So I finished A Wise
Man's Fear. I was so unsatisfied with The
Name of the Wind that I my expectations for its sequel were pretty low. My
main complaint for The Name of the Wind was
that it didn't really have much of a plot. Oh, stuff happened, but it didn't
feel like a story. It felt like a bunch of stuff happening. A bunch of stuff
happening does not a plot or story make (did I just write in iambic pentameter?
Also, Yoda!). But Kvothe was so
completely un-look-overable that I finished it. And then bitched about it. So
while I was completely dedicated to reading A
Wise Man's Fear, I hoped that Patrick Rothfuss would pull out some sick
shit for this one.
And I wasn't disappointed. There is some sick shit in A Wise Man's Fear. The things that
happen to Kvothe got more fantastical and more plot-like. But I still had some issues. Here's another imaginary conversation that I had with Patrick Rothfuss about A Wise Man's Fear.
WARNING: HERE BE SPOILERS!
Me: So, I liked A Wise
Man's Fear a lot better. Way to go!
Patrick Rothfuss: Thanks! I like it too.
Me: But I still have some issues. I still felt some
dissatisfaction.
Patrick Rothfuss: *sigh* Of course you do. What was wrong
this time?
Me: Kvothe is still really interesting as a character. You
write beautifully about his music and I love that. He still does some dumb shit
(he is not a wise man by any definition of the word), but he's interesting. Its
basically my same complaint as last time: Stuff just happens to him! Stuff
happens in the book and its interesting and cool and amazing, but it still just
doesn't hang together as a cohesive story!
Patrick Rothfuss: Its not any better? I thought I did a little better this time...although I
thought I did pretty well the first time.
Me: Its definitely better. There are better hints at a story
to come in this one. Like the Cthaeh. A tree demon that's perfectly clairvoyant
and perfectly evil is pretty
compelling. But the thing with the Adem
was just a little too much, especially if it was just to get Kvothe into the Spinning Leaf state of mind. What was
the point? Also, now Kvothe has slept with Felurian AND LIVED. He's trained with the Adem, who NEVER TAKE OUTSIDERS. And he's survived an encounter with the Cthaeh,
WHO IS PERFECTLY EVIL. Its so evil, in fact, that the Fae KILL anyone who meets
it. Seriously? I mean, it stretches the imagination. He escapes almost all the
consequences of his actions. I thought you meant this to be like real life??
Patrick Rothfuss: You know, there's a reason Kvothe is
almost mythic in the minds of most people in this universe. And there's a
reason Chronicler is writing down his story. Its extraordinary.
Me: Right. I get that. But there's no point to his
extraordinaryness. I mean from you. Why are you telling this story? Why is
Kvothe? Again, I appreciate the meta-commentary on the story within a story,
but I still don't understand the greater lesson of this tale.
Patrick Rothfuss: You're not supposed to yet. Its not done.
Me: COPOUT! The thing that bothers me about all of this is
that Kvothe still hasn't gained Wisdom (yes, I meant to capitalize that). He is
still basically the same character he was in The Name of the Wind. Yes, he's learned the value of Spinning Leaf and Elodin's lessons. Yes, he's learned that he was in the presence of one of the Chandrian. Maybe
he's even learned more about politics from Maer Alveron. But he doesn't respect
any of that yet. Its too easy. IS THAT POINT, OH MY GOD. Even if it is, you still haven't had him learn anything about life or love or anything. He's still an idiot about Denna. He's still an ass about learning stuff. And he still hasn't done anything with his big quest, which seems to be to find the Chandrian....BUT NOTHING HAS HAPPENED WITH THAT.
Patrick Rothfuss: You know, there's still one more book.
Me: Dude, I've said this before. If you're going to publish
a trilogy, make sure each one has its own story and point. Because otherwise,
its not a trilogy. We have been over this before. But I digress. The last book
of this series (I refuse to call it a trilogy) had better be a mind-blowing
moment of plot-gathering. Because if there are major loose threads, I will be
pissed.
Patrick Rothfuss: You aren't now?
Me: I'm not pissed enough to not read the last book. You
have one more shot, dude. Don't fuck it up. Don't feel too bad, though. At
least you're not George R.R. Martin. He has a WAY bigger job than you do.
I just finished this. I disagree--I think it was worse than Name of the Wind. I think that it was even less plot-like and even more padded with pointless filler nonsense. And more than that, I thought that it was ridiculously episodic. And more than THAT, I didn't think any of the episodes were particularly interesting. It was a series of small, uninteresting stories, strung together by a surprising amount of vague teenage-male wish fulfillment.
ReplyDeleteThe whole series thus far has been an excuse to forge a character that, at the end, is going to be the most badass person ever, but the execution of that idea has been ham-fisted. The whole thing is laughably unbelievable. First, Kvothe is a musician, actor, and performer. Then, the learns magic. Then he's homeless and alone, so he learns all of those lessons. Then he goes to the University, where he learns more magic. That's through the first book. Already, I was thinking that everything that was happening to him was damned convenient in terms of making him end up being this badass. Then the second book happened.
He's at the university, learning more magic. Then he gets an opportunity to go and get paid to play music. Fine. So then we get a drawn out, boring episode where he's sitting around this guy's house, occasionally meeting up with Denna, but never sealing the deal with her. Then he saves the guy. Fine. Then he has to go into the woods to stop some mercenaries. FUCKING WHY? WHY DID THAT HAPPEN? Oh, so that Kvothe could learn how to be a leader, and see Cinder again, and build his legend. None of that makes up for the fact that I had to read 150 pages of that shit.
But then the inexcusable happens. Then I have to read however many pages of Kvothe living out thirteen-year-old Patrick Rothfuss's masturbatory fantasies. The stuff with the Cthaeh was interesting, but there was a way to accomplish that without making me read pages and pages of infuriating innuendos about Kvothe fucking a fairy. That was bullshit.
Then Kvothe goes and learns to be a ninja. Where--surprise!!--everyone's into casual sex and all the women want to fuck him! And the women--who we've been lead to believe are smart and independent, and badass themselves--DON'T FUCKING BELIEVE THAT SEX LEADS TO BABIES!
Come on, Rothfuss.
So now we've created a character that knows magic, swordplay, and fucking. Great. And we've read about how he learned all of those things. But the story was, at most, half believable and was only interesting at some points. The rest of it felt as if Rothfuss had a list of attributes he wanted Kvothe to end up with, and had to come up with contrived ways to make sure he got those attributes, inventing plot devices haphazardly and without any regard to whether it was compelling or interesting or necessary.
And on top of all of that--after I spent hours reading about how adept Kvothe was at pleasing a woman--he still can't do anything to resolve the situation with Denna. Not that she's blameless--she's nothing more than a projection of what immature men picture when they think of ultimate, unattainable women, and she's exactly that deep and interesting. She's the equivalent of concluding that someone's deep simply because they don't talk often, when the reality is that they have literally nothing of substance to say.
This book was infuriating. It's a decent writer squandering a good universe and a good character.
I'll read the third one in the hopes that Rothfuss ties this shit together, but I have no idea how he can. He's constantly hinted at many things that still need to be done in terms of the framing story set in the present, but I don't see how he can have Kvothe do all of the things he needs to do in order to have him catch up with the present and then also resolve the plot threads in the present.
TO me, the most likely outcome is infuriating disappointment.
I think you're right about infuriating disappointment. And you have a point about Kvothe going through all of this to become a badass. But the really horrible part of all of that? He doesn't learn a goddamn thing about being a person worthy of badassery. He's still STILL just a punk kid who thinks that he's better and quicker and more awesome at everything than anyone else. I wouldn't want to hang out with him, skills in bed be damned.
ReplyDeleteYou're right. And what's worse is that he ends up in literally the exact same place he started, without having gotten any wiser, significantly advanced his knowledge of any of the motivating factors of the story, or developed as a character in any way. The only difference is that he's not poor. But certainly there would have been a much better way to achieve this--having him learn to fight, having him learn to fuck, having him not be poor--without wasting my time with that fucking adventure in the forest or the ensuing fuckfest.
ReplyDeleteAnd now that I think about it, not only is Kvothe completely unchanged by the experience as a character, but can you name a single other character that changes or develops in any way? Like, at all? Sim and Wil are his best friends, but what would you say their personality is? In what way have they changed since Kvothe first met them? Do you have any idea what they're really like? No. They're the flattest characters imaginable. And, other than Kvothe, they're some of the most prominent characters!