The Slow Regard of Silent Things is a very charming book. It didn't matter about it not making sense half of the time, because, for me, that is what made it so different and appealing. I mean, the words Patrick Rothfuss has strewn together are way superior to any other normal story we've read countless of times over and over again. For example. I just finished reading Courting Darkness, and it didn't even come close to being as good as this was IMO. I am one of those people who likes this story. Just like his friend Vi whom Patrick mentions in the endnote

I needed to hear these words "It was the worst sort of selfishness to force yourself upon the world." page 108. Wow! So fun and captivating!

I had a craving to read this book again. So I looked on my library's website, and saw they had the audiobook. I had listened to Patrick Rothfuss read a storybook on his livestream one night. And lo and behold, he happened to be the narrator for this audiobook. I'm not particularly sure which event occurred first, but it doesn't really matter. I listened to it, and this man has such a delightful, comforting voice. I don't do audiobooks, and unless he's the narrator, I'm not sure I will ever enjoy one as much as I enjoyed this one. This is officially my favourite novel.

Let me first state that I love Patrick Rothfuss’s Name of the Wind. Let me state that I have been waiting anxiously for the book series to continue. Let me then state that I was not happy when The Slow Regard of Silent Things came out because I don’t like novellas and I feel cheated. I’m becoming impatient with Rothfuss. I want him to finish the series because I am starting to forget what was important (let me tell you, the books are huge with a massive amount of information). Now when I saw this novella at my local library as a new released audiobook I wanted to give it a try. Now let me state:

 

 

What a waste of time!

 

I am so glad I did not spend a single cent on this book. I love Auri and find her character very interesting. But I do not want to read a boring book about her boring days of her moving something somewhere else and back. This story had no purpose whatsoever.

 

What got me even more outraged was Rothfuss epilogue in which he pretty much said, that he knows that many readers will be disappointed with the book and that basically they are too dumb to understand the meaning of the story. That this book is so special that only an elite of people will understand it. Excuse me?! This epilogue made everything worse. He even says all the things why this should not be sold as a published book but decides to do it anyway under the disguise that only smart people will see the true meaning of it. So now if I say I did not like the book I can count myself into the group of people to stupid to get the “beauty” of this book?! Sorry, Rothfuss, but that is not how it works.

 

I still think Rothfuss is an amazing writer but I’m starting to get the feeling that he is over-estimating himself. He is riding high on the praise he got for the Kingkiller’s Chronicles but he forgets to back up the praise. There are so many amazing writers out there and if he is not careful he will get forgotten just because he could not finish his book.

 

I understand the wish of an author to write stories about their characters that might not fit in the actual book. But if it had just been for that, if he just wanted to write something different, then he should have just published it on his website for free. His fans would have loved it and everyone not liking it would have just shrugged it off. But asking for an outrageous amount of money for a story that is not really one is the fastest way to piss off your fans.

Le daria veinte mil estrellas. Le daria la Vía Lactea entera. Le daría todo el universo de estrellas.
No tengo palabras para explicar como esta historia se metio en mi corazón y la manera en que me hizo sentir. No hay sensación más hermosa.
Patrick explico como esta novela no es como muchas otras: No hace lo que se supone que debe hacer. Un relato tiene que tener diálogos, acción, conflictos. Tiene que tener más de un personaje.
Y, sin embargo, nada de eso le hizo falta.
Si bien no es una historia para nada convencional, es la cosa mas maravillosa que haya leído jamás.


"No sé que pensarán los demás. Seguramente no les gustará. Pero a mí me ha encantado."

My first book of the year was one that was forced upon me by the threat of the library ripping it off of my eReader before I had even a chance to begin. It seems like a good opening for a beginning.

 

The novella is ... unique. I wouldn't recommend it for someone who hasn't read at least The Name of the Wind (which is excellent). It's good to have some background or you are going to get lost quickly.

 

This is Auri's story. Not her complete story, but her story. What does she do in the course of a week? How does she interact with the world around her? That is what you see, and it is enchanting. 

 

Rothfuss' prose just floats off the page:

 

"But this was not a time for begging favors from the moon. Not now. She could not rush and neither could she be delayed. Some things were simply too important."

 

For a story without dialogue or traditional characters, I found myself invested into this girls life. I have questions, as you do in the Kingkiller Chronicles, but never did I imagine 'Would the gear ever find a place?' would be one of them. I was so damned worried about the gear! I haven't been that emotionally attached to something inanimate since the many rewatchings of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. 

 

In addition to the story, there is some lovely artwork scattered throughout. With these and with the ethereal prose, it almost feels like a old world fairy tale. Just one without a definite end. 

 

I enjoyed it though and was glad that this was the forced beginning to my book reading 2015.