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The Kingkiller Chronicles Finds Its Writer


AncalagonTheBlack

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6 hours ago, Triskan said:

Rothfuss's delay is actually the most mystifying of all.  Martin's I get even if I don't like it.  Bakker's can be explained.  WTF is PR's deal, and do these Transformers people know it?

From the threads here, it's clear his books are very dense in terms of plot - I can see that taking some time and even having it planned, the author can discover it doesn't work so well in the writing.

I keep expecting an announcement that the trilogy is being extended as it still doesn't seem it can be done in one more book.

Lastly, it's not like Rothfuss hasn't done anything he wrote a novella (and narrated the audio version) and last I heard there was a full length book coming out set in the same world. And selling merchandise. Pretty similar to GRRM really in that the books may run away from him and lots of distractions.

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6 hours ago, Triskan said:

Rothfuss's delay is actually the most mystifying of all.  Martin's I get even if I don't like it.  Bakker's can be explained.  WTF is PR's deal, and do these Transformers people know it?

Rothfuss' problem is a more extreme version of Martin. Wise Man's Fear was a massive waste of space (both literally and figuratively), which leaves Rothfuss with just one book left to resolve everything. Which he has probably now realised he can't do.

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Rothfuss claimed that all three books were done a decade ago, and he and his publishers ran around screaming it from the rooftops as a selling and marketing point. They used to specifically target people who'd said they'd never read another unfinished fantasy series again because of GRRM. The fact that they straight-up lied has always left a very bitter taste in the mouth. At least George has been upfront about the problems.

I wouldn't necessarily write off the writer just yet. Quite a few writers started off doing paid-for tripe in order to pay bills before they could do their own stuff (Neil Gaiman's first book was a Duran Duran biography). Until we actually see anything she's written, I have no opinion on what she has or has not done, save that Del Toro clearly seems to rate her.

As for structure, the films should be the books trimmed of all the fat, clearly. The TV show should be a spin-off set in the same world, maybe following the adventures of present day Kvothe or Kvothe between childhood and owning the inn. The video game should be in the vein of the Dark Souls series, except that instead of monsters you have to fight the crushing threat of student finances.

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the game is potentially the most promising aspect of the announcement. Especially if they do so unencumbered by the books and just set it in that world. You can have school bully end of level villains or guitar hero (with broken button) sections. Every now and then a Chandrian turns up. And sex with women who simply can't resist you.

The claim the trilogy was done has always bugged me too. I can only think they decided to massively change aspects of the second book or were misconstruing plotted out with written.

There are plenty of screenwriters who've been involved in awful films that have also made great ones. Some are also better suited to TV as they have more power than in film. A film script can often be barely recognisable to the finished product.

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2 hours ago, Roose Boltons Pet Leech said:

Rothfuss' problem is a more extreme version of Martin. Wise Man's Fear was a massive waste of space (both literally and figuratively), which leaves Rothfuss with just one book left to resolve everything. Which he has probably now realised he can't do.

RBPL,

It was not.  I enjoyed TWMF (the sexy romp in Faerie excluded (excluding the C'theah portion of the sexy romp which I throughly enjoyed)) it deepened Kvothe's character and provided clues to his background and further warned us not to trust Kvothe's story as the "absolute truth".  It is a good book that I have re-read several times finding more each time I've read it.

For the record I hadn't heard the "finished series" claim when I started TNOTW back in 2009 so it isn't why I picked up the series.  I'd simply heard good things and really enjoyed the books.  Rothfuss is quite the crafter of prose.  But I enjoy a poetic style.

 

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But it was a thousand pages of stuff we'd already seen - student finance issues, et cetera, plus Kvothe becoming awesome at sex and fighting. I loved the Cthaeh too (though I couldn't help but think of it as the Evil Tree from the Mighty Boosh), but one little gem doesn't justify the length of the book. Doors of Stone will need to move at light speed if Rothfuss is going to tie up the lose ends.

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RBPL,

I see where you are coming from but I still loved the book.  Well written story we've seen before is still well written and serves to flesh out the character we're reading about.  It also served to provide shown, not told, depth to Kvothe's past and purpose.

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3 hours ago, Roose Boltons Pet Leech said:

Rothfuss' problem is a more extreme version of Martin. Wise Man's Fear was a massive waste of space (both literally and figuratively), which leaves Rothfuss with just one book left to resolve everything. Which he has probably now realised he can't do.

I got Dance with Dragons and Wise Man's Fear at around the same time. I always thought that the margins, spacing and font size in Dance with Dragons were bullshit and Wise Man's Fear was much more sensible in that regard. Can't remember if they were US or UK editions but both were hardcovers.

I don't think loose ends are a problem. Its fairly clear that the Chandrian are still around so that won't be resolved. If it comes to it, he could always pull the same trick as when Kvothe learnt Tema for his court case anyway. 

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So, what is the latest about the third book anyway? I used to follow Rothfuss on Facebook, Twitter and the like hoping for updates, but got so massively pissed off at him for seemingly doing everything except write the book; that I stopped keeping up with him a year or two ago.

Has there been any hints about progress, potential release dates, etc., in the past couple years?

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He's never actually said, but my impression with Rothfuss is that as well as perhaps struggling to wrap it up in a good pagecount, his life's been taken over by his Worldbuilders charity as well as his two kids. But he has also written blog posts about how he hasn't seen Oot awake for days because he's in his room the entire time writing, so he does write.

In fairness the complete lack of updates is probably a wise decision on his part coz although obviously people kick off every now and then, he doesn't seem to get nearly as much hassle as GRRM.

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I also think this is an extremely difficult film/tv adaptation, and not sure how they pull it off. A lot of the stuff like the music is not going to translate to the screen at all.

 

 

Oh well, it also seems like this may be the only way we get the story resolved.  I don't think he can wrap the series up in one more book, and when he actually does publish the third book the millions he gets from that are going to make the conclusion an even less likely event.

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47 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

He's never actually said, but my impression with Rothfuss is that as well as perhaps struggling to wrap it up in a good pagecount, his life's been taken over by his Worldbuilders charity as well as his two kids. But he has also written blog posts about how he hasn't seen Oot awake for days because he's in his room the entire time writing, so he does write.

In fairness the complete lack of updates is probably a wise decision on his part coz although obviously people kick off every now and then, he doesn't seem to get nearly as much hassle as GRRM.

Don't forget it also took him nine years to graduate with a undergraduate degree. That speaks volumes for his focus. He seems to move from one project to another without finishing any.

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7 hours ago, MisterOJ said:

So, what is the latest about the third book anyway? I used to follow Rothfuss on Facebook, Twitter and the like hoping for updates, but got so massively pissed off at him for seemingly doing everything except write the book; that I stopped keeping up with him a year or two ago.

Has there been any hints about progress, potential release dates, etc., in the past couple years?

There's been no updates basically. No one knows when this could be due.

What we do know is that the publisher just updated their listings on Amazon for the whole of 2016 and Doors of Stone is not on it.

At this point an update from Rothfuss would be nice.

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21 hours ago, sperry said:

I also think this is an extremely difficult film/tv adaptation, and not sure how they pull it off. A lot of the stuff like the music is not going to translate to the screen at all.

 

 

 

I think people who know music already had an issue with Kvothe being able to play sweet, sweet music with one string. The TV show would probably have to have him voice-over the parts where he plays the most amazing music ever (with the crowd looking on mesmerized). Funnier yet it actually does sound awful and we get a confirmation of the unreliable narrator.

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