Mr. Rothfuss has graced the front cover of Stormdancer and the back cover of Libriomancer, two of my favorite recent reads. What I love so much about his quick blurbs is how they’re not your average endorsement. Normally, you get something like “a gripping tale of heroism” or “so and so has taken the fantasy genre to a new level” or whatever, but Mr. Rothfuss’ comments are much more personal.
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Stormdancer: “What’s that? You say you’ve got a Japanese steampunk novel with mythic creatures, civil unrest, and a strong female protagonist? I’m afraid I missed everything you said after ‘Japanese steampunk.’ That’s all I really needed to hear.”
Libriomancer: “I picked up the book meaning to read a few pages. My first thought was, ‘This is a cool concept.’ The second thing I thought was, ‘This is really, really clever.’ The third thing I thought was, ‘I should have gone to sleep three hours ago.”
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See what I mean? They’re personal with a touch of humor. It feels more like he legitimately enjoyed the novel and wants to convince others to read it, while other book endorsements just seem flat and stale. While I would have bought Stormdancer and Libriomancer regardless of what Patrick Rothfuss thought of them, these brief quotes convinced me to add The Name of the Wind to my short list. The man seems to love the kind of books I love, and seems clever and genuine as well, so how could I not enjoy his work?
If you are somehow lucky enough to be publishing a book, do everything you can to get Patrick Rothfuss to endorse it. Then you’ll be all set!
notesfromthebookshelf 
From hearing him speak at World Fantasy, he really seems like such a funny, interesting guy. I’m still a little sad that I was too shy to have an actual conversation with him when I got Name of the Wind signed.
It’s those two endorsements that made me want to read Name of the Wind. If that is his true personality, then I’m bound to like it. It’s intimidating meeting people like that. I probably wouldn’t have managed to talk to him much either if I had the chance. It’s awesome that you got a signed copy though. 🙂
One of my friends, who had been refusing to read Name of the Wind because she doesn’t read unfinished series, changed her mind after meeting him at the con. Actually, maybe even two of my friends – my memories are a little fuzzy.
I really loved the book – it’s a close second behind Memory, Sorrow and Thorn.
Well it’s definitely on my to-read list for this year. The paperback is waiting patiently upon my shelf. Hopefully it’ll be as awesome as I think it will be.