Wise Man's Fear

[Mort]

I don't think one should expect this series to be like a Nancy Drew novel were everything conveniently gets wrapped up nicely in a bow by the end of the story. I fully expect the story will complete Kvothe's story but like real life there will be many questions left unanswered.

There is a big difference from "questions left unanswered, " and just finding out who the enemies are by the second book's end. I fully expect that the story will be "finished" as to the tale telling (even though he left a lot of ground to cover), but I sincerelly doubt Rothfus will stop there.

 

[Crothian]

He knew who they were he just now has names and a little more information.

 

[Supergyro]

I don't think one should expect this series to be like a Nancy Drew novel were everything conveniently gets wrapped up nicely in a bow by the end of the story. I fully expect the story will complete Kvothe's story but like real life there will be many questions left unanswered.

My response to this is the Tolstoy rule. Tolstoy's "War and Peace" is 1226 pages long. This means that at the 1227th page of reading something, it is never inappropriate for a reader to desire a little closure.

The story of Kvothe has been going on for 1670 pages and counting.

 

[Crothian]

And...?

It's not over. There has been closure with plots and story lines. He has his ups and downs. You can desire closure but the author doesn't seem to want to give it to us just yet.

Page count alone should not determine when one has closure though. Some stories need to be a hundred pages. Others are epics that need to span volumes. There are a lot of variables that go into a story and I think length is not one of the more important ones. It is important as stories can feel too long or too short. But I don't like having some hard fast page number rule that says at this page number there needs to be closure.

 

[Mort]

And...?

It's not over. There has been closure with plots and story lines. He has his ups and downs. You can desire closure but the author doesn't seem to want to give it to us just yet.

Page count alone should not determine when one has closure though. Some stories need to be a hundred pages. Others are epics that need to span volumes. There are a lot of variables that go into a story and I think length is not one of the more important ones. It is important as stories can feel too long or too short. But I don't like having some hard fast page number rule that says at this page number there needs to be closure.

''

All I said was the 2nd book drags - a lot. Especially compared to the first book. The Felurian sub-plot for example, in addition to being a bit cringe worthy was just long.

 

[Supergyro]

Page count alone should not determine when one has closure though. Some stories need to be a hundred pages. Others are epics that need to span volumes. There are a lot of variables that go into a story and I think length is not one of the more important ones. It is important as stories can feel too long or too short. But I don't like having some hard fast page number rule that says at this page number there needs to be closure.

Length is a very important part of any literary form. Length is a measure of the time the author asks his audience to stick around. The reader invests time, and the author promises to make that time worth it. A bad limerick is not going to leave nearly as poor an impression as a bad many-thousand page epic. On the other hand, there are no limericks which have had the world changing significance of The Illiad, it's a give and take.

The Tolstoy measure is quite generous, War and Peace is not considered by any means to be 'short'. It's not in any way immature to start wanting some closure in and around the 1200 page mark. It is instead mature to respect one's own time and to kindly stick to authors who have similar respect for their readers' time. There comes a point where it is totally fair for a reader to say "Look, if you're not going to wrap this up any time soon, I think I'll just go elsewhere. I really didn't sign on to read ten books over fifteen years and still not have an ending."

 

[mattcolville]

Okay, short update:

I'm now 800 pages in.....

800 pages?! Good lord. I just don't have the patience for that anymore.

 

[MerricB]

It's only about 994 pages, Matt. You don't need to be that scared - it didn't hit 1000!

Very good book. I was terribly afraid it would entirely be at the Arcanum again, but it diverged a lot.

(I'm happy - just picked up the new Jennifer Fallon book).

Cheers!

 

[Shade]

I finished it last night. That man can write! Now a painful 18 months (or more) until ithe conclusion...

 

[Krug]

Am somewhere in the middle (have the ebook version) and it's starting to drag. I'm constantly tapping on the screen to find out how much left I have to go. All the bits about mercenary sign language might be interesting to some readers but I pretty much find myself quite bored with it. I'll finish it, but it's almost becoming drudgery.