I always quote people when my own discussion follows a similar vein.

Edit: Or at least I try to.

 

His editor has said she doesn't think that Rothfuss has written anything for Doors of Stone since 2014, and that he's never submitted a word of it to her.

Apparently she made this public in response to claims in an article that she was the cause of the delay.

Guess I'll just put this in the same mental place as all those abandoned fics that I once enjoyed...

 

Nothing like a good old fashioned blame game.

 

Pretty much.

I'm going to just assume it'll never be published, and then one day if it is, it'll be a delightful surprise.

Although I'd give higher odds to seeing a headline saying "Fantasy author sued by publisher for recovery of advance payment" rather than anything about the book being published.

 

Damn, I thought this was going to be an awesome surprise notification that the book was finally going to be released. Instead, it's the news that even the editor has lost faith. What a bummer. This was my favorite book series too.

 

I'm currently rereading Name of the Wind. I wish he would finish the series. I'm not sure why its taking so long its not like he is old as GRRM to slow him down and finishing it would only bring him more fame.

 

Just an fyi, we generally prefer more detail in a post if you are necroing a thread years old.

That being said, I don't expect him to finish. It's not about money or fame, it's about his mental health, and I think because everyone laughed at him for the felurian stuff, and some of the Adem stuff in book 2.

I read, and enjoyed, book 1 aaaaaages ago. I reread it for book 2, and then decided I was going to reread the series for book 3. That never happened, and I've never reread it. And I don't plan too.

 

There are still elements of the story I really like. Sympathy is clever and Kvothe's progression in it is a great hero's arc. The currency system has a very distinctive feel of realism to it. The struggles with money are a nice rags to riches addition. The way mysteries are planted throughout the world, and hinted at, is tantalising.

But yeah, all the gender politics stuff is a mess, the romance with Denna is unconvincing at best, and Kvothe's character voice feels increasingly immature the older I become as a reader.

 

Yeah, pretty much. It's rare to find a book that's quality lasts as you age and mature. That's why I don't reread it. I think my memories of it will be far better if I leave it as is. I don't remember much about the gender politics, and I liked Denna, but I'm not sure that will remain true if I reread.

 

Is making a system of currency really that much of an achievement? The smaller denominations of coins add up to the bigger denominations of coins. What fantasy story doesn't have that?

The only notable thing about the coins that I remember was that the iron ones are too impure to be used against demons.

Anyway the first book completely failed to grab me and I've had zero interest in reading the second. The book was ridiculously padded and meandering and at the end I felt nothing of consequence had happened.

When Kvothe was in Tarbean I was thinking "How much longer is he going to be a street urchin?" When he was in the university "Is a plot going to happen anytime soon?" After the thing with the heroin dragon "How much of this book is left? Was that supposed to be the climax?"

Also, I hated everything involving Denna. Admittedly, I have a low tolerance for romance.

 

Well the draw here is Kvothe and the prose. The prose is so good you don't really care for the plot. The world building and magic system is well explained. And the way Rothfuss uses the narrative to feed background history is brilliant.

 

Personally, I've never understood how prose can be a point in a story's favour. For me prose is either intolerable or fine and so a non-factor, with no in-between. Maybe years of fanfic reading have helped me build up a tolerance and my will can now only be broken by translated web-novels.

I've seen Brandon Sanderson frequently get criticised for having "workmanlike" or "uninspiring" prose, while Rothfuss' is apparently pure poetry and I still don't understand what they're talking about. Is it just the density of similes in the narration?

If the prose is so good that the plot ceases to matter, you might as well read the pages in random order.

Maybe the second book does the heavy lifting, because I thought that the world building and magic system were nothing to write home about and I don't know what you mean by "using the narrative to feed background history." Isn't that just normal world building?

I also thought that Kvothe was a wanker.

 

Kingkiller is very rewarding on rereads. You keep picking up details you haven't before. He uses songs, stories for you to guess the secret reveals ahead of time which you don't pick up first time around. Yo're basically vibing to Kvothe's story in the waystone inn. If you don't like him its not going to click.

Sanderson prose isn't all the good. Its just workman like and works. But Rothfuss prose makes you engrossed even if the plot isn't much. Like the Great Gatsby it doesn't have the greatest plot or anything new but Fitzgerald's prose is so good it works.

You can't judge a series just reading the first book. If you just read the Philosopher's Stone you would find Harry Potter underwhelming. Rothfuss is writing a million words series here.

 

I simply can't relate. I was engrossed in Mistborn because I was engaged with the story. I was bored by Name of the Wind because there wasn't really a story to be engaged with.

 

Thats fine plenty of people read for different things. If plotting is what you want then Sanderson has his huge number of interconnected Cosmere books for you to enjoy.

 

With the exception of the Felurian section of Book 2, which is bloated and terrible and a fucking waste of space. I skip it when I reread that book and I lose nothing.

 

The whole sex Elf Segment gets more retarded every time I reread/relisten to the story.

I dont have much of a problem with kvoths immature social relationships. While I think I aged out of the goal demographic, it's still possible to just chalk those up to the MC being a teenager with the typical lack of self awareness, self centredness and immaturity.
The focus on every females anatomy and beauty gets on my nerves non the less.
The sex elf Segment and the silent super ninja part break that kind immersion for me. The whole world turns immature. I still enjoy the whimsical Ari and Elodim scenes.