Patrick Rothfuss - The Kingkiller Chronicle [SPOLIERS]

[Wudang]

Honestly I think what happened is that writing novels is much harder than it looks, and Rothfuss lost control of his narrative somewhere in book 2. Neither he nor his editor could figure out how to get it back under control, and meanwhile he was diluting his focus and energy on a bunch of side projects. I think at some point he realized he just didn't have it in him to successfully wrangle all the potential and mystery boxes into a coherent and apt conclusion. So he's quietly given up.

I suspect so. I think he had a clear idea of the final book but even the clearest idea can be hard to commit to paper consistenly and coherently. He explained the 4 year gap between the first as being (partly?) due to writing a later part of the book then finding he had to the rewrite earlier parts. I suspect all the other activities are at least in part coping mechanisms to avoid facing book 3.

Shame, his Slow Regard of Silent Things was lovely.

 

[Wudang]

In repsonse to a 5 star review of Doors of Stone on goodreads he said he must be popular with time travellers and

. I'd love to see the five-star version of the book, because right now, the one I'm toiling away at is about a three an a half-in my opinion.

May 2012.
It seems odd he had a 3.5 star book at that point and now still not enough to send to his editor.

 

[Myriad]

In repsonse to a 5 star review of Doors of Stone on goodreads he said he must be popular with time travellers and
May 2012.
It seems odd he had a 3.5 star book at that point and now still not enough to send to his editor.

Maybe he's decided what the story really needs is to be written with words whose lengths correspond to the digits of pi.

 

[Kid Eager]

Maybe he's attending a Robert Jordan writing course and it's going to be 4 times as long as it needs to be...

 

[theprestige]

Maybe he's attending a JRR Tolkien writing course, and is going to leave it in rough draft form for his son to publish after his death. Thirty years from now, the graffito, "Kvothe Lives!" will presage a sudden surge of popularity for the Kingkiller Chronicles.

 

[Wildy]

I suspect so. I think he had a clear idea of the final book but even the clearest idea can be hard to commit to paper consistenly and coherently. He explained the 4 year gap between the first as being (partly?) due to writing a later part of the book then finding he had to the rewrite earlier parts. I suspect all the other activities are at least in part coping mechanisms to avoid facing book 3.

That's a very likely possibility. I saw a discussion elsewhere that suggested that he'd been reading fan speculation which has thrown him into a loop since people have figured out many of the potential twists which then acts as a disincentive to write.

But then for all we know we're in a Duke Nukem Forever situation, only with books, where as time goes on he's got less to show for it and we'll end up getting a book written by some ghostwriter that's bad.

Shame, his Slow Regard of Silent Things was lovely.

Yeah, I didn't know what to expect from it, but I think its probably my favourite work of his.

 

[ZirconBlue]

I read the first book a year or so ago, at a friends urging. It didn't really do anything for me. The fact that most of the book is a flashback kinda put me off. I kept wanting the story to get back to the "present" day so I could find out what happened there. I was nonetheless considering proceeding with book 2. I had no idea book 3 was still in limbo.

 

[Ethan Thane Athen]

I've read the first two (and the 'slow regard' one which had a certain charm sufficient to sustain a novella). They didn't strike me as being a story that would be particularly difficult to finish off...

...mind you, whilst I enjoyed them, I didn't think they were as 'brilliant' as my friend had made them out to be. Good, solid fantasy fare with some interesting ideas and characters but nothing breath-taking.

 

[GraculusTheGreenBird]

I sincerely doubt we will ever see a third book. A further series? Forget it.

It was good, but not that good. I will take the ever dependable Joe Abercrombie at the drop of a hat. At least he finishes his series.