Part the First
Part the Second
Part the Third
I ended up flipping through the rest of the book to see how my predictions ended up. Quite a lot of them were spot on, and verified by internet-friend and Dragon Award Winning Author™ Brian Niemeier. You can readit in the comments on Part 3. Brian has also written about my posts on his own blog here. So a big thank you to him for the signal boost. I reviewed his first novel, Nethereal, here. I've read the next two books in the series, but haven't reviewed them because I'm still weighing the ethical considerations of reviewing the works of people I consider friends. (I think Souldancer is the best of the three I've read, structurally speaking, but they're all quite good.)
Part the Second
Part the Third
I ended up flipping through the rest of the book to see how my predictions ended up. Quite a lot of them were spot on, and verified by internet-friend and Dragon Award Winning Author™ Brian Niemeier. You can readit in the comments on Part 3. Brian has also written about my posts on his own blog here. So a big thank you to him for the signal boost. I reviewed his first novel, Nethereal, here. I've read the next two books in the series, but haven't reviewed them because I'm still weighing the ethical considerations of reviewing the works of people I consider friends. (I think Souldancer is the best of the three I've read, structurally speaking, but they're all quite good.)
Part 4 was going to be me going through
my predictions, but Brian took care of that pretty thoroughly. There
are two points I'd like to explore, though.
Kvothe's family is killed (off-screen,
of course, because the book tells instead of shows) and he has a
brief run-in with the killers, the fearsome Chandrian. They're
cartoon villains. No, scratch that, anime
villains. One of these edgelords is even named Cinder for Pete's
sake. Despite being a squad of cartoonish goofs, they were a breath
of fresh air. Naturally, they disappear from the rest of the book.
Comparing the Chandrian to the Ginyu Force is an insult to the Ginyu Force
The
narrative ends with a disturbance in the tavern where the regulars
come in for the night and one of the bandits that robbed Chronicler
in Chapter 2 comes in a little later. Except the bandit is not right
in the head. He's looking for something or someone, and talking in a
language nobody understands. A fight breaks out and he kills one of
the farmers before the blacksmith's apprentice beats him to death
with an iron bar. It only took 700 pages to find an actual hero who
steps up. Though in fairness to Kvothe, he did try and subtly work
some sympathy to light the guy on fire. He just couldn't. Its okay.
It happens to a lot of guys.
Honestly,
though, its an actual, honest-to-Tehlu, good chapter.
Things happen. There is tension. There is danger. There are stakes.
There is mystery. There is conflict. There is resolution. Aaron, the
apprentice, is an actual heroic character stepping up to help people
in need because the designated protagonist can't do a damn thing.
This is a the first chapter of a much better, and more engaging book.
I actually read the entire chapter because it was the first time in
the entire book I wasn't sure how it was going to end.
Of
course after its over we go back to the same old same old and the
book limps to the finish line before collapsing with a sigh and the
commitment to the “Three Silences” that the prologue chapter
introduces.
To
wrap up this entire week with a pretty bow on it, I think that The
Name of the Wind is indicative
of just how sickly the Fantasy and Science Fiction genre is at the
mainstream level. Anyone can write a bad book. I've got three that
I've trunked for that specific reason.
A bad
book garnering a tremendous amount of critical praise and mainstream
exposure because the publisher has spent enough money on it? Because
the author aligns with the opinions of the Ivory Tower's zeitgeist?
That's the real problem.
That
this awful book is held up as innovative or classic or even “epic”
(it is the exact opposite of that) speaks to the essential need for
SF/F to have a canon of Classic works. Something to hold up and say
“These are the finest works in the genre that have stood the test
of time and are the perfect entry point for new readers.” J. R. R.
Tolkien, as excellent as he is, is often held up as the sole 800-lb
Gorilla in the Fantasy Aisle in a post 80s market. And even now, with
the video games and movies and supposed Amazon series, his prose and
themes are being steadily diluted.
Consider
this: You don't get into Metal without understanding the importance
of Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. You don't get into
Jazz without being aware of Coltrane, Ellington, Monk, and Armstrong.
You don't get into Film without watching De Mille, Welles or
Scorsese. You don't have to like the titans of a given genre, but to
genuinely understand it, you need to understand the footprint they
left on it.
So why
would someone walking into Fantasy not be expected to at least be
aware of the importance of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard?
Well, the obvious answer is so that you can push a product that reinforces
your worldview regardless of its quality and trumpet it as a classic
so that people unfamiliar with actual classics won't know to call it
the bullshit that it is. The response of the new reader is then to
either A) Abandon the field because its a sea of boring garbage in
favor of more entertaining pursuits or B) mentally convince
themselves that this is actually good and that they just didn't try
hard enough to enjoy it.
5 comments:
I'm currently reading Dunsany and asking myself the same question. Why is there no canon anywhere? There's no reason he shouldn't be a staple in every fantasy section except that some egghead decided to write him out.
No one could read one of his stories then turn around and read this goo and think they are equal.
Exactly. That's why I spent a week on this book instead of leaving it as a two word post. Its symptomatic of a deeper problem.
Excellent finale! Sorry to have stolen your thunder a bit. Couldn't help myself. Name of the Wind elicits the same visceral revulsion in me as the dinner scene in Temple of Doom. Thanks for warning people to stay away from the soup.
Yes, the euphoric critical reception that greeted this book is symptomatic of a serious problem. Rothfuss wouldn't be such a frustrating figure if a) the gatekeepers didn't try to canonize a rather run-of-the mill debut novel filled with typically uneven and derivative storytelling and b) if Rothfuss' writing didn't show periodic flashes of brilliance. He's a more tragic case than Scalzi because Rothfuss does have talent, but the editors and critics who should be helping him hone his craft are instead reinforcing his worst artistic vices.
It's doubly tragic that indie really won't help him. He's simply not prolific enough to make it on his own now or in the old pulp era. There was a narrow window around the 1970s when an accomplished editor could've taken a talented amateur like Rothfuss under his wing and coaxed some truly good work out of him. Sadly, he came a generation too late.
P.S. You're most welcome to the signal boost. It always gladdens my heart to see someone whose favorite Soul Cycle book is Souldancer, but I'm biased in that regard.
Patrick,
Thanks for the review. I'll definitely pass these book and read far better ones.Life's too short to waste time on bad books.
xavier
Excellent. Thank you.
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