know till the end of the book - and Kvothe doesn't even know yet himself. I think just that raises the story up out of the stock farmboy realm, and there's much more I could go into if I had the time. I'll let others add to this. :)

[Happy Ent]

denst, I famously fought myself through the first volume, but never “got” it. Not even close. I made earnest inquiries in one of the first Kvothe threads about what was good about these books, but did not receive an answer that enlightened me.

Just walk away.

[Bellis]

The only saving grace, imho, of TNOTW was it's above average prose. And the hope that Kvothe would turn out to be the most unreliable of unreliable narrators. TWMF did nothing to support this hope. Either Rothfuss is more subtle than say Gene Wolfe with the unreliable anti-hero, or it's really just mostly how it appears.

I will echo those who say that if the prose isn't doing it for you, just walk away. There are other good books out there.

[Tears of Lys]

That's not what I was hoping for when I said I'd let others add to this. :(

To each his own.

[me399]

About one third through. I'm normally not inclined to stop in the middle of a read, I usually just force myself through if it's tedious. And TNOTW is tedious right now. It's not downright bad (well, it's a bit bad) - it's just so... generic. It hits every note of a typical Forgotten Realms fantasy novel - orphan boy with big powers, check. Ancient evil starting to stir, check. Fantasy mainstays like a generic inn, a generic city (with exactly two parts, the 'rich' part and the 'poor' part) and a generic world - in the sense that there's no worldbuilding at all so far, just an inn (in the present time) and said city (in the flashback time) - no sense of whether the writer has actually designed a world for this or not.

The writing's the same - not bad, just.. functional, generic, describes what happens and that's it. Ok, sometimes it's bad. I cringe at the dialogue between Bast and Reshi or whatever their names are. "How are you feeling, Bast?" "I'm feeling tired, Reshi." "Really, Bast?" "Yes, Reshi." Alright, we get your names already.

I picked this up because it was supposed to be awesome. So far it's completely forgettable fantasy 101, the Feist-y stuff that I read when I was 15. Is there a great story waiting in the last two thirds that I might as well stick around for, now that I've done the leg work, or is my initial impression more or less valid for the whole book?

I am gonna get trashed for this but TNotW was a much better gook than AFfC and ADWD!!!! If your saying TNotW was forgettable you must have completely forgotten AFfC the second you put it down.

[Shryke]

Well, perhaps an over-simplification, but here goes: Kvothe himself spells it out pretty clearly. He's trying to be a hero. He actively builds his reputation. We see how word spreads of his deeds and how they are sometimes warped into something he didn't even plan. At the same time, we are treated to tales of old heroes and we are led to question how much of what we're told is true and how much of that has been warped by time and re-telling.

We know that many people consider Kvothe a hero and many also consider him a villain. We won't really know till the end of the book - and Kvothe doesn't even know yet himself. I think just that raises the story up out of the stock farmboy realm, and there's much more I could go into if I had the time. I'll let others add to this. :)

It's also, as I said before, all coloured by him telling his own story. He always talk about himself in a certain flattering light, but if you really think about some of the events that happen, you get a whole different perspective on it.

By having him tell his own story, Rothfuss is trying to white-wash him and seeing if you can spot it happening.

Again though, if you don't like it yet, walk away. It's not gonna change drastically.