The Slow Regard of Silent Things is a tale that, if you haven’t read The Name of the Wind, might slip you by. It follows one of those gentle, quiet characters that comes in for their brief part of a larger tale but stays with you afterwards. Here, however, she has the pages all to herself.

Rothfuss is the first to criticize this novella for lacking all the things “good” stories should have, but what he has created instead is a the opportunity to share a few days in the life of a very likable, relatable girl who spends almost all her time alone. Although perhaps she might not see it that way, anthropomorphizing all the trinkets and the world around her, bringing it all to life.

Imaginative and orderly, busy but free, she is always working on something with a special sort of wonder and curiosity usually unique to a child. And it is likely she that’s how she’ll remain.

Having spent so much of her life absent from the rest of the world, she has created her own, down in the tunnels of the Underthing, and it would be so very unkempt and hollow without her… and Foxen, of course.

If you enjoy light. introspective character-stories and appreciate curiosity and imagination, it’s a delightful read.