The Name of the Wind
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why less rating members than A Dance with the Dragons?
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Yeah, I think you answered your own question. HBO miniseries makes for more readers. I've met some who read A Song of Ice and Fire who swear they otherwise hate fantasy. *shrug*
The first book was some of the best fantasy I had read in a long time when it came out I think... But then the second installment (the Wise Man's Fear) came along and was perhaps the worst I've read in many, many years... I really, really liked the first one, but the second has just ruined the series for me and I will not be reading the 3rd.
I couldn't even finish ADAD the first time I set to reading it. The first 50%+ of that book was one of the most tedious reads of witch I can think.Name of the wind and Wise mans fears on the the other hand I couldn't put down. Except that fay part I just didn't care anything about at least at the point in the story where it ended up.
so yea needs moar ratings plz
While I like Name Of The Wind, I've never really thought of it as a landmark fantasy book. With Martin's books I feel they belong in that category. I've never read a fantasy series that has felt like a Martin book. With Name Of The Wind I felt I have read this kind of book before. It's really good but the whole thing with Kvothe being an exceptionally gifted orphan just reminds me of other books I've read.I still haven't read either Dance With Dragons or Wise Man's Fear and both series will require me to re-read the previous books to freshen my mind so maybe Name Of The Wind will improve a bit on a second read.
I won't deny enjoying the first few ASOIFA books but it's by far the most over hyped series I have read yet and Name of the Wind was a pleasent surprise. Maybe not as realistic as far as the characters but it was well done
Song of Ice and Fire has the most in-depth and highly realistic characters than many books I've read (especially even more so among Fantasy Novels). The first three books are exceptional. Storm of Swords is brilliant. That's the kind of book that makes the whole series worth reading.Well, Name of the Wind doesn't really have such completely convincing characters, but it has more magic in it. Really, that matters to me a lot in Fantasy. And also, there's more humor in Kingkiller series than in Martin's books (Tyrion is the only Character who cracks me up every now and then, and he's there only for 15-20% of the book). Humor is very important to me in serious stories. Martin's writing is superb, but Rothfuss's writing has that sarcastic edge that keeps the narration constantly interesting.
We just cannot compare the two series. If Martin hadn't gone awandering too much in those 4th and 5th books, I would've said Song of Ice and Fire is a lot better than the Kingkiller series. Right now, I believe Kingkiller deserves more popularity than it's getting.
I have to agree that The Kingkiller Chronicles can't touch A Song of Ice and Fire. I enjoyed The Name of the Wind, though Wise Man's Fear is a slow grind. Even Martin's worst book in the series so far, Feast for Crows, was way better than Name of the Wind. So much more depth, and I actually cared about the characters a lot more. While I liked Kvothe in NotW, four hundred pages into WMF I can't stand him. In fact, right now the only characters I like are Devi and Auri. I'm really hoping it gets better. In Song of Ice and Fire, though, I don't think there's a character I dislike simply for the way they're written. They're all so good.
Aditya wrote: "Song of Ice and Fire has the most in-depth and highly realistic characters than many books I've read (...). The first three books are exceptional. Storm of Swords is brilliant..."
It's interesting, because I feel exactly the same. If Martin had stopped at 3, it would have made an exceptional series. Or even if he just had paired down 4 and 5... those just look like a collection of short stories, little related to the original (especially 5), I fear what'll happen in 6 and 7.
Now Patrick Rothfuss, I just love those books. Both of them. I don't understand people who loved the first and don't like the second, but then I don't make suggestions and I believe books are something extremely personal. Related to feelings. You don't ask someone why they're with their girlfriends if you think said girlfriend is awful, do you? ;)
So, Aditya, don't worry about less rating for Patrick. Less is better. More discerning. Let the masses get Martin, hehe
And I'm probably the only one who thinks that turning books into tv series diminishes them...
It's interesting, because I feel exactly the same. If Martin had stopped at 3, it would have made an exceptional series. Or even if he just had paired down 4 and 5... those just look like a collection of short stories, little related to the original (especially 5), I fear what'll happen in 6 and 7.
Now Patrick Rothfuss, I just love those books. Both of them. I don't understand people who loved the first and don't like the second, but then I don't make suggestions and I believe books are something extremely personal. Related to feelings. You don't ask someone why they're with their girlfriends if you think said girlfriend is awful, do you? ;)
So, Aditya, don't worry about less rating for Patrick. Less is better. More discerning. Let the masses get Martin, hehe
And I'm probably the only one who thinks that turning books into tv series diminishes them...
Well, Mortal Instruments is definitely not as good as the Kingkiller series, but still the first three books of the Mortal Instruments series has more than 1 lakh raters (1/10 million). But of course, I can understand that the Kingkiller series has very huge books. All Mortal Instruments books are medium size books. But still, I'm sad that the Kingkiller series is not getting enough popularity it deserves. I would've been very sad even if Song of Ice and Fire didn't get enough raters. I like both the series.And hey, look at the Hunger Games series. It has really ridiculously huge number of raters. First book has 780 thousand raters. Second one (Catching Fire) got 507 thousand. And the third got 449 thousand. Why are these books so hugely popular? Well, I didn't read even one book in this series. I want to read to know why this series is so hugely popular. But I'm afraid I'll get disappointed. Well, may be the books being small might be one good reason for why they are so popular.
Well, for a while lately I'm obsessed with finding out which book got how many ratings.I'm very surprised to know that the Lord of the Rings got only 134 thousand raters. And well, then I'm relieved to see that The Fellowship of the Rings got 537 thousand raters. But then I'm again disappointed to find that The Two Towers and the Return of the King got 167 and 162 thousand raters respectively. Why the decline in popularity after the first book? LOTR sold more than 150 million copies worldwide, but it didn't get enough raters on Goodreads. I am tempted to conclude that most people who read LOTR are old readers who don't use internet much, and that the younger generation is mostly satisfied with watching the Peter Jackson movies and then are reading the first book and mostly leaving the rest two books.
Personally, I think you're a bit hung up on number of ratings. One of the best books I have ever read only has around 14,000 ratings (ave rating 4.42). Some of my favorites even fall under 1000 ratings. Quantity does not necessarily equal quality.
... well, but the average rating is still better than that of 'A game of thrones' and any of the LOTR books. o_oI have yet to read this one (it was a recommendation by a friend) but there's still a lot more other stuff on my list. /:
@ Sparrowlicious - I was talking about popularity dear Sparrow. I was talking about popularity on Goodreads.
@ Random - I didn't get hung on anything. I was just interested in numbers. I very well know that the number of ratings on Goodreads doesn't represent the over all popularity. The highest sold Novel ever (as long as you don't consider Bible a Novel) is A tale of two cities has got only 200 thousand ratings here. I'm just interested to know how much the internet using population are interested in each book. But still then it gives only a vague idea. :)
The Kingkiller series is great but it's not in the same league as A Song of Ice and Fire.
I'm sorry if I'm comparing quality, but I've always been a lobbyist for my own opinion. The Kingkiller Chronicles was an exceptionally written novel, but it lacks the suspense or even the shock value that ASOIF pertains. There was only a couple characters that I could even picture in my head in The Name of the Wind as opposed to ASOIF. Now, as for popularity, ASOIF does indeed have the HBO show to entice more readers, but the novel itself panders not only to fans of Fantasy. Another thing is the awards. With reader coteries like Hugo and Locus, ASOIF is introduced to much more fans as well. Unfortunately, The Name of the Wind is only seen as a novel for SF fans. Both are novels have their merit as well.
Steve, I've been reading the Kingkiller series recently, and I do agree with you. The writing is absolutely brilliant, but overall, Martin's series is on a different level altogether. The characters are a lot more realistic and the politics a lot more deep.
The Kingkiller Chronicles for me are more original less derivative of any other fantasy books. I've enjoyed them thus far. More magic and fantasy in them than Ice and Fire, imo. While writing is good, it is the politics of ASOIf that has turned me off to it. It seems less about magic and fantasy: too many battles, too many people killing each other, too many sub plots to keep track of from book to book. Way over blown, someone should have edited the last 2 books down to one. I won't be reading any more of them as my (only) favorite character was killed off in the last book.
I think Martin's books reach a broader audience because they aren't strictly fantasy. In fact, the fantasy elements do not come to the forefront until well into the series. The narrative is more political in nature. I've read ASOIAF and both Rothfuss books and think comparing them isn't really fair. Martin's books are epic; he is a master world builder. Rothfuss's books are more subtle, more lyrical. Both are powerful stories that I couldn't stop reading.
I would probably compare TNOTW to something like the Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks before I compared it to ASOIAF.
Nelly wrote: "I think Martin's books reach a broader audience because they aren't strictly fantasy. In fact, the fantasy elements do not come to the forefront until well into the series. The narrative is more p..."
Really? I don't even think Shannara deserves to be in the same subject as ASOIF or TKC.
Really? I don't even think Shannara deserves to be in the same subject as ASOIF or TKC.
I didn't say Shannara deserved to be in the same subject as ASOIF; I said Shannara is comparable to TNOTW.
Davytron wrote: "I didn't say Shannara deserved to be in the same subject as ASOIF; I said Shannara is comparable to TNOTW."I'm reading the Wishsong of Shannara right now. I like the series. I find the writing good especially the descriptions and details. I think Brooks has gotten better with each book where Martin suffers from Harry Potter syndrome: more words = more $$, nevermind if story suffers. And I agree with you Kingkiller is more in the same vein with Shannara than Ice and Fire.
I liked Name of the Wind more than all of the game of throne series.To be honest, I have been really disappointed with game of thrones since after I finished book 3.
The Name Of The Wind was a really good fantasy that nobody can deny it. I liked Game Of Thrones too. But the tv series of Game Of Throns made it more popular and more wanted to read by ppl. I think The Name Of the Wind shouldnt be compared to GOF because even they accept by ppl as fantasy they are not in the same category. But Name Of The Wind must get more popular. This book deserve to be read by more ppl.
Chris wrote: "I have to agree that The Kingkiller Chronicles can't touch A Song of Ice and Fire. I enjoyed The Name of the Wind, though Wise Man's Fear is a slow grind. Even Martin's worst book in the series s..."Just finished A Feast for Crows, so far series worst. Like A Wise Man's Fear, Feast runs for a very long time with little story development - For Feast, A Jaime and Cersei marathon with Brienne's real-time quest for Sansa thrown in. A few chapters with Arya the only Stark connection. For AWMF, Kvoth gets out of school only long enough to learn about sex and road trips. Spring break?
Both books are also just parts of a larger tale with an unpublished ending. (TV's LOST has the same glacial pace.) The difference for lack of rating? So far Rothfuss has had nothing to say despite having a very enjoyable writing style. He only alludes to the larger world and it gets harder to relate to young Kvothe. Whereas, Martin provides a host of characters to enjoy while the story wallows and does a better job at creating a cohesive world. I agree, HBO certainly put Martin back on the map for readership and ratings, because 2005's A Feast for Crows is meager fare being the only book published between 2000 (A Storm of Swords)and 2010 (A Dance with Dragons.) Luckily I joined the series late.
I liked "The Name of the Wind" for the story and the mystery of the Chandrian. I do not think the storytelling, the characters, or the setting are as well developed as the ASOIF series.The ASOIF engages your imagination and your intellect, while the Kingkiller series makes you want to find out what happened. That's the difference for me. The only concept that really engages my imagination is the "Chandrian" and the "real names" of the elements.
I'm dying to read the next book in the ASOIF series, and even though the second book in the Kingkiller series has been out since last year, I still haven't read it.
I'm a huge of A Song of Ice and Fire but to be perfectly frank I enjoyed The Name of the Wind much more than A Dance with Dragons. A dance with dragons wasn't a horrible book, it was good but compared to the previous four book it was very weak and disappointing. I finished the Name of the Wind couple of days ago and enjoyed it immensely and am looking forward to reading the second book. But as a series I don't think the kingkiller chronicles can even hold a candle to a song of ice and fire series.
As for the popularity, I agree that the HBO show did the trick. I found out about the series after watching the show. But it doesn't mean that every book series can achieve ASOIAF's success by just being turned into a TV show.
You might as well argue why J. Bieber has more facebook fans than J. Morrison. Not that I'm drawing parallels, but it's equally pointless.
A Game of Thrones broke into the mainstream before the HBO series. Several years ago the publisher reprinted the back catalog with generic, non-fantasy covers (the same way Rowling's publishers did when her books broke out of the YA market). They knew the series had broken outside of the fantasy market.A few years ago I was reading a Game of Thrones on the subway. I looked up and noticed there were two other people in my car reading the same book. Same thing with the Stig Larrson's "Girl with the (etc.)" books - when I was in Mexico a couple years ago I saw 7 or 8 people at the pool reading them.
Books reach a level of popularity where they just take off. They hit that mass market of people who only read three or four books a year, all of them bestsellers. About four years ago the Song of Ice and Fire series joined Harry Potter and the LotR as the only fantasy books to reach that kind of of mass popularity. Which suggests there are elements to Martin's series that appeal strongly to readers outside the fantasy genre, while that's not the case with Rothfuss' books.
I agree with you Rob, but we should also remember that the game of thrones was published in 1996 and it wasn't an immediate success. This series become more and more popular over time. But the Kingkiller series is fairly new compared to A song of ice and fire series and they're quite popular.
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I'm not comparing the quality of these two books. In comparison, The Name of the Wind is far better than ADAD. Song of Ice and Fire is a terrific series on a whole (the first three books are just simply exceptional. Storytelling at it's very very very best). Kingkiller is as good a series as Song of Ice and Fire. No doubts about it. But why the less popularity on Goodreads. Just 51 thousand members rated the first book? And only 31 thousand for the second book? Ridiculous. These two are very good books. But why the less popularity than the equally well written Song of Ice and Fire? Kingkiller books being very large surely must not be the reason because Song of Ice and Fire books are not small at any rate.
Well, may be the HBO TV series is doing the trick for the Song of Ice and Fire series. May be the TV series. That must be the only logical explanation. Just 51 thousand for TNOTW? Come on Patrick. Get some TV channel take your story or sell rights to some very good Film making company. You surely deserve lot more popularity than you are getting. It can really boost up your book sales.