Anatomy of a Break-up:Going through a break-up or a divorce is never easy. The best of them are tinged with sadness and regret while the worst feel like a grenade going off in your chest. Worse still is the ending of a relationship that has lasted for many years and survived through adversity. Well after almost 15 years, my relationship with the Sword of Truth series is over. Given that these situations are already emotionally charged, I know the “right” thing to do is just to walk away and say nothing. If I were a bigger man, I could do that. If the Sword of Truth was less of a mind-numbingly stupid, mega-pretentious BITCH, I could do that. I’m not and it’s not. My anger…my soul-crushing humiliation at sticking this long with such a vacuous, repetitive chunk of IQ-draining smegma needs to vent, and so that’s what I’m gonna do. I’ve done enough for this series…this is for me. I first met SoT in 1996, two years after it had burst onto the scene and taken the Fantasy world by storm. I should have known by the author photo…I fucking should have known by how the author was standing with arms folded trying to come across all menacing when he really looked like Paul Mitchell with a ponyFAIl. Hey, I told you I was bitter. Unfortunately, I was doing very little pleasure reading at the time and was inexperienced when it came to fantasy and got sucked in. Wizard’s First Rule swept me off my feet and I was immediately smitten. It was this series that brought me back to casual reading in general and fantasy reading in particular. I guess I at least should be grateful to the series for that. Maybe someday when I can look myself in the eye again…but right now the series can just fuck off and die. Time went on and problems popped up in the series. The shitty prose, the repetitiveness, the rambling, simple-minded monologues paraphrasing Ayn Rand. However, loyalty is something that’s always been important to me so I discounted these things and continued to read through rose-colored blinders glasses. I ignored the “grade school” melodramatic prose and the ear-grating phrases like “bags.” I ignored the poorly executed plot in Temple of the Winds and the stupiFUCKINGidiotic Chimes in book 5. I ignored the condescending windbaggery that increasingly showed up in the stories. My delusional loyalty reached its zenith with book 6, Faith of the Fallen. Goodkindian douchetard that I was, I defended the author’s clunky, over-wrought ramble-preaching as something admirable. ADMIRABLE!! I don’t think I could pour enough whiskey and prozac down my gullet to fill the gaping hole this has left inside me. Believe me, I’m gonna try. Pillars of Creation blew like a hurricane and that was when the scales began to fall from my eyes. The stench of this experience led to a separation between me and the series. However, since Pillars didn’t really focus on the main characters of Richard and Kahlan, I decided to give it one more try. We’d been together a long time and I thought it was the right thing to do. MISTAAAAAAAAKE! Well, my optimism ended up getting me coldcocked, pissed on and left shattered on the ground. As bad as Pillars was, Naked Empire is even worse. This book was a cheese pizza loaded with tripe sporting ball-aching suckness of biblical proportions. As I read/listened to this, I began to doubt my very existence. Well, I’d had enough. It was time to leave…for good this time. Since finishing this over the weekend, I’ve taken a few days to get my thoughts together and think I can finally describe the series without having it go all angry. The Sword of Truth has some very interesting magical elements and world-building (see below). It also has a story arc that is, or more accurately, COULD BE very interesting. It also has some characters who “on paper” are somewhat compelling. The problem is that all of the above “potential” is absolutely butchered through:**shitty, long-winded, repetitive writing; **clunky, simplistic wince-inducing prose with zero flow to it; **monotonous, clunky philosophizing that grates the nerves and ruins the narrative;**serious lack of editing;**poor development of potentially good characters; and **painful, “ear-bleeding” dialogue that saps the will the liveIt took me a while, but I have seen the light. Now, hopefully, the hard part is over and I’ve left a bad situation. I don’t plan on thinking about this series anymore. I just want to move on and leave it be. There’s plenty of good fantasy out there and I plan on picking up the pieces and reconnecting.
I literally just finished this book 10 minutes ago.Where shall I start?Maybe by saying... I LOVED this book!But let's get a bit critical first...It being the first novel where we get to see Richard's major character changes in action igsince his inner struggles in Faith Of The Fallen... I must start off by saying that I was annoyed with Richard for the first half of the book.It seemed to me that his first 'speeches' to Jennsen and Owen in the beginning were condescending and belittling. I understand, COMPLETELY, why he would've felt that way, but even his signature patience and understanding whilst seeking truth seemed tainted with superiority.It annoyed me more that I could feel that underlying eye switch bubbling up in me towards Richard, whom I've never felt acted unfairly to others thus far, and love just as much as Kahlan does (Well, maybe that's a bit too far-fetched. Maybe). I knew his reasons for acting the way he would, but it still didn't make my inner ache for him to just chill go away. But he's Richard With The Temper... what're ya gonna do?In the end, his solutions made perfect sense, and my twitches subsided to finally see the truth in the way Richard acted.I also have to admit, that I now understand why others deem this series as 'preachy' in it's Objectivistic values. This novel is the first that I've felt it could be a fair assessment. There are many, MANY, times in this novel that I found myself skipping over more paragraphs about freedom vs. slavery and faith vs. logic. It was necessary for the characters, because they were so ridiculously misinformed, but it started to drone for the reader after a while, especially since I got it the first time (unlike the bulk of the minor characters).(view spoiler)[Oh, and one question... When Ann and Nathan see Richard toward the end... could've they (or at least Ann) have healed him of the poison, instead of having to make an antidote? He clearly told them he was poisoned and there was no cure, but they acted like they could do nothing for his sickness, but only wanted to help him with a solution to the issues with his gift. Even with his magic all in a knot, that surely shouldn't have prevented them from healing. If someone has a suggestion on that one, let me know. (hide spoiler)]
What do You think about Naked Empire (2004)?
I like this book the best for the process Goodkind describes in leading an extremely ignorant and evil (and thus vulnerable) group from "We need you [Richard] to save us" to thinking for themselves, recognizing value and individual liberty, and defending themselves. That's a difficult process, and one worth examining in detail to similarly educate people in our world. And also it gives the "no meat" taboo the heave-ho (after belief in it causes its share of trouble), which I always thought a bit odd and superstitious (but didn't want to question another man's rules of magic).
—David Robins
This book was practically one long Richard is right, everyone else is wrong storyline. Goodkind seriously needs to stop writing that kind of nonsense. His sister went from a very interesting main character to a sidekick.While portions of the storyline was still interesting, Goodkind needs to start providing secondary titles to his books so you know which agenda he's going to pound this time. This one could have been titled: Naked Empire, or Why Pacifists are Evil. I get tired when his agenda keeps interfering with the stories.
—Lara Amber
While this book is better than The Pillars of Creation, it isn't by much. The entire thing is one long preach about the evils of pacifism. Even without the preaching, it's still a poor book overall. Like a previous person said, Richard's sister Jensen has been reduced to a sidekick and good for pretty much nothing. Her goat Betty played a bigger role here than she did. And surprise surprise, Kahlan is taken prisoner again. Boring.At this point, I'm reading the series just to finish it. I'm so tired of Goodkind's writing. In every book, he repeats himself over and over again. How many times do we have to read about the effect that drawing the Sword of Truth has on Richard or the entire history surrounding Confessors whenever Kahlan uses her power? Speaking of which, Goodkind never explains why Kahlan's power didn't have any effect on Nicolas. I also hate how convenient he comes up with Richard's solution to the problem with his gift. It's amazing how wizards much more experienced and far older than Richard didn't know that their theory on balance and how it relates to not eating meat were completely wrong.I really hope The Wheel of Time series is better than this one.
—James Gonzalez
