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Comment by demallien | Hacker News Reader

The Name of the Wind really is good. The second book of the series (The Wise Man's Fear) is also excellent.

Actually, just reading through the list, I was a little disappointed. Yes, there are some great classics, but Timeline" by Michael Crichton as the "time travel" sci-fi novel of reference. No, just no.

For time travel based sci-fi, Timescape by Gregory Benford is my pick of the lot. Bedford is actually an astrophysicist, so his version of time travel actually make sense. Plus, the characters in the books are scientists. It's a very thought provoking book. He has a second book along those lines, Cosm, which I loved as well, for it's portrayal of the lives of scientists.

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I really loved Name of the Wind, but actually felt a little let down by Wise Man's Fear. Dunno whether I was just expecting too much after an excellent first book, but I thought it should have been sub-titled "Kvothe gets laid and the plot goes nowhere".

I've read the first book, and then decided to avoid the rest of the series. It was a boring life story of a flawless character who becomes a master in anything he partakes in, from acting to thievery to magic, and all before his teenage years... Totally ridiculous, in my opinion.

I had a similar reaction to "Assassin's Apprentice" by Robin Hobb; although not as perfect as Kvothe, her Fitz has all the possible talents in one place, from the Wit to the Skill etc. On the other hand, Hobb's Liveship Traders amazed me with the complexity of the story, as well as the beautifully designed characters (nearly none was a two-dimensional caricature but a real human being with feelings and motivations) -- it was like the reading a completely different author.

> It was a boring life story of a flawless character who becomes a master in anything he partakes in, from acting to thievery to magic, and all before his teenage years... Totally ridiculous, in my opinion.

The point is made many times that he is an unreliable narrator, and that this is a self-mythologising, which is part of why I like it.

Whilst I agree in some parts, the main character being exceptional is kinda the entire point of a heroic fantasy novel.

They are exceptional by design. If they weren't amazing swordsmen, or magic users, or highly intelligent, or highly determined, they'd be dying at the first hurdle in the story - which is equally ridiculous for a novel. The alternative for underpowered fantasy characters is either a non-perilous story or a lot of "deus ex machina" moments where the character survives by "random" chance. Neither of which are particularly interesting.

Narrative imperative does have some demands on story characters, but it's all down to the quality of the writing as to whether you can suspend your disbelief.

Well, being "exceptional" is one thing, but being flawless is something completely different. I agree that the best characters are exceptional, but flawless characters are difficult to take seriously, and tend to be quite boring.

Take Frodo Baggins, Thomas Covenant, Malta Vestrit, Jon Snow, Miles Vorkosigan, Sherlock Holmes or any of the countless prominent characters from fiction of any genre -- they are all quite exceptional, but also significantly flawed in one or many ways. I didn't see any prominent flaws in Kvothe, which made him really boring and uninteresting; now, as someone else mentioned, he is an unreliable narrator of his own life story, and it is quite possible that in later books it will turn out that a lot if it was a lie and his flaws will be revealed, but by then I have long lost my interest and I don't think I'll ever get that far. I do enjoy a good twist in the story, but the story up to that point needs to be interesting on its own; Usual Suspects wouldn't work at all if Verbal Kint was a flawless character.

I would think that Kvothe is every bit as flawed as Miles Vorkosigan. They both end up in sticky situations because they're more than just a little arrogant, which results in them biting off more than they can chew. Kvothe is not the best swordsman, he get's beaten up by a little girl. He is not the best Sympathist, again he get's beaten up when he thinks he is.

I just noticed though, as I'm writing this reply, that most of these flaws come out in the second book, not the first. Maybe you need to stick with the series a bit more before making up your mind.

Yeah, I think for me Kvothe's flawlessness was balanced by the unreliable narrator, who demonstrated that Kvothe in the present/future is not all-powerful anymore (if he ever was). The premise of the book thus appearing to be an inversion of the standard "weak hero becomes strong hero" plot, instead intriguing you from the start with wondering how a strong hero becomes so decrepit.

That's why I found it quite frustrating reading the 2nd book, as the present/future feels like where the "real" story lies, but it made absolutely no advancement in that direction. So I definitely agree with you there, the focus on the super-powered young Kvothe does detract from the main story as I see it.

With Assassin's Apprentice Fitz has all the possible talents in one place but seriously lacks in intelligence and in making rational choices. I spent all her books wishing I could slap Fitz until I just couldn't take it anymore.

I will have to try Liveship traders

I can agree with the sentiment that the plot didn't go very far, but I think that's okay, since the world opened up so much in the second book.

Yeah that's true. I definitely enjoyed the book, I guess it's the old "I want more now" feeling coming into play. Which is usually a very good sign for any sort of entertainment, always leave them wanting more!

I'd say that the series as a whole is just ok. I did enjoy both books, but they didn't stick out in my mind as amazing.

Another great time travel novel is Replay by Ken Grimwood. One of the few books I've read twice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replay_%28Grimwood_novel%29

Definitely good stuff. In terms of Orc-free pseudo-fantasy stuff, for those that liked Rothfuss and somewhat weird stuff (i.e. Ready Player One - though writing wasn't as good in that IMHO), Lev Grossman's Magicians series is possibly worth checking out. Anyway, I really liked it.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Magicians-Novel-Trilogy/dp/0670020...

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