Terry Goodkind and the Sword of Truth novels

[bobsbarricades]

I really don't want to make my first post be something redundant, and please direct me to where I can find more info on this if I failed to find it.  I did a search but came up empty handed and with really old posts.

 

Basically, I started reading the first two books waiting for Brian S. to finish the new book and I can't help but feel like I'm reading a sort of child's version of the WoT.  I don't mean to hate, TG does a pretty good job at telling a story but... anyway I don't want to just start criticizing but wanted some input from you all.  Is it just me?  Am I crazy to feel like TG is pulling some serious inspiration from Robert Jordan?

[Werthead]

This is a fairly controversial subject and Terry Goodkind is not particularly popular with a lot of Robert Jordan fans for various reasons (mainly for making what appears to have been a rather nasty and vinidictive comment about his heart being in great shape whilst RJ was dying from heart disease).

 

Personally I think he personally is a monumentally stupid jackass and his books are utter, utter crap and a complete and total waste of paper.

 

On the plus side, he does have an evil shapeshifting chicken as a bad guy. And, let's be honest, there are no evil shapeshifting chickens in WHEEL OF TIME. So that at least shows Goodkind was capable of at least one original idea ;)

[Majsju]

And, let's be honest, there are no evil shapeshifting chickens in WHEEL OF TIME.

 

Uhm, not to spoil TGS or so, but... ;D

[bobsbarricades]

hahahahahahaha

 

man I'm soooo happy to hear that other people have had similar reactions.  I keep telling my brother to pick up WoT, and I think I gave him the audio books (which I highly recommend) to listen to as I always lend out the books =P 

 

Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts =) can't wait till tomorrow!

[Sirayn]

And, let's be honest, there are no evil shapeshifting chickens in WHEEL OF TIME.

 

Uhm, not to spoil TGS or so, but... ;D

 

Tell me there's a chicken that is not a chicken but is evil incarnate in TGS. Make my day. :D

[Kivam]

Evil chicken? Really?  Tell me more.

 

Werthead - who's a worse writer: Terry Goodkind or Robert Newcomb?

[Rufae]

This is a fairly controversial subject and Terry Goodkind is not particularly popular with a lot of Robert Jordan fans for various reasons (mainly for making what appears to have been a rather nasty and vinidictive comment about his heart being in great shape whilst RJ was dying from heart disease).

 

 

Gee. At first I just hated Terry Goodkind for his lame writing and sorry characters. Now I loathe the bast***.

 

[ulca]

After I read a good book, I usually lend the book out to friends. I wouldn't lend The Sword of Truth books to my worst enemy. I think they are too preachy, redundant, and poorly written. There is no comparing RJ to Goodkind.

[arisha]

Not to be the stick in the mud here but I have to say I enjoyed more of the Sword of Truth series then I disliked it, although I agree on many points mentioned above, the possessed chicken was lame, there is quite a bit of knock-offing, and when I say a bit, I mean a lot, but where he takes some ideas from WoT, he does have some original ideas and some interesting premises. 

I've been trying to re-read that series while waiting for TGS, and I will be the first person to say they aren't a patch on WoT, but they're definitely not the worst fantasy series out there, I truly have read much worse.

Sword of Truth is comparable to many other fantasy in that there are parts that you have to slog through, as you have to slog through some WoT, the difference with Terry Goodkind is that some of the stuff you have to slog through is silly, not just boring.

Richard is still pretty cool, the bad guys are bad, and the magic is complex.  Not a waste of paper in my books!

;D

 

 

[Corki]

I see this subject has reared its ugly head again...

 

I must be one of the few who actually prefers Goodkind over Jordan. Jordan does do overkill with his writing, and that also explains why I am not the greatest fan of the Lord of the Rings (much to my girlfriend's annoyance). And at least Goodkind can do female characters - Jordan can't (in my eyes anyway).

 

I think people get frustated with the philosophical nature of SoT. Whenever I read SoT, I disconnect from that, and enjoy the story that Goodkind weaves.

[ohaitharguiz]

His writing aside, I hate TG.

[Sirayn]

Evil chicken? Really?  Tell me more.

 

You don't know about the evil chicken? Ahahaha. Click me and enjoy. :D

 

Werthead - who's a worse writer: Terry Goodkind or Robert Newcomb?

 

Tough call. Goodkind is pretty terrible, but Newcomb manages to make himself come across as a Nazi. (Slightly too much emphasis on blood purity as a symbol of goodness and righteousness.) Being that bad takes real effort.

 

Of course Goodkind advocates the wholesale massacre of unarmed peace protesters via Richard Rahl, paragon of righteousness whose example we should all follow, so I guess Goodkind and Newcomb would probably get along.

[bobsbarricades]

jeeez.... I thouht you guys were joking about the chicken...holy crap

[Talmanes]

Well I can't imagine Goodkind being better than Jordan, but I haven't read the SoT yet. I do like the tv series (The Legend of The Seeker)though; I have to say it's pretty good.

[Thorn]

 

Tough call. Goodkind is pretty terrible, but Newcomb manages to make himself come across as a Nazi. (Slightly too much emphasis on blood purity as a symbol of goodness and righteousness.) Being that bad takes real effort.

 

Of course Goodkind advocates the wholesale massacre of unarmed peace protesters via Richard Rahl, paragon of righteousness whose example we should all follow, so I guess Goodkind and Newcomb would probably get along.

 

Wait, you mean there's someone else out there who's as bad a writer as Goodkind? The world shudders.

[Sirayn]

Wait, you mean there's someone else out there who's as bad a writer as Goodkind? The world shudders.

 

Robert freaking Newcomb.

 

On the surface, his work is just another tired and unimaginative Hero's Journey ripoff, creaking under the weight of cliches, unable to muster a spark of originality. (Plus the prose is terrible.) On the thematic level, it is totally appalling.

 

* Men use good magic, called the Vigors, because men are good and manly and vigorous.

* Women use evil magic, called the Vagaries, because women are evil and have unpredictable vagaries.

* The antagonists are all female, and heavily sexualised, and female sexuality is evil.

* They're also all bisexual, and their experimentation with other women is presented as horrifying evidence of their ultimate depravity.

* The protagonist is righteous because his blood is the most pure. The phrase "blood purity" is invoked a lot with the greatest of approval.

 

I'm not sure if the author meant to present himself as a homophobic, misogynistic Nazi, but that's certainly how he's coming across to me.

 

(Next stop on your tour of Horrifying Authors We Have Known and Loved is Robert "fake amazon reviews" Stanek.)

[Thorn]

 

Robert freaking Newcomb.

 

On the surface, his work is just another tired and unimaginative Hero's Journey ripoff, creaking under the weight of cliches, unable to muster a spark of originality. (Plus the prose is terrible.) On the thematic level, it is totally appalling.

. . .

 

I'm not sure if the author meant to present himself as a homophobic, misogynistic Nazi, but that's certainly how he's coming across to me.

 

(Next stop on your tour of Horrifying Authors We Have Known and Loved is Robert "fake amazon reviews" Stanek.)

 

Wow, I thought that Gor knockoffs were a dead genre. I like how he has a "how will Robert Jordan die?" link on the page, too.

[Sirayn]

Wow, I thought that Gor knockoffs were a dead genre. I like how he has a "how will Robert Jordan die?" link on the page, too.

 

Yeah - that was hilarious way back before Jordan was diagnosed with amyloidosis. Now something of a Funny Aneurysm Moment.

[Vulgir]

The first few books of Sword of Truth were pretty good, then its a steady downhill dive that is extremely redundent, theres a good 3 books that can be removed from the series and have no effect on the rest of the story. But i feel that TG is like a popculture version of RJ, lil shock, lil awe, lil sex nothing really substantial.

[Beren Camlost]

I thought they were great books ; the first fantasy saga that I've read that is mostly concerned with mortals.  I'm almost done with Confessor....I took a peak at the end when I got the book though and was astonished to see that mostly evrery major character suvived, including Cara of all people  :D.  I thought she would undoubtely go out in a blaze of glory, defending Richard.  Oh, well *chuckles*

[Kivam]

Evil chicken? Really?  Tell me more.

 

You don't know about the evil chicken? Ahahaha. Click me and enjoy. :D

 

Bless you, Sirayn  ;D

 

Werthead - who's a worse writer: Terry Goodkind or Robert Newcomb?

 

Tough call. Goodkind is pretty terrible, but Newcomb manages to make himself come across as a Nazi. (Slightly too much emphasis on blood purity as a symbol of goodness and righteousness.) Being that bad takes real effort.

 

Of course Goodkind advocates the wholesale massacre of unarmed peace protesters via Richard Rahl, paragon of righteousness whose example we should all follow, so I guess Goodkind and Newcomb would probably get along.

 

Yeah, it's the perfect fantasy author "would you rather"

 

Seriously, I keep an ARC of Newcomb's around so I'll have it to punish my kids with when they grow up.  (Listen to your mother or you'll have to read a chapter of Savage Messaiah!)

[WWWwombat]

jeeez.... I thouht you guys were joking about the chicken...holy crap

[chill]

the sword of truth series is much more linear compared to wheel of time.  for me this was good and bad.  in some SoT books the momentum just builds up and keeps going and going, whereas in WoT there were a lot of slogging points with egwene or perrin that kind of bored me.  however, the SoT really lacks some depth.  i can re-read WoT over and over again and notice small things that will keep surprising me, but i think i got everything out of SoT within the first read.

 

also, i noticed later that the scenes that i really liked about SoT, like Faith of the Fallen's slice of life and rebellion, were kind of ripped off from Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged.  i guess in general TG's work is an homage to Ayn Rand, but FotF really has the same plot as The Fountainhead.

 

TG gets a lot of flak, but you can't deny that he is a very famous author and one of modern fantasy's superstars. 

[Luckers]

Lets see. Sword of Truth in a nutshell.

 

Worldbuilding: Randland.

 

Depth Content: Rand, Ayn Rand.

 

Plot: Rand Terry Goodkind Richard gets sperated from Super Hot Babe Who Looks At Him With Adoration Kahlan. He then seeks her out, preaching at Straw Dolls some highly enlightened individuals, including, but not limited to, a child with utter tripe well thought out arguments. This goes on until they fall at his feet in awe of Terry Goodkind's brilliance come to see the truth of Richard's arguments, and Richard is reunited with Kahlan.

 

Rinse and repeat as needed every single frickan time!

 

Author Relationship With Fans: -

 

13 year old fan - I love your books, but why can't Richard fight more, instead of talking all the time?

Goodkind - You hate the truth. You're not a real fan, and should not be reading my books.

 

Notes: Yes, he actually said that to a thirteen year old. That being said he is correct, a thirteen year old really should not be reading books with the rape of children, much less the subsequent castration (and forcing the man to eat his newly lost pieces) at all.

 

 

 

I loved when RJ was asked about Goodkind plagarising the Wheel, and his reply was just "I'm aware of Mr. Goodkind".

 

So classy. A gentleman, was James Oliver Rigney.

[Majsju]

 

 

TG gets a lot of flak, but you can't deny that he is a very famous author and one of modern fantasy's superstars. 

 

Britney Spears is a very famous artist, and one of modern pop musics superstars. Does that mean we should start put her on the same level as Beatles, Dylan, Morrissey etc?

 

Fame does not guarantee quality, and goofkind, together with dan brown are the ultimate evidence of this, as they have no qualities whatsoever as writers.