“The Lightning Tree” appears in the anthology Rogues; it’s a novella, 58 pages long, and it’s about Bast. The idea of an anthology of stories about rogues is fascinating—rogues themselves are such an interestingly ambiguous kind of character. A rogue isn’t a villain—or isn’t necessarily a villain, but is inherently up to something. What we have here seems to be a story about a delightful charming person who is doing some things for mysterious reasons.
It’s interesting to consider how “The Lightning Tree” would appear to somebody who hadn’t read The Name of the Wind or The Wise Man’s Fear, and who was discovering Rothfuss for the first time with this story. It would be such a different reading experience that it would be hard to say whether somebody doing that would even have read the same story I did. For them, it would be the story of a young man who works in an inn and who is powerfully attractive to and attracted to women. He also helps out children in a complicated system of exchanges, all of them fascinating and some of them obviously magical.
What would they think of it? I’d be intrigued, I think. One of Rothfuss’s real strengths is his way with evocative details, and this is on full display here in the bargains Bast makes with the children. What I wouldn’t see is Rothfuss’s skill with story. This almost isn’t a story—it’s a day in Bast’s life before The Name of the Wind—it could be the day before that book starts. It’s the record of some incidents, told charmingly, almost artlessly, but without any narrative urgency, or even all that much narrative. There’s a thin thread of connection, and everything happens in one afternoon. It’s charming, Bast’s charming and loveable and only a tiny bit scary, and the trick he plays is clever and effective, I think I’d like it and be drawn in and want more.
It would be an odd place from which to approach the books, but not a bad one. It will be interesting to talk to people who discover Rothfuss this way and see what the experience is like for people who begin reading knowing this much about Bast and nothing about anything else.
What I read, in the full context of the novels. was a story that answers some questions but raises far more. I kept wanting to jump up and down and point things out to everyone—don’t worry, I’ll be doing a spoiler review as soon as the book is out and doing precisely that. Meanwhile, you can rest assured that this is a fascinating novella about a normal day in Bast’s life in Newarre before Chronicler shows up, in the mode of the Interludes, with fascinating hints about the world, if not about Kvothe.
And you can have the vorfreude, or joy of anticipation, both of the story, and of a long spoiler post once everyone else can read it.
Rogues is available June 17th from Random House.
We’ll be reviewing additional stories from the anthology soon, look for them all here!
Jo Walton is a science fiction and fantasy writer. She’s published three poetry collections and nine novels, including the Hugo and Nebula winning Among Others. She has just published a collection of her Tor.com posts, What Makes This Book So Great. She has a new novel My Real Children coming out in May. She reads a lot, and blogs about it here irregularly. She comes from Wales but lives in Montreal where the food and books are more varied.
I can’t read it yet.
This is just cruel.
Wow, I’m definitely interested to know what the questions are that were answered in this story. And I’ll take a bet that, knowing Rothfuss’ style, there are about a thousand (hyperbole!) hidden clues for Book Three in “The Lightning Tree.” So…I’m excited to read it now, doubly so to read it after Book Three is released.
FWIW – I’ve read the Rothfuss story because I wound up with a copy of Rogues for review. And I am your opposite; this was my first exposure to Rothfuss (long story). I found this tale engaging enough to make a mental note to seek out more Rothfuss when time permits. It works well as a short story, once you figure out which parts a first time reader needs to pay attention to. But the full effect was clearly lost on me, if your post is any indication.
I talked with Jo a bit about this (only non-spoilers) at Punch Pizza in Minneapolis after her reading at Uncle Hugo’s. She was quite enthusiastic as we can see in the review here. I’m looking forward to reading and then discussing this quite a lot.
It’s far more satisfying than “How Old Holly Came to Be” was in terms of story and structure and shows off a bit of what I’ve really come to appreciate about Rothfuss’s work. I reckon anyone who’s spent time with Jo’s Reread will be pleased on a few levels. I’m looking forward to the spoiler discussion.
martinimade@3
Thanks for the outsider perspective. It’s hearteneing to see that it worked for you. Like Jo, I have no critical distance.
Martinimade: Thank you so much for this perspective.
The Lightning Tree sounds engaging, and I like Bast, so it’s on my to-read list.
My first exposure to Rothfuss was How Old Holly Came to Be. Bad start. I didn’t exactly want to run out and scoop up Pat’s books after that. It was my friends from the WoT re-read who convinced me to try tNotW, and I appreciate their persistence now.
@6… That woukld be a rough start. Very rough.
I feared this would be on the same lines…thankfully this was much ‘fuller’. Excellent, actually. Such a painful tease for the initiated… D3 seems impossibly far away…
So… anyone else sense that this story was in part a tribute to GRRM?
I just finished it and I adored it. I have not read the Kingkiller Chronicles but they just moved way up my list above Sanderson’s Saga as of tonight. As a reader I picked up on all the magical insinuation and background of the character. Everything is implied. The whole story is just one “OOOooOOO” moment after another. Excellent read.
> even all that much narrative.
I disagree. The way everything comes together at the end showed a lot of subtle plotting, and he even managed to squeeze in one subplot with spoilers Bast and Emberlee’s two-way voyeuristic, exhibistionist relationship (she’s spying on him when he bathes). I also love how that’s left to the reader to discern, and isn’t explicit. Favourite detail was how he made sure Rike’s dad didn’t die by sending those two kids to the waterfall.
@9. Pyrrhus
There is indeed a wink to GRRM at some point ^^
it was delightful
I can help you here. I bought Rogues and read it in story order; I have my own ideas about Rogues and the problems of writing them – the problem of murder, the problem of class, the problem of reciprocity, etc. – and so I had none of the usual inclination to jump around to known authors or intriguing subtopics. The Lightning Tree hooked me with the character of Bast – he has the name of a cat god, he yawns and stretches and has lots of sex, what’s going on here? And he’s hot – looking for cat qualities in his description causes the reader to pay far more attention to his body than is really proper. So now I’m reading the Name Of The Wind and it doesn’t have nearly enough Bast in it, at least so far, and it breaks a lot of the lovely origin-mystery narrative tension that the novella accidentally set up. Oh well.
Finally got my hands on this! It certainly puts a different slant on Bast’s daily activities than I’d have imagined. Well, some of them, anyway.
@bluejo : Can’t wait for the next post(s) in your Rothfus reread, particularly one on the lightning tree. Given the fervent pace of your previous reread posts I’m a little surprised you haven’t done one already. Is everything alright? Busy with your own writing?
Any eta on a Re-read detailed spoiler version of the Lightning tree?
Any info on a reread of lightning tree or slow regard of silent things?
I’m taking a look at The Slow Regard of Silent Things at The Larkin Ledgers. I reckon I’ll do “The Lighting Tree” after that. Then start working through some of the other stuff.
Wow. I was so surprised to see only 18 comments! Where are are the usual suspects? I thought I’d find fascinating analytical observations, piecing together new theories or adding support for old ones . . . instead, here we are 8 months later, still waiting! Where is everybody?
Never having read anything from Rothfuss before, and not knowing Bast, this is definitely mouthwatering. Great pacing, amazing details, world-building and backstory not explicitly explained, but implied and palpable in every sentence, and a superb plot that only comes to fruition on the very last pages. Left me wanting more ;)
I envy you then, tlbx…because you still have the delight of discovery awaiting you in the Kingkiller Chronicles, Day 1 and Day 2 (The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man’s Fear). Be sure to read these before you try Auri’s book: The Slow Regard of Silent Things.
Hi Jo. This is precisely how I came to first read Patrick Rothfuss. I bought the book, Rogues on my kobo. Loved it, but when I got to the second last story, this one, i was blown away. I loved his writing style. I knew that Bast is most likely a satyr, because of the way he moves. I knew he was fae. Its a brilliant piece of writing, and stands alone very well, but it made me starving to read more of this author, whom I had never heard of, and now I have read all the books twice since september.
I have to admit that when I first started reading The Name of the Wind, I was disappointed that Bast wasn’t the main character and I still want to know a lot more about him. But I didn’t stay disappointed for very long at all :)
Hello,everyone I’m actually translating this novella and i need your help.
could you tell me where or what is (Rhis) in the following phrase?
Bast:” I can say with some authority that Martin is not making hillwine. It’s lovely stuff. It’s halfway to Rhis, and that’s not something I say lightly.”
I’ve been racking my brains, so I’d really appreciate your help.
Hopefully someone who knows wine will also answer, because I am only guessing. But if Bast is making comparisons to the quality of the wine that is being produced, obviously “hillwine” is not something to be desired, while Rhis must be a well-developed, high-quality product. Sometimes Rothfuss uses a name that hints at something we know in our world, but other times he just creates from scratch. If it’s supposed to remind us of something we know, could it be Reisling? I don’t recall: is there information about what Martin is using to produce his wine? Is it grapes? Or some other fruit?
Thank you srEDIT.
There’s just one reference: “There was something of apples about it, and … barley.”
But now I know what a “Rhis” might be and that helps a lot. it makes sense. appreciate your quick response :)
Well, apples and barley…especially the barley part…suggests whiskey, although we already have whiskey mentioned with a different name. Wikipedia tells me there is such a thing as barley wine, which is actually an “old ale,” and of course, brandy can be made from apples. So I don’t think the grape variety Reisling can be an accurate translation of this name Rhis.
Many readers point out the wish-fulfillment unrealism of Kvothe’s alleged sex life in the latter part of Wise Man’s Fear, but I’ve seen no such objections about Bast. Is it because he’s “obviously magical” and implicitly fae, so his universal desirability is more plausible than that of a teenage human boy?
Well, if we take the two examples we’ve been given…Fellurian and Bast…it seems that in Rothfuss’s world the fae are all compulsive sexual beings. The reason we saw Kvothe’s story as being teen wish-fulfillment is that Kvothe was indeed an inexperienced teenager and he was drawn into something “beyond his control” and outside the sexual mores of his society or ours.
I don’t think Bast’s desirability is more plausible, only that his actions are more deliberate and we do assume that he is an adult, making his own free choices (and perhaps projecting some of the same influences as Fellurian).
Personally, I would rather be Bast than Kvothe. Go figure. Though if he’s magically seducing people as Felurian does, that’s kind of skeevy.
I just read the Lightning Tree and have never read Rothfuss before. i found the story very compelling. I found the diescriptions of the events very well written. it left me wanting to know more. I felt as if I was dropped into a world I knew nothing about. I am looking forward to reading the The Name of the Wind as I believe it will be very good and give me more of the back story.
Well, this story is backstory, in a sense, the rest is more like “front story,” but you should enjoy it just as much. Don’t forget though, that the planned trilogy has only been published through Book 2: Wise Man’s Fear, so you’ll be dropped in the middle of the overarching story. And if you enjoy a character study with very little actual “plot” attached, be sure to include Slow Regard of Silent Things, for more background on a girl you’ll meet whom Kvothe names Auri.
This is strange. I would have sworn I remembered that Jo *had* done a spoiler review of this story, but I can’t find any reference to it on TOR, so I guess not. That’s too bad, because there are details here that didn’t pop for me until this latest reading, the most obvious being:
Is this the same “lightning tree” as we saw in the Eld during WMF?
Is it possible that Newarre was that close but remained undiscovered until after the bandit camp was destroyed? Kvothe wouldn’t have known initially, because they all attempted to cut across the forest, but he was drawn into Fae and then released somewhere else later.