#FirstLineFriday Submissions Are Now Closed. Here’s the Answer to Today’s Quiz!

/ Marcia Meara

Time to close this week’s quiz, and I wish I could say we have five winners. Alas, no one got this one, and that truly surprises me. This book is immensely popular, and has 7,949 reviews for a 4.6 average! Add a killer first line, and the fact that it was published relatively recently (2008) and I thought more people would recognize it. Especially with a clue like the Waystone Inn to jog the memory.

When you read this review, and see the accolades the book garnered from the biggest names in fantasy writing, you might wonder why you haven’t already read it. I’ve had it on my Kindle for at least two years, so I’m no one to point fingers. And I DO plan to read it very soon. I think it just got bumped to the top of my list, because how could so many people be wrong?

So, without further ado, here’s the answer to this week’s #FirstLineFriday:

“It was night again. The Waystone Inn lay in silence, and it was a silence of three parts.” is the amazing first line of The Name of the Wind: The Kingkiller Chronicle Book 1, a fabulously popular fantasy by Patrick Rothfuss. 


You can buy The Name of the Wind HERE

BLURB and Testimonial Reviews

OVER 1 MILLION COPIES SOLD!

 DAY ONE: THE NAME OF THE WIND

My name is Kvothe.
 
I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.
 
You may have heard of me.
 
So begins a tale unequaled in fantasy literature—the story of a hero told in his own voice. It is a tale of sorrow, a tale of survival, a tale of one man’s search for meaning in his universe, and how that search, and the indomitable will that drove it, gave birth to a legend.  

Praise for The Kingkiller Chronicle:

“The best epic fantasy I read last year…. He’s bloody good, this Rothfuss guy.”
—George R. R. Martin, New York Times-bestselling author of A Song of Ice and Fire

“Rothfuss has real talent, and his tale of Kvothe is deep and intricate and wondrous.”
—Terry Brooks, New York Times-bestselling author of Shannara

“It is a rare and great pleasure to find a fantasist writing…with true music in the words.”
—Ursula K. Le Guin, award-winning author of Earthsea

“The characters are real and the magic is true.”
—Robin Hobb, New York Times-bestselling author of Assassin’s Apprentice

“Masterful…. There is a beauty to Pat’s writing that defies description.”
—Brandon Sanderson, New York Times-bestselling author of Mistborn

Thanks for playing today, and I’m really sorry we didn’t have any winners, but I hope you all enjoyed reading another wonderful first line, and that it might help you when working on your own. Plus, if you enjoy fantasy at all, I suspect this one is a must-read. Check it out, and see what you think. I mean, could Martin, Brooks, Le Guin, Hobb, and Sanderson all be wrong? Doubtful! 😀

See you next week, and hope it’s YOUR turn to recognize that fabulous first line! 🙂

21 thoughts on “#FirstLineFriday Submissions Are Now Closed. Here’s the Answer to Today’s Quiz!”

    • I think so, too, and since I have been reading the heck out of fantasy in the last 3 or 4 years, I can’t wait to read this one. Apparently, I COULD wait for the last 2 years or so that it’s been on my Kindle, but now I can’t wait any longer! I’m a big fan of Robin Hobb and Brandon Sanderson, so that’s good enough for me. 😀 Thanks for stopping by today, Joan, and sorry this wasn’t one you knew. Hope you enjoy it, though, when you get a chance to read it. 🙂

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    • And then there’s that wonderful first line, too. 🙂 But–am I the only one who keeps thinking “Kvothe the Raven, Nevermore?” 😀 Seriously, I hope there’s something to let me know how to pronounce his name, because I have trouble when can’t hear names in my head. I’m weird that way. 😀

      At any rate, I’m definitely bumping this one WAAAAY up close to the top. I’ve ignored it too long! And I’m such a huge fan of Hobb and Sanderson, I need to see why they enjoyed it so much. 🙂

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    • I really enjoy doing this one, because just LOOK at all the great first lines we’ve had already! Sometimes folks guess ’em, and sometimes they don’t, but they get to ponder them, and learn about books they may not have discovered yet. I think it’s a win/win/win all the way around, and hope everyone is enjoying it. 🙂 Thanks, Trish!

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    • You’re welcome, Harmony! I really enjoy browsing through all these great opening lines, and I never know which ones are going to be immediately recognizable and which aren’t. I love this one, too, and I have no idea why this book has been on my Kindle for so long, yet never been read. (I suspect it’s the same reason so many others have been in a similar state–lack of time!) Hope you’ll enjoy The Name of the Wind when you have a chance to read it. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by! ❤

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  7. Ah. I’m surprised too that no one got it. I loved that book, Marcia, and the second in the series too. But Rothfuss never finished the trilogy, which still drives me crazy. He and George RR Martin are the reasons that I rarely (if ever) read a series until the whole thing is done. 😀

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    • OH, I’m glad to know that, Diana! Now I don’t know if I want to start this one or not. I’m still having trouble forgiving Jim Butcher for deserting me with his Dresden Files series, one of my all time favorites. It’s been THREE years, and he left us hanging on one particular issue that I reallyreallyreally wanted to see happen. GAH!

      I was surprised that no one got this, too, since it’s such an unbelievably popular book.
      I have it on my Kindle, but I might hold off a wee bit longer to see if there’s a projected date on the last book. (I like reading a series straight through, too.) 🙂 ❤

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      • Book Two – The Wise Man’s Fear was published in 2011. Rothfuss just DROPS the story in the middle of the action. Nada, nothing for 8 years and still waiting. He added a novella about one of the secondary characters, but the final book, The Doors of Stone, is nowhere in sight. Can you tell I’m mad? Ha ha

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        • EIGHT years??? OMG! I thought THREE was awful, for a series with as many fans as the Dresden Files. EIGHT??? Has he been sick? Lost in the wilderness with no computer? Stranded on a desert island? (Says she, who is more than a year late with her next, but that WAS after 2 books a year for 4 years or so. And we did have a tree fall on us. 😯 And I’ve got nowhere near 8,000 reviews and those veritable legions of fans. Now, for SURE, I’m holding off a bit on reading this one. I would go crazy if I was left in the lurch like that. Butcher at least finished off all the main points in his last book. It’s just this ONE LITTLE THING that he gave us a peek at, and then left us wanting more. Now, I’m thinking he wasn’t so bad after all.

          You have my sympathy. You’ve invested in characters you love and story lines you enjoy, and now you’re just hangin’ around, whistling, and marking off the days to get to the rest. 😦 😦 😦 I’d be mad, too. Or at least, pretty darn disappointed.

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          • The problem now is that I don’t remember all the details and nuances and characters. I’d have to start all over and I probably won’t. *Sigh* Someone told me “He’s the writer; it’s up to him.” But honestly, I think that as writers we have a certain duty to our readers. Oh well. 😀

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            • I don’t know that I think of it in terms of duty, but more in terms of disappointing people, and therefore risking the loss of those folks as readers. I write because I enjoy it, yes, but I also want to sell books. I don’t WANT to lose readers because of being late with the next book in a series, and I worry about that a lot. But I also just don’t want to disappoint readers, period. I’ve asked them to come meet my characters and to care about what happens to them, and then to leave them waiting and waiting seems cruel.

              I’ve been delayed so many times on this 4th WRR book that people ask me at every event, “Is it ready yet? When can we read more about Rabbit?” And I can actually see the disappointment when I tell them it’s not quite done. That makes me feel awful! Like telling them every time I see them, “I’ve got something for you, and you’re going to love it,” then never giving it to them. Hmmm. Maybe I do think of it as at least a responsibility. You shouldn’t promise things you can’t deliver. Is that a duty? Or is it just good manners? Either way, I don’t want to treat my readers like that if I can possibly avoid it. And I hope I never find myself in a position like that again. I’m planning to do my best, that’s for sure. 😀

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              • Yes. Good manners and a bit of responsibility. I figure that Rothfuss collected millions of dollars on the first two books with an implied promise that he was delivering a complete story. Now, IMHO, he owes it to his readers to finish the story before they pass away from old age. Robert Jordan arranged for his Wheel of Time series to be finished by Sanderson. To me that is loyalty to one’s fans. What a fun conversation, Marcia. And you’ll get there. Just don’t wait 8 years or I’ll be on your case too! Lol

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                • You make some valid points, Diana. And I’d forgotten about Jordan and Sanderson (Sanderson is one of my favorites, btw). That was a case of an author looking out for his readers, for sure. But don’t worry about me waiting 8 years. I’ll be 83 by then, and very, VERY happy if I can still write at all. (Sure gonna try, though). But I will NOT be starting on any new series! 😯 😀

                  Yep, a fun chat! :D. I do love talking books!! ❤

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