Oh dear, I nodded my head off through the whole geekery-indulgent section of your review :P A lot of the things, like engineering and chemistry, don't make me feel excited, but I still LOVE reading about, and, intuitively, that level of detail coupled with Rothfuss' writing style just really gets me. (That's why I keep responding to everything WMF as The Dog that Said Squirrel! Sorry in advance!)
I'm not sure if I would have picked up on Meluan being Kvothe's mother's sister (most likely) without having read some speculation on it, but I'm pretty sure that's the case. I think so, too. It was weird, I was sure some backstory mystery conclusion was pushed at me, but I couldn't exactly pinpoint it for the longest time. I do think it's very probable.
Same on your speculations about Willem and Sim and the rest - I did not come to the same conclusions, but there's definitely a very interesting sort of steadfastness about Willem that caught my eye. I'll have to reread some parts :D
I continue to enjoy Kvothe's grudge against poetry. My
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Yay, I was so hopping you were still in the mood to talk about this book now that I was finally finished an in a position to do so informedly! :D
and, intuitively, that level of detail coupled with Rothfuss' writing style just really gets me
Me too! The fact that it's chemistry and engineering and, like, metaphysical thermodynamics is gravy, but I just like the overall geekiness permeating the whole thing. I ought to look up Rothfuss to see what his educational background is; I wonder is he studied science/engineering formally, or on his own, or has a really, really good science beta. I mean, nothing he talks about is above what you would learn in a uni physics/chem survey course (or, you know, made up), but the way his characters talk about things feels genuine to me, which a lot of characters-talking-about-science doesn't. Anyway, it's such a joy! I didn't care that the plot seemed to be standing still for huge chunks, because I was so happy to geek out.
It was weird, I was sure some backstory mystery conclusion was pushed at me
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part 2 (of 3)hamsterwomanAugust 30 2012, 17:32:24 UTC
I still think that, given that it's Kvothe who's telling the story, a lot of it is in his head, which makes perfect sense, because he's got a HUGE ego boost and is essentially a lovelorn teenager. That's not necessarily to be liked, but I find it bearable.Hmm, I hadn't thought of it like that... I guess I can sort of see that as an explanation for some part (in the depth of my Dragaera obsession, I'm happy to ascribe pretty much anything to unreliable narrator, heh), and while I'm still not sure what this would imply about present-day-Kvothe-the-narrator (and he is pretty open about holding his younger self up for ridicule in other cases, so, maybe that), I could sort of see it? Except the conversation with Fela and Sim at the end, because, unless Kvothe-the-narrator just made that up, or is misremembering it through the haze of an ego boost... Heh, maybe that was that. Maybe the actual conversation went like, Fela: "[What's her name, the Modegan girl] really wishes you'd make a pass at her, Kvothe", and he filled in all the rest on
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and the last onehamsterwomanAugust 30 2012, 17:32:43 UTC
I feel this sort of internalized anxiety might answer for some of his actions, including, perhaps, his outburst with DennaI was trying to figure out/justify this to myself, and I'm still not sure. On the one hand, Kvothe has been attempting to study the Chandrian and collect information on them methodically and without freaking out due to the trauma. On the other hand, Kvothe is really good at compartamentalization (compartamentalization is kind of a professional skill for a sympathist XP), so maybe that's why he can hold it together enough for research, while the sudden juxtaposition of Chandrian-related legend and singing (which is what got his parents killed) and a person he loves could've broken through the compartamentalization
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Re: here we go 1mauvais_pliSeptember 2 2012, 19:44:05 UTC
I think it's totally neat that Rothfuss has genuine education in the field! However, I do have some doubts as to what's in this head generally and more people-wise, you know. Like you say:
I'm still not really sure what Rothfuss is doing setting up Kvothe as defender of womenfolk or whatever. I am totally willing to believe that Kvothe sees himself as a romantic hero (or would really like to). I'm just wondering how Rothfuss sees him...
I would really like to know. He has a popular blog and some of the entries are supernice and some decidedly aren't. I haven't actually gone and investigated thoroughly, so I can't be 100% sure if he has Nice Guy Syndrome or it's just severe Tolkien fanatic brain damage. (If you don't want to read the whole, he compared The Hobbit movie to a hypothetical high school geek-girl crush who you meet years later dancing striptease.)
On the other hand, I'm quite happy interpreting the book however I see fit without making a social issue out of it, and it works for me.
Re: here we go 2mauvais_pliSeptember 2 2012, 19:44:33 UTC
Also, between Kvothe's poetry grudge and Vashet repeatedly mentioning her "poet king", I'm half convinced the titular kingkilling will be over an argument over the relative virtues of poetry and music... :P
That would be genius. I'm holding my breath for a completely un-heroic resolution, very Kvothe in style and therefore extremely rumour-worhty, blown completely out of proportion, but essentially uncomplicated. I think the only thing that makes me like this book even more (after the endless geekery and stuff) is the understanding that it is a story about a self-made story. I feel like, from the very beginning, Kvothe is setting himself up, he's setting out to make himself a legend (at least I would put the conscious realization of that at entering University, jumping off a roof - definitely). I ranted about it extensively here in my original WMF post
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let's see if this fits in 2...hamsterwomanSeptember 2 2012, 23:08:17 UTC
However, I do have some doubts as to what's in this head generally and more people-wise, you know.Yes... although I seem to recall that he went on to study, like, analytic psychology or something after ChemE, so I would expect him to be sort of OK in the way people work department
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it did! (after I trimmed it just a bit :)hamsterwomanSeptember 2 2012, 23:09:43 UTC
Obviously he can't imaging reciting poetry to an audience, really, it doesn't fit into his idea of a show - which must be either dialogue or song
That makes sense... in a Kvothe sort of way. But, yeah, still hilarious XP
I'm holding my breath for a completely un-heroic resolution, very Kvothe in style and therefore extremely rumour-worhty, blown completely out of proportion
I would be very much in favor of that as well!
I feel like, from the very beginning, Kvothe is setting himself up, he's setting out to make himself a legend (at least I would put the conscious realization of that at entering University
Absolutely agreed... (But I also think that this, plus the way the story is narrated, makes it kind of difficult to judge the series as it goes along. I feel like I really have to reserve judgement until I've seen how the whole thing ends... which is not normally a consideration for me for WIP series that grow more organically, like ASOIAF.)
On the other hand, I am now starting to doubt how clearly I saw that scene, because I
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I think that particular post is more severe Tolkien fanatic brain damage (hee!)
It's terrible affliction. I'm sure there are support groups. (lol) For the record, I view the movies exactly as you do - can't get enough of them, don't think they're accurate in the nth degree. So, yeah, we'll live and see.
though I was taken aback by the percentage of "ew, fanfic!" reactions in the commentsMaybe it's the fans of 'classic' fantasy/sci-fi? It's really hard but very fascinating trying to determine the kind of readership an author gets
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re: eReaderhamsterwomanSeptember 4 2012, 15:49:58 UTC
You might be right about the web-browsing on Touch being different with 3G or WiFi... I will say that all my web-browsing experience is with 3G, as I never bothered to configure the WiFi anywhere but at home, as the 3G kicks in with much less hassle. (Also around here the WiFi networks one encounters while traveling all tend to be locked, so WiFi wouldn't do me much good. Of course, Whispernet for book buying works pretty much wherever, so that's not a concern, just using it as a smartphone-substitute for browsing.)
how user-friendly is the keyboard?I like the keyboard! The round keys look a little weird but feel nice, and I like that they're spaced pretty far apart -- I like the kb on my texting phone, and it's very well designed with slopes and grooves and stuff, but I still constantly have the feeling that I'm pressing the wrong key even when I'm not because it's so crowded. I like keys you can really feel when you depress them, and the Kindle has those. I wouldn't want to type a thesis on it, but for entering in urls and typing 3
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For the record, I view the movies exactly as you do - can't get enough of them, don't think they're accurate in the nth degree
Yep. I'll happily watch ten movies worth of The Hobbit if they were to make them, basking in the Middle-Earth sets and gleaning the bits I like while ignoring anything else. I can sort of understand why people are upset if/when the adaptations are not more faithful, but unless it's an outright perversion of the story, gimme more! (I watched the Bakshi LotR, too, and even liked it in bits.)
Maybe it's the fans of 'classic' fantasy/sci-fi? It's really hard but very fascinating trying to determine the kind of readership an author gets.That's a very plausible point! I could see NotW attracting both the oldschool LotR crowd (due to the depth of worldbuilding) and the weaned-on-GRRM's-fic-hatin'-ways crowd (due to sheer heft... and masochism of the "when is the next book coming out?" variety, I suppose), which might account for the "ew, fanfic!" thing. Not just in his blog's comments, either. I was poking around
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I'm not sure if I would have picked up on Meluan being Kvothe's mother's sister (most likely) without having read some speculation on it, but I'm pretty sure that's the case. I think so, too. It was weird, I was sure some backstory mystery conclusion was pushed at me, but I couldn't exactly pinpoint it for the longest time. I do think it's very probable.
Same on your speculations about Willem and Sim and the rest - I did not come to the same conclusions, but there's definitely a very interesting sort of steadfastness about Willem that caught my eye. I'll have to reread some parts :D
I continue to enjoy Kvothe's grudge against poetry. My ( ... )
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and, intuitively, that level of detail coupled with Rothfuss' writing style just really gets me
Me too! The fact that it's chemistry and engineering and, like, metaphysical thermodynamics is gravy, but I just like the overall geekiness permeating the whole thing. I ought to look up Rothfuss to see what his educational background is; I wonder is he studied science/engineering formally, or on his own, or has a really, really good science beta. I mean, nothing he talks about is above what you would learn in a uni physics/chem survey course (or, you know, made up), but the way his characters talk about things feels genuine to me, which a lot of characters-talking-about-science doesn't. Anyway, it's such a joy! I didn't care that the plot seemed to be standing still for huge chunks, because I was so happy to geek out.
It was weird, I was sure some backstory mystery conclusion was pushed at me ( ... )
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I'm still not really sure what Rothfuss is doing setting up Kvothe as defender of womenfolk or whatever. I am totally willing to believe that Kvothe sees himself as a romantic hero (or would really like to). I'm just wondering how Rothfuss sees him...
I would really like to know. He has a popular blog and some of the entries are super nice and some decidedly aren't. I haven't actually gone and investigated thoroughly, so I can't be 100% sure if he has Nice Guy Syndrome or it's just severe Tolkien fanatic brain damage. (If you don't want to read the whole, he compared The Hobbit movie to a hypothetical high school geek-girl crush who you meet years later dancing striptease.)
On the other hand, I'm quite happy interpreting the book however I see fit without making a social issue out of it, and it works for me.
On the other hand, Kvothe notices ( ... )
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That would be genius. I'm holding my breath for a completely un-heroic resolution, very Kvothe in style and therefore extremely rumour-worhty, blown completely out of proportion, but essentially uncomplicated. I think the only thing that makes me like this book even more (after the endless geekery and stuff) is the understanding that it is a story about a self-made story. I feel like, from the very beginning, Kvothe is setting himself up, he's setting out to make himself a legend (at least I would put the conscious realization of that at entering University, jumping off a roof - definitely). I ranted about it extensively here in my original WMF post ( ... )
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That makes sense... in a Kvothe sort of way. But, yeah, still hilarious XP
I'm holding my breath for a completely un-heroic resolution, very Kvothe in style and therefore extremely rumour-worhty, blown completely out of proportion
I would be very much in favor of that as well!
I feel like, from the very beginning, Kvothe is setting himself up, he's setting out to make himself a legend (at least I would put the conscious realization of that at entering University
Absolutely agreed... (But I also think that this, plus the way the story is narrated, makes it kind of difficult to judge the series as it goes along. I feel like I really have to reserve judgement until I've seen how the whole thing ends... which is not normally a consideration for me for WIP series that grow more organically, like ASOIAF.)
On the other hand, I am now starting to doubt how clearly I saw that scene, because I ( ... )
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It's terrible affliction. I'm sure there are support groups. (lol) For the record, I view the movies exactly as you do - can't get enough of them, don't think they're accurate in the nth degree. So, yeah, we'll live and see.
though I was taken aback by the percentage of "ew, fanfic!" reactions in the commentsMaybe it's the fans of 'classic' fantasy/sci-fi? It's really hard but very fascinating trying to determine the kind of readership an author gets ( ... )
Reply
how user-friendly is the keyboard?I like the keyboard! The round keys look a little weird but feel nice, and I like that they're spaced pretty far apart -- I like the kb on my texting phone, and it's very well designed with slopes and grooves and stuff, but I still constantly have the feeling that I'm pressing the wrong key even when I'm not because it's so crowded. I like keys you can really feel when you depress them, and the Kindle has those. I wouldn't want to type a thesis on it, but for entering in urls and typing 3 ( ... )
Reply
Yep. I'll happily watch ten movies worth of The Hobbit if they were to make them, basking in the Middle-Earth sets and gleaning the bits I like while ignoring anything else. I can sort of understand why people are upset if/when the adaptations are not more faithful, but unless it's an outright perversion of the story, gimme more! (I watched the Bakshi LotR, too, and even liked it in bits.)
Maybe it's the fans of 'classic' fantasy/sci-fi? It's really hard but very fascinating trying to determine the kind of readership an author gets.That's a very plausible point! I could see NotW attracting both the oldschool LotR crowd (due to the depth of worldbuilding) and the weaned-on-GRRM's-fic-hatin'-ways crowd (due to sheer heft... and masochism of the "when is the next book coming out?" variety, I suppose), which might account for the "ew, fanfic!" thing. Not just in his blog's comments, either. I was poking around ( ... )
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