Patrick Rothfuss hints that 'The Doors of Stone' may not be the last we read of his world

Anyone who has read the first two books in The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss will know that the series is simply outstanding. It is easily one of the best works of fantasy being published at the moment and, in much the same manner as GRRM is struggling to finish The Winds of Winter, Rothfuss is still far from finishing its third and final instalment - The Doors of Stone. In fact, the novel doesn't even have a release date yet and Rothfuss is reluctant to even give us a general idea of when we can expect the date to be set. It's frustrating waiting, especially since the second book in the trilogy came out way back in 2011! I'm not inclined to rush Rothfuss though and in the end, we'll get the book he wants us read and deserve as fans . . .

That doesn't mean that Rothfuss is completely quiet on the matter, however, and, although he's just confirmed in an interview that The Doors of Stone will be the last instalment of the trilogy that resolves the story arc, he has hinted that this will not be the last book he rights in that world! I suppose there's always a silver lining in everything, afterall!

Unfettered - Shawn Speakman

RATING: THREE STARS

Unfettered is a delightful collection of short stories by some of the biggest names in fantasy, who have all donated their work to an anthology that is raising money for Shawn Speakman's cancer therapy. The authors included have really allowed their imaginations to run wild and the book is filled with magic and excitement. Many authors have based their stories on their best selling series and they provide further insight into their characters for fans and an opening into their worlds for new readers!

The contents of the collection is as follows:

• Imaginary Friends by Terry Brooks 
• How Old Holly Came To Be by Patrick Rothfuss 
• The Old Scale Game by Tad Williams 
• Game of Chance by Carrie Vaughn 
• The Martyr of the Roses by Jacqueline Carey
• Mudboy by Peter V. Brett
• The Sound of Broken Absolutes by Peter Orullian
• The Coach with Big Teeth by R.A. Salvatore
• Keeper of Memory by Todd Lockwood
• Heaven in a Wild Flower by Blake Charlton
• Dogs by Daniel Abraham
• The Chapel Perilous by Kevin Hearne
• Select Mode by Mark Lawrence
• All the Girls Love Michael Stein by David Anthony Durham
• Strange Rain by Jennifer Bosworth
• Nocturne by Robert V.S. Redick
• Unbowed by Eldon Thompson
• In Favour with Their Stars by Naomi Novik
• River of Souls by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson
• The Jester by Michael J. Sullivan
• The Duel by Lev Grossman
• Walker and the Shade of Allanon by Terry Brooks
• The Unfettered Knight by Shawn Speakman

The UK edition of Unfettered also includes a bonus story: The Twilight Dragon by Shawn Speakman.

The Good
Some of the stories in Unfettered are superb and I really enjoyed the ones that were linked to the primary works of other pieces. The ones by Terry Brooks were both very good and the anthology also included Mudboy by Peter V. Brett - a short story that introduces a new character that will appear in The Demon Cycle!

Of all the stories in the collection, however, my favourite has to be Unbowed by Eldon Thompson. Thompson has based his entry around a character from his Legend of Asahiel trilogy. The story was exciting and heartbreaking, following the tortuous training and initiation of an assassin, and introduced me to a series that I never knew existed! I'm now very excited to read The Crimson Sword, the first book in Thompson's series, and have already added it to my reading list on Goodreads!

The Bad
Although I enjoyed Unfettered and thought it was good overall, I did find it a bit hit and miss. Some of the stories were much better than others and (rather sadly) a few of them were actually quite bland and boring. I found myself skipping through parts of the book, which is a shame really as all of the authors are very respected and have published many fantastic stories through their career.

I have to say that I was particularly disappointed with the stories by Patrick Rothfuss and Robert V. S. Redick. Both of these men are among my favourite authors of all time and I find it painful even writing this - I was really looking forward to reading their entries, but they just didn't live up to my expectations . . . Both authors had tried to do something new and I feel their stories would have been much more enjoyable if they were based in the worlds they have so loving established in The Kingkiller Chronicle and The Chathrand Voyage.

My Thoughts
Unfettered is a bit inconsistent, but the good stories it contains certainly over weighs the boring ones and I think it's a nice little book to pass the time for avid readers of fantasy (in all of its forms). Furthermore the money raised is going towards Shawn Speakman's cancer therapy, which is as good a reason to buy the book as any! I recommend reading it, but it certainly isn't a memorable book that will stay with you for a long time after you finish it.

Upcoming anthology: 'Rogues' by George R. R. Martin et al

Hi all,

Here's a quick message to all of you fantasy fans out there, who might be interested to learn of a new anthology that will be released soon (although there's no publication date as of yet). The anthology is called Rogues and features 21 stories from some of the biggest authors in the fantasy genre, including a new Song of Ice and Fire story by George R. R. Martin and a piece by Patrick Rothfuss himself!

The full list of featured authors (as it stands at the moment) is:

• George R. R. Martin
• Patrick Rothfuss
• Joe Abercrombie
• Daniel Abraham
• David W. Ball
• Paul Cornell
• Bradley Denton
• Phyllis Eisenstein
• Gillian Flynn
• Neil Gaiman
• Matthew Hughes
• Joe R. Lansdale
• Scott Lynch
• Garth Nix
• Cherie Priest
• Steven Saylor
• Michael Swanwick
• Lisa Tuttle
• Carrie Vaughn
• Walter Jon Williams
• Connie Willis

I'm certainly going to keep my eye on this one and will let you know once a release date has been set!

The Kingkiller Chronicle Book 2.5 is announced!

Okay, so this isn't the big news I was hoping for (i.e. the soon-to-be release date of The Doors of Stone), but Patrick Rothfuss has announced that he'll soon be publishing a companion novella to The Kingkiller Chronicle! The book, which will be released on 28th October 2014, is called The Slow Regard of Silent Things and effectively forms book 2.5 in the series!

From what I've read about the novella, it doesn't actually feature around Kvothe, but Auri - a character that anyone who's read the series will be familiar with. Going from my experience with Rothuss' beautiful prose writing and masterful story-telling, The Slow Regard of Silent Things should prove to be one of the year's best reads and will certainly wet any fan's appetite for the upcoming end to his critically acclaimed series!

Fox has 'The Kingkiller Chronicle' all set for a TV series!

Yesterday evening, the most epic thing happened to me since I discovered A Song of Ice and Fire in my second year of uni - I learnt that Fox has optioned Patrick Rothfuss's stunning Kingkiller Chronicle for a TV series!

Teaming up with New Regent Productions, Fox are considering dramatising The Kingkiller Chronicle into a television series. There is very little information about this plan available so far (both companies seem to have surprisingly little news on their sites), but Eric Heisserer's* name has been thrown around as a possible executive producer for the show, which suggests that it might be portrayed in a dark style similar to that of the books.

The Kingkiller Chronicle is definitely one of my favourite series of all time so, despite my excitement, I have mixed feelings about this whole idea. Will Fox deviate too much from the books? Will they cast a rubbish Kvothe? Or, more importantly, will there be a repeat of the whole Firefly incident (which, yes, I doubt I'll ever stop whining about or forgive them for)?

I'm sure that there'll be many critics who ask these questions, but I'm hopeful that they won't make an absolute hash of it. I think that HBO's dramatisation of A Song of Ice and Fire has shown just how good a series can be by staying as true to a book's story as possible, while really growing the loyalty of a dedicated fan base behind it. If we're lucky, Fox will have twigged and we can expect a show that is as epic as the books and, like the books, one that is good enough to rival Game of Thrones itself!


* most known for The Thing (2011) and A Nightmare of Elm's Street (2010)

The Wise Man's Fear - Patrick Rothfuss

RATING: FIVE STARS

I must confess that this review has been behind the scenes as a half-finished draft for a while now. But, after recently watching an interview with Patrick Rothfuss, I've finally been motivated to sit down and finish it! In fact, I'm finding it slightly odd that I haven't already posted the review as I write this - The Wise Man's Fear has, after all, become one of my favorite books!

Anyway, enough of the stuff you don't really care about and let's begin. After the spectacular grandeur of The Name of the Wind, I picked up The Wise Man's Fear with a mixture of anxious excitement and trepidation. As much as I was looking forward to reading it, I was thinking that it couldn't possibly fill the shoes of its predecessor. How could Patrick Rothfuss possibly have it in him to write another book to that standard?

Luckily, I was wrong. He could and he did. The Wise Man's Fear is every bit as gripping and beautifully written as its younger brother - continuing the story of Kvothe the Arcane in an installment that is all but impossible to put down!

The Wise Man's Fear is very similar to The Name of the Wind and is predominantly told in the first person as Kvothe narrates more of his life story to the renown scribe, Chronicler. This main 'flashback' story is again broken up with intermissions set in the current time, which are just as interesting as they are in the first novel. I think that they are more important in this book though and really begin to set the scene for the third and final installment, painting a picture of a world in dire straights (hinting somehow that it's all Kvothe's fault) and showing how Kvothe has become a broken shell of a man. This contrasts sharply with his character in his early life, adding a bleak sense of tragedy over Kvothe's autobiography as we now that (by the end of the coming book), it doesn't end well.

In fact, the young Kvothe is very happy as he continues telling his tale, resuming with his time at the University. Here, Kvothe describes hows his powers grew to frightening degrees even as he struggled to escape his poverty and his vendetta with Ambrose intensified. As his autobiography progresses, Kvothe decides (rather reluctantly) to take a hiatus from his studies and more of his legend unfolds as he travels the world. Ranging from how he was taught to love by Felurian herself to the time he spent living with the legendary Adem warriors, Kvothe's story is nothing short of epic and, by the end, will leave you desperate for more.

I have to say that The Wise Man's Fear is one of the best novel's I've ever read. It's a must read for any fan of the fantasy genre and, with both of the books released so far being beautifully written and heartfelt, The Kingkiller Chronicle is a one of those rare series that few (if any) people won't enjoy. It is a series that has made it to my 'Shelf of Fame' and, for your own fantasy education, is one that you should invest in - I guarantee you won't be disappointed!

Watch an interview with Patrick Rothfuss

Earlier today, I was lucky enough to have stumbled across an interview with the master word-smith Patrick Rothfuss. The interview - which is available at: http://twit.tv/tri/99 - is fascinating (albeit rather long) and sees Rothfuss get probed about his inspiration for The Kingkiller Chronicle, his motivation for writing it and how he has managed to develop such real and distinctive names (among other things of course).

It's definitely something to check out if you are a fan of the series!

The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss

RATING: FIVE STARS 

The Name of the Wind is a beautifully written epic fantasy by Patrick Rothfuss, who uses the English language almost like an art to craft a linguistically stunning novel of vivid, fast-flowing prose as he tells the tale of Kvothe the Arcane - the most notorious wizard to have ever lived. 

Packed full of imagination, heartbreak and adventure, The Name of the Wind is the remarkable first instalment of The Kingkiller Chronicle and, I must say, became one of my favourite books ever before I had even finished reading it! 

In The Name of the Wind, Rothfuss tells of the misfortunes that befall Kvothe as a child, when the tragic loss of his family and the troupe of Edema Ruh that they travelled with leaves him homeless and alone on the streets of Tarbean - a ruthless and cut-throat city where only the cruel survive. As Kvothe plots his revenge on the Chandrian, a group of terrors from ancient legend that he knows are very real, he decides that he must find a way to escape the city before it claims his life and sets his sights on attending the greatest university that has ever been built, where he fully intends on dedicating his life to the practice and pursuit of magic. 

This basic plot line is enough to put The Name of the Wind in a league above most other novels just by itself, but Rothfuss manages to make the story even better by telling it in a rather unique manner, which greatly added to my enjoyment of the novel. In the book, Rothfuss writes in the first person from the perspective of Kvothe himself as he tells his life’s story to a scribe, called Chronicler, who is writing a biography on the infamous wizard. 

Although this might not sound all that impressive, it added to my enjoyment of the book for two main reasons. Firstly, this first person narrative provides Rothfuss with a huge amount of creative freedom to describe Kvothe's emotions and underlying thought processes behind his decisions, which Rothfuss uses well to create a very realistic and believable character! 

And secondly, because it has allowed Rothfuss to add another plot line to the book, in which the King’s realm is on the verge of war to combat demons that have suddenly started appearing and preying upon outlying villages and towns. This story is set in the ‘current time’ and is told during the intermissions of Kvothe’s autobiography, which Rothfuss uses masterfully to control the pace of his main story. 

And so, after reading the Name of the Wind, I dare say that it's one of the best novels that I've ever read and I could actually feel myself falling more and more in love with The Kingkiller Chronicle with each turn of the page (well, I read it on Kindle, so ‘with each press of a button’ rather). Basically, The Name of the Wind and the second book in the series, The Wise Man’s Fear, are must read novels for any fan of fantasy – it’s as simple as that!