I have found myself strangely obsessed with The Kingkiller Chronicle again this week. And with the unthinkable and unexplainable situation of Patrick Rothfuss.
I have been a huge fan of Patrick’s for many years now. In fact, part of me holds a deep grudge against him, because I have come to realize that he has ruined reading for me. I have been searching for any work of Fantasy that can provide me the same feeling Name of the Wind did. I have yet to find anything that equals the work of Rothfuss. The closest I’ve come thus far in my search has been Robin Hobb. But it’s still not quite the same.
I consider Rothfuss to be the best living Fantasy writer. His prose is wonderful, his world-building is great (except for Adem culture, which makes zero sense), his character work is engrossing, and his overall storytelling style is refreshingly unique. As talented as the man is, however, he seems to be allergic to writing. I cannot, for the life of me, understand what he’s doing at this point. I just have to vent for a bit and get all of this off my chest. Waiting for The Doors of Stone has been genuine mental agony for me. I want that book so badly it’s almost pathetic. I have seen many people say they no longer care about the story at all after 15 years of waiting, and that they would not even read it if it came out. If there is a hypothetical scale, I am sitting at the precise opposite end of any individual that says something even remotely close to that statement. Give me the book. Please. I can’t do this anymore. The worst part about the absurd wait might be the fact that I cannot stop myself from getting excited every time someone on Reddit or Facebook or wherever suddenly says they have a secret contact that is close to Rothfuss saying he is very close to publication for Book 3. It gets me every damn time and it happened recently. I wish I knew whether Patrick is even still working on it. Has he given up? Did he ever even write anything? His work is simply unmatched in the genre, and it hurts deeply to see him waste away his truly profound talent.
I just do not understand why he has disappeared. I can’t wrap my mind around him promising a chapter after raising money for charity, and then just vanishing without keeping the promise. Why do that? What does he gain from that?
I will wait as long as it takes, but I will definitely complain while I wait.