Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind

(238 ratings) Submit Review / Comment More reviews by author A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

Submitted by Skibo1219 
(Mar 09, 2009)

It is all agreed that the first 2 books were rather decent for a fantasy novel, however the rest of the series itself was just like a bad movie, its keeps getting worse and worse. The lack of common sense, the pure stupidity, and the amount of redundant and excessive wasted space of descriptions every other chapter when a new character is introduced or reappears within the story line or when RR arrives at a new location is just, well LAME. It looks like this was written with young people in mind, but even at those ages they have more intelligence and common sense then Richard and Kahlan, especially since one is supposed to be well educated and the other supposed to be a wizard, Harry Potter had more brains and he was just a teen in those novels, the cicadas put him in his mid-late 20s.

The supporting cast around Richard was a little better written then some authors do but that was still lacking common sense when it comes to being involved in the main story line. The over all length of each novel was padded by the excessive use of redundant descriptions of each character and the interaction and thoughts with others, dragging the storyline on in this manner is just bad planning, a waste of a tree, poor form on Mr. Goodkind's part. This shows T.G. lack of imagination or immaturity as an author, difficult to tell which. IMHO, its quite obvious T.G. can write, he just doesn't know how to structure a book/series for a good read. Lastly, Bags is not a bad word when there is no source for it becoming a bad word.

The good side to this series is the concept of the story is great, magic and romance and a ton of bad things happening constantly to the main characters and matching evil characters, a nice "balance" actually, the amount of drama involved is overwhelming at times but well played and even intelligent.
I would recommend reading this, if, you like wasted space and throwing money down just for the sake of having this on your bookshelf, not worth a repeat read.

I started out really loving this series. There was some repetition from Jordan especially, but overall, interesting reading. I stopped reading it for a while after Faith of the Fallen, but only because I had already read the exact same book 20 years ago by Ayn Rand called "The Fountainhead". This was a little too much for me. It's one thing for fantasy series to borrow from each other and the classics, but to blatantly steal from Ayn Rand, without even giving her credit defeats the purpose of parroting her philosophy; unless it is to prove her point that those who lack greatness must steal from the ones who do.

I got over this disgust, however, and plowed on, especially when I realized the target audience is in their teens and are not old enough to have heard of Ayn Rand. I finished the SoT series and started Chainfire. I may not complete this series, however, because Richard has lost Kahlan----again!!! Don't these two ever get to spend any time together?? The series is just very repetitious and in your face. Great for younger readers, but mature readers may grow tired of being beaten over the head with Goodkind's cheap imitation of Ayn Rand's excellent philosophy.

I have to disagree with some of the good news I've heard about this book.
I've read the first book Sword of Truth and the second novel The Stone of Tears and I have to say that they were predictable. Okay just to let you know yes if there is more than one novel in the series then you can easily guess that the hero survives to fight another day.
It wasn't that this book wasn't a good read - I read the first one twice - its just that all of the odds are stacked in the hero's favor. For example - his grand dad the oldest and most powerful wizard. His dad is/was the most powerful wizard. He has a magic sword his girlfriend has magic that terrifies everyone he has a pet that, under normal circumstances, would have you for dinner. In addition he finds magical tokens and talismans underfoot nearly every chapter and I must have forgotten his pet dragon - one that brethes fire.
While the hero has allies magic the villan fights alone. Yes Darken Rahl had his minions but the forgone conclussion, even his torturer was stymied by the fact that he had a hidden asset that no one could have predicted.
While he has his moments when he is tortured and run ragged trying to save the world you can see that he amasses so much power that you can never really worry if he'll make it throught the situation.
After the reading the second book I didn't want to go any further with him and Gratch going to find Kahlan.
I'm sorry it is the classic fantasy tale but I was hoping , vainly, that Goodkind would stretch the genre make it so that the ending or the hero was at odds with the majority were he was at the disadvantage that some 'tragic flaw' would criple him and I don't mean his sense of honor.
Overall a good meaty read but predictable

For a long time my brother had been trying to get me to read the Sword of Truth novels. I had always denied him because I was never much of a reader. Until then I had just not read anything except SI magazine... But one day he finally persuaded me into read at least the first 2 chapters of Wizards First Rule. Since then I had read the series twice and have LOVED each and every minute of the books. The style of writing is so in depth and it jumps out at you. The way Terry Goodkind explains fight sequenses is so clear and to the point. He is an artist with words and has made me become what I had never thought I would be... A hardcore, day in day out, over the edge... Reader I am just finishing up Stone of Tears for the third time and it has not lost its spectacular first time feeling. I give my props to Mr. Goodkind. Thank you.

The beginning of this series had a lot going for it: some interesting, believable characters, suspense, and a well-realised world. The first two books were very promising in the way they developed both the plotlines (eg Richard's personal growth as a leader) and the characters. Unfortunately the excitement began to fade when I got onto the third. Goodkind has a very straightforward, graphic writing style- this serves him well when he keeps the action going, but when the action starts slowing down (especially after Faith of the Fallen), it begins to grate. Pillars of Creation became laborious with its long-winded passages of dialogue about ideology: it would serve the story (and Goodkind's messages) better if Richard's beliefs were translated subtly through his actions rather than rants. By focusing on this aspect of the story, Goodkind detracts from other interesting ideas, such as Nicci's new role. That being said, the books are, on average, more involving than many others out there and it is easy to become attached to the characters that Goodkind creates.