Trigger warning.Oh man! I filled both sides of an envelope with incomprehensible scribblings about how much this book sucked. I want to see how far I can get without referring to it, and then we'll see just how much I have forgotten. It's hard to say how long I can take this. What was this book, like 900 pages? 979, it seems. There are ten more in the series. 9000 pages, huh? Each one of these is more than half as long as War and Peace. Christ. While I was googling to try to figure that out, I ran into a blog with Terry Goodkind quotes that indicate he's as full of himself as he seems in his authorial voice. Wow, he's just breathtakingly deluded if he thinks of himself as anything other than a tired hack regurgitating the same weak stew that has kept fantasy in business for the last fifty years or more.So let me start with his obsession with children of rape. The rape itself is really disturbing, both his insistent focus on it and his extremely careful assurance that none of the main characters be violated in this way. I don't mean disturbing in any literary sense. I mean disturbing in making me wonder what Terry Goodkind thinks about over there in the Western U.S. all the time. The weird prostitute thing doesn't help. I totally agree that some people would be into prostitutes and a ton of casual sex if all that were available to them. But the idea that every single wizard, every single guardsman, whatever, would not just be into prostitutes, but be so into them that they'd drop their duties for a dude who'd buy them hookers... (Let me not get into the unbelievability of the premise that no one else had considered doing this, say, the Sisters of the Dark for one... I'm trying to talk about his sexuality here). Does he think that basically every man everywhere is ruled only by his libido? Every evil man? It's a very strange idea that all the refugees from a sacked city would be raped women. If everyone is supposed to be dead, then let everyone be dead. It's just strange, he doesn't just want rape to be part of the plot, he wants to dwell on the rape, almost lovingly. The way one persons hands are tied. The way another is bent over a piece of furniture. Okay, and the repetitive use of children of rape as a thing. Women who think of themselves as violated, who are counseled by the wise protagonist to think of pregnancy as a gift, who eventually, humbled, come to agree. Sounds rotten, really rotten, to me.Okay, what else? I don't want this to be all about the sex. It's incredibly tedious, the insistence on monogamy. I thought for just the shortest of instants there was going to be a chance with the weird noble savage arranged marriage thing, but of course not. Well, he has 10 more books to suck less. Yeah right. The blogger has sunk my hope of that.Here's another terrible little thing. How about you're an intelligent humanoid, maybe a little stupider than a human, way smarter than an animal. Let's say that you're a baby and someone comes along and kills your mother in front of you. How about you fixate on that person, love that person with an unconditional, unrequited, all-consuming love for the rest of your life. How about that?All right, I'm sick of guessing, let's see what else I've got. Oh yeah, how about, man, oh man, how about you're new in town, you've caused a bunch of people to die, and when someone complains, you tell them if they open their mouth even to apologize for the rest of the day, you'll kill them? And mean it. That sounds really cool.How about the symbolism of having the sisters of the light not knowing anything about horses, loving their hierarchy so much that they don't know anything outside of it. That's not a straw man, I'd bet. The characterization of bad guys in general is terrible. They're all deluded fools devoted to the Keeper, half mad and all violent. There is not a hint of nuance.Man this book is disappearing in a haze! These notes mean nothing to me. Oh, more noxious things. The good guys laughing it up at the idea of hanging a man to death for swearing in front of the queen. Good guys losing their shit in anger that someone else did something they didn't know was wrong because they weren't warned. Good guys keeping stupid, stupid secrets from one another.Let's turn to the plot. There are so many holes! I won't list all the people who know things they couldn't or the people who don't know things they must. Let's not discuss the many, many, examples of people impetuously stepping on their own feet by rushing into situations and doing something without checking the situation first. You'd think that people who were trained to lead and used to the yoke of rulership would learn not to do that. Maybe by book seven. No, let's focus on the big ones. The Dei ex machina. Need to get somewhere really fast? Here. Need to break this evil old spell? There. Need to flush out a coven? Destroy an invading army? Done, done, done.The more I write here, the more afraid I am of what I'll find when I turn to the Wheel of Time, which I still remember with fondness. I think the only trash fantasy I still remember with actual fondness is that series and just the Magician books by R. E. Feist, nothing past that first book (or two books whatever).
This has to be one of the most awful books I've ever subjected myself to. There were trouble already with the first book in the series, but I foolishly thought it might get better. I've listened to about a fifth of this audiobook now and that's just about as much as I can stomach.jReally we can divide the entire series up in four parts so far.About 20% crying. These characters cry constantly. Every little thing has them bawling their eyes out. At times I felt like I was about to drown in tears.About 10% sex, and so far not one instance of it being consensual. Not ONE. Seriously every time any man who isn't Richard sees a woman she becomes prey.About 20% Wheel of Time. The Sisters of Light was what finally made me give up in disgust. It's Aes Sedai all over again, complete with Mistress of Novices, angreal, black Ajah, the lot. Lifted completely from WoT, it seems to me, and altered clumsily to fit this story instead.About 50% violence and torture, and revelling in it in a way that rather makes me worry for the mental health of Mr Goodkind. Every time someone is being trained for anything at all, it's through torture. Threats are thrown about all over the place. One character is even told by Richard at one point that if he opens his mouth to say anything at all for the rest of the day, even an apology, he will die. And Richard is supposed to be the good guy... At the point where I decided I'd had rather enough, one man was about to skin his best friend alive, and as a reward he gets to seduce a girl who didn't have a say in the matter. He is even told how to manipulate her into letting him. And all the way through, it has this feel of someone's fantasy being played out and the impression of the author going 'wow, yeah, cool!' at particularly gory bits. It's amazing some of these characters even have a single drop of blood left in them at all. I would say that it was amazing any of them were even sane, but sanity seems to be in short supply already in this book, so perhaps there wasn't really that much of it to lose in the first place...Every single woman in this book seems to be a blood thirsty animal and every single man seems to be a potential sexual predator. All in all, the world building here is horrid. I definitely wouldn't want to live in it, not one bit. Even places that are supposed to be peaceful sound pretty awful. There's no balance to it at all. Honestly if it was me having to 'save the world' in this book, I'd probably just leave it to sort it out for itself, because I can't really see much worth saving.Horrible book. Absolutely the most awful dreck.
What do You think about Stone Of Tears (1995)?
This book was bad. I found parts of it way better than the first book, Wizard's First Rule, and parts of it abysmal. The only saving grace was the fact that I'm a sucker for crowning moments of awesome, and this book has quite a few.Richard seems to be turning into a Mary Sue (or Marty Stu, if you have it that way). Don't get me wrong--I love to torture a character, rip away his world, and do bad things to him in general. But you need to make them stick. When you send someone through this pain and they emerge completely whole and happy, what's the point? So far Richard seems to be a rather static character. Yes, he's learning more magic, but he's still a headstrong idiot.And what's with Kahlan being raped nearly every second chapter? Seriously, I could do without that. Rape is a very potent device, which is why it shouldn't be used too often, especially not on the main character.Weighing in at 979 pages, this book is a doorstopper that could have been edited down to a respectable 500-600. Parts of it were unnecessary, adversely affecting the pacing of the entire story. By the end, I just--well, I wanted it to end.The story has merit. The characters are likable (not loveable). With some effort, I find the books enjoyable. But they could be better.
—Ben Babcock
It was just legendary. Haven't read anything as good as this good since Tairen soul series ( In Magic world I mean) 970 pages looked too long to start. When the book started with various people giving the same prophecy in different ways.. Starting from Seer, prophet, witch I just knew this one is going to be a awesome. I really liked Rachel in last book and when book started with her I just couldn't wait to read more of her POV. her role may be very little in this book when compared to last book was very important though.. I would like to read a book just based on her life in future. Kalhan and Richard both on different journey but on same goal to save the world. Both of them will do anything to save each other but when Kalhan is to be sacrificed to save the world would Richard will be able to do it? The fate of all the world depends upon death of the mother confessor. Cant wait to read the next part..
—Yogesh Jain
Richard: we've gone from children being brutalized to the very depths of psychosexual sadism and perversion, including copropilia and yes, a little bit of pedo/necrophilia tooMike: pedo AND necro?Richard: yeahMike: at... the same time?Richard: yes. I feel genuinely guilty reading this bookMike: ............Richard: it's unbelievableMike: Dammit amazon, why don't you have same-day shipping?Richard: it's a book they would sell to children without carding them, but if GTA gets sold to a kid it's horribleMike: hahaGTA4 is supposed to be excellent, incidentallyRichard: so i have heardMike: but i don't even know what platform its forRichard: i bet it doesn't have pedonecrophilia, though, and i didn't even mention the bestiality yet, or, even worse, the masochism connected with all of this.I'm really shocked by the seriesMike: ......!Richard: and i am just on book 2 of 11Mike: good lordmaybe he's trying to scare people offRichard: i am genuinely hoping the characters die and die soonMike: ...uhhhRichard: because their lives are unspeakableMike: "Richard: i am genuinely hoping the characters die and die soon and yes, a little bit of pedo/necrophilia too"So maybe you hope they grow up ... and then die?Richard: when the characters get into life threatening situations, I don't feel dramatic tensioni feel hopeful, like maybe a happy ending is finally in reach!
—Richard Houchin
