I started listening to this book five years ago. Five. 5. FIVE. YEARS. I took a multi-year break because I could not handle the misery of the chapters about Kvoth’s first year or so in Tarbean. And then I started listening again, because this should be both in my wheel house and up my alley. But the truth is, I just don’t know. I don’t know if I like it. I know I wish it were a lot shorter, which means I didn’t love it. But once I started again I kept listening, so I didn’t hate it.
Things I liked – the Chandrian, Skarpi’s story about Lanre, and the stuff happening in the present. Things I got tired of – Kvoth being clever, being smart, being discriminated against, being misunderstood, most of the University stuff, the way the story didn’t seem to ever end. Things I came to hate – the characters, Denna, and knowing that at some point in the future not knowing what happens next is going to bother me enough to read or listen to the next book. The last book isn’t even out yet. I’m annoyed by that too.
I do think Rothfuss did a great job building the world of his story. I like the plot. I do not think he did a great job creating characters. I can barely remember the names of the characters because there was so little to them. Denna was a bit of a manic pixie and a bit of a femme fatale, and other than her hair color and singing voice I can’t tell you much about her. I didn’t think Kvoth was that well drawn either, but he had the advantage of being at the center of the action. They all felt like stock characters. I resent having cardboard cutouts populate such an interesting landscape.
So that was my half Cannonball.