The Sword of Truth Series

[Stocky37]

I love these books, but I do think that maybe it was stretched out a bit too much. Loved the first 4 or 5 books but found the last few a struggle. The Pillars of Creation is by far the weakest book in the series, reading it kind of felt like wading through thick sticky mud lol.

I ended up just skipping through to when Richard finally appears ^.^

 

[Embz]

I love these books, but I do think that maybe it was stretched out a bit too much. Loved the first 4 or 5 books but found the last few a struggle. The Pillars of Creation is by far the weakest book in the series, reading it kind of felt like wading through thick sticky mud lol.

I ended up just skipping through to when Richard finally appears ^.^

You didnt miss much XD

 

[Ajna]

I've read the entirety of it, and while I do like the series very much overall, it is exceedingly flawed.

What I liked most about the series was the way it depicted Richard in combat, which was quite fantastic.

Have to agree with this man. The first book is exemplary of a good book in the genre. The second book is still pretty good, and probably my favorite out of the series. The third isn't that good, but isn't that bad either. Then the series just sort of sinks into a rut of objectivist philosophy for a while.

Eventually, it gets a grip for the "Chainfire" arc, but most of the other books are irredeemably bad. There's a reason Naked Empire is on the So Bad It's Horrible [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Horrible/Literature] page of TV Tropes.

Beyond that, the author is a dick. In interviews, he's said that anybody who speaks poorly of his series is an "enemy of truth". Can't find a source, because as I recall, all copies of that one got pulled.

Don't get me wrong, the books can be a decent way to waste an afternoon, and the combat scenes are described pretty well (though the battle tactics on display are idiotic, and at one point they have archers fire a volley into a melee, an idea that even a six year old could tell you is stupid), and at least remain consistent with their own rules (writing a realistic combat scene for a sword that canonically cuts through anything is pretty tough).

most amazing book series ever created?

If you believe that, you might be... Young. Offhand, two far superior series: Mistborn and Wheel of Time.

To put in perspective how much better WoT is... All of the good parts of the SoT series have been accused of being plagiarized from WoT.

I will leave you on the note of TV Tropes' summary of Naked Empire:

Naked Empire by Terry Goodkind, the absolute rock-bottom of the Sword Of Truth series. This book, even more than the others, is mostly one gigantic sermon against communism and pacifism, and it contains the infamous "evil-pacifist" plot of Bandakar. Even outside the conflict, Richard's dialogue is constantly saturated with Goodkind's views when he's talking to his friends. (At one point, he and his half-sister discuss the "right" of hair to live on a person's head. It's that bad.) The main plot of the series is advanced barely an inch by the end of this book, there are speeches that go on for pages or even whole chapters, the whole plot is resolved in one of the most blatant Deus Ex Machinas in literature, and...ah, screw it ? go look at the reviews on Amazon.com if you want more proof.

EDIT: Didn't actually include my favorite part... Okay: I appreciated that Goodkind at least realized after a while that everybody who could see past the slightest veneer of "plot" to his terrible "moral"s hated his books. And he fixed that. A lot of people (myself included) see the Chainfire series as his "saving throw", and (IMO) it's the reason the series as a whole could be summarized as "good", and not "bad".

2nd EDIT:

If you want some serious quality in your high fantasy read GRR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. It pretty much blows the sword of truth out of the water.

Didn't think of A Song of Ice and Fire. They're great too (though goddamn Martin sure loves to take his time). Probably would put them below Mistborn and WoT personally, but that is by no means an insult to SoIF.

 

[meece]

I didn't actually like it very much. The plot (for the 2books I read and looking very much like the third) went as follows:

Fix the world
Somehow the fixing makes another problem
repeat.

 

[Johnnyallstar]

I really enjoy the SoT series, but there's one glaring flaw with the entire series. Richard can do no wrong. I mean, I can understand a guy not screwing up for a while, but seriously, he NEVER makes a mistake in the entire series.

Overall, I really liked it. Except Pillars of Creation. That book was just a setup for the end of the series, but was more of a chore to read than something enjoyable.

 

[Ajna]

i really dont see how WOT is better. its slower, almost no combat scenes, and it really just focuses on political and all-around BORING stuff. sure the SOT series is a bit cliche, but thats the FUN. Goodkind does it in such a way that you don't care! it's a helluva lot better than something "new" but still really boring for the most part. AKA: WOT. i mean, when Rand cleansed saidin i was pumped, but then i realized that i was really excited over him sitting there for the day putting saidin thru saidar. OOOHHHHHH! Not. that's when it hit me that WOT is pretty boring.

This statement makes me uneasy. I'm not sure if you're a troll, or just not...

Let's say "into the more intellectual side of reading", and be polite about it. I'd be less unsure if you fixed your grammar.

One of the main virtues of WoT is that it can make something important (albeit boring) exciting. Power to rival the gods coursing through you as you effectively used magic to improve itself? That's badass.

Also: WoT isn't "newer" than SoT. Eye of the World came out first, it's just taken longer to finish this series than SoT (which really, no shit the better series is taking longer to finish).

EDIT: No idea why the first quote was there, unrelated. Oops.