"
Simply said, I loved this book.

If you want me to go into more detail, I can. But that's the heart of the matter.

I don't do spoilers. So instead, let me say this: This book was fun. It was clever. It was geeky.

But most of all, it made me laugh. I'm not just saying it was funny. I'm saying I actually laughed out loud in the restaurant where I was reading it. Then later at the coffee shop. Then later still when I was reading it at home, even though I was alone in the house. Even though that's what crazy people do.

I can honestly say I can't think of another book that ever made me laugh this much. Ever.

So yeah. It's good stuff. A+.

My one problem with this book is that it makes me feel a little threatened. I know John Scalzi. I like him. We're both successful authors, and we both live very happily in our respective corners of the sky.

He writes snappy, clever sci-fi with good plot and action. I write huge tangled metafictional fantasy thingers. This is a good thing. It means that while we're neighbors, we're somewhat distant neighbors. This makes it easier for us to be friends, because we're both doing our own thing on our own ends of the street, metaphorically speaking.

But now Scalzi has gone all meta. That's my turf. If this book wasn't so entertaining, I'd want to send some big, broad-shouldered men around to his house to look menacing and say things like, "Mr Rothfuss is worried about some of the writing you have been doing in his neighborhood. When Mr. Rothfuss gets worried about things, sometimes people get mysteriously hurt. With an axe handle."

So yeah. Thanks for the early look at the book, Scalzi. Thanks for the vastly entertaining read.

Just remember. Axe handle.
"