Read at Your Own Peril

“The Waystone Inn lay in silence, and it was a silence of three parts.”

These words open (they are actually the second sentence of) the first and last pages of each of the books in  the Kingkiller Chronicle trilogy. 

Of course, I’m only assuming that they appear in the third book, and that is the problem.

After seeing an offer on Amazon.com to pre-order Doors of Stone, the third and final book in the series (with a publication date of mid-October) I was finally ready to tell you to beg, borrow or buy, but for goodness sake read Name of the Wind and The Wise Man’s Fear, the first two novels in the series by Patrick Rothfuss. 

Today, that page  no longer appears on the Amazon website, and speculation on the web is that  actual publication of that final book might not happen this year, or even in 2015. 

One writer, supposedly in a position to know, claims that the entire trilogy was written before the release of Name of the Wind in 2007, and that Rothfuss is merely editing, tweaking, and refusing to release Doors until he’s satisfied that he got it right. The author’s own blog seems to support that – in an interview, he says “When I finally finished, I looked back and realized I had a trilogy's worth of material.” Both his website and his blog mention the book but give no real answer as to when it will become available.

I fell in love with Name of the Wind ,  It is easily the best book of this genre I’ve ever read. Having just completed it for the 4th time, I can confirm that this is one of those books that just keeps getting better.  You can’t help becoming immediately invested in the main character.  It is a delightful tale told with some of the most elegant prose I’ve ever read.  I would say that it is poetic, but the protagonist, like his father before him, considers poets to be unfortunate creatures who lack the talent for music.

The Wise Man’s Fear continues the story, and is just as compelling.  It has been around since 2011, when it was #1 on the New York Times best seller list.  That’s long enough for readers to be suffering from severe symptoms of withdrawal. 

I would love to recommend the  Kingkiller Chronicle series, but I won’t.  In good conscience, I can not.  They – the first two - are wonderful books, but I can only tell you to read them at your own risk.