The Kingkiller Chronicle Books in Order: How to read Patrick Rothfuss’s heroic fantasy series?

The Kingkiller Chronicle is an award-winning fantasy series by American writer Patrick Rothfuss. Presented as an autobiography, it recounts the story of Kvothe, a renowned musician, scholar, and adventurer now living pseudonymously as a rural innkeeper

The plot is divided into two different timelines: the present, in which Kvothe tells the story of his life to a man known as the Chronicler in the Waystone Inn, and Kvothe’s past, which makes up the majority of the first two books. The present-day interludes are in the third person from the perspective of multiple characters, while the story of Kvothe’s life is told entirely in the first person from his own perspective.

How to Read The Kingkiller Chronicle Series in Order?

I. The Kingkiller Chronicle in Chronological Order

1. How Old Holly Came to Be – Short story published in the anthology Unfettered. Takes place centuries before The Name of the Wind. Told from the perspective of a tree.
2. The Lightning Tree – Published in the anthology Rogues. Takes place a month before The Name of The Wind and relates a day in Bast’s life in Newarre.
3. The Name of the Wind – The tale of the magically gifted young man named Kvothe who grows to be the most notorious wizard his world has ever seen. The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, and his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic.
4. The Wise Man’s Fear – Kvothe searches for answers, attempting to uncover the truth about the mysterious Amyr, the Chandrian, and the death of his parents. Along the way, Kvothe is put on trial by the legendary Adem mercenaries, forced to reclaim the honor of his family, and travels into the Fae realm.
5. The Slow Regard of Silent Things – Focuses on Auri and her life in The Underthing. It covers seven days during which she is waiting for a visit from Kvothe, and takes place between chapters four and eleven The Wise Man’s Fear.
6. The Narrow Road Between Desires – Bast knows how to bargain. The give-and-take of a negotiation is as familiar to him as the in-and-out of breathing; to watch him trade is to watch an artist at work. But even a master’s brush can slip. When he accepts a gift, taking something for nothing, Bast’s whole world is knocked askew, for he knows how to bargain—but not how to owe. 
7. The Doors of Stone – The Third and final novel in the Kingkiller Chronicle series. A release date has not yet been revealed.

II. The Kingkiller Chronicle in Publication Order

1. The Name of the Wind
2. The Wise Man’s Fear
3. How Old Holly Came To Be
4. The Lightning Tree
5. The Slow Regard of Silent Things
6. The Narrow Road Between Desires
7. The Doors of Stone

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