Book Review: The Slow Regard of Silent Things

I absolutely love both The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. Its probably my favorite fantasy series of all time. So I knew going into The Slow Regard of Silent Things that this was going to be a major departure from those two. I guess I wasn't fully prepared for how different this would end up being.

The Slow Regard of Silent Things is a tale about Auri a side character in the first two novels who crosses paths with the novels main protagonist quite often. We always knew there was more to Auri then let on and this was Rothfuss chance to illuminate her as a character. In some ways it works and in others it doesn't. I found it enchanting that Rothfuss who reads the audiobook gives you a number of reasons not to purchase the book and then closes the short story telling everyone why he wrote it. It's a really odd tale and different then anything I've ever read before.

Its a very nicely weaved story that isn't what you would call plot heavy. There were times where I drifted off and others where I wanted to know more. Heck at the end of the day I still feel like I still only slightly understand Auri. She's still full of mystery and in a lot of ways I feel like I know less about her now then I did before. If you're a giant fan of the first two books then its worth a read, otherwise you probably want to stay clear of this one.