Sword of Truth Books: New Reader

[Jiarn]

So my new GF and I have a ridiculous amount of things in common, she knows my tastes because they're pretty much the same as hers. As I've finished up all the Warcraft Novels, I've been looking into a meaty series to read.

She owns the entire Sword of Truth books and says she loved them and would love for me to as well. We both have a love for the Dragonlance original series, and she says I'll find alot of common ground in them. So I'm looking forward to it as I stare at this massive first book.

How would you all rate this series as a whole? Do I have alot to look forward to? What didn't you all like about it? What would you have rather seen or done different (sans spoilers of course).

 

[sixpackshaker]

I'll give the first 3 books high marks. Then they get a little "wtf?" later in the series. They should still be worth reading.

The old wizard/mentor is likely the best character in the series.

 

[Dave]

Stop after the third one. For the love of God stop!

 

[Gusto]

I read one of them in high school. Stone of Tears, I think? Is that a thing?

Anyway I found the main guy to be a HUUUUUUGE goddamned Mary Sue. It frankly made reading it boring.

 

[ThatGrinningIdiot!]

After the third novel the series starts to wind down quite a bit. I felt the later books could've really used some innovation in the writing style. It feels as though he writes almost exactly the same in all of the books though the characters, setting, and details change.

I'd recommend that you try to read all of the books - but if you feel like stopping after any of them, it would be a good idea to do so.

 

[Dei]

I got bored around book 4, started liking it again with Pillars of Creation, then just got flat out pissed off at the way the series ended.

 

[TheBrew]

I enjoyed the series; I liked Faith of the Fallen the best, even if it is a bit hokey in examples of its philosophy (a bit like Atlas Shrugged in that regard).

The ending is a big cop-out, though.

I would say read the first two books as they are fairly self contained.

 

[PatrThom]

Faith of the Fallen is probably my favorite as well, with the first book as my second favorite. I think the attraction is that the writing is so incredibly emotional, my only trouble with the series is that certain themes keep recurring (a mild case of plot engine run-on, so to speak).

--Patrick

 

[sixpackshaker]

Spoiler

HOW MANY TIMES CAN THE MOST POWERFUL WIZARD IN 3000 YEARS GET CAPTURED???...

There is also a lot of torture porn in it as well.

And we get it, you don't like commies...

 

[Gryfter]

I've read the whole series. Finished it more because I wanted to see how it ended than that I really enjoyed them. Goodkind unfortunately tends to belabor his story be repeatably reminding you how abhorrent the villains are and how heroic the and self-sacrificing the protagonists are. He could have easily trimmed each book by a couple hundred pages if he'd left out those references.

That said, the first two books are great reads, things start to go south in the third book, but they pick up a little in the last three but again, the last three books could've been dealt with in one volume and saved the readers the constant reminders of the plot and the characters motivations.

The series does have some great characters in it. Zedd and Cara being my favorites.

 

[Wasabi Poptart]

I liked the first two books. Book three dragged so badly that there was no way I was going to read more.

 

[Kovac]

I found his books much improved when I found the secret to reading them - Whenever the main character stepped up on his soapbox for another anti-communist, tribute to the glory of the indivual type rant I would simply skip all of those pages.

When he goes over the same ground for the 100th time it just isn't worth reading all over again.

I enjoyed the series right up until the book "Faith of the Fallen" - Sure this book is where the soapbox ranting really reached it's peak but it was also a fairly interesting story and it had a pretty effective buildup with a pretty awesome payoff. But from that book onwards I really only continued reading it because I felt that I was too deep into the story just to drop it.

 

[PatrThom]

^That.

--Patrick