If I had an established readership, I suppose I’d have to take a little time out to apologise for not updating in so long. How fortunate for me that this is only the third post! It’s like I always say; if you’re going to screw up, better to do it early and leave plenty of time to fix it. That said, this slow ass schedule may well continue for a while longer. So! Mainly to stave off guilt, here’s a little something on the second book in Patrick Rothfuss’s Kingkiller Chronicle, The Wise Man’s Fear (spoilers ensue).
Weighing in at 1000 pages, it really is remarkable that Rothfuss manages to create such an engaging narrative. The pace is not at all rapid, but the care he puts into crafting his world pays off. The mythology in particular is very engaging. However, we are now at the end of two books and I feel no closer to understanding the overarching malaise afflicting the world than I was when I started. We’re told at the outset that a lot of terrible shit goes down, but nothing bad has happened thus far. I’m not a fan of waiting for the boot to drop as it puts me on edge and dulls the enjoyment I find in the successes achieved.
It doesn’t help that Kvothe is the only real character, and I find his personality to be incredibly obnoxious at times. He comes across as such a Mary-Sue, then at times he makes the most jarringly stupid decisions you’re left disoriented. It’s supposed to show his fiery temper and the fact that it comes and goes is a deliberate character trait, but it just feels as if a ridiculously intelligent 17 year old should know better. His occasional blind arrogance, inability to learn from certain lessons and the fact that he does things that quite simply have no other possible outcome save for backfiring terribly are all just too much.
The fact that he cannot see the shape of his own exploits while at the same time claiming that the Edema Ruh know all stories is something I find particularly ironic. Honestly, you’re trained for 2 months in a martial art and you’re surprised by the fact that they consider a 10 year old girl your equal? To his credit he got over this pretty quickly, as he usually does, but oftentimes the damage is already done.
It’s particularly annoying because I really quite like his innkeeper persona and when he’s genuinely vulnerable. The scene where he breaks down into tears when Denna shows him his lute is a fantastic one, with nothing that follows even coming remotely close. The returning of her ring in particular was downplayed to near redundancy despite being a significant plot thread throughout, plus the missed trick with him being back in Tarbean with her but not thinking to have her hear the “true” version of her song.
At any rate, it’s an excellent read and it’s encouraged me to go through the first book again just to see what I’ve missed... annoying as I haven’t a clue what I’ve done with my copy. Might just have to get it on Kindle...
No comments:
Post a Comment