The Slow Regard of Silent Things

176 pages

Published Oct. 28, 2014 by DAW.

ISBN:
978-0-7564-1043-8
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4 stars (108 reviews)

1 edition

interesting

4 stars

It was quite a few years ago when I read this. (updating my book list) My recollection was I liked this quite a bit. But since it's a small bit in between the main series it might not be for you.

Below is a bit from the author on this book:

AUTHOR’S FOREWORD

You might not want to buy this book.

I know, that’s not the sort of thing an author is supposed to say. The marketing people aren’t going to like this. My editor is going to have a fit. But I’d rather be honest with you right out of the gate.

First, if you haven’t read my other books, you don’t want to start here.

My first two books are The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man’s Fear. If you’re curious to try my writing, start there. They’re the best introduction to my world. This book …

Review of 'The Slow Regard of Silent Things' on Goodreads

5 stars

This is absolutely not for everyone, but it does make that pretty clear up front. The pacing is very slow and it focuses a lot on Auri's internal world and thoughts in relation to the desires of the world around her. I liked in in large part because Auri's mind works in a similar way to mine, other people could very easily not like it at all for the same reasons I love it.

Review of 'The Slow Regard of Silent Things' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

That was not enjoyable.

The Underthing is mysterious and all things are personified by quirky Auri. Objects are picked up, given apologies or kissed and then put back down.

I appreciate Rothfuss taking a chance on telling a story of Auri in her own voice but this wasn't well met. Auri will be a neat little sideshow for me in the Kingkiller stories but feel she may be better suited for the Haven/Rookery.

Review of 'The Slow Regard of Silent Things' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Auri! I am so glad Patrick gave her a moment in the moonlight. During the other books, I would tell my wife how much I enjoyed this girl/woman who would take the inanimate and give them something more. Not quite a life, but a place in the world. It delighted me to read this novelette.

Auri is a confused but very bright young woman. She has a past, and it eats at the edge of her but for the most part, she keeps it at bay, and we stay in the dark over what it was. Which is fine, that's not for this tale. Here we get to romp around the understructures of the academy and explore her world and quirkiness and the very strange and derelict structures that exist.

I liked this book. Patrick says it is not for everyone and I can nod my head to that. It's …

Review of 'The Slow Regard of Silent Things' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I thought this was a brilliant, beautiful little book, but I can see how many readers would be infuriated with it. It is nothing like Rothfuss’ other more traditionally-plotted fantasy books, and there’s an introduction where he says in so many words that it’s a vignette, nearly plotless, with only one very strange character, and little conflict. In many ways it’s almost experimental fiction. If you like that kind of thing this is the kind of thing you will like. I found it completely captivating.

To be clear it can’t really be read as a stand-alone book — it relies on plot and characterization from the Kingkiller series. But by the same token if you read and loved that series (so far) you also don’t have to read this book at all; there’s nothing here that changes Kvothe’s story in the main series.

Review of 'The Slow Regard of Silent Things' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I really enjoyed this, in spite of the "you probably won't like this book" message in the introduction.

This book is a combination between a prose poem and a character study. Don't expect any action, but the writing is beautiful, and Auri is an interesting and different person.

(I've read "The Name of the Wind", but not yet "The Wise Man's Fear".)

Review of 'The Slow Regard of Silent Things' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Honestly at this point I am so impressed with Patrick Rothfuss that I would read his rendition of a phone book.

If you haven't already been warned, this is about a side character, and it might be difficult to understand not having read the first two books of the Kingkiller Chronicle. To which the author actually warns you in the preface. That being said, I LOVE IT, and I think a lot of joy could be had from reading it without the previous two.

Read this. Do it.

Review of 'The Slow Regard of Silent Things' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I read this about a month ago, but it is sticking with me.

Patrick Rothfuss has spun a tale that, at first glance, feels like cotton candy. It is light, sweet and beautiful. As time goes on, it feels so much more real, with true depth. Auri feels like a fully fleshed person, not someone in the pages of a book. It's the best character study I have ever read.

I identified with Auri more and more throughout the story. I don't see myself as broken but simply as seeing the world in a unique way. It feels wonderful to be able to connect with a character in this way and to feel a sort of kinship with them. Even a month later, I find myself thinking or saying things and then laughing, because it was something Auri would understand.

As said in the book, everyone seems to have the …

Review of 'The Slow Regard of Silent Things' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

I thought this was an interesting read and overall a good novella that takes the reader inside the mind and daily activities of Auri who features as an intriguing and mysterious character in Rothfuss's book series. I do agree it's not for everyone and there is a pretty steep price on the book given that one can probably read it in about an hour or two.

Review of 'The Slow Regard of Silent Things' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Patrick Rothfuss is a fresh wind blowing into the Fantasy genre anyhow, where tropes have all but replaced original writing for decades now. This he doesn't do by "reinventing" the genre, but by going back to the roots: examining how Fantasy relates to myth-making in in culture, and then telling a myth-in-the-making in his Kingkiller Chronicle.

The Slow Regard of Silent Things is a "spin-off" from the Kingkiller Chronicle, and a departure from both the protagonist, Kvothe, and from this myth-making exercise. In it, the focus is on Auri, a strange girl that Kvothe finds living underneath the university, and it is a look at her world through her eyes.

The result is a heartbreakingly empathetic look at a mentally ill person's world. Though, after reading this book, it'll probably feel uncomfortable thinking of Auri as "mentally ill".

Make no mistake, in our world, Auri would be diagnosed with... I …

Review of 'The Slow Regard of Silent Things' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

It's a fascinating read even though really nothing happens. This one is all about the way Auri is moving threw the Underthing. Putting things right. And nothing else. As per the author himself: the most action that happens is 6 page of her making soap. For some reason it is still a good story and I was really rooting for her to get everything right and find the gifts she was looking for. It was heart-breaking when she stumbles on the unnamed stair and ... well read the book to find out.

I am guessing I will now have to re-read Name of the Wind again ...

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