I'm a big fan of Patrick Rothfuss' Name of the Wind and Wise Man's Fear. I think he might be my favorite author. Which shouldn't imply that NotW and WMF are my favorite books, but he's the most fun author to follow on his blog and twitter I know of and his books are still really damn good regardless.
So when he is putting out a new work, even if it is merely a novella centered around a character I don't find as interesting as his others, I'm pretty excited. I wish there was more to talk about, but the fact is that there is we don't have much information surrounding the novella. All we have is the promise of trademark Rothfuss goodness. And that's enough for me.
Release date: October 24th
NOTE TO EVERYONE WHO HAS READ THE BOOKS OR THE SPOILERED SECTION BELOW: SPOILER YOUR POSTS APPROPRIATELY
F.A.Q.
So what is it about?
Not much is known. All we know is that it's centered around Auri, who lives in the Underthing at the University.
Whose Auri? Whats the Underthing? What University?
These questions indicate you haven't read Name of the Wind and Wise Man's Fear. Unfortunately for you, they're kind of required reading for this story, according to the author himself.
Well, I still want to go for it blind anyway.
Alright, well here's the skinny, spoilered for anyone who wants to discover these things through the main series:
Auri is a girl who lives in some kind of abandoned tunnel system under the only school in the world. The school is the University, and the tunnels are called the Underthing. Auri seems to have been traumatized by some kind of experience she has had, and is very scared around people and has a very odd way of looking at things, which leads to lots of cutesy dialogue such as this.
She grinned. "I have an apple that thinks it is a pear," she said, holding it up. "And a bun that thinks it is a cat. And a lettuce that thinks it is a lettuce."
"It's a clever lettuce then."
"Hardly," she said with a delicate snort. "Why would anything clever think it was a lettuce?"
"Even if it is a lettuce?" I asked.
"Especially then," she said. "Bad enough to be a lettuce. How awful to think you are a lettuce too."
Basically, think of her as a character somewhat similar to River Tam from Firefly, except less psychotic and more whimsical. It's either your thing or it's not, but if your worried she's going to be one note, don't. Rothfuss knows when to get serious and even in the main series she has moments that are played more for emotion than cute humor. You can trust him to write a fully developed character.
She grinned. "I have an apple that thinks it is a pear," she said, holding it up. "And a bun that thinks it is a cat. And a lettuce that thinks it is a lettuce."
"It's a clever lettuce then."
"Hardly," she said with a delicate snort. "Why would anything clever think it was a lettuce?"
"Even if it is a lettuce?" I asked.
"Especially then," she said. "Bad enough to be a lettuce. How awful to think you are a lettuce too."
Basically, think of her as a character somewhat similar to River Tam from Firefly, except less psychotic and more whimsical. It's either your thing or it's not, but if your worried she's going to be one note, don't. Rothfuss knows when to get serious and even in the main series she has moments that are played more for emotion than cute humor. You can trust him to write a fully developed character.
But I still recommend you read the books first.
Okay, what are those books about?
Another character entirely. Broadly speaking, it's about a barkeep that is telling the story of his life to a biographer, and his story is part coming of age, part comedy, part romance, part fairy tale, part travelogue, part epic adventure...but the best way I found of describing his story is that it's a story about stories, in all it's various features and forms. It's about Kvothe, you may have heard of him.
Kvothe? I've heard of him. Isn't he that Mary Sue protagonist?
*sigh*...okay. I wish this topic could be avoided, but since the book isn't out for another week, whatever discussion is going to be had is going to be about the main series this stems from, and it's main point of contention is about whether the main character is a mary sue. This is the direction the thread is going to head regardless of whether or not I want it to and it's a criticism that's particularly annoying to me, so I'll just clear things up now: To put it simply, no. People will tell you otherwise. They are wrong. Understandably so, as at first glance he has all the mary sue traits. However, close examination makes it clear that the answer the only way he is a mary sue is if your definition of it is so broad as to be useless and apply to most characters in fiction. He's a prodigy, and that makes him quite talented, but there is usually a well supported reason for why he succeeds at whatever ridiculous accomplishment he does, and he makes mistakes. Lots of mistakes, several of which are irrevocable. He has blindspots and prejudices and hypocrisies and anger and weaknesses. And the story itself acknowledges this. He's not the center of the universe by any means, even if he is a shining star in it. So if that's what is preventing you from reading the books, it shouldn't.
Any other reason I should read it?
The best thing I can say is about the book is that the prose is phenomonal. It's the only book series I occasionally open up to read one little snippet from here or there, just because it 'sounds' good and is really pleasurable to read. It's a book whose various passages will get stuck in your head and have you reflect on them. That's why I'm excited about this novella: As long as Rothfuss brings the writing A game he always has up until now, I'll leave satisfied. In terms of plot structure, it's very....experimental, is perhaps the best word to use. Have you ever played Halflife 2? You know how it tries all sorts of things? First a zombie horror game scenerio with Ravenholm, then you go go karting, then transfer over to a sniper mission across a bridge the next, then onto some other creative set piece. That's how this story works, spending some time with one kind of conflict, then moving onto another in a seamless transition.
I could recommend various aspects of it, but it starts heading into spoiler territory and you want to discover a lot of this yourself, trust me. That's a big part of the story as well, discovery.
Anything else?
Um....you'll learn to understand Kvothe memes without it spoiling your experience? Here's a few relatively safe ones.