[OT] Any opinions Terry Goodkind's SWORD of TRUTH series??

[Pale]

Wheel of Time started years before The Sword of Truth series, maybe you just discovered them at the same time.

Anyway, I'd say at least go and get the "Wizard's First Rule" softcover and read through it, give the series a chance be reading the first book. I did, and I couldn't get enough of Goodkind. I find the 'parralel' to Jordan laughable! I couldn't get through the first 5 chapters of the first Wheel of time book. Jordan's pacing is pedantic and full of unneccessary details. I read Wizard's First Rule straight through only stopping to eat and sleep. It hooked me completely by the second chapter.

I also found that none of the sex was gratuitous, it all seemed integral to the plot-line. Or maybe you consider any sex gratuitous? Read a Harlequin romance novel if you want to know what gratuitous sex really is.

As for the S&M....heh. I wouldn't call it that, you see, S&M IIRC stands for Sadism and Masochism. The only thing found in the first book was TORTURE. The amount of torture that it would take to break a man's will. In fact, everything that happened to Richard while he was with the Mord Sith was to break his spirit.

And characters figuring stuff out without having enough information? Are you sure? Because I don't recall any of that. Perhaps you just weren't picking up on the clues as a reader. Please site specific passages and page numbers to me, because I simple cannot recall any such incidence in any of the novels.

 

[Agnostic Paladin]

That could well be Pale; I know I found the first book of each pretty near the same time. (before I found the second book of either) And yeah, the writing couldn't be more different, but I remember wondering who was stealing characters and world ideas from whom after reading the first book of each.

You've got a self-reliant well-built male protagonist who lived a sheltered life who discovers first that he's a wizard and then that his father wasn't really. The character's from a western land that's unaffected by the events of the central land, where the magic users are. You've got the Confessors (powerful female magic users) able to tell the kings of their land what to do. Over in the east are the scary people who's warriors are better than those of the central land. Who the protagonist winds up more-or-less leading and using to gain control of the central lands. You've got a distant vague threat from a far away land that makes the scary warrior people of the east not seem so bad.

The parrallels aren't perfect, and its been years since I first read the early books of both series and started noticing them in the first place, so my list isn't that great, but it is what I came up with in just a couple minutes thinking about it.

 

[clockworkjoe]

I read the second one, and it was really really bad. The only reason I finished it was that I was on a US navy ship at the time and didn't have the luxury of getting other books to read

Anyone who thinks that's good reading just has bad taste. Really bad taste. UGH.

 

[Wild Karrde]

Anyone who thinks that's good reading just has bad taste. Really bad taste. UGH.

Thanks for letting me know my taste is bad

 

[Dave G]

I enjoyed the first book and the next two were okay, but they seemed to diminish in luster to the point where it wasn't imperative that I read them all. I think you would enjoy them, but the key is to go in with an open mind and see what happens!

 

[Sulimo]

Overall it was less horrible to me than Tad William's Dragonbone Chair (which I coudn't even finish), but not nearly good enough to even keep the paperback copy I bought.

Ouch. I really liked the Tad Williams books.

I tried and didnt like Jordan, but have recently been thinking about trying Goodkind.

 

[Wild Karrde]

Ouch. I really liked the Tad Williams books.

I tried and didnt like Jordan, but have recently been thinking about trying Goodkind.

Don't feel bad you're not the only one who liked Tad Williams stuff, lol.

 

[Gumby]

IIRC, wasn't Wizard's First Rule the book about the young, inexperienced man who encounters a woman who is fleeing from a repressive regime? And who brings the woman to the old man who she says is her only hope to make things better? And then the old man turns out to be a mighty sorceror? And then the young man does other things that have already been covered in other fantasy works? And then at the end, the Supreme Bad Guy actually turns out to be the young man's father?

It's been a couple of years, but if so, then I can honestly say that was the worst fantasy book I've ever read in my life. And I've read a lot of Salvatore.

 

[Altalazar]

I have read through all that are in soft cover (all but the most recent one - Pillars of Creation)

I loved them. And I'd have to say the last one (fifth?) that I read was the most interesting. I really enjoyed it. On lots of different levels. The only bad thing abuot it is that likely the remaining books in the series will be comparitavely a disappointment.

I highly recommend them.

I bought all of the softcover ones (four at the time) for Xmas of 2000 from a gift certificate and then slowly worked my way through them until the fifth came out in paper back, then I got that one too. Now I just need the Pillars of Creation to come out in paper - probably will be a year, though, if it is like the last one.

 

[Bass Puppet]

Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth Series

I started reading the Sword of Truth series this summer. I would have to say that it is some of the best fantasy I have ever read. I finished the Stone of tears last November and just started reading Blood of the Fold. I like Goodkinds style of writing because he is constantly moving forward with the story. He developes very strong Characters who show real emotions. The books stack nicely if you start with The Wizards First Rule. The Stone of Tears picks up right after (minutes in the books) W.F.R. and Blood of the Fold picks up right after S.O.T.

I don't blame Clockworkjoe for not liking the S.O.T. because he has no build up with the second book. If you didn't read W.F.R. I think it would be difficult to enjoy S.O.T.. I actually thought that W.F.R. and S.O.T. could have been ONE book. But since S.O.T. is very close to a 1000 pages alone, I can see why they are seperated.

I would highly recommend Terry Goodkinds Sword of Truth Series to any Fantasy reader.

Gratch rules!