Rothfuss has real talent, and his tale of Kvothe is deep and intricate and wondrous.”—Terry Brooks, New York Times-bestselling author of Shannara He was not a one for fastening. For holding closed. Neither was he dark. Oh no. He was emberant. Incarnadine. He was bright with better bright beneath, like copper-gilded gold.” I was excited to read a book about Auri, because I’ve always been keen on her as a character. I was also hoping for some insights, answers, or hints about the rest of Kvothe’s story, because I’m impatient and like to know all the things. I wasn’t disappointed when I didn’t get any of those things, though. I was too busy being… I don’t know. I don’t have the words for what I was being when I was reading this book. Especially then," she said. "Bad enough to be a lettuce. How awful to think you are a lettuce too.” Through the seven days narrated in the book, Auri explores the Underthing, change the placement of objects to put them in their proper places, make soap as her soap simply disappeared, looks for artifacts and objects that piqued her interest and show the reader her thoughts and feelings, her views on the world and on its workings. Apart from these things that are part of her day to day life, alone in the Underthing, the story also tells of how she thought about the three gifts that she gave to Kvothe at the end of that week, how she prepared a place for him to live in the Underthing, how she created the candle she gives him and of how she thought about the third gift.

The Slow Regard of Silent Things is a novella, written by Rothfuss and illustrated by Nate Taylor, that takes place parallel to the events of the second Kingkiller novel, The Wise Man’s Fear. Set over seven days, the story follows Auri, the ethereal waif who lives in the tunnels below a magical university and who befriends the series’ main protagonist, Kvothe. In the main story, we’re given tantalizing hints that Auri is intimately connected to the trilogy’s myth arc, but Slow Regard—while it develops a few fascinating details about Auri herself, such as her skill with alchemy—is not about answers.

In the author’s endnote, Rothfuss says that this isn’t a book for many people, as it’s strange and unique. Auri is the only character you meet. There is no dialogue --- only an internal running monologue of Auri’s silent discussions, musings and sometimes personal rebukes. He notes that Auri is a broken character, and in many ways it’s clear just how broken she is, but in other ways she is caring and beautiful. Her world is simple, and on the days when the world is too much for her, she retreats. She is human, full of love for all things in her world, and a little bit of all of us. But still something about it bugs me. You know that feeling when you go to a really fancy restaurant, and you get a huge plate with a meticulously prepared yet tiny piece of delicious food. The chef has put his everything into it. Years of experience, professional opinions, doubts, love, a pinch of innovation and what have you. And it can be enjoyed as such a tiny thing.

Slow Regard is the story — or at least a story — of Auri. One of the most compelling, scene-stealing secondary characters in Kingkiller, Auri is a semi-feral young woman whose past is a mystery, and Slow Regard doesn't attempt to diminish that. She lives alone in a secret, sprawling network of tunnels she calls the Underthing, which lies beneath the University, the academy of magic that her friend Kvothe attends. You see, when I listen to your d&d podcasts with penny arcade, I read your blog, or look at your interviews, I get the sense that there’s this Pat that doesn’t get to be in the books. It’s the Pat that improvises and is on his feet, takes chances, is more in the moment and doesn’t worry about Eternity’s Judgement. It’s the rustic cook, not the toiling chef. And on this occasion it just happened to be clear to me that the author was not also, by happy happenstance, writing for me.Also, I wasn't a huge fan of Rothfuss's afterward non-apology apology, that read, "If you’re one of the people who found this story disconcerting, off-putting, or confusing, I apologize. The truth is, it probably just wasn’t for you." I didn't find it any of those things, I just didn't find it compelling. side books (to be released in october 2014, months after the announced release date of the doors of stone)