Alucard
September 26th, 2001, 07:26 PM
I know, I have painted a nice little bullseye on my forehead by bringing this up, but I would like to discuss this( I wasn't around for any of the other "wars" as they're called).
I'm going to start by saying, I don't hate Goodkind's books, in fact, I liked them. To many here, that's practically blasphemy, but there it is...
A lot of people seem to regard the SoT series as the worst thing ever to grace literature, and although I am aware that opinions are opinions and no one can be wrong with an opinion, I don't quite understand the extreme disgust.
For starters, I read all of his books. And I wasn't simply reading them because I had nothing better to do. For me, reading is a source of recreation, and if I'm not entertained, then I have no reason to continue reading the book(I also don't buy many books, so there's no money lost either. God bless libraries). That being said, he kept me entertained for six of his books(and long ones at that), which is no small feat.
I full well understand that Goodkind has his shortcomings. Many of his ideas are strikingly similar to the wheel of time. The sisters thing, the collar thing, etc...(though IMO, his ideas are similar, but the atmosphere certainly wasn't.)
Also, the writing was certainly not the greatest. In fact, while reading his books, I usually forgot about the writing. In some ways this is a good thing, in other ways, bad. If I notice the writing style in a novel for good reasons, it makes a good story even better. But if I notice the writing style for bad reasons, I usually don't finish the book(unless the story is just that interesting). Goodkind sits in the middle. Though this isn't the most ideal situation, it's certainly better than noticing how much I DON'T like someone's writing.
Another complaint that seems pretty popular, is that the characters make some really dumb decisions. For me, the fact that I was actually frustrated by some of the idiotic things the characters did says something. I have read other books when the characters are making a stupid decision, and I just simply shrugged and waited for them to recieve the consequences. But the fact is that some of Goodkind's characters made me grind my teeth and say "what a dumbass!!" This, to me, is certainly better than mere indifference.
It's true that sometimes Goodkinds characters are a just a wee bit too able to conquer anything thrown at them, but this really doesn't bother me. I like all types of stories, some realistic, some not so realistic. Sometimes its fun to read about superhero kinda characters. I mean, look at ender's game. The same complaint could be made there, he overcame just absolutely everything, and him being ages six to evetually nine for the story make it all that much more unbeleivable(even if he is some super genius). But I really enjoyed Ender's game, it was fun to watch him stick it in people's faces time after time. It may be unrealistic, but it was still a good story regardless.
And above all, I read all of Goodkinds books. That's more than I can say for Tolkien, who is considered by most to be some sort of god. Does this mean that goodkind is more talented, No. Does this mean that Goodkind is a better writer, certainly not. But it means (IMO, of course) that Goodkind's work was more entertaining, faults and all.
So, in summary, I don't understand why goodkind is considered so painfully awful. He is definitely not the best, I don't even rank him among my top six authors in just the fantasy genre(relating to another thread), but I have most certainly read worse.(cough....eddings)
I'm going to start by saying, I don't hate Goodkind's books, in fact, I liked them. To many here, that's practically blasphemy, but there it is...
A lot of people seem to regard the SoT series as the worst thing ever to grace literature, and although I am aware that opinions are opinions and no one can be wrong with an opinion, I don't quite understand the extreme disgust.
For starters, I read all of his books. And I wasn't simply reading them because I had nothing better to do. For me, reading is a source of recreation, and if I'm not entertained, then I have no reason to continue reading the book(I also don't buy many books, so there's no money lost either. God bless libraries). That being said, he kept me entertained for six of his books(and long ones at that), which is no small feat.
I full well understand that Goodkind has his shortcomings. Many of his ideas are strikingly similar to the wheel of time. The sisters thing, the collar thing, etc...(though IMO, his ideas are similar, but the atmosphere certainly wasn't.)
Also, the writing was certainly not the greatest. In fact, while reading his books, I usually forgot about the writing. In some ways this is a good thing, in other ways, bad. If I notice the writing style in a novel for good reasons, it makes a good story even better. But if I notice the writing style for bad reasons, I usually don't finish the book(unless the story is just that interesting). Goodkind sits in the middle. Though this isn't the most ideal situation, it's certainly better than noticing how much I DON'T like someone's writing.
Another complaint that seems pretty popular, is that the characters make some really dumb decisions. For me, the fact that I was actually frustrated by some of the idiotic things the characters did says something. I have read other books when the characters are making a stupid decision, and I just simply shrugged and waited for them to recieve the consequences. But the fact is that some of Goodkind's characters made me grind my teeth and say "what a dumbass!!" This, to me, is certainly better than mere indifference.
It's true that sometimes Goodkinds characters are a just a wee bit too able to conquer anything thrown at them, but this really doesn't bother me. I like all types of stories, some realistic, some not so realistic. Sometimes its fun to read about superhero kinda characters. I mean, look at ender's game. The same complaint could be made there, he overcame just absolutely everything, and him being ages six to evetually nine for the story make it all that much more unbeleivable(even if he is some super genius). But I really enjoyed Ender's game, it was fun to watch him stick it in people's faces time after time. It may be unrealistic, but it was still a good story regardless.
And above all, I read all of Goodkinds books. That's more than I can say for Tolkien, who is considered by most to be some sort of god. Does this mean that goodkind is more talented, No. Does this mean that Goodkind is a better writer, certainly not. But it means (IMO, of course) that Goodkind's work was more entertaining, faults and all.
So, in summary, I don't understand why goodkind is considered so painfully awful. He is definitely not the best, I don't even rank him among my top six authors in just the fantasy genre(relating to another thread), but I have most certainly read worse.(cough....eddings)