Rating: 
Summary: Antithesis!!!
Review: I have read all 6 books of the Sword of Truth series, I guess I had to wait 2 years to write these reviews because I was way too young and ignorant 2 years ago to write anything even resembling philosophy. I will now state some of the things I have seen and think are worth writing about. Feel free to skip sections if you want.What is the worth of a friend anyway. Are they to be used as tools for the greater glory of the main character, or are they sidekicks, meant to support and do 1/2 but recieve 1/20 of the reward. Planescape Torment put it best when it stated do they "matter" to you? Are they the kind of friends that stick by you through hell and heaven? Khalan in Wizard's First Rule has never had a friend. Ever since she was a child she has faced adult responsibilities and others fearing her power. Personally I would love to have someone touch a person and make him tell the truth, that would pretty much eliminate death sentences and mistakes. If you were guilty why let her destroy you since you'll just tell it all? But I would also fear that which I would not understand and its abuse. Search Kahlan's personality and ethics and see if she abuses her power. There are lesser people all around that if they had this power, they would be corrupted by it. When she says you are special Richard, and when Richard says that is what friends do... Its a subtle communication and teaching. It means more to people that really appreciate it. It is teaching that there is more to life than just "duty" to the people. Next on the agenda is magic, how I love how magic is explained in this book and the series in general. Richard learns what is magic but not how to work specific aspecs of magic, mainly his magic. The Sisters of Light(AKA 50% Aes Sedai, 50% religious fanatics) said every wizard/sorcerous uses the gift differently... mm that sounds like telepathy and telekinesis to me. Additive magic adds and multipies what is there, but subtractive magic obliterates things. [...]Rather I just look at how Zedd uses magic. Floating things, making dense air sharper than a scalpel. Making fire that is alive. Too bad he's not powerful enough to raise rocks out of the ground and impale people. Although the tearing of the ground is just a waste. Zedd worked up a great conundrum when he said the murderer justifies his killing because he believes he is right in book 1. Lol, but zedd also talked of Righteous anger and justification to Richard. So who is right and who is wrong if it is all only on perspective. Well there are 4 truths, your truth, his truth, the guy that saw it's truth, and the Real truth. Reality is so complicated its ridiculous. The Six Wizard's Rules have improved my life by adding a touch of wisdom to a rather dull mind. It made me think about my actions, who governed them, and if they were right or not. Faith is all good and nice but I'd rather search for it then have it handed to me. I always did like philosophy and ethics. I agree with some when they said there were several irregularities in Robert Jordan's works. To understand Goodkind's strong points, you must understand Robert Jordan's works. I don't think all the similarities between the two is by coincidence, yet a zirconium and diamond is similar in appearances, only when you go deeper is where you see the divergeance. Aes Sedai can't lie, but are they better for that or do they just adapt into a more subtle form of lying. Sisters of Light don't believe in lieing but they would do it by justifying it that it saves lives. Originally both were good, Sedai served the world, Sisters served the wizards that would otherwise have died. Now they are both corrupt, aes sedai trying to dominate the lives that they were Sworn to protect. Aes sedai would eviscerate any male that so much as insulted them. Abuse of power. Sisters of Light train and brainwash wizards so they can be controlled. Causing more harm than good. Aes Sedai is both male and female. Yet the females has so much scorn for the males that if I didn't know better I would think we had a gender switch. Circa 1500s when everyone thought females were stupid as cows. Book 2 is an excellent sequel to Book 1. It begins the moment Richard and Kahlan leaves which is suprisingly enough. But the danger manifests itself very quickly as the People's Palace is attacked by the Keeper's minions. Richard has torn the veil, and now has to fix it. But his gift is going awry so he has to go and get helped. Whether that help is good or bad is your guess. In the end, you'll see that dragon, know what the Stone of Tears is, see the palace again, and get rid of that collar!
Rating: 
Summary: Energizer...
Review: After a great book like Wizard's First Rule, Terry Goodkind disappoints with this 1000 page flop. It seems that Goodkind stretched the novel to it's limits with about 700 pages. He beat around the bush with lots of bull with them going here and there, and not actually doing what was important. Kahlan was especially disappointing. When in need of figuring how to fix the viel, saving 5000 men means nothing when the world is at stake. I was sorrily upset with this 980 page book. I expected something more than maybe 250 pages of useful writing.
Rating:
Summary: Comparisons NOT
Review: I have written a review for WFR and after reading some more I have decided to annoy every single person who has read Robert Jordan. Terry GOodkind writes much more egrossing stories that display much more emotional characteristics than Robert Jordan's. The relationship between Rand and Egwene really isn't that engrossing. I think that Rnad should go with the Woman In White instead just to make it interesting! Also, about comparisons. I have read some Robert Jordan. They were good, but not really my style. The love-stuff is completely unrealistic and some people fall in love with Rand realy uncharacteristically. True, Aes Sedai, Clack Ajah, Whitecloaks, I could go on forever. but the thing is, the core of imagination stems from reality and what you know. The truth is, if things weren't already there, people wouldn't be expanding on that idea and making it bigger. Take birds for example, they fly. Chances are a human being probably wouldn't imagine flying if there weren't beings that already could fly. The imagination is an expansion of knowledge, not something picked up out of nowhere. Also, Terry Goodkind's books are like Marmite, you love them or you hate them. You don't really get that many in betweens though there are some. I think this is because you either agree with his morals and are fanatically involved with them (like me: I try them out after I find out another e.g.Wizards First Rule. A friend claimed she was feeling carsick. I gave her a 'tablet for carsickness'. Immediately she felt better. the tablet only works after two hours) or you totally disagree with them and try to find out every single flaw with them. Don't read any reviews that tell you not to read a book. It's your own decision and it's your own morals that have to relate
Rating:
Summary: A Marginal Read
Review: I should first qualify this review by stating that I've read only the first two installments in the "Sword of Truth" series. However, that amounts to around 1700+ pages of Goodkind's writing. Most of this review is negative, but I do list some of the good points of the books at the end. A paraphrase of this review: If you are the type of person who only reads fantasy novels to escape and not think, then these books may suit you. If you enjoy a well-considered background and plot, and characters with whom one can relate, then these books will probably not suit you. Within the first hundred pages of "Wizard's First Rule" I wanted desperately to leap into the world with Richard and Kahlan and end the misery they were inflicting on me. Their characters were so incredibly flat that I was horrified with the idea of reading another 700 pages featuring them. Not only was their dialogue childish (E.g. "That's what friends do." "That's what friends are for." etc., ad nauseam), but the actions ascribed to them were completely overused. I've lost track of how many times I've read a phrase like "She gave him a sidelong glance" or "He looked at her from under his eyebrows." That gets old after the first couple of dozen times, and one gets the impression that people in this world never just look at each other when they talk, but instead walk side-by-side or keep their heads turned down at all times. Another gripe I have is that Goodkind doesn't seem to keep much logical consistency to the background of the story. For instance, Kahlan the Confessor has the power to touch a person and completely command/control them thereafter. Thus, when the uber-baddie of the first book, Darken Rahl, wants to kill the Confessors off, he sends out quads, which are groups of four well-trained killers. The reason given for the four assassins is that the targeted Confessor will touch one man, and he will then kill one or two other members of the quad before they can kill him. That leaves at least one member to kill the Confessor (their power usually only works once, then must recharge). OK, here's where I get annoyed: The Confessor has to touch their target. Many other people in this world seem to possess and use weapons such as crossbows, long bows and so on. I would like to think that if me and my quad mates were sent out to kill one of these confessors, we might sit down first, have a beer or two and then decide to go buy ourselves some crossbows! "Hey, guys, what if we just shoot her from about 50' away and don't even give her a chance to touch us? I think we should at least try it once!" Given the blinding stupidity of some of the more central characters, though, this type of oversight from the supporting cast is not too suprising. Magic is a difficult thing to work with when writing. Most of the better writers will leave it as more of a mysterious thing, and allow the reader's mind to fill in the details. Tolkien was a master at this, and I believe that George R.R. Martin is doing a very good job in his Ice&Fire saga. Goodkind just seems to make up things that suit him as he goes along and it ends up being a bit like "Wizard trumps Sorceress, Witch trumps Seeker, Mord-Sith trumps Magic" and then ends it all by basically saying "Love is the 5th Element!" And calling something a "Mord-Sith"?!? That's about the least imaginative name for an evil creature I can imagine, and I think that Lucas should sue. I said that I would write something good at the end, so here it is. Goodkind does have moments where some talent shines through. When he is carrying the story forward it tends to be a fairly enjoyable read. When he is trying to do some character building it tends to be a very frustrating read. I think that with some judicious editing -- not just running it through a spell-check program and declaring victory -- these books would rate a 2.5 or even 3 star review. A well-known author evidently provided a review saying, "I really think Goodkind's work will sweep the country in the way Tolkien's did". That is a paraphrase as I don't have the book with me. That is an insult to the genius of Tolkien. I have read none of Robert Jordan's doorstops, so I can't compare. But after reading the first three of Martin's saga, I have to say that Goodkind's work is not even a close second. If I couldn't buy used copies and then sell them back, I wouldn't bother reading these books.
Rating: 
Summary: Still some of the same difficulties here
Review: This book still contains a good amount of the same stereotypes that were in the first book. I really wasn't at all thrilled with the Sister's of the Light. Verna I found especially annoying. The beginning dragged like mad. It was completely obvious from the start what was going to happen, but for some reason it took around 200 pages or so for that to happen. I did love seeing Kahlan leading an army. I liked seeing her as a merciless war general, I felt it gave her a lot more depth than she'd shown in the previous book at all. I found myself disappointed when the book left her point of view from what was happening. His writing of Kahlan is, in my opinion, what made this book worth reading. The rest still needs some work.
Rating: 
Summary: Goodkind manages to shoot himself in the foot again...
Review: Good writing consists of just a few basic things: interesting dialogue, concise sentences/paragraphs, and focused ideas/plot/characters. Sadly, none of Goodkind's works contain these three simple writing rules. Interesting dialogue: "You are a *special* person, Richard." "You're my friend... That's what friends are for..." This is really annoying when it comes up nearly every other page. Goodkind simplifies his dialogue to the point where an attentive reader will feel insulted. Come on, chum, we're not that retarded (unless you've been buying the whole damn series). Concise sentences/paragraphs: Why in the hell is this book 1000 pages long? Even "War and Peace" isn't this long, and it's got enough epic plot to fill a hundred Goodkind novels. This boy needs an editor to distill this crap down. Longer does not equal better. (Read the Earthsea novels.) Focused ideas/plot/characters: It's like wandering in Wonderland, but lacking Alice's cat. There are a quite a few focused ideas here: sexual perversion, gratuitous violence, defecation (read the part about the palace), cardboard relationships, cliches, etc. Unfocused include: truth, magic, characters, and plot. The magic system is unwieldy, insipid, and simplistic (additive and negative magics?!). Goodkind mentioned something about "righteous anger" in the first novel; good to see that "righteous anger" actually means "righteous slaughter/murder." He should've told us earlier. Richard and Kahlan are like love-sick teenagers, and the combined IQ of these two is lower than my caesar salad. Actually, one should ask: What plot? If there is a meaningful plot here, I'll be amazed. One could write an English doctoral thesis on Goodkind's usage, but his list of follies also includes all the "borrowed" ideas from Robert Jordan (who suffers many of the same problems) and Terry Brooks (ditto). We're going to keep on receiving crap in fantasy and science fiction until we demand better authors. At this point, it doesn't seem likely though...
Rating:
Summary: A Copy of Jorden? NO WAY!
Review: I just wanted to say this is one of the best series I have read in a long time. It has everything. I have to disagree when someone said it is like Robert Jorden's books. Robert Jorden killed off characters left and right leaving himself stuck needing some of those characters later on. Terry Goodkin was true to everyone one of the books in the Sword of Truth series.
Rating:
Summary: How to write a 1000 page book and kill your ending
Review: I continue to look for a book to rival the writing and sophistication of Tolkein and Herbert, but this book doesn't cut it. Goodkind has many similarities to Jordan, both in story line and in the ability to run on for thousands of pages. The characters are good ones, but the book has a propensity to edge towards a romance novel. What really killed it for me, however, was how Goodkind built up several story threads and then proceeded to end the novel with an abrupt godlike intervention of magic that solves all the problems. It was simply too childlike -- make your moral decisions and then your subconscious will take care of the rest. It's as if the author and editor said "Oops, we've hit a thousand pages... better wrap this up quick and focus on the next one." That's all fine and good, but why kill a book that has some good moments with a simplistic deus ex machina ending? The first book, with the dark edge of the Mord Sith challenge, was more interesting for anyone over 14.
Rating:
Summary: Everyone must face the Truth
Review: Everyone has always been extolling the Sword of Truth novels so I figured that I would read the books. However, I was shocked and dismayed to discover that this series is nothing more than a pale immitation of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time. The similiarities go far beyond mere coincidence and often specific details are pathetically renamed. For example, Sisters of the Light = Aes Sedia, Sisters of the Dark=Black Ajah, Blood of the Fold=Whitecloaks, The Dream World=Tel'aran'rhiod (The World of Dreams), Rada Han = a'dam, Han=One Power (Even the process of reaching it is the same), and on and on the list goes. Yet there is more, Goodkind has also lifted a central element from Terry Brooks's novels namely the Sword of Truth=Sword of Shannara. Perhaps if Goodkind actually came up with an original idea instead of "researching" the works of his contemporaries, he could produce a true novel. I may even be able to overlook all of this blatent plagarism if the story was well written, but sadly Goodkind could not write realistic dialog if he tried. Honestly, the amount of repetition in his dialog is terrible and his characters have a tendancy to launch into continous diatribes about trivial matters. If you doubt me, pick a random passage in any of these novels where Richard or Kahlan speak and you will believe. Please do not buy these novels. I have read all of them up to book 4 and can honestly say that I gave them a chance. I urge everyone to read the true masters of fantasy: Robert Jordan, Tad Williams, and Terry Brooks.
Rating:
Summary: Dragons, sorceresses, immense battles!!!
Review: This novel contains some of the best aspects of epic fantasy. Both Kahlan & Richard (the main characters) are even better in this novel. They face many challenges but prove themselves as worthy to them. This is a great book! And it is one of Goodkind's best.
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