SoT - Legend of the Seeker

kirk said:
Aren't you doing the same thing? I firmly believe I can do both: think other people's tastes are awful and be a happy person. :p
Also I don't think he was playful at all, that was said very seriously. :rolleyes:
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Obviously not sad emotion wise, ha. And yes, i know it wasn't said particularly serious, but it is a common thought in many anti-goodkind people.

Not at all. I don't immediately pigeonhole people for liking a particular type of work. Again, maybe he doesn't either...but there are a lot of anti-goodkind/SoT people who then go on to attack or pigeonhole goodkind fans.

I'm not going to get into an argument about the merit of Goodkinds work, I've done that many a time before and I have no interest in it. I'm specifically talking about the treatment of Goodkind fans as some clueless, lesser people, which some anti-goodkind fans are capable of.
 
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Tea
I think the "haters" (myself included) primarily object to the poor quality of the writing and the explicit and clumsy ideological moralizing. Neither of these is present in the Martin. Even fantasy novels require verisimilitude and internal coherence, and I think competence in these areas requires skill in narrative composition, characterization, world-building (relevant in the genre in which Goodkind writes, whether he admits it or no), descriptive prose and dialogue, not to mention forethought, none of which I believe Goodkind possesses. Martin, however, because of his general greater talent as a writer can incorporate implausible elements into a cogent narrative. Of course, all of this is simply my opinion. Our opinions are equally valid. It's just as irresponsible and disrespectful to write off dissenting opinions as "haters gonna hate" as it is to deride someone for a predilection for Goodkind. Some people for whom linear narrative and fast-paced plotting are a priority are going to like Goodkind. Many others that prefer depth of characterization, coherent world-building and skillful prose, may not. Please simply refrain from implying that all negative reviews are part of some insidious agenda.
 
It's always interesting when I see the anti Sword of Truth trolls come out everytime there's a SOT thread, whether it be on here or somewhere else online. The repetitive negative reactions you get from ppl border on the ridiculous when one considers the subject of all this vitriol. It just makes you want to laugh out loud. This isn't about gun control or abortion or healthcare, which are the usual topics most of fanatics get behind and beat to death, but a series of fantasy books. LMAO! No other books get even a fraction of a fraction of this much attention. The bottomline is you don't need to feel threatened by fiction. It's all make believe. If you don't like the books that is your choice, but they don't affect your life in any direct or indirect way to get so irrational over them.
 
Goodkind is an extraordinarily entertaining author. Few other authors have made me laugh as long or as thoroughly as he has over the years, through sheer cluelessness about the basic principles of plot, theme and characterisation (areas in which Goodkind amusingly believes he approaches basic competence). The world of fantasy would be a considerably less hilarious place without him and his books.

When people come out and say they honestly love Goodkind's work on a serious, non-ironic, level it's fascinating. It's like meeting someone who genuinely thinks Steven Seagal is a fantastic and original film-maker who's made some great movies. Finding out what they actually like about the books is always an interesting experience.
 
I liked some of the action scenes ok. Nathan was a half decent character.
 
Pvt said:
It's always interesting when I see the anti Sword of Truth trolls come out everytime there's a SOT thread, whether it be on here or somewhere else online. The repetitive negative reactions you get from ppl border on the ridiculous when one considers the subject of all this vitriol. It just makes you want to laugh out loud. This isn't about gun control or abortion or healthcare, which are the usual topics most of fanatics get behind and beat to death, but a series of fantasy books. LMAO! No other books get even a fraction of a fraction of this much attention. The bottomline is you don't need to feel threatened by fiction. It's all make believe. If you don't like the books that is your choice, but they don't affect your life in any direct or indirect way to get so irrational over them.
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Oh-oh, somebody has been drinking the Terry Goodkind Kool-Aid again.


Terry Goodkind and his ilk, and there are many which for the moment will go nameless, are the reason some of us stayed clean away from the fantasy genre for so many years. They turn out garbage so bad it hurts to read it.
It's been my experience that those people who feel so strongly about Terry and appreciate his work so darn much are also Ayn Rand zombies... you're not one of those, are you?
 
Btw, just for the record - of course I have exceedingly low opinion of people who like Terry Goodkind, unless they're completely inexperienced in the genre. Why on Earth would I respect someone who could like such bad writing? It makes no sense whatsoever.

That is, if anybody was left who didn't think I'm pretentious ^_^

Oh yeah, forgot - THIS IS MY OPINION!!! (lalalala)
 
Roland. Stop being pretentious and start liking Goodkind. You know you want to. ;)
 
kirk said:
Roland. Stop being pretentious and start liking Goodkind. You know you want to. ;)
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To convert Roland to your way of thinking, just take a leaf from Richard Rahl's book and chisel out a statue of yourself looking buff. Roland's entire world-view will adjust to match yours instantaneously.

Of everything truly, nonsensically insane that happens in Sword of Truth - and there is a hell of a lot of it - that storyline was the only one where I thought Goodkind must be taking the piss out of his readers.
 
Andols said:
He's just being flippant. He thinks he's more flippant than I am but he's just to sucky to realize the level of suck he has obtained.
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Not only is this not a particularly memorable bit of flippancy, but it contains a homonym error. Flippancy FAIL! :p

More to the point, I should give Goodkind fans a break. They were mostly abused as children, and so their appreciation for Goodkind's depictions of sadistic brutality perpetrated by the "good guys" is just a form of Stockholm Syndrome...
 
kirk said:
Roland. Stop being pretentious and start liking Goodkind. You know you want to. ;)
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I crave it actually, but alas, my nature is set in stone in that matter... A sad affair really, and one too painful to talk about...
 
British put-down:

Werthead said:
Goodkind is an extraordinarily entertaining author. Few other authors have made me laugh as long or as thoroughly as he has over the years, through sheer cluelessness about the basic principles of plot, theme and characterisation (areas in which Goodkind amusingly believes he approaches basic competence). The world of fantasy would be a considerably less hilarious place without him and his books.
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American put-down:

Goodkind fans are collapsed suck-stars made of pure sucktronium, the suckiest form of matter known to physics!! :D


Note: Despite their cultural idiosyncrasies, both of these put-downs are devastatingly incisive, trenchant, accurate, and generally hilarious.
 
Pvt said:
It's always interesting when I see the anti Sword of Truth trolls come out everytime there's a SOT thread, whether it be on here or somewhere else online. The repetitive negative reactions you get from ppl border on the ridiculous when one considers the subject of all this vitriol. It just makes you want to laugh out loud. This isn't about gun control or abortion or healthcare, which are the usual topics most of fanatics get behind and beat to death, but a series of fantasy books. LMAO! No other books get even a fraction of a fraction of this much attention. The bottomline is you don't need to feel threatened by fiction. It's all make believe. If you don't like the books that is your choice, but they don't affect your life in any direct or indirect way to get so irrational over them.
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Well said.
The real oddity for me is how these ppl happen to have read so much of this series they claim to detest in order to claim that they detest it. Seems a contradiction to me.
I can only speak for myself of course, but when I dislike any book that much I stop reading it and throw it away. I certainly don't go out and read the next book in the series. So I would never know how bad that particular series might be after I stopped reading.
 
fiddler said:
Well said.
The real oddity for me is how these ppl happen to have read so much of this series they claim to detest in order to claim that they detest it. Seems a contradiction to me.
I can only speak for myself of course, but when I dislike any book that much I stop reading it and throw it away. I certainly don't go out and read the next book in the series. So I would never know how bad that particular series might be after I stopped reading.
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You got it. We secretly like it so much that we can't help but keep reading while also looking down on anyone who publicly admits to liking it. Tragic isn't it? :rolleyes:
But really, how can you throw a book away, no matter how bad it is?
 
kirk said:
But really, how can you throw a book away, no matter how bad it is?
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I throw - or give - away, every book I read (hardback or paperback), unless I like them well enough to want to read them again in the future.

If I didn't I'd have no room to live in. Seriously. I have a collection of just 54 books that I have read many times over. The benchmark of a truly good book IMO.
I don't know how many books I've read. Guesstimate? 2000 +
 
I was just a lot younger when I read them, and I hate dropping series I've invested time in. I think I got as far as Faith of the Fallen before completely despairing. But I kinda hated the series before that, and with the experience that I've gained since then the bad feeling only intensifies.
 
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