The Sword and Laser discussion

So excited about the fact that terry goodkind is releasing another book from the sword of truth universe!!! Anyone else feel the same?

I never managed to make it through the first book, though technically speaking I never officially Lemmed it.

I know a lot of people hated the series. They just can't take a series with political undertones that made the main character do some unlikeable things.

I just can't believe that he is still writing in the Sword of Truth univerise. I just wish he would writing something else for a change.

I'm not allowed to ever mention the series around my fiancee. She hates it with a passion. I liked the early books and finished the series because I felt obligated to but I won't go back to it.

I love that he is self publishing the book, wonder how is that going to work for him? If it works, is he going to publish all his future books that way, and abandon TOR?

I loved the books until the Confessor. I thought the series then just went under for me, but I loved Phantom.

I'm meh. Liked some of the early books, gave up in the middle.

Also wondering why he's going back to the Sword of Truth series AND self-publishing it, considering his most recent work deviated from the series/setting (more or less... although it still had ties to it).

My husband collects the Sword of Truth series in hardback so I've read almost all of them. I've not read The Omen Machine yet but the hubby told me it reads like a Scooby Doo episode. I'm curious to see what he meant by that. For the most part I love the series but by the last couple of books I was very sick of Kahlan. I can't pick out exactly why. The characters were just one more declaration of love from me burning the whole collection. The whole "I cannot, WILL NOT live without you!" "No, No. It is I who cannot live in a world without YOU!" on what feels like every page was ruining the experience for me. Oh FFS shut up. I want a book written where Richard impregnates Kahlan inciting a murderous fury within Shota whom kills the Mother Confessor by 1.) cursing the baby to burst through Kahlan’s chest cavity Aliens style and/or 2.) dropping her into a pit of giant, two-headed snakes… or fire …or fire snakes. Just KILL her. But yeah, I’m looking forward to the release of The First Confessor.

Charlotte wrote: "My husband collects the Sword of Truth series in hardback so I've read almost all of them. I've not read The Omen Machine yet but the hubby told me it reads like a Scooby Doo episode. I'm curious t..."

your comment on what you want the next book to be like made me lol

Its a shame I ran out of steam on about the fifth book it just wasnt engaging me, but I really enjoyed the first four ans sti rate them as some of my favourites its what got me into fantasy that and dragonlance. My boyfriend just says he doesnt really wrap up the overall story just goes on philosophical tangents.

Kevin wrote: "I love that he is self publishing the book, wonder how is that going to work for him? If it works, is he going to publish all his future books that way, and abandon TOR?"

Since the hardbound edition at $300 a copy is sold out, I would say it's working out pretty well so far.

Kevin wrote: "I know a lot of people hated the series. They just can't take a series with political undertones that made the main character do some unlikeable things."

I quite enjoy reading poltical leaning stories, even when I don't agree with the politics. As far as main characters who do some pretty unlikeable things, well, I am a R. Scott Bakker fan and his characters do some pretty unlikeable things; one of his characters, Kellhus, just might be the most manipulative character in all of fiction.

The first three Sword of Truth books were kinda fun reads. Not much there, but they were entertaining. The fourth book was just painfully boring and then the 5th book just totally lost me. I would consider Faith of the Fallen to be one of the worst books I have ever read and Mr. Goodkind completely lost my support after I read Faith of the Fallen.

My problem with Mr. Goodkind is that I just don't find him to be a very good writer. It has nothing to do with his politics or his worshipping at the alter of objectivsim. The phrase that comes to mind when I read Mr. Goodkind is his reach far exceeds his grasp.

I'm a big fan of the series, until The Omen Machine, that I decided not to buy, after reading bits from a friend's copy - Temple of the Winds was a bit excessive for my taste too but apart from that, I think the saga is very entertaining!

I read Debt of Bones which is also a prequel, so I'm looking forward to this one, cause I was always curious about the Confessor magic and origins.

André

As this book is self published, there has been some speculation that without the controlling yoke of Tor, the story might take a different course to what is expected. My prediction is that it will be a lot darker.

I loved the early books but they got more and more tiresome as they went on. Will use spoiler tags even though this thread suggests folk have read the books, just in case, but basically I stopped at the book (I forget the name) which followed a brand new character for the bulk of the book because (view spoiler)[we followed that woman for over 3 quarters of the book in which she hated Richard and wanted to kill him, and then we're supposed to believe that she suddenly on the spot changes her mind because she, un...what...met him for all of five minutes?!! And then she immediately turns against a guy who has helped her for so many years? It didn't make sense that she was so easy to convince, (hide spoiler)] and after that I will probably never read a new Goodkind again, as I've totally lost faith in him as a writer.

Dharmakirti wrote: "Kevin wrote: "I know a lot of people hated the series. They just can't take a series with political undertones that made the main character do some unlikeable things."

I quite enjoy reading poltic..."

I know a lot of poeple on Goodreads who hate his books just because it had polticial views, granted they also hated Ayn Rand and Objectivism.

I've now lemmed this series three different times midway through. I'll start reading it and its enjoyable enough until Goodkind becomes preachy and start trying to write his version of Atlas Shrugged. Then I start losing interest over his ham fisted politicing and when the next book comes along and doesn't appear to even have Richard or Kahlan in it I end up lemming. Someday I might get back to it but I recently re started Malazan with the intention of finishing it this time (and that might take a year or two given how dense it is)and there are so many other books that will probably come first as well.

Sword of Truth was my gateway series into epic fantasy. It was recommended to me by a friend, and I fell in love with it. I've read some great fantasy since then, but there's always something special about your first fantasy universe. For that reason, I'm REALLY excited for The First Confessor.

I hope he gives us more detail about the Con Dar. Its a rather interesting concept that was just left hanging after the first book.

Kevin wrote: "I know a lot of people hated the series. They just can't take a series with political undertones that made the main character do some unlikeable things."

No, I dropped it after the fourth book, before the political undertones. I just got sick of all the gang-rape scenes.

There's an interesting F.A.Q. about e-books and e-readers at the official site...must confess that I laughed at the final picture ;)

http://www.terrygoodkind.com/theoracl...

André

Procrastinador wrote: "There's an interesting F.A.Q. about e-books and e-readers at the official site...must confess that I laughed at the final picture ;)

http://www.terrygoodkind.com/theoracl...

André"

Thanks for the link. Wow, Terry Goodkind has put together one of the most comprehensive guides to eBooks and eReader that I have ever seen. I think he should have been holding a kindle or nook in that last picture though:)

I did not know it was going to an ebook. That sucks I can't ever read it. I'm not a big fan of ebooks because I love the feel of books in my hand.

I'm not interested in this particular book (stopped about half-way through Sword of Truth), but it is surprising to me that he isn't doing any sort of print-on-demand paperback deal with it.

I wasn't sure about this...but I've pulled the trigger and got the kindle version. I made it through the series...except the last one. After the ending "Chainfire trilogy" which basically made all the crappy middle books moot....it ended...just ok for me. But the law of 9's was....just kind of weird. So I didn't even try the Engine. I just don't want to visit Richard and Kahlan again. Their story is SO over! But going back to the original confessor? That COULD be great. So I'm taking the chance....when he's good, he's really great...and when he's bad...its pretty damn bad.

If you haven't read through "Confessor" in the main series, do NOT read this book. It contains some pretty important spoilers.

I loved the series, and Faith of the Fallen was my favorite. I haven't picked up The First Confessoryet, but I will eventually. I thought The Law of Nineswas terrible, but hopefully Goodkind learned a bit from that mistake. The Omen Machinewas interesting, but anti-climatic. I needed more from him.

Procrastinador wrote: "There's an interesting F.A.Q. about e-books and e-readers at the official site...must confess that I laughed at the final picture ;)

http://www.terrygoodkind.com/theoracl...

André"

While on the one hand, that's awesome that he and his team put that together, I had a very knee-jerk reaction to one line in it: "Is the smell of paper and the turning of a page really still that important to you?"

Yes! Yes it is, and don't belittle that feeling, a**hole Goodkind!

Tor going DRM-free seems to me like the first step toward my conversion...maybe in a couple years when more publishers follow suit I will pick out one of the then-available devices...but I will ALWAYS still own some physical books. They are my friends. My laptop and smart phone are my friends too, but in a very different way.

About his books specifically, I'm torn. I loved Sword of Truth and love Richard and Kahlan, and I kind of want to know more about Magda, but it seems sort of like he's started writing fanfiction of his own characters. Like he has the Sword of Truth series, whole and complete enough, and the other stuff is not quite fitting in. Omen Machine was sort of like a 'reunion show' to me, though enjoyable enough I suppose. Ah, well.