I picked this up because it was three bucks, my smoker’s sensibility kicks in (even though I quit) which tells me that if it costs less than a pack of smokes, it’s pocket change. That seems to be the new publisher move-- price the first book at three bucks (or less-- I think I paid a buck for the first Honor Harrington book) so they can get you buying them all. It’s the old “the first one is free” method pioneered by heroin dealers.
So I’m going along, reading this pretty pedestrian fantasy novel. It’s not great, but it’s hitting all the bases: backwoods hick finds out he’s the Chosen One, must stop Evil Foozle from taking over the world by denying him the One (Box) which will give the Evil Foozle Ultimate Power Over Everything. We get the quest journey, as well as the internal journey of the hero discovering the ways of magic. There are some gaffs-- the hero conveniently forgets major explanations or revelations until it’s time for him to remember them so things get pretty telegraphed, on the other hand the author (Terry Goodkind) has a bunch of instances where bang zoom, something happens and our Kindly Wizard then says, “Oh yeah, that’s how magic works here. Sorry I didn’t tell you.” So basically Goodkind didn’t have a feel for how/when to release snippets of information to keep the reader just one step behind him.
Which is all fine, it’s a first novel, I make allowances. Besides, it’s summer.
Then, about two-thirds of the way through the book it suddenly turns into this bondage/fetish thing with just a little too much detail. I’m pretty easygoing about my violence, but this stuff just had me feeling like I was getting more information about what turns Goodkind on than what was needed to advance the plot. Y’know, we had gone from a fairly straightforward fantasy romp (even with some cute kids-- badly written kids, but cute kids nonetheless) to some weird, pimply-faced wet dream about dominatrixes (dominatrices?).
Then it got over that part and turned back into mediocre fantasy. It even had a Star Wars medal scene at the end. I said to myself, “If the pissed off red dragon shows up to tell the hero that she wasn’t serious about eating him the next time they met and that he’s her bestest friend in the whole world, I’m done with this.” And on the next page that was pretty much what happened.
So there are like a dozen of these novels. Do they get better? Anybody a Goodkind fan? What the hell is it with the bondage stuff? Right now I’m thinking this stuff makes Robert Jordan look deep.
There are huge cardboard standups of Goodkind, replete with ill-advised ponytail and pussy-tickler all over B&N. I’m pretty sure I saw a small child crying with fright after seeing one.
He does not make the mistake of going into bondage again after the first but they actually continued to go downhill from the first… I read the first 3-4 in paperback as my criteria for quality is less there but eventually just gave up on him
I thought the first 3 in this series were okay, but after that, oh boy…I won’t touch them anymore. Jordan and Goodkind both suffer from the same unforgivable fault: their stories never end. Endless pages of description and hordes of minor characters we don’t give a damn about do not make for compelling reading.
The second book I thought was pretty good, but I have developed a hatred for the author after trying to read the rest of the series. Goodkind comes across to me as really hating his main characters and it just got too much to bear. YMMV of course.
The Goodkind books are all pretty bad, but I do think the second and third books are better than the first one. I have actually read them all…actually, I listened to them all on tape. I have a long commute to work/school and the series is unabridged on cassette. So I bought them all and listened to them. None of them are great, but they helped me pass the time. They have their moments. The first one though is VERY cliched. As you said, it borrows from all sorts of places. The other books are much less so, but the writing stays pretty bad. I dont understand why so many fantasy writers think that detailed descriptions of scenery and characters, with as many adjectives as possible, is somehow good writing. It’s actually a sign of very immature writing. Goodkind is one of the worst about doing this.
I can’t imagine a more shocking turn of events than the introduction of the dominatrix character and the following quarter of the book that is a shockingly detailed description of their activities.
2 events stand out- When the main character kicks the bad child in the mouth so hard he severs her tongue, and when that henchman is forced to eat his own testicles. I mean, what the fuck?
Also, the grand plot itself is horribly written. The way we are told the brother is bad is pathetic, the deus ex machina is truly horrible. First 98% of book “Don’t ever let the streams cross”, biggest problem of the book=“Cross the streams!” Except even Ghostbusters had that crossing the streams was unpredictably powerful, in this we are explicitly told that X cannot happen because Y will follow. But when shit got heavy, uh, do X quick!
I can’t imagine a more shocking turn of events than the introduction of the dominatrix character and the following quarter of the book that is a shockingly detailed description of their activities.
2 events stand out- When the main character kicks the bad child in the mouth so hard he severs her tongue, and when that henchman is forced to eat his own testicles. I mean, what the fuck?
Also, the grand plot itself is horribly written. The way we are told the brother is bad is pathetic, the deus ex machina is truly horrible. First 98% of book “Don’t ever let the streams cross”, biggest problem of the book=“Cross the streams!” Except even Ghostbusters had that crossing the streams was unpredictably powerful, in this we are explicitly told that X cannot happen because Y will follow. But when shit got heavy, uh, do X quick!
I bought the first three used about a year ago and after skimming through the first decided it wasn’t for me.
I’ve pretty much given up on Jordan since Book Seven.
Eddings, for all of everyone’s complaints, remains one of my more favorite fantasy authors. Martin pretty much leaped to the top; Feist I’ll still read but he’s fallen, as has Brooks. I haven’t read enough of Salvatore to really rank him.
It only gets worse. The dude goes south to find the Aes Sedai, err, Sorceresses, who collar him and blah blah books and violent sports and retarded propeshies and SURPRISE the bad guy from the first book isn’t completely dead and stupid relationship and the dominatrixes all worship him and he gets upset when they die for him and he wants them to all get pregnant and retarded magic and stupid bumbling EVERYTHING. Do not read.
I wish y’all would stop saying all these bad things about Goodkind! I have enjoyed the books up until now, and if you all keep pointing out how crappy they are, I am afraid I won’t be able to enjoy them anymore! So, everyone with me, “Goodkind is good! Better than Cats. I want to read them again and again.”
:lol: My wife enjoyed Dean Koontz for harmless fun romps until I tried to read one, pointed out his miserable, over-description of everything, and now it bothers her and she cannot read him anymore.
The moral: You should quit reading this thread immediately if you ever want to enjoy Goodkind again, but it is probably too late.
FWIW, the one (I think Wizard’s 1st rule) I tried to read did not grab me at all. I think I got ~200 pages in and put it down. Enjoy.
I read books two through five I think. I enjoyed the fantasy world, some of the characters, and the plotting, I guess. I did skim a lot. Besides fantasy, the books are also romance novels I’m convinced. Just about every major character is paired off with an equal character of the opposite sex, and far too many pages are devoted to the relationship of Richard and Kaylen, the two main characters. One book even has about a 40 page sequence wherein a feast is described in detail, from the fine clothes the attendees are wearing down to each dish being served. That has to be aimed directly at female readers.
I read the four books one after another rather quickly, so something in them hooked me, but whatever that element was, I’ve been dehooked. I doubt I’ll go back to the books.
