Kingkiller Chronicle - The Name of the Wind and Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear are the first two books of the Kingkiller Chronicle trilogy. Rothfuss twists the usual teen hero fantasy in an interesting way by switching between the past where the boy becomes a man and reveals his great powers and a future where he has lived through his 'heroic' deeds and now hides in anonymity. We are all waiting for the third book to explain what happened during the intervening years, especially what the whole 'Kingkiller' thing is all about. There's also an ancient evil that few people believe in to deal with.

Rothfuss has received well-deserved praise for his writing. He is great at hanging rich world building and character development on an intriguing plot. Dialogue and terminology specific to the world is not loaded with jargon or medieval-ism.

It was 4 years between the first two books and so far we have been waiting 5 years for the third book (The Doors of Stone - coming 2018?). Perhaps the delay is due to Rothfuss spending so much time going to conventions and doing his podcast: Unattended Consequences: A weekly conversation between Patrick Rothfuss and Max Temkin (Cards Against Humanity). Perhaps it is the time he devotes to his family or his Worldbuilders charity. The monster.

The Slow Regard of Silent Things was published three years after the second novel. It is a standalone side story featuring a complete adventure focusing on a secondary character. I haven't read it yet as I wanted to read it shortly before I get my hands on the last book. In general I dislike waiting years between books in a series so I try to let them pile up. Rothfuss has said that the third book will definitely complete the trilogy, but there will be more books set in the world and include his main characters as well as shedding light on new and minor players.

In other news, Lin-Manuel Miranda will be involved in a TV adaptation and a movie of Kingkiller Chronicle.

I don't necessarily suggest immediately going out and reading these two books, I strongly suggest you get them as soon as the third one is available... or the movie comes out.

I read Name of the Wind in November 2010,  and Wise Man's Fear in May 2011.