The Best Book Ever Written (almost)

15791011

Comments

  • Ph0enixPh0enix Join Date: 2002-10-08 Member: 1462Members, Constellation
    <!--quoteo(post=1703698:date=Mar 29 2009, 01:19 PM:name=Tyrain)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tyrain @ Mar 29 2009, 01:19 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1703698"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->You should order your copy of the second part now.

    The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss (Release - 16 april 2009)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    That might be useful, ya know, if that was <a href="http://www.patrickrothfuss.com/blog/2009/02/concerning-release-of-book-two.html" target="_blank">in the least bit correct</a> <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
  • TyrainTyrain Join Date: 2003-01-03 Member: 11746Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1703728:date=Mar 29 2009, 11:18 PM:name=Ph0enix)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Ph0enix @ Mar 29 2009, 11:18 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1703728"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->That might be useful, ya know, if that was <a href="http://www.patrickrothfuss.com/blog/2009/02/concerning-release-of-book-two.html" target="_blank">in the least bit correct</a> <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" /><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Sucks <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":(" border="0" alt="sad-fix.gif" />
  • RetalesRetales Panigg cultist Join Date: 2003-08-07 Member: 19180Members
    Oh nuts. Well, at least I didn't have my hopes up for too long
  • ZaggyZaggy NullPointerException The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-12-10 Member: 24214Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Onos, Subnautica Playtester
    <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" /> -> <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":(" border="0" alt="sad-fix.gif" />

    TL;DR explanation of what's taking so long:

    * He's busy writing the "The Wise Man's Fear"
    * The Wise Man's Fear is going to be a long book:
    <!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->[Average novel: 60.000 words.]
    The Name of the Wind is bigger than that. It was over 250,000 words. The Wise Man's Fear is looking to be even longer, maybe more than 300,000 words.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    * The Wise Man's Fear is complicated:
    <!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->So what *is* the structure then? Fark if I know. That's part of what's taking me so long to figure out. As far as I can tell, my story is part autobiography, part hero's journey, part epic fantasy, part travelogue, part faerie tale, part coming of age story, part romance, part mystery, part metafictional-nested-story-frame-tale-something-or-other.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    * Stress -> he had a lot of change
    * Perfectionist
  • SwiftspearSwiftspear Custim tital Join Date: 2003-10-29 Member: 22097Members
    Hmm... @blog.

    Why is it that every time someone expresses some kind of weakness my mind instantly shoots to ways ebaumsworld could utterly and amusingly ruin their life?

    This time I'll keep the secret to myself though...
  • lolfighterlolfighter Snark, Dire Join Date: 2003-04-20 Member: 15693Members
    Does anybody have a clue what he's talking about?
  • ZaggyZaggy NullPointerException The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-12-10 Member: 24214Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Onos, Subnautica Playtester
    <!--quoteo(post=1703967:date=Apr 2 2009, 04:53 AM:name=lolfighter)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(lolfighter @ Apr 2 2009, 04:53 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1703967"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Does anybody have a clue what he's talking about?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Yeah, ask me on IRC.
  • ZaggyZaggy NullPointerException The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-12-10 Member: 24214Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Onos, Subnautica Playtester
    Books!
    Piles of paper containing words, sentences, stories!

    I'm currently out of stuff to read, what are you lot reading at the moment?
  • locallyunscenelocallyunscene Feeder of Trolls Join Date: 2002-12-25 Member: 11528Members, Constellation
    Stranger in a Strange Land

    and whatever I can find in the bargain rack of the local bookstore that interests me.
  • ZeroByteZeroByte Join Date: 2002-11-01 Member: 3057Members
    I've said this on IRC but hey, forum post ho! I've just finished reading trainspotting. I *still* don't quite know what to make of it, maybe its morals were just too alien to me but I found the ending of the book an interesting contrast to the ending of the movie. The movie ending definitely doesn't feel quite right even with all the parts cut out, felt too sanitized after reading the book. I'm now reading Oliver Twist and quite enjoying the satire in the writing.
  • DiscoZombieDiscoZombie Join Date: 2003-08-05 Member: 18951Members
    edited May 2009
    I'm reading a lot of Neil Gaiman lately. American Gods was really rad. Good Omens too, though that was only half him. Anansi boys - also rad. I like his short stories too (Smoke & Mirrors). I like how he more uses sci fi as a vehicle for interesting character-driven stories, rather than so many sci fi stories which are just about pew pew lasers and magic and stuff.

    I was also reading a lot of Orson Scott Card, and while I adored Ender's Game (like most people), I'm slowly starting to realize that the many sequels and spinoffs are mostly literary masturbation and they don't really have any substance. Books 3 and 4 in the Ender series have next to nothing interesting happening story-wise or depth of character-wise.

    Since these guys are pretty mainstream I don't know if it's considered lame to talk about or read them <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu Anememone Join Date: 2002-03-23 Member: 345Members
    You guys know that <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=105418" target="_blank">we have a book thread</a> right?
  • TesseractTesseract Join Date: 2007-06-21 Member: 61328Members, Constellation
    edited May 2009
    <!--quoteo(post=1627441:date=May 18 2007, 04:28 AM:name=TychoCelchuuu)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (TychoCelchuuu @ May 18 2007, 04:28 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1627441"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Okay fine, but I don't know who Jordan and Goodkind are<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Quotin' the OP to say "Goodkind is, ironically, the worstkind of writer in English fantasy fiction. Never before have a known an author make an 8-year old girl talk about scheduling the rape and torture of her mother, before making the main character 'Richard' (wow that's really fantasy, why not just call him 'Steve from Accounting') have his 'thing' 'rise up' and then KICK AN EIGHT YEAR OLD GIRL IN THE FACE, LACERATING HER TONGUE BEFORE LEAVING HER TO DIE. Any book compared to his will actively put me off that book."

    He's like Terry Pratchett if Terry Pratchett was a literary paedophile. And stupid.

    See also: <a href="http://sandstormreviews.blogspot.com/2006/08/goodkind-parodies.html" target="_blank">http://sandstormreviews.blogspot.com/2006/...d-parodies.html</a>


    (And Jordan did the Wheel of Time before he decided he couldn't be bothered with this 'living' business; he retired to a small condo in another mortal coil. He, in sharp contrast to Goodkind, knows how to write.)

    Edit: oops, *he <b>knew</b>
  • AlignAlign Remain Calm Join Date: 2002-11-02 Member: 5216Forum Moderators, Constellation
    <!--quoteo(post=1707587:date=May 24 2009, 10:48 PM:name=Tesseract)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Tesseract @ May 24 2009, 10:48 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1707587"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->He, in sharp contrast to Goodkind, knows how to write.)

    Edit: oops, *he <b>knew</b><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Although he probably used macros.

    Nynaeve tugged her braid.
  • TesseractTesseract Join Date: 2007-06-21 Member: 61328Members, Constellation
    If you know what you're doing then macros are perfectly fine.
  • Ph0enixPh0enix Join Date: 2002-10-08 Member: 1462Members, Constellation
    Met Patrick Rothfuss last Thursday in Manchester - hes a really nice guy, funny too. Got two books signed and a bit of Wise Man's Fear read out <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
  • DiscoZombieDiscoZombie Join Date: 2003-08-05 Member: 18951Members
    I'm nearing 300 pages into this sucker, and I'm really digging it. Overall, the story seems like nothing super special, but it's so well told... a couple things that bother me so far...

    <span style='color:#000000;background:#000000'>this kid is supposed to be some sort of genius, and yet he's made some really stupid mistakes already. Trying to bind the air around him to the air in his lungs, and starting to suffocate - you would think he would know better than that. As soon as I read he was doing that, I thought to myself, "what about that conservation of mass and energy, equal-and-opposite reaction junk we just heard about? How is he going to push the air all around him with just his lungs?" and sure enough, he nearly got himself killed. It also bothered me that he didn't use anything he knew to survive on the streets of Tarbean. He could have used his knowledge to become an apprentice or something. He could have used his sympathy to pull off some neat tricks or scare off bullies. Now he's in the university and found out his tuition was "less three talons". I was like, cool, he got his wish to have a negative tuition... but the little ###### starts freaking out because he thinks he owes 3 talons. He just did all sorts of crazy math in his head during the entrance exam and can't understand "less three" when he hears it? </span>

    ok enough nit-picking. Back to reading <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" />
  • locallyunscenelocallyunscene Feeder of Trolls Join Date: 2002-12-25 Member: 11528Members, Constellation
    <!--quoteo(post=1708962:date=May 31 2009, 04:57 PM:name=DiscoZombie)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DiscoZombie @ May 31 2009, 04:57 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1708962"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I'm nearing 300 pages into this sucker, and I'm really digging it. Overall, the story seems like nothing super special, but it's so well told... a couple things that bother me so far...

    <span style='color:#000000;background:#000000'>this kid is supposed to be some sort of genius, and yet he's made some really stupid mistakes already. Trying to bind the air around him to the air in his lungs, and starting to suffocate - you would think he would know better than that. As soon as I read he was doing that, I thought to myself, "what about that conservation of mass and energy, equal-and-opposite reaction junk we just heard about? How is he going to push the air all around him with just his lungs?" and sure enough, he nearly got himself killed. It also bothered me that he didn't use anything he knew to survive on the streets of Tarbean. He could have used his knowledge to become an apprentice or something. He could have used his sympathy to pull off some neat tricks or scare off bullies. Now he's in the university and found out his tuition was "less three talons". I was like, cool, he got his wish to have a negative tuition... but the little ###### starts freaking out because he thinks he owes 3 talons. He just did all sorts of crazy math in his head during the entrance exam and can't understand "less three" when he hears it? </span>

    ok enough nit-picking. Back to reading <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" /><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    <span style='color:#000000;background:#000000'>A large part of Kvothe's personality is that he's impatient and acts without thinking things through. Sometimes this works out great(due to his intuition), sometimes it does not. You may not find this believable, but I didn't have a problem with it personally.</span>
  • locallyunscenelocallyunscene Feeder of Trolls Join Date: 2002-12-25 Member: 11528Members, Constellation
    <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/user/SFLTV/video/x9e83u_patrick-rothfuss-interview_creation" target="_blank">http://www.dailymotion.com/user/SFLTV/vide...erview_creation</a>

    Interview with the author.
  • HawkeyeHawkeye Join Date: 2002-10-31 Member: 1855Members
    I read the book by suggestion of this thread because it intregued me. Overall I thought it wasn't a bad book. Some of the aspects of sympathy I really enjoyed reading because it was as if sympathy was a type of physics easily misunderstood by those who witnessed it and didn't understand it. The fact that sympathy and "real magic" was distinguished so heavily and that "real magic" wasn't thought to exist by many made me think that being able to do so was basically like saying you could defy the laws of physics (which in the context of the book would kind of include sympathy as well).

    Though there were a lot of unanswered questions. Presumably he'd answer these questions in the following book, though there's a part of my mind which is begging me not to forget my lesson learned while reading Harry Potter. Reading J. K. Rowling's last book, I thought to myself, "How the heck is she going to wrap all this up (The goblin rights that Hermione was trying to gain support for, the peace between the centaurs and wizards, the conclusion of Malfoy and his family's twisted relationship with Voldemort)?" To my unpleasant surprise, nothing was answered! It was left to guess. So I sort of hope this author knows where he's going with these stories. How does he write? Some writers like Stephen King don't know the plot of the book they're writing until the end.
  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu Anememone Join Date: 2002-03-23 Member: 345Members
    Well, keep in mind that the writer <a href="http://blog.beliefnet.com/blogalogue/2007/07/harry-potter-fans-lets-not-pla.html" target="_blank">hates Harry Potter for basically the same reason</a>, so it's unlikely he'll make the same mistakes.
  • spellman23spellman23 NS1 Theorycraft Expert Join Date: 2007-05-17 Member: 60920Members
  • locallyunscenelocallyunscene Feeder of Trolls Join Date: 2002-12-25 Member: 11528Members, Constellation
    <!--quoteo(post=1717437:date=Jul 15 2009, 11:40 AM:name=TychoCelchuuu)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (TychoCelchuuu @ Jul 15 2009, 11:40 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1717437"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Well, keep in mind that the writer <a href="http://blog.beliefnet.com/blogalogue/2007/07/harry-potter-fans-lets-not-pla.html" target="_blank">hates Harry Potter for basically the same reason</a>, so it's unlikely he'll make the same mistakes.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Also, the answers your question <b>hawkeye</b> are in that video I posted reviving this thread.

    TL;DW Version:
    He's written the whole story all ready and is trying to fit it into 3 separate books because it's too big for one. He also said that he had a goal of where he wanted the story to go before he started writing, but didn't know all the stops along the way.
  • Sephiroth2kSephiroth2k Join Date: 2002-04-21 Member: 481Members, Constellation
    Looks interesting..
    If any of you are avid sci-fi readers, I suggest you read
    Peter F. Hamilton's work. The commonwealth saga starting
    with Pandora's Star. Insanely amazing work. Read it if you can...
  • AlignAlign Remain Calm Join Date: 2002-11-02 Member: 5216Forum Moderators, Constellation
    I read them from start to finish, enjoying it all the way, but now I am too intimidated by their size (slightly smaller than my torso) to start again.
  • DiscoZombieDiscoZombie Join Date: 2003-08-05 Member: 18951Members
    since this has been bumped and I finished the book... all in all, I couldn't put it down, but in the end it left me unsatisfied. Suffers from the syndrome most serial novels suffer from - some stuff happens, but there's no real conflict/resolution like a true novel should have. When Rothfuss done writing the books, he should just republish them as one really long book, because book 1 didn't really feel like a complete book (even though it was pretty long). I read like 800 pages or whatever and it was like Act 1; it introduced some characters and that's about it. Luckily they're good characters, and the world is also very alive.
  • Ph0enixPh0enix Join Date: 2002-10-08 Member: 1462Members, Constellation
    Epic bump - <a href="http://blog.patrickrothfuss.com/" target="_blank">http://blog.patrickrothfuss.com/</a>

    tl:dr - Book 2 is out 1st March 2011.
  • RetalesRetales Panigg cultist Join Date: 2003-08-07 Member: 19180Members
    Hot beans! Good news indeed to have some kind of idea when the book is coming out.
  • lolfighterlolfighter Snark, Dire Join Date: 2003-04-20 Member: 15693Members
    I remember this thread. I remember reading it and thinking Tycho was a pretentious ###### for calling a book the best book ever written, and resolved to never read this book purely to spite him. Then I promptly forgot all about this (including The Name of the Book). Then maybe half a year ago or so my brother recomended this book to me and I lifted an eyebrow and said "fantasy?" Because seriously, I could do without yet another "and then Kronar Ironpelt smote the epic dragon" piece of concentrated tripe. Yet another guy either desperately trying to be Tolkien (and failing miserably) or desperately trying not to be Tolkien (and either failing miserably or succeeding but still failing miserably at producing something palatable). But my brother, whose opinion I value, asked me to give it a chance. "Okay" said I and gave the book a few cursory licks. Then I devoured it whole while my brother watched, mouth agape. Then I asked him when the next one was due.

    So I'm happy there's a date on it now. It's a year still, but I'm sure I can find something to pass the time with meanwhile.

    I still think Tycho's a pretentious ###### for calling a book the best book ever written, but at least I can see why he engaged in that little bit of hyperbole.
  • Cereal_KillRCereal_KillR Join Date: 2002-10-31 Member: 1837Members
    One more year OH GOD D:
Sign In or Register to comment.