Theft of Swords (Riyria Revelations)

This was a fairly by-the-numbers fantasy story with the usual characters: a wizard, a prince, a dwarf, a thief and a fighter. The only thing missing was a D.M. and graph paper. There seems to be some forethought into constructing an epic story so I will eventually read the rest of the series to see where it goes, but I am not a anxious for the next installment as I would be for a new Kingkiller or Fire and Ice book. By the way, what kind of author includes an interview with himself as an appendix to his own book?