Rating: Summary: A satisfactory sequel to Goodkind's first novel Review: While Goodkind blew all other books of this genre out of the water with Wizard's First Rule, the second book in the series was not as stellar. It provides a certain satisfaction to readers who were left hanging after the first novel, and ups the stakes for Richard Rahl by threatening him with more minions of the ruler of the Underworld. This book is another page turner and well written, but a little disappointing after reading the first in the series. Let's put it this way: it doesn't leave you dying to read the third book.
Rating: Summary: Sophomore Novel Has the Goods!! Review: After reading Wizard's First Rule, I found myself wondering more about Richard and Kahlan. The first book went far beyond my expectations, and I was enormously happy with the finished product. Stone of Tears, if anything, has surpassed the first novel in quality. This monster book, around 1000 pages, is full of all the things I have come to expect from Goodkind. Strong settings, wonderful characters, and an inventive plot keep the book moving at a blistering speed. Many people feel that most modern fantasy is derivative, and that is true to some extent. However, Goodkind has established a wonderful world, a unique slant on how magic works, and some of the best characters to ever grace the page. Stone of Tears takes off with breakneck speed and takes the reader to so many amazing locations that the book almost comes off like a George Lucas visual extravaganza. I would simply love to see some of the amazing pictures Goodkind has created in my mind on the silver screen. Yet, the book is so large and the plot so twisting and turning that it would lend itself adapted to a cable TV series better than a movie. There were times I would look up from my reading only to literally hear the sounds stop and the landscape change. I was in Goodkind's world and he worked his special brand of magic on me as I read. These books are not literary giants. Admittedly they would fall under the "pulp" category, but they are of such a wonderful quality that I feel almost guilty calling them "pulp." They transcend it. They are so entertaining that many well read people might regard them as "guilty pleasures." Stone of Tears is truly a pleasure to read. There are so many situations in the book that could be pointed out, but to take time to do so would make this review far longer than it should be. Suffice it to say that Stone of Tears is one of those rare novels that draw the reader in completely. From the dark beasts of the underworld to the war against the Imperial Order, this novel jolts out off the page with unstoppable energy. I honestly think I could have read it in one sitting if my own constitution had been up to the task. I recommend this novel with complete confidence. I am certain that most readers will want to plunge into the entire series as I am doing now. I am very glad that I did not find this series until it had been out for a while or there would have been a painful wait for each book. Goodkind is up to eight novels, one short story, and more books to come. I am certain that the coming months will find me reading way into the dark night following a hero that I understand and identify with: Richard, a man with amazing wisdom and goodness that finds himself forced to do things for the greater good. His character speaks to all of us. As we read, we discover something about ourselves and the fears we all have. In doing so, we discover more of our humanity. These works may be seen as "pulp" in origin, but they are a powerful read. Sometimes this novel is dark and brutal, sometimes it depicts things we rather wouldn't see, but sometimes it lifts us up into a wonderful place. A place filled with the one thing we all need...hope.
Rating: Summary: Geat Book!! Review: This book is great. I couldn't put it down. I really recommend this book to anyone if they have read Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodking. Go and GET THIS BOOK
Rating: Summary: Decent, but stick with Wizard's First Rule Review: Stone of Tears does not equal up to Wizard's First Rule, I'm afraid. Terry Goodkind should have stuck with his first book and left it with his happy ending, then started a new book. However, if you are reading this review, you're probably going to read 'Stone' anyway. I won't spoil anything, but I will tell you that all the scenes from Wizard's First Rule that made you want to cry and vomit at the same time (especially scenes with Denna) are gone. Many of the feel-good scenes with Richard and Kahlan are gone as well. They are separated early in the book and not reunited at the end, so the ending is not necessarily a happy one, unlike its predecessor. Plus, characters you came to know and love like Chase and Rachael are gone by the 100th page. But that ends up being reasonable, because there are also newbies like Gratch the gar who you come to love just as much. Though I've pretty much slammed the book at this point, it is a good read. There is more magic and less swords than the last, so you can judge that individually by which you prefer. My only problem with 'Stone' is that it isn't as good as the first.
Rating: Summary: dull, ponderous and pointless Review: Is this only the second book in the series? Feels like it was written 1000 times before, only better, and by better writers.
Rating: Summary: Are you guys kidding? Review: Only by sheer force of will (OK, and skipping pages here and there) did I manage to slog my way though this 100 page novelette. 100 pages -- what is he talking about? Well if a real editor got hold of this and did his job, that's all that would be left. Ok Terry is creative, he thought of all that filler between that start and end of the book, but did any of it really make sense? Was there any flow? Was it really believable? Did all the whining give anyone else a headache? This would be a great kids book, except he forgot to take the dirty parts out. Happy reading.
Rating: Summary: Not his greatest work, but good Review: I personally LOVED the first book in this series, Wizard's First Rule, but Stone of Tears simply did not live up to the greatest of WFR. It started out pretty good, got dull for about 600 pages, and then picked up in the last 100 pages or so. I think there is a little too much excess detail that could be cut out and too many long speeches by characters. The story was good, somewhat boring at times, but I still plan on reading the next book in the series. Something about the characters keeps you wanting to keep reading more.
Rating: Summary: Good stuff-probably would have given 3.5 stars Review: Well, just finished Stone of Tears, and overall found the book pretty good. I enjoyed the pace of the book, character development, and the storyline- I couldn't set this book down. That said, I do have a few complaints. I DID enjoy the character development. But, are you supposed to look forward to the parts of the book that don't involve the protagonist? I loved the development of Chandalin,Kahlan, Sister Verna-and Ive always liked Chase. THe jury's still out on Zedd for me. I also find myself slightly irritated at the way that Goodkind does conversation between the characters, and at the actions of characters. There is just a little too much hugging that goes on, and the verbal dialoge just seems to be a little- I don't know-forced? One last complaint, and maybe its because Im a little more used to the writing of George Martin, or Jordan. I felt that more description could have been used in general. You rarely get to see the world through the characters eyes except for an instant. I remember at one point, Richard is holding a dead assasin in his arms, and the only description that we get of her is that she was female. I also tend to forget exactly what the characters look like, because they are mentioned so infrequently. What color are Kahlan's eyes? I think green, but im not sure. Richards? No idea. Maybe I just dont have the reading comprehension that I like to think I have, but I would have liked it if descriptions and appearances were mentioned a bit more frequently. It was however, a great book. I enjoyed it greatly, and would recommend it to any Fantasy reader (already have, in fact) despite my complaints. Im looking forward to the 6 + more books in this series that I have yet to read.
Rating: Summary: the goodkind and the bad stuff Review: I have recently read WFR and I enjoyed the the strong encouragement that Mr. Goodkind put into his fantasy elements. On this particular story the begigining would sure seem promising to me. But within the first 300pgs. we are into talk of inapropriate sexual scenes that would undoutably come to a rated R movie. One thing that is nice about goodkinds works is that human conversation is simple vs. Tolkeins rather confusing way of writing. I would only hope that in the future Terry would think about the following 1. Think about the sex content in his books because of young readers (I myself im only just 11 going on 12) 2. Perhaps try ajusting the story endings to be more exciting in the futre.
Rating: Summary: unsatisfying and too casual about everything bit random Review: I just finished this book at 7am on monday I stayed up all night----ok it has the folwoing good elements 1 monsters 2 wizards 3 paladin/seeker/kind of eternal champion 4 faery-kinda creature/women 5 handsome bad guys who think they are right 6 anti communism bent but following are very bad things 1 cheesy loveey-dovey stuff that is so casually interjected it get a bit annoying 2 scenes in general where something is super serious then is casually dismised 3 very illogical actions by the bad guy---aka let good guy go when u have him/her 4 changes in magic power that pop outa nowhere to save the day 5 monsters that seem to make you dead meat suddenly get bowled over or lose interest in you 6 a smell of cheap trash writing aka terry brooks bad guys named mord-sith[like star wars]vs brook's bad guy called "mord-wraith" and then in brooks a bad guy called rimmer dall, while here the badguy is darken rhal----I mean do these guy like get together and crank out novells together like college student co-spitting out term papers? 7 basically bottom line ur half way through the book, its gettin cheesy and your like this author deserves a wak cuz now im readin this and I gotta know the end----I hate that! I call it "In too deep" 8 I'm basically mad I read it 830pages
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