In this episode we talk about The Name of the Wind as a whole. We recap our predictions to see just how bad we did. Also, FANTASY CASTING!!! WHOO!
Some key takeaways:
Liz threatens to burn our house down if Kristen Bell isn’t cast as Devi.
Rose Tyler is clearly the #2 best companion ever.
Prediction:
- Denna is not “Denna’s” real name. Kvothe being a “namer” is constantly perplexed by Denna due to the fact that her name isn’t correct.
In the next episode we will cover Chapters 1-5 of The Wise Mans Fear.
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I am all on Android/Windows so I don’t leave comments and the like on iTunes, sorry. But I thought I’d leave this one here:
So on the back of your podcast I ended up downloading the Name of the Wind from the Kindle Archive and re-reading it, which is unusual for me because I tend to read only new books these days as there are so many out there and I have so little reading time. Mainly, in light of the podcast, I wanted to know if my views on the book had changed. I was going to try to comment on each episode in specifics for that bit of the book but I was too slow starting my re-read so here we are.
Anyway, I’ll level that for me The Name of the Wind was a real Temple of Doom of a book: the highs were very highs but the lows were Willie screaming, screaming screaming… A second read certainly smooths out the troughs a little, but there are still things about it that irritate me.
However, the writing is really good, even better reading again keeping in mind your podcast’s discussions about it. And in fact I was reminded of that when I recently read his “How Old Holly Came To Be” in the Unfettered anthology. [Side point – it’s a great book and caused me to read Michael J Sullivan’s Riyria Revelations series which I enjoyed with a few specific reservations.] Also good (as you mentioned) is the magic system, which is very cleverly laid out and, although it sounds stupid, I think the money side of things is great too. It features importantly with his lack of funds so it’s good that you really feel every coin used.
One of the big things I took away from this read was how right you were about Master Lorren clearly specifically setting about to confound Kvothe from getting hold of information about the Chandrian! It’s so obvious now you’ve said it that this is what’s going on here with the banning from the Archives.
Part of the uneven nature of the book I alluded to up there was how much more I was enthralled by the contemporary 3rd person tale than the 1st person memoir. To me the Waystone Inn was the important bit of the story: the mystery, the strangeness of the creatures and how much more ‘interesting’ (for want of a better term) the characters are than in the main tale. Chronicler, old Kvothe and Bast are like a classic uneasy D&D party, right?
Whereas Kvothe’s tale is where I have most of my reservations. I find his brilliance hard to take and this second time round I really questioned that because, you know, I’m 100% fist pumping when Captain America goes all out in those films and surely he’s as much *that guy*? When I first read it the much used term ‘Gary Stu’ definitely fit and I guess it still does due to Kvothe’s abilities but actually I think what ‘burns my pickle’ is how Kvothe is his own Deus Ex Machina.
A notable example for me is when he is desperate to get to Trebon and he has to buy his horse. I will accept that his ability to be very lucky about his choice of name may be explained later but actually it’s the fact that *he knows so much about horses from his parents* that gets to me. This is the thing: almost no problem in the book is allowed to stand because Kvothe always seems to have learned once about this or that. So we have a problem to overcome to get to Trebon but it isn’t really a problem at all because it’s easy for our hero, but it’s framed as a task. [Another side point, I recall this kind of lack of peril for your main characters was big problem with David and Leigh Eddings’ Belgariad and later works: they loved their heroes too much to let them ever suffer and so encounters tended to be robbed of the dangers they needed.]
And I guess this is the issue for me: so much of the story feels overly safe. We know Kvothe won’t die but it begins to feel like his trials aren’t really too taxing either. He is constantly hard up and yet he never actually has a problem getting the money he needs. He puts himself in debt to Devi but we don’t really feel concerned about this.
One last little gripe would be that while there are some great characters and ideas, Hemme and Ambrose seem like they came from a different story entirely. There’s something so unsubtle about them compared to the drawing of the other characters.
When I finished Name of the Wind I didn’t immediately buy Wise Man’s Fear. I wasn’t sure I could take much more of the University stuff but in the end my desire to understand the contemporary narrative spurred me on. I’m glad I did because in my view the second book is far better and really resolves so much of what I felt held back the first book.
Anyway, thanks for the podcast. I’d best get back re-reading book 2…
Thank you so much for listening, and for taking the time to share your thoughts! You made some points I had never considered. Kvothe does always seem to have just the knowledge or experience he needs, the scene where he buys Keth-Sehlan is a good example. I get why for many readers, this would paint him as a Gary Stu. I still don’t see him that way, for a few reasons.
We know that Kvothe is a genius. He remembers pretty much everything he sees and hears, and his childhood on the road ensures that he is is exposed to a wide variety of people and experiences. So for me, it seems internally consistent that he would know a great deal about a lot of things.
Secondly, Kvothe works his ass off. He is not just smarter than everyone around them, he outworks them as well. In part this is due to his extreme poverty and unwillingness to ask for help, but also because it seems to be a part of his character. So for me, it seems as though Kvothe earns the gifts and knowledge that he has.
Lastly, the contrast between world-weary Kote and younger Kvothe keeps him from being a Gary Stu. This contrast casts a tragic pall over all of the seemingly charmed adventures that young Kvothe has. Yes, we know that the character doesn’t die, but we also know that he ends up being broken and losing every gift he has worked for. I think this is why both stories resonate with me so much. If Kvothe is his own Deus Ex Machina, he is also his own worst enemy. In the end, this isn’t really a story about a hero overcoming external obstacles to save the day. It’s about a flawed but gifted person who can’t seem to get out of his own way and ends up causing his own destruction. (I don’t know anything about that, haha.)
With all that being said, we haven’t gotten to the parts of the book that I have problems with, so I can’t put them out there yet without spoiling Chad. I also completely agree with your thoughts on Master Hemme and Ambrose, they are surprisingly one-dimensional in a story populated with such nuanced minor characters.
Thank you again for making me think, I haven’t ever had to nail down my thoughts on this issue. Now I have a wicked Nerd Buzz going. I’ve added the Riyria series to my to-read list. Would you recommend reading them in chronological order, or the order they were published?
Cheers, (are Yanks allowed to say that?)
the Duchess
Thanks for the reply.
The Kote side of Kvothe is definitely the bit I am looking forward to seeing the joining with. I am getting better at giving stories the time to prove that the things I didn’t like so much earlier in the series make more sense in the whole. Jessica Jones did this in its run, explaining what seemed an obvious early plothole with later episodes. (And fair point about Kvothe’s dedication to working as hard as he can.)
I have only read the first Riyria series and by that I mean the one that was published first – the Riyria Revelations. I tend to try to swap around my book styles a lot in order to read different things, partly because I wasn’t much of a varied reader as a kid so I’m sort of playing catch up. But I’ll go back to the prequel series, the Chronicles, in due course.
And of course anyone is allowed to say ‘Cheers’. The question is whether anyone else will know what you mean! 🙂
Thanks
Theo