It's Terry Goodkind

[onewyteduck]

[duchess of malfi]

Yes. Everyone has different tastes and you might like it!
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Love as thou wilt.

[SoulBiter]

I thought that "Wizards First Rule" was a VERY good book and on my list of favorites. And I thought the next two or three books in that series was a good read. However it seems to fall apart in "Pillars of creation". Im hoping that he will do a turnaround on the rest of the series.

By far the money spent on these was not a waste.

SoulBiter
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"He torments himself sufficiently."

My 5 year old nephew Eli
Eli: Dammit!
His mom: Eli, that is not a nice word. We need to find another word to use.
Eli: I am a bad guy mom. I use bad words and fight with my lasers. Dammit!


"All of the above is my opinion and thus shouldnt need to be supported by anything other than more of my opinions. "

We miss you Tracie but your Spirit will always shine brightly on the Watch

[I'm Murrin]

A recent question posed to Goodkind, and his response:

[Edge]

What an arrogant jerk.

I'll never read anything of his again. And it won't be any great sacrifice, as his writing is mediocre at best, and spoiled by transparent political agendas.
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Check out my digital art at www.brian.co.za

[duchess of malfi]

I can read nearly anything, but the last book of his (Pillars of Creation) that I managed to read was a book that I thought was truly viley bad. I skimmed the one after that in the store (Naked Empire), thought it looked equally bad, haven't even bothered doing that much with his latest.

The thing is -- he wants so much to express his political philosophy that he forgot to tell a story or create compelling characters -- and I just don't care for that sort of book.

Some of the earlier books in the series were better, as he did remember to tell a story along with the political views...

There are other authors, such as C. S. Lewis, who express political and/or religious views in their stories -- but they remember to tell a story, unlike this guy in his later books.
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Love as thou wilt.

[Ainulindale]

I don't doubt Goodkind actaully has some writing talent, just asj him, he will tell you, apparently he just does't use it. Wizards First Rule was a ver solid first installment to a series. Sure halfway thru the novel we figured out the Zed/Richard/Rahl angle climax at the end already, and sure the bondage segmet was too lengthy but all, in all a solid, and prmomising start. I hate to be negative about an author, but IMHO the rest of the series is a waste of time. Goodkind seemingly makes up elements as he goes along to extend teh series (which he does again in his last installment, recently released Chainfire as well, yup, another lost continent, nevermind he has done this before). Pillars of Creation may be one of the top 10 worst novels in genre history by a Best Selling author, and the worst part is Goodkind knows the criticism, but actually thinks he is laughing the last laugh by thinking he is just weaving such an intricate, and socially important plot, that the common reader just can't see his genius for what it is (this is true, again just ask him, or read ANY of his interviews). All due apologies to Mr. Goodkind, but his series tired, derivative from book to book, and hardly significant at all on a literary level he tried to claim, even in comparison to many genre writers (such as Mieville, Wolfe, Moorcock, Harrison, Vandermeer tons more). Here's a quote by Michael Moorcock I find funny, and apt here (note the bold especially):

"Terry Pratchett once remarked that all his readers were called Kevin. He is lucky in that he appears to be the only Terry in fantasy land who is able to write a decent complex sentence. That such writers also depend upon recycling the plots of their literary superiors and are rewarded for this bland repetition isn't surprising in a world of sensation movies and manufactured pop bands. That they are rewarded with the lavish lifestyles of the most successful whores is also unsurprising. To pretend that this addictive cabbage is anything more than the worst sort of pulp historical romance or western is, however, a depressing sign of our intellectual decline and our free-falling academic standards."

goodkind can talk all he want, if you listen him enough one actually amy start believing he is a actually a great fantasy author, instead of what he is...essentially an author who has written one mildly good fantasy novel period, his first one.

I apolgize to Goodkind fans but I finished reading Chainfire a couple of weeks ago and was simply appaled. My fault however for thinking Goodkind was going ot get on track however, and actually listen to his fans.

[Roland of Gilead]

I've never read Goodkind, but I see that his ego is rather off the charts, isn't it?

Does he truly believe he's standing alone, at the top of the heap, as an innovator in the field of fantasy? That his brlliance has transcended the genre's limitations to bring his message to readers of all types of fiction?

This man needs a reality checkup in the very near future. And apparently he has already undergone a charisma bypass sometime in his past.

SHEESH!!!!!!!!!!
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"I am, in short, a man on the edge of everything." - Dark Tower II, The Drawing of the Three

[Alynna Lis Eachann]

I would have continued reading the series after Wizard's First Rule... if only Wizard's First Rule had been half as long as it was (mostly minus the bondage). After I got through it, I just didn't give a damn about the characters anymore.

What a contrast this guy is with the quiet, introspective SRD.
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"We probably could have saved ourselves, but we were too damned lazy to try very hard... and too damn cheap." - Kurt Vonnegut

"Now if you remember all great paintings have an element of tragedy to them. Uh, for instance if you remember from last week, the unicorn was stuck on the aircraft carrier and couldn't get off. That was very sad. " - Kids in the Hall

[Encryptic]

Yeesh....that interview just killed off any lingering doubts I might have had about Goodkind's utter suckage. What an arrogant bag of hot air....

[duchess of malfi]

Here's a Mystery Science Theater treatment of Goodkind from another Board.

I find it pretty amusing but I also have a sick sense of humor, so be forewarned. Also, the treatments are spaced out to 1-2 a page of the long thread interspersed with lots of comments from other board members. So you might have to hunt a bit for the actual MST3K parts.

http://p080.ezboard.com/fasoiaffrm7.showMessage?topicID=2357.topic
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Love as thou wilt.

[Variol Farseer]

For some time now, I've been describing Goodkind's work as a kind of 'Ayn Rand for Dummies'. Here's my summary of the series so far, complete with all the spoilers you could ever want:

See Atlas.
See Atlas shrug.
Shrug, Atlas, shrug.

Repeat for 10,000 pages, or until obscenely rich.
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Without the Quest, our lives will be wasted.

[Loremaster]

[Encryptic]

[duchess of malfi]

Here is another example of Goodkind's writing:
http://www.scifi.com/sfw/current/letters.html
(scroll down to find his letter)

[taraswizard]

http://www.inchoatus.com/Critical%20Essays/Essay--Goodkind's%20Rant.htm

Copy of interview and stuff about the author Terry Goodkind.
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Allan Rosewarne
taraswizard Essence of Amber
Buffy fans Chicago
W/T they are forever

[Luke The Unbeliever]

Damnit !

I'm reading Song of Ice and Fire series and finished the first book, then went to Barnes and Noble's website and bought the next two books and realized I could get free shipping with another book purchase-
long story short- I bought the two box sets of the Sword of Truth Series books 1-6 because of the rave reviews on the site...and I needed something else to read after I finish the available paperbacks in SOIAF.
I'm addicted to reading...I've read over 25 novels in the last year and a half, so I freak out when I run out of new books...

of course there are some Covenant bashers on there(B&N) too...

Man I hope I like these books, I know everyone has their own tastes and what not, but now I'm wondering just how bad the story apparently falls apart...

*crosses fingers*
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Brian: Who cured you?
Ex-Leper: Jesus did, sir. I was hopping along, minding my own business, all of a sudden, up he comes, cures me! One minute I'm a leper with a trade, next minute my livelihood's gone. Not so much as a by-your-leave! "You're cured, mate." Bloody do-gooder.
Brian: Well, why don't you go and tell him you want to be a leper again?
Ex-Leper: Uh, I could do that sir, yeah. Yeah, I could do that I suppose. What I was thinking was I was going to ask him if he could make me a bit lame in one leg during the middle of the week. You know, something beggable, but not leprosy, which is a pain in the @$$ to be blunt and excuse my French, sir.

[variol son]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Goodkind

Oh, this is too good! Read the "Recent Controversy" section at the bottom. the man is obviously insane.

Thank you Wikipedia.
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You do not hear, and so you cannot be redeemed.

In the name of their ancient pride and humiliation, they had made commitments with no possible outcome except bereavement.

He knew only that they had never striven to reject the boundaries of themselves.

[Loremaster]

[I'm Murrin]

The thing is, it's obvious he's tried to make that the case - his attempts to remove fantasy elements once you get to around book four or five are obvious. However that doesn't change the fact that the first books in the series are very much the stereotypical fantasy - with talking dragons, even. He seems to think that by changing the way he approaches his writing - by making it almost entirely a podium for his objectivist ideas - it somehow changes what he has already written. As if simply denying the ideas he no longer agrees with will mean he never had them.
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