Audiobook Review – The Slow Regard of Silent Things (Kingkiller Chronicles, Book 2.5) by Patrick Rothfuss (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 3 hours and 39 minutes
Publisher:‎ DAW
Release Date: October 28, 2014
ASIN: B00MOWXE1E
Stand Alone or Series: 2.5th book in the Kingkiller Chronicles
Source: Borrowed audiobook from library
Rating: 3/5 stars

“Deep below the University, there is a dark place. Few people know of it: a broken web of ancient passageways and abandoned rooms. A young woman lives there, tucked among the sprawling tunnels of the Underthing, snug in the heart of this forgotten place.
Her name is Auri, and she is full of mysteries.”

Series Info/Source: This is the 2.5th book in the Kingkiller Chronicles. I borrowed this on audiobook from my library.

Thoughts: I still haven’t read the Kingkiller Chronicles because I am waiting for them to be finished. However, this novella kept popping up on my best novellas list, so I decided to give it a try. The author does give you a warning that this should be read as part of the series and also warns that this is not your typical story. This story has a beauty to it, but is also very slow and, in Rothfuss’s own words, “is missing many things a story is expected to have”. I struggled to stay engaged with it and did best listening to it in small doses (I listened to this on audiobook, which is read by the author).

The story is about Auri a character from the main story that I knew nothing about coming into this. I know more about her after reading this, but most of it is a bit ambiguous. I know she underwent something awful at some point, and that she takes great comfort in things being the way they are supposed to be. She also takes great comfort in the inanimate objects around her being happy and having a place.

We follow Auri around from day to day as she prepares for a visit from a mysterious someone. She is trying to prepare for his visit and find a perfect gift for him. Much of the story is Auri wandering from place to place in her underground lair and trying to make sure things are in their proper place. At one point Auri also runs in to some problems when an animal hurts her stash of supplies and we get to see how she remakes supplies, mainly soap, to replace this stash.

This story does have a certain simple beauty to it. Auri seems to be a complex character that takes comfort in simple routine and has great empathy for all creatures and even inanimate objects. The story has a kind of serene calm to it.

However, this is also boring, and I felt that the beauty and simplicity of this story could have been delivered in less page space. This is a simple and strangely beautiful slow moving, day to day life type of novella that doesn’t really have a point or a plot. I prefer more fast-paced stories with some plot. I do understand the merits of this story, but was listening to this while driving a fairly boring drive and this slow story didn’t match my needs at the time.

My Summary (3/5): Overall this was simple and beautiful but also slow moving and hard to engage with. As someone who knew nothing about this world or Auri coming into this story I found myself wanting to know more about this world and how Auri fits in to the broader story. However, I also struggled to stay engaged and interested in this story, especially since I was trying to listen to this while driving. If you are looking for an action-packed, plot-driven story this is not for you. If you are intrigued by learning more about Auri or enjoy slow, pondering stories that follow a unique character’s day to day, this might work better for you.