News: Pat Rothfuss’ The Kingkiller Chronicles

This might be the first time I’ve written about a series of books on this blog, but admittedly, I don’t read as much as I either should or would like to. I have a very addictive personality but a short attention span, which means I have a very small book collection that I tend to re-read every couple of years, and I can’t bare to add to it! With the exception of the Harry Potter books which I grew up with, my favourite series in the last 6 years has been Pat Rothfuss’s Kingkiller Chronicles.

Let me start by saying that Pat is the coolest author I know. Well, I don’t know him, but I’ve followed his blog for about 4 years, and so it feels like I know him! He’s also a tabletop gamer like me, and played Lords of Waterdeep with Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day on Wil’s show Tabletop. Like seriously, can this guy be any cooler? Pat, please come to the UK someday. I promise I won’t beg for book 3...more than once.

Anyway, The Kingkiller Chronicles is a fantasy trilogy revolving around a central character, Kvothe, a world famous adventurer and musician. When I say world, I mean the fictional world of Temerant, created by Pat Rothfuss. The first book in the series, titled The Name of the Wind, was published in 2007, and I read it the year after when my local Waterstone’s had it featured. I don’t think I’ve devoured a book faster, and I re-read it several times before book 2, The Wise Man’s Fear came out in 2011.

The stories begin in a quiet inn, ran by Kvothe (or Kote, as he calls himself, trying to hide his identity) and his assistant Bast. During the night, Kvothe saves a Chronicler, a travelling scribe who asks Kvothe to recount his story, and here lies the format of the trilogy. Each book covers one day of Kvothe telling his life’s tale, and it’s a long one indeed. Although book 3’s release will mark the end of Kvothe’s tale, us readers often get glimpses into the troubles stirring in the ‘present day’, and I’m really hopeful this will lead to a new series.

The point of my ramble is this. At Comic-Con this year (2015) a bidding war broke out for the rights to Pat Rothfuss’ trilogy. Poor Pat was completely out his comfort zone, but still held his ground. He told them Kvothe’s story couldn’t be told in a movie, or even a series of movies, and as much as I would love to see it on the big screen, I do agree with him. However, what Pat actually said to these giant companies was along the lines of, if you offer me a movie AND a TV series, I would be interested in that.

Comic-Con came to an end, and then on 1st October Pat posted a huge update on his blog. Lionsgate had got back in touch with him, and as much as I could paraphrase Pat’s own words, it’s much cooler to quote him directly:

Then Lionsgate got in touch. “About that whole TV-show-and-a-movie thing you mentioned,” they said. “If we’re going to do some sort of big narratively intertwined multi-platform development deal based on your books, wouldn’t it make more sense to do a video game along with the TV show and movies? Because seriously, why wouldn’t we want to do a video game too?” (I’m paraphrasing a little here you understand.)

So not only are we now getting a TV show...we’re getting a movie...and a game!!! Best. News. Ever. Oh, and if you want to read the full story, the link to Pat's blog post is here.

Web Series: Titansgrave, The Ashes of Valkana

Time for something a little different here today. We like to blog about films primarily, with the occasional TV show ramble, but I really want to share with you a web series that I’ve fallen in love with. I’m a gamer as well as a film fan, and when I’m not at work or watching a film I’ll either be found on my laptop playing World of Warcraft or shouting expletives at my fiance’s PS4. Whilst playing a game that is...I don’t make a habit of swearing at inanimate objects.

Recently my fiance and I have gotten into the more traditional side of gaming, Tabletop to be precise. When I mention board games you might be thinking Scrabble and Monopoly, but there’s actually a whole world of innovative board games completely unknown to most people. Wil Wheaton, who you may know from Star Trek and The Big Bang Theory is to thank here.

Wil has a web series called Tabletop in which he invites friends and celebrities to play board games with him, which is surprisingly entertaining to watch. It’s a great way to discover new board games, find out whether they’re the kind of game you would enjoy, and have a laugh whilst doing so. Wil’s show has created the ‘Tabletop Effect’ where the day after a game is featured on his show, it goes out of stock worldwide. It’s crazy!

Season 3 is slowly coming to an end, which was funded by the public via Indiegogo. One of the stretch goals for season 3 was a spin off RPG show, which was smashed. It’s recently started, and at the time of writing, Episode 5 has just been posted.

Titans Grave: The Ashes of Valkana is a brand new RPG game created by Wil Wheaton and his team, and it’s awesome. It takes the classic Dungeons & Dragons to a whole new level, with a futuristic and scientific theme, and mechanics inspired by similar games. For a quick introduction to the world of Valkana, look no further than here:

What’s so special about a web series about a role playing game? Wil’s storytelling. Seriously, this guy is the best storyteller I know. He has such a vivid imagination, and can describe everything in this game so clearly it’s easy to picture in your head. He’s engaging, and funny, and yet he still has the power to break our hearts, which episode 4 proved. He also has a great team on board to play with him. 

Hank Green is a Vlogger who runs a web channel called VlogBrothers with his brother John Green (yes, the author!). Alison Haislip used to be correspondent for The Voice, and also does a lot of web work. Laura Bailey is a voice actress who does a lot of cartoons (most recently Black Widow in Marvel’s Avengers Assemble). Yuri Lowenthal is a voice actor from pretty much everything. Seriously. Check out his IMDB profile. He’s also very nice to look at!

If you’re not really into games then I would never try and push Titansgrave: The Ashes of Valkana on you, but if you’ve made it this far down my post and haven’t nodded off or written me off as a complete dork, give it a go! If you don’t enjoy it, you can blame me.