Terry Goodkind

[Denie Alconn]

Oh...by the way, I just nearly died of laughter reading Sandstorm Reviews: The Goodkind Parodies

 

[CBellenis]

Seriously...what makes it so damned irritating is that we actually continued reading the series!! Definitely a case of hope over experience!

 

[GOLLUM]

Fortunately I didn't make that particular mistake. I "saw the light" after reading Wizard's Rule.

 

[Toby Frost]

I forgot about the thing about outlawing fire. I just couldn't buy it. Even Nero wasn't mad enough to try that: the peasants would have formed a collective and killed him - quickly, and without any genital interference, but killed him anyway.

But anyhow.

 

[Clansman]

Fortunately I didn't make that particular mistake. I "saw the light" after reading Wizard's Rule.

Alas, not me. I made it all the way to Naked Empire before I realized how stupid I was being.

THE SHAME!

 

[jackokent]

I devoured theses books in the same way as I might a whole KFC bargain bucket… way way too much of the same thing, clearly not in the last bit healthy and afterwards I felt ashamed and a little bit guilty.

However bad I thought the books were though, they were completely overshadowed by the series. Now that was totally unpalatable.

 

[Denie Alconn]

Honestly, it doesn`t matter that much of what he wrote was silly or that he is hillarious.... as long as I`m entertained I`m happy

 

[Clansman]

"If it makes you happeeeeeeeeee, it can't be that ba-a-a-ad..."

 

[thepaladin]

I'm not sure, but that may be like saying "I can't be broke, I still have checks".

 

[Heather Myst]

There are no shortages of Goodkind haters out there. Several of the forums that I visit bash him on a constant basis. I must say that the repetition of the devotion got old fast and having read a few interviews with Goodkind I would not really want to hang out with him. I also have to say his series is one of my all time favorites and I think he has a great talent for writing. I read all eleven books and I would love to see him continue the story. Several of his characters I found fascinating. Zedd, Richard, Kahlan, Nicci, Annalina, and the other Sisters of Light and Dark, Emperor Jagang, Jennsen, Adie, Chase, Rachel, Shota, Six, Gratch, Scarlet, Cara, and the rest of the Mord-Sith are some of my favorite characters of all time. I just wanted to post that there are people out here who loved this series. Some of my favorite authors are George Martin, Joe Abercrombie, David Coe, Fiona McIntosh, Jennifer Fallon, Carol Berg, Brent Weeks, Terry Brooks, John Marco, Robin Hobb, and J.V. Jones. I hope some of you give Wizards First Rule a chance because I think you might just find yourself beginning a very enjoyable reading experence.

 

[Clansman]

I'm not sure, but that may be like saying "I can't be broke, I still have checks".

Huh? What the...?

 

[Clansman]

There are no shortages of Goodkind haters out there. Several of the forums that I visit bash him on a constant basis. I must say that the repetition of the devotion got old fast and having read a few interviews with Goodkind I would not really want to hang out with him. I also have to say his series is one of my all time favorites and I think he has a great talent for writing. I read all eleven books and I would love to see him continue the story. Several of his characters I found fascinating. Zedd, Richard, Kahlan, Nicci, Annalina, and the other Sisters of Light and Dark, Emperor Jagang, Jennsen, Adie, Chase, Rachel, Shota, Six, Gratch, Scarlet, Cara, and the rest of the Mord-Sith are some of my favorite characters of all time. I just wanted to post that there are people out here who loved this series. Some of my favorite authors are George Martin, Joe Abercrombie, David Coe, Fiona McIntosh, Jennifer Fallon, Carol Berg, Brent Weeks, Terry Brooks, John Marco, Robin Hobb, and J.V. Jones. I hope some of you give Wizards First Rule a chance because I think you might just find yourself beginning a very enjoyable reading experence.

Some great authors in there, Heather Myst, a few of my faves (Martin, Berg, Marco, Hobb and Jones). We are a pretty open bunch here, in that we might intensely dislike what a person is reading, but that emotion never extends to the reader absent behaviour deserving of dislike. Welcome to the Chrons! While I may not share your love of Goodkind's writing (in fact, I do love a good Goodkind-bashing paraody, the Hitler one being the best so far), I do share a lot of your favourites.

Take a moment and introduce yourself at the Introductions thread.

 

[thepaladin]

Same here, welcome.
I liked the first volume pretty well (Wizard's first Rule) I just thought they went down hill after that.

"Have checks can't be broke":
The existence of a book doesn't make it lierature (or readable/worth reading)

 

[Heather Myst]

Thank you Clansman and thepaladin. A friend introduced me to your site after I had mentioned that some of the other sites I have visited were not quite as tolerant as I would of liked of fans of some authors. Everyone has their own opinion of what they like and I love your open bunch approach Clansman. I loved the Sword of Truth but I sure understand that there are plenty of people out there who didn't enjoy the series at all. Robert Jordan and Elizabeth Moon wrote books that I didn't really enjoy but I know have tons of fans. I really enjoy the fact that this is a site where even the people who don't see things your way respect your right to your own opinion. Mint chocolate chip ice cream is my favorite but I am awful fond of chocolate, butterscotch, and butter pecan too. Life would get pretty boring with only one flavor. I love reading all of the opinions here and hopefully I will be discovering some great new books to read.

 

[Werthead]

I read all eleven books and I would love to see him continue the story.

The story continues in his new series, starting with The Law of Nines, which picks up events a few hundred years later in a different world (our one).

 

[Heather Myst]

Thanks for the information Werthead. I recognize you from SFFWorld and I love your Wertzone site.

 

[elvet]

I gave Wizard's First rule a try. I got ~300 pages in and I lost interest. I'm not sure wether it was due to the writing, having recently read some very complex books, or distastefulness of the bad guy (Darken Rahl). I may get back to it at some point, since there was the distinct possibility of a romance between Kahlan and Richard, and I'm a sucker for that sort of thing.

 

[molloy]

I will start off by saying that I am not a hardcore fan of the fantasy genre, but I do enjoy it from time to time. I picked up "Wizard's First Rule" because it looked like an entertaining read - heroes, monsters, wizards, etc. And for the first third or so of the book I felt that it delivered.

However, I felt that the story began to fall apart at around the midpoint. Goodkind is no stylist, he's a very basic adventure writer, and that's fine. But his more didactic side started to come out and I thought that it spoiled the adventure. One thing I really do not want from a fantasy book is a series of poorly written, thinly-veiled scenes that only serve to promote the author's Randian, pro-free-market ideals. To me, it just seemed silly and poorly developed. Anyway, I didn't enjoy it.

What really got me was the introduction of the Samuel character, a very blatant ripoff of Tolkien's Gollum that just sent me over the edge. The character was unnecessary, and derivative, and a good editor would have seen that such a character never saw the light of day.

In the end, I thought that Goodkind was a serviceable, if hackish, genre writer, but a very poor writer of Big Ideas.

 

[Clansman]

Welcome, Molloy. Looks like you'll fit right in with this crowd! Go to the Introductions thread and introduce yourself. Nice to have you at the Chrons.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I've never read any of Goodkind's books, and judging by the hatred the vast majority of readers on this (and other) forums have for them, I don't think I ever will. But I think perhaps you guys failed to consider a possibility: Terry Goodkind is a genius! Why? Because it's all an act!

Think about it for a second; no one could have the kind of ego and unshakeable self-belief that Goodkind displays in the interviews. Maybe he fakes it. Like saying that he puts a lot of thought into his names, while apparently he has characters named 'Richard' and 'Zedd'. It was tongue-in-cheek. I mean, come on! No one can be that oblivious!

Have you guys ever seen pro-wrestling i.e. WWE? Well, you know how there are wrestlers who'll be fan-favourites for a while, then they'll smack another 'good' guy in the face with a steel chair and then turn 'heel', that is to say, a 'villain'? I think that's what Goodkind has done! He whacked all of you in the face with the steel chair of his mediocre writing and giant ego.

You see, at some point, he realised that he probably wasn't good enough to compete straight up with George R. R. Martin, Erikson, Jordan, Mieville and the new guys like Abercrombie, Rothfuss, Lynch etc. So, he decided that he'll drum up interest by 'turning heel'. That's why he comes off as having a God complex; he's playing it up! The man's brilliant!

That's gotta be it, right?



Ummm... right...?