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vittorioseg's review against another edition
It was such a downspiral of uninteresting suffering and lukewarm victories. I just felt stressed out when reading it and I realized that I was forcing myself to continue because of the hype. And it didn't live for it. The character didn't came as witty or intelligent. The world didn't come as fleshed out. And the prose was, for me at least, nothing to write about. I just couldn't enjoy this book, at all.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, and Trafficking
cuppa_curiositea's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I have so many mixed opinions about this book. The writing style is very beautiful, and I think that that is one of Rothfuss' biggest strengths. The structure of this book is not conventional, but it mostly works. I'm not gonna lie, it was really frustrating getting to the end of a 700 PAGE BOOK, only to realize that I was going to run out of pages before Rothfuss could even begin to tie things up. I am a firm believer that AT LEAST the first book of a planned series should be standalone. Frankly, I can't think of a single significant arc that I feel any satisfaction from. This book horribly fails the Bechdel test. While I don't necessarily consider that as a measure for book quality, I mention it specifically because every female is either used to show us how great Kvothe is or they are sexualized for no reason ("But, Camille! He's 15! Of course he has sex on his mind!" So what!?!? If you can't even have higher standards for FICTIONAL boys, then you are definitely the type of person to say 'boys will be boys' in real life. Of course it's important to explore and understand sexuality, but these moments were purely objectification not moments for character growth).
Now I want to explain my answers to the review questionnaire:
1. Plot or character driven? There is no plot. There is one overarching goal to learn more about the Chandrian, but that goal is on the backburner for most of the book and there is no indication of what Kvothe even plans to do with that information.
2. Is there strong character development? Hell no. Every time one of his flaws gets him trouble, he quickly gets out of it. There are SO MANY false defeats in this book. Just when you think Kvothe will fail--even at something small--either he comes up with a clever solution or someone says something to the tune of "just kidding." He never has a true failure to actually grow from.
3. Did you find the characters loveable? It's complicated. Interesting? Yes. Lovable? At first. The second half of the book, I was just frustrated at Kvothe for pulling his same old shit over and over again.
4. Is the cast of characters diverse? It doesn't feel diverse. Though technically he does encounter people of different cultures and backgrounds, everyone feels generally homogenous. Honestly, most of the characters even share a very similar personality and voice.
5. Are the flaws of the main character a main focus of the book? Absolutely. Kvothe is a little dick, to be honest, but the smart kind. He has a very flawed character that gets him into trouble, he just doesn't learn from these mistakes. He comes up with clever solutions to cover them up instead.
Now I want to explain my answers to the review questionnaire:
1. Plot or character driven? There is no plot. There is one overarching goal to learn more about the Chandrian, but that goal is on the backburner for most of the book and there is no indication of what Kvothe even plans to do with that information.
2. Is there strong character development? Hell no. Every time one of his flaws gets him trouble, he quickly gets out of it. There are SO MANY false defeats in this book. Just when you think Kvothe will fail--even at something small--either he comes up with a clever solution or someone says something to the tune of "just kidding." He never has a true failure to actually grow from.
3. Did you find the characters loveable? It's complicated. Interesting? Yes. Lovable? At first. The second half of the book, I was just frustrated at Kvothe for pulling his same old shit over and over again.
4. Is the cast of characters diverse? It doesn't feel diverse. Though technically he does encounter people of different cultures and backgrounds, everyone feels generally homogenous. Honestly, most of the characters even share a very similar personality and voice.
5. Are the flaws of the main character a main focus of the book? Absolutely. Kvothe is a little dick, to be honest, but the smart kind. He has a very flawed character that gets him into trouble, he just doesn't learn from these mistakes. He comes up with clever solutions to cover them up instead.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, and Death of parent
mikki_9's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, and Alcohol
voelve's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is an absolute brilliant fantasy book. It's been a long time since I found myself glued to the pages of a story, but I really did. Though life made me put it down for weeks at a time, every time I picked it up I found myself spellbound in a way I haven't been since I was like 12 and reading until so late at night my face turned green. I am so excited to pick up the 2nd book in this trilogy (and really hope for the publication of the 3rd and final one soon!).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Death and Drug abuse