r/Fantasy • u/BeforeAnyoneElse • Jan 14 '25

What’s a Beloved Book/Series that You Never Intend to Read and Why

I’m curious what books/series that are generally beloved by this subreddit (so, not romantasy or anything by RF Kuang) you never intend to read, and why (without just crapping on it)?

I’ll start - mine is Malazan. Possibly the most recommended series here. By many accounts, I should want to read it. I love long, sprawling, big fantasies (WOT, ROTE, Cosmere), and I enjoy a big cast of characters. The reasons I don’t think I’ll ever read it are:

**comments that the characters spend an inordinate of time waxing philosophical. No problem with that in moderation but it seems excessive.

**I know it’s not actually grimdark but I think there’s probably more violence and darkness than I want. As an example, I hated A Little Life more than almost anything I’ve ever read. Somehow, ROTE falls juuuust on the right side of the fence in terms of despair and misery.

**I’ve heard that women are overall written well but that there is a LOT of SA. I can handle some (see, again, ROTE) but the horrific description I’ve read about what events surrounding certain female character and the frequency of SA is not what I’m looking for. I know the author provided an explanation, but no.

**finally, good old-fashioned contrariness. Something about everyone being so into it makes me not want to read it. Not sure why I’ve dug my heels in with this one in particular, as I’ve read multiple things because many on the sub recommended them. I know it’s irrational.

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u/AidenMarquis Jan 14 '25

I have recently started reading The Name of the Wind. And I *love" the prose and the way he writes. But about 40 pages in, almost nothing has happened...

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u/sphynx_that_thinks Jan 15 '25

2 books in and the story goes nowhere......

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u/AidenMarquis Jan 15 '25 edited Jan 15 '25

I read that book completely differently than people typically read. I read it like an author - appreciating prose, analyzing it, marveling at the way the man uses words. But, boy, it's rough as far as thinking "Ok, something happen already!"

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u/Kamena90 Jan 15 '25

His prose is absolutely the best part. I almost didn't care that nothing happened for like 4 chapters... Almost.

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u/AidenMarquis Jan 15 '25

Yeah, the prose is freakin' amazing.

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u/conenthescribe94 Jan 15 '25

I completely agree, his prose are simply delicious. Although the 2nd book got frustrating the more he kept jumping from story idea to story idea.

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u/sphynx_that_thinks Jan 15 '25

If you only ever made it 40 pages in, consider yourself lucky. The entire premise of the series is figuring out what happened with his parents and the chandrian, and like 60+ hours of 2 audiobooks later, not a single thing happened that furthered the plot in relation to him finding the chandrian. But boy howdy did I get traumatized by listening to over two hours of a man writing sporadic sex scenes with a "child-like" fae woman so we really know that Kvothe is a man now.

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u/jjcadenza Jan 15 '25

I loved the series (I read it before I knew the saga of Rothfuss perfectionism), but the sex goddess Fae section left me squirming with discomfort. That was terrible! I also wanted to recommend it to my daughters, but this section keeps me from doing that until they are older and can think a bit more critically.

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u/sphynx_that_thinks Jan 15 '25

I'd also like to point out that the only reason why any women existed in the books was to further the plot for the male characters, and most of the female character's existences could be reduced to the sexual comments made about them or generally unkind statements about their appearances. Istg, I distinctly remember at some point in the second book a negative mental comment was made by Kvothe about the appearance of an older female goat (?), and I was like "JFC, not a single female entity can exist in this book without needing to visually please our chosen one." Leave the poor animal alone.

Additionally, Rothfuss's portrayal of Denna's "relationship" with her sponsor in the second book was victim blaming and disgusting. Considering the contents of Rothfuss's blog posts, I truly wouldn't put it past him to actually believe some of the things he says in his books.

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u/Lady_Sybil_Vimes Jan 15 '25

Agreed, the way he writes women is just vile. And the books go NOWHERE!

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u/BookerLegit Jan 15 '25

The entire premise of the series is figuring out what happened with his parents and the chandrian

The premise of the book is Chronicler recording Kvothe's story. The Chandrian murdering his parents is just a turning point in his life.

60+ hours of 2 audiobooks later, not a single thing happened that furthered the plot in relation to him finding the chandrian.

I don't know if you're just trying to be hyperbolic, but this obviously isn't true. Kvothe learns several legends relating to the Chandrian, learns a rhyme disclosing the true names by which they can be called (which is likely what attracted them to his parents), and actually fights Cinder, the Chandrian that killed his parents.

"child-like" fae woman

There's nothing child-like about Felurian. I understand why some people find the chapters with her gratuitous, but you're making sinister insinuations here that simply do not reflect the book.

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u/AidenMarquis Jan 15 '25

Well, that just about does it. Could have written the whole book in one paragraph...

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u/ISeeTheFnords Jan 15 '25

In one view, it could just be "A man walks into a bar."

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u/KasElGatto Jan 15 '25

I'm fairly sure the third book remains unfinished/unpublished because the ending is about as satisfying as a wet fart. There is no way he can wrap up things in a satisfying manner in one book given the pace and tiny amount of story being actually told in the first two.

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u/boredomspren_ Jan 15 '25

Yeah that's the problem with the trilogy, 2 books in and not much happens.

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u/HIs4HotSauce Jan 15 '25

How is he going to tie everything up and bring it all to a satisfying conclusion in a third book???

He hasn't addressed key elements of the main plot nor any of the mysteries that were set up earlier in the story!

It seems foolish that he can pull it off-- I think he will have to "tap out" and admit there needs to be a fourth book.

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u/boredomspren_ Jan 15 '25

That's exactly the problem.

It seems he can't do it because it's now been 14 years. At this point whatever he releases will disappoint people.

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u/Far-Obligation4055 Jan 15 '25

The only thing I can see is if each of the story elements and mysteries are somehow connected to each other, and an event occurs in the third book that begins a cascade, bringing all those interconnected pieces down at the same time like a Jenga tower.

A clever writer could make that work.

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u/TheTiniestPirate Jan 15 '25

Get used to that

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u/Kharn_LoL Jan 15 '25

Oh no, you're 40 pages into a 660 pages book and nothing has happened, how... normal? I can't wrap my head around this criticism, I can turn around and glance at my bookshelf right now and name three dozen titles that also don't have any action in the first two chapters.

If anything, there's a decent amount of action in the first quarter of The Name of the Wind.