The Slow Regard of Silent Things v Futurist

• Beer: Futurist
• Brewery: Siren Craft Brew
• Style: Session IPA
• Strength: 4.8%

Mwah.*Chef’s kiss* It tastes good. Nice bitter hit in the face first followed by a burst of a light sweet essence in the back of the throat. If you hold it in the mouth a bit you get a hint of vanilla in there that is frankly epiphanic. The first beer I’ve tried from Siren but it won’t be the last.

• Book: The Slow Regard of Silent Things
• Author: Patrick Rothfuss
• Publisher: Gollancz
• Published: 2014

Originally conceived as a short story, The Slow Regard of Silent Things follows a day-in-the-life of a character from Patrick Rothfuss’s main Kingkiler Chronicles. While in the writing of it Rothfuss decided that the word count restraints set on him by the anthology he was intending to give it to were too low to do the story justice. He then reworked it and published it as a standalone novella.

There is no real plot to the book. It is an exploration of the character Auri – a reclusive former student at the University – who fans of the Kingkiller Chronicles will be intimately familiar. Its quite hard to recommend this book to people who haven’t read the main series. There is no discernible beginning, middle or end to it but If you are a fan of Rothfuss’s writing style like I am then I think you will love it. Perfect as a palate cleanser after reading something a bit more serious.