I have routinely seen this opinion, and I liken it to saying that Shawshank Redemption is a prison escape story.
In KKC, the reader is an observer, where the main character unreliably narrates their journey in 1st person to someone else as the young MC would have perceived it. The POV is central how you perceive the story. KKC never clicks if taken at face value. Kvothe is portrayed as a clumsy prodigy every step of the way. From the way he projects his insecurities onto his female counterpart to the chasm between how he perceives himself and how others perceive him. Young Kvothe is a mess, and old Kvothe knows it.
I can't imagine any serious reader who'd put themselves in Kvothe's shoes. KKC is not a hero story. The reader is actively discouraged against taking Kvothe's self-image as truth. His life is a disaster. Kvothe is closer to Forrest Gump or Icarus, than a Mary Sue.
IMO, it is unfair to criticize it from outside of the context that it exists in. "KKC is not grimdark enough for my liking", is stylistic preference. It isn't a shortcoming of the book that same way that "Queen's lyrics are too simple" is not a shortcoming of Queen.
In KKC, the reader is an observer, where the main character unreliably narrates their journey in 1st person to someone else as the young MC would have perceived it. The POV is central how you perceive the story. KKC never clicks if taken at face value. Kvothe is portrayed as a clumsy prodigy every step of the way. From the way he projects his insecurities onto his female counterpart to the chasm between how he perceives himself and how others perceive him. Young Kvothe is a mess, and old Kvothe knows it.
I can't imagine any serious reader who'd put themselves in Kvothe's shoes. KKC is not a hero story. The reader is actively discouraged against taking Kvothe's self-image as truth. His life is a disaster. Kvothe is closer to Forrest Gump or Icarus, than a Mary Sue.
IMO, it is unfair to criticize it from outside of the context that it exists in. "KKC is not grimdark enough for my liking", is stylistic preference. It isn't a shortcoming of the book that same way that "Queen's lyrics are too simple" is not a shortcoming of Queen.