Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - The Narrow Road Between Desires: A Kingkiller Chronicle Novella

A beautiful book and a beautiful story 💕 the illustrations are gorgeous and provide so much. A very poignant, honest and poetic author’s note to end. Loved this!

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sheyri's review against another edition

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inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Mentions HRT and a possum. Perfection!

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uncreativeoops's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Short, sweet, and funny, but also adressing an abusive relationship I wasn't expecting. I forgot how funny Rothfuss' writing can be. Bast is a delight.

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blewballoon's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

My friend read this and recommended it to me. They were right, it's quite good, and so is the author's note and all the artwork included. I'd recommend to fans of cozy fantasy and fae folklore. It's a slow paced day-in-the-life story with some lovely imagery, and it's satisfying to see how many elements of the day tie together in the end.

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kierkegaawd's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Patrick Rothfuss undeniably writes good incredibly long, winding fantasy epics, but I think excels in his novellas.

I can work myself up into a tizzy imagining readers of his dismissing this and The Slow Regard of Silent Things because they want him to continue The Kingkiller Chronicle. I don't even know if such people exist, but I love getting mad at them on Patrick's behalf.

Beautiful story about how incredible children are. Really liked the childlike qualities of the Bast being part of his charm, and otherworldliness, and magical nature, which was reflected back at him through the charm and otherworldliness and magical nature of the human children he plays with.

I also really liked in the author's note where he philosophized about writing fantasy about nothing in particular, with no huge world ending conflict, just realistic characters interacting with a world. Reminds me of Le Guins science fiction.

Speculative fiction used as a lens is when speculative fiction is at its best, and I like when there's no orc wars obfuscating that lens.

Language got a little too flowery at times for me to give it the full five stars.

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annick's review

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

If it weren’t for the wider kingkiller links and a couple of beautifully written sentences, I didn’t really enjoy this. It’s fine. But not one I’m likely recommend to read or reread.

Dislikes:
- rothfuss still struggles with writing female characters outside of the male gaze. It’s less ick than previous publications. But it feels like he sees male characters as default characters with agency and nuance.
- the artwork of human famous was a bit over wrought.

Likes
- subtle references to what happened off page. Eg Nettie and Jessom.
- weaving in the day
- tantalising mystery of the embrils.
- a couple of beautifully written sentences. Which I can’t find or share easily because I read the hardback

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lanamoore's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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