I actually can't believe he has done this. I mean, its one thing to rate all your own books, its one thing to rate them all 5 stars, its also crazy that they are the only books he has ever rated. But the thing I think is bat shit insane, is he rated the 5 stars knowing everyone would see. This is the action of a man that has no idea what he has done. That is what creeps me out about this guy
Tbf, every author I've seen who has a GoodReads account does that, usually with a cheeky little comment like "well if anyone's going to love it it's me ;)". I think it's kind of supposed to show they have confidence in their work, or maybe they just HAVE to add a review when they add their book to the site, idk. With this guy tho I doubt it's for marketing reasons--I'm sure he actually believes he deserves it.
Birds of a feather flock together. I was visiting goodreads a while back and clicked on James Patterson’s page. (I know he’s not a fantasy author, but wait-) He was trying a similar algorithm manipulation that reeked of desperation. His list of “currently reading” were mostly his own titles!
I have made this joke for many years, first when talking about how he treats his characters, then later after finding out what an *absolute* cockwomble he was (just found out the dude kicked it a few weeks ago--back literally middle of last month). I mean, we're talking he was the Axl Rose of fantasy writers. Total tw@twaffle. But, my parents always taught me to speak good of the dead, so. Terry Goodkind is dead. *Good!*
Funny story: I loved Goodkind until about a year ago. SOT got me through so really tough times when I was first starting college, and I was hurt to hear you drag WFW in your initial critique So much so that I read WOT out of spite. Immediately every good thing I ever thought about Terry Goodkind crumbled. I was almost so let down that I couldn’t enjoy wheel of time for how amazing it is until I was halfway through the second book. Now I just look at my copies of the sword of truth series on my shelf, and I’m honestly considering donating them. The magic systems are carbon copies, and the sisters of the light v. Sisters of the dark plight is almost identical to the black ajah in wheel of time. They fact that Terry won’t even acknowledge the obvious parallels is even worse.
Hello Aaron (and others)! Have you seen the interview Alan Moore of "Watchmen" and "V for Vendetta" fame gave on the subject of how bad writing can inspire? I had never heard the concept expressed in quite such a way before, but essentially his point was that reading items of "poor-quality" literature can be as - or possibly even more - motivational for productivity as reading the "greatest of the great" examples. His wording was something like "well, if THAT dreck can make it to print, then I'll show THEM something worth publishing"! Quite an interesting opinion, given what this discussion seems to be aiming at... I hope you are all doing well! -Stéphane Gérard
I started reading fantasy around late 2014. I blazed through WoT and then moved onto suggestions from r/fantasy and several different fantasy blog. When I eventually stumbled across Sword of Truth, I asked r/fantasy if I should start this series and the response could be summed up as "Unless you are a 13 year old libertarian or have a favorite flavor of crayon stay far away from Terry Goodkind." It's good to see that decision validated by basically every adult who reads and/or reviews fantasy.
I read it all when I was 13 year old "sorts" libertarian as my third or so fantasy series and since the third book it was so boring for me that every book up until the tenth one I read the beginning up until the moment I could not bear it anymore, usually 5-10% of a book, then skipped to ending to see where did the plot go. Also, searching for sex scenes because I was 13 years old of course I did. It is funny how I did not miss anything in these plots. It was bad even from that perspective.
@Watchu Mean "Lots of people read these shitty books" is not a refutation of anything I said. The Transformers movies have raked in billions of dollars and those movies suck ass. Hundreds of thousands of people having shitty taste in media is not the air tight argument you think it is.
I read the first two books in Sword of Truth when I was 13, and even then I noticed how much he had stolen from other books. It didn't bother me as much then - I was just starting out on my own writing and most of my stuff was basically Wheel of Time with a little Eddings thrown in for good measure. I just sort of assumed that Goodkind was very young, like me, and wanted to write like all the authors he admired. I could understand that, and thought it was a little charming. Then I found out he was over 40, and also that he was a prick, so... Also, returning to the books as an adult I realized that on top of stealing everything, he is also not a very good writer, his ideology is awful and all his characters are basically monsters. Not to mention all the rape. All. the. rape. Yeah, so basically Sword of Truth is the worst.
I was probably a little bit younger than that when I read Sword of Truth, and I just found it to be a boring, poorly-written series. I didn't even realize he was an Ayn Rand dipshit until I saw Daniel Greene's episode on Terry Goodkind.
i only read the first 3 books in the series, (because my boyfriend really wanted me to) and my absolute favorite aspect of them is that the "seeker of truth" who could "always tell if someone way lying" ALWAYS fell into every stupid trap.
Not gonna lie, when I saw the video come out, I was like, "fuck this guy." Honestly though, as you kept making points, I realized that the things you said were making more sense. I'm not going to lie and say I flat out hate the book, I read the book and enjoyed it, first when I was a about 12 and later about 3 years ago. It was really nice the first time around, I had just gotten my intro to fantasy with Eragon and then went to SoT. I will say that the 1st book is a decent prelude to what is to come and that the series peaks at about book 2-4. I even got a warning from the librarian when I was first checking them out. "The first few books are good, but the rest suck." I'm probably a broken record here but Richard does deal with some trauma and the antagonists are really enjoyable after the first book and through the mid series. The threat from the Old World is much bigger than a dark wizard in his castle and provides a chance for more growth to occur to individual characters. It's even better when the heroine gets separated from Richard and there is more development there. However, going forward, I can't seem to remember a lot about the series other than I enjoyed it (sorta..?) and that there was a cool character with a sword and magic. I'll probably have to go reread it without rose tinted glasses and see what I notice, although I kinda don't want to. After reading WoT and Sanderson's books, I went back to read Eragon and found to my dismay, I couldn't finish it. The voice was just so immature and you could pick out tropes left and right. I still kinda enjoyed it in a juvenile kind of way but it no longer remains close to my heart like it did when I started fantasy. I don't want to ruin my experience with SoT either but hey, I'll probably re-read it sometime soon and I'll see what I think. But jesus, that author picture still creeps me out, his eyes follow you everywhere.
Ehh... I was heavily experienced in fantasy (having read WoT, LotR, Shannara, Dresden Files, RiftWar, Eragon, and a few others) when a friend (a self-avowed Objectivist) recommended this series. I liked the initial premise, but by the time I got to the book where he REALLY starting ripping off WoT, Kahlan had already almost been raped, like, in every book, and I just got sick of it.
IIRC, there's one book where she doesn't get almost raped, and it's the one where she gets beaten nearly to death instead. I think the book before that one had her almost get raped twice, so the number of books and the number of those scenes matches up.
I don't think his books are good or anything and it doesn't need to be pointed out in the writing but in any kind of medieval setting women would be attacked AAALOT, a majority of women were attacked in some sexual way throughout our history.
Im glad you started reading fantasy at that age. You are perfect age to be able to understand the books but also have both time and energy to read a lot of them. If you find writing interesting i suggest you start making your own stories. Good luck ^^
@@StarvingArtist600 oooh you said it bro. dragons and twins trilogies are perfect for a young mind. the coolest thing is that you can actually play the campaign afterwards
@@Toshiro_Mifune the irony is, Dragonlance (the original books, at least) are not really even that good (when you look at them "objectively" in retrospective). Yet they are part of the genre legacy and they ARE entertaining to read and usually everyone finds a fave character in them etc. And the follow-up books which were written more as actual books and less as an DnD promo really are good (Legends trilogy is great, many short stories as well...) And, as you've said, if you like it, then you can just get some friends and start playing DnD, which is always a great thing to do. (Especially when you are 12 - what I'd give to have as much time to play RPGs as I had when I was 12... although, thinking about it, with the corona around, I'm actually playing 3 campaigns a week again, so... :D We are in a good old times again!)
@@sirien.neiris i could not read anything from salvatore or weiss/hickman now that i'm almost forty even if my life depended on it. but when you're young and into fantasy i think these are great, doesn't have to be the next harry potter or hobbit, just the fact that we could read these stories and talk about them all the time while playing our versions of them, made it special. Caramon & Sturm are still someof my favorite characters ever, even if i'm not into that type of fantasy anymore. cheers.
It was the first fantasy book I read. Thought it was okay- moved over and read the first three Wheel of Time Books and quickly realized WFR was not near as good as I thought it was
I will say this about the series, It got my friend into reading books. At 19, he had never read anything he didn't have to, until this series. Now he regularly reads any kind of book.
Started Wizards First Rule, about a year after it came out. Stopped by page 70. It was mired in tropes, and predictable. Bought it again 10 years later, never opened it. It made a nice Goodwill donation. No used bookstore wanted another copy.
I've read all the books by Terry Goodkind and have read the first two books in the wheel of time series. Goodkind plagiarized the hell out of Robert Jordan, and it's so bad.
I know this is an older video but I'm just now stumbling across it. I read all of the sword of truth series when I was in my late teens, early 20s. At the time, I liked them pretty well. I think Terry has some decent skill writing action, and even though Richard and the gang are wearing extremely thick plot armor I enjoyed the story for the most part. When I come back to the series now, I find it incredibly hard to stand. I'm not a Wheel of Time fan, but Terry's theft is still obvious. What I find more offensive is how repetitive and stupid his stories are. It's the same story over and over. Richard is right, nobody believes him, and then we find out he was right all along. Every time. Once he finished the series, he went back to it again... but it honestly felt like a ghost writer had written his newer books. The threat made no sense, characters regressed, and the plot armor thickened once again. I have since graduated to better writing. If you haven't read Patrick Rothfuss' Name of the Wind, I cannot possibly recommend it enough. He takes an age writing his novels, but all that work pays off. Anyway, that's my 2 cents.
Yeah, when I read Sword of Truth it was middle school and my only option was basically whatever my small local library had, which included all of those books. And even then I could tell it was getting worse. Eventually I just felt invested and needed to know how it ended, although the ending is so bad I shouldn't have bothered.
What really bothered me was the whole "oh, good guys can't win here, let me see, yup, turns out there's some super awesome weapon/magic/trick that will automatically make them win, yeah, I know, we never mentioned it before, but, here it is, annnnnd book over"
Yes.....After I watched your last Video, I went to good reads and reacquainted myself with the series. I read the whole series back in the day. At a certain point I felt that I had invested in the series so much that I had to finish. Uhhhh. one of the worst train wrecks you could witness. Yes, there are some good books in there, Yes, there are some really good themes and moments of Awesome. But yes he blatantly rips off the Wheel of Time. The farther you go into the series, the more he repeats himself with constant recaps and even repeats himself in the same paragraph. The farther you go into the series, the more he repeats himself with constant recaps and even repeats himself in the same paragraph. It's just bad. more and more he just force feeds his philosophy into the story with Richard as his mouth piece. Bad, Bad writing.
Wizard's First Rule was one of the first Fantasy books I read, back when I first started getting into the genre. At the time I loved it, and eagerly leapt into the rest of the series... In retrospect, it was a bit like realizing I liked roller coasters, and decided I'd try just jumping off a cliff to get the same rush. I think the analogy holds because the series pretty much nose dives into the ground so hard, it could count as a reenactment of the cataclysm from Dragonlance. It was a gradual decline at first, but by book four, the series pretty much falls on it's face, and slowly limps away for the next eight books. What could have been built upon to make an interesting fantasy world, simply becomes Goodkind beating you over the head with his personal politics for a thousand page per book. By the end, ALL of the heroic characters speak in the same voice, and have the exact same opinions, to the point where they actually say that ANYONE with a different opinion is the enemy and needs to die for Truth and peace to reign. I bought the entire series after reading the first book, and as punishment for my poor decision making, I forced myself to read ALL of them. Never again. PS, I recently went back and reread the first book, and.... It's garbage.
The SoT series are both my favorite and most hated bookseries. I just fell in love with some of the women in the series (as you can see by my screenname). But i have found Terry Goodkind to be a very very scary man, since before and definitly since book 5. There are things in those books, things done to the characters, it freaks me out that a living person thought of that. As much as i love some of the characters, there are whole sections that i cannot stand to re-read. Robin Hobb is my fav author so far when it comes to fantasy
I had to power through his first book. I liked some of the characters. I liked the woman who used bones and didn't have a foot. I liked the wizard who helped the little girl escape. I didn't really like any of the main characters. SPOILERS: The first time I tried to read it I got to the part where they sacrifice the little boy and I dropped it for about a month. It's like he was just trying to make the most perfect villain and he didn't realize that the best villains have a little bit to sympathize with. It's easy to root for Richard when you know that Rhal is sacrificing children and his right-hand man likes to rape little boys. You can't make your main character likeable just by making his enemies comically evil.
I made it all the way to naked empire, or pillars? Which is later? before not getting around to finishing the series. That being said, my own introductions to the genre were the Belgariad and Sword of Shannara, so my tolerance for... familiar elements...in fantasy is probably higher than most?
I'm about 7-8 chapters in to Wizard's First Rule right now, and as for the moment, it's not that bad. Terry Goodkind has a weird way of people dealing with anger issues (just *CHOOSE* to not be angry, seems to be a weird mantra that he is pushing), and is not good at building suspense, but I don't see weird issues SO FAR. The author on the other hand, just seems to be a massive douchebag. When there is a decent response compared to a douchebag response to be made, Goodkind seems to *CHOOSE* the douchebag response, every time.
do yourself a favor and stop after the first book, as someone who went through the entire series I wish I had I actually really enjoyed the Wizard's First Rule, the rest of the series gets progressively worse in my opinion and the last book of the series actually ruins the first book
hmm, I must admit I felt kind of heartbroken after your review. (I really liked the first couple of books when I was young, was I that wrong?) But since it's been soooo long since I've read them, I didn't really feel like I could actually defend the books. Or if I really wanted to (cause you know, there is a reason I didn't finish the series). Also there is this whole thing about Goodkind being, ahem, not a very nice person... The only thing option would maybe be to reread the books, but I honestly don't know if I want to. What would be interesting though: a conversation between you and Jade from Bedtime Bookworm. If I'm not mistaking, she mentioned to actually have read some books in the series when she was younger. I would be interested in her thoughts on it.
You were definetly wrong. And I liked the books too when i read them. Though for me atleast i think it was because of it was first epic fantasy that i read and this was the stuff that got me into epic fantasy and next thing i discovered after this was WoT witch in turn made me realise how bad sword of truth was. Didnt expect anything different when i heard he would be reviewing this thogh was suprised that there were actually people that were recomensing him this.
@@OsSLatvia Yeah, it was sort of the same for me: it was some of the first epic fantasy that I read. I read a lot more since then, so would probably view the series a lot different now, but like I said: I don't know if I actually want to reread this (I mean, I only have so much time and that should be spend wisely :P). Daniel made an interesting point about the book being preachy. I think I saw it more as a depiction of the standard 'wrong' and 'right' at the time, but looking back the preachyness seems obious and I don't think I would like it much now.
Thank you for sharing this @@jmparker78 ! It's very interesting and I agree with most of it. (omg, I forgot a lot of the things he's talking about, but remembering them now is... well, it's something)
Hey, so I watched the other video and this one, and here is the one point where my wife and I disagree with you (other than this, you were spot-on): it is the perspective that Kahlan is just the prize at the end. While I understand that perspective, she is given enough of her own development (and even more in the next few books) to the point where the end of the Wizard's First Rule is almost more about her being able to find the love ahe thought she could never have than it is about Richard getting the girl. And going off of that, his diversity of well thought-out, compelling characters (especially female characters) is what kept my wife and I reading. But the Randian soapboxing is eventually what made my wife give up on the series (I finished it for completionist purposes). We read it before we were as strongly immersed in the world of adult fantasy, and so didn't notice some of his ripoffs, especially of Robert Jordan. All of that being said, they guys is a massive asshole, and I'm glad I never gave him my money (Libraries ftw).
I mean, the one thread that Goodkind has running through virtually all of his female characters is that they were all tortured and/or sexually assaulted at some point. that's pretty fucked up and says something about Goodkind's view of women
When I read book 2 and got to the sisters of the light (and the secret sect who secretly worship the Keeper of the Underworld or whatever) I literally had to look up whether the Wheel of Time was written first or vice versa because...... yeah.
I sped through the first several Sword of Truth books years ago and thought they were pretty good at the time, as I was new to the fantasy genre. After reading MUCH more fantasy and catching your review of Wizard's First Rule & this video, I'll freely admit that I fall in the "know better, do better" group. My spouse started listening to WFR to see if it was indeed as bad and I've had to overhear the being chapters. IT IS INDEED THAT BAD. TG's later books contain most of the *can't unsee it* scenes that haunt my mind and turn my stomach.
Can't wait to hear your thoughts on the Powder Mage trilogy! It wasn't perfect but it was still super good, so I'm excited to see your analytical opinion on it, and the second series is turning out to be incredible as well. It's awesome that the author sent you an ARC. Also I want to thank you for steering me clear from the Sword of Truth haha. I've had that on my TBR for a while but now I know it's probably not for me.
Dude I know I’m late to this but I wanted to be able to argue on his behalf... I tried to reread this series that was such a big deal to me as a kid....well fuck man you’re dead on. I’m grateful for that series because it opened the fantasy genre door for me. It isn’t good though I couldn’t even pay attention to the audio book which is the second attempt at giving this series a chance as a adult.
Yep, I read SOT when I was kiddo, like 12 or so, and I thought it was awesome, but even then was weirded out by the BDSM and castrations. I thought it was a decent story and I stuck with it through "Blood of the Fold" but by the time I was 16, I was already so annoyed at the "Deus Ex Machina" clichés and bad character development and the melodrama, I had to quit. All I remember now some 20 years later is that Terry made me feel like the characters that I loved in SOT where infantile and half-baked by BOTF. And this coming from a kid that could tolerate watching Robotech, which now in hindsight is so much troglodyte garbage, I couldn't get past the 3rd episode in the 1st season as an adult. - P.S. I just looked up the series and realized I made it well past BOTF, I'm sure I read Temple of the Winds, and maybe even Soul of Fire. I have vague memories of being done after Football Star Richard saved the world by making touchdowns and killing people; that might have been the last straw... but then again I was ok with Robotech.
I read it when I was 13-14 I think, and I remember it fondly as my first epic fantasy series. Didn't know a thing about Ayn Rand of course. As far as I understand though, I would not want to reread. That's why I haven't read the newest books as well after Chainfire. Perhaps I will at some point. All that said, after experiencing many more series, I see that's it clearly a level below average in general. Can't hate Richard and Kahlan, though, lol.
I haven't read Sword of Truth or know much about Terry Goodkind, your videos and the Worldhoppers is the first I've kind of ever heard of him. But I wouldn't mind throwing a counterpoint to your opinion that Terry steals his ideas. Is it possible for two people to come up with the same idea? From the worldhoppers video on Terry, I got the impression that Terry doesn't read the fantasy genre, although he maybe lying about how much he reads but isn't it possible that the things you and others think he's stolen is actually just his ideas but because he doesn't read the genre, he doesn't know that its been done before in the exact same way?
Sorry for the delayed response but I just found this channel. The answer for this is no. In the charge of TG ripping off WoT it's much too blatant. The number of repeated similarities is just too high. Normally authors might take a concept or even come up with similar stories independently and it's not as blatant. See for example Hunger Games and Battle Royal. Even if hunger games is a rip off (I don't think so), there is more than enough original content/plot that it is it's own story.
I like the sword of truth books. Have almost all of them, and have read almost all of them. You analysis is accurate in my opinion. Still enjoy them, but you are correct and don't deserve the hate you have gotten. Not defending author, or his comments...
Please read sword of shannara!!! I want to see ya rip another book for its unoriginality, it was hilarious. All the more cathartic when Terry Goodkind is an awful human being.
Sword of Shannara was Terry Brooks. They were ok although not memorable. The sequel series left more of an impression and felt less like a Tolkien ripoff
All the people in the comments that feel personally attacked by Goodkind's politics. Stop being the insufferable problem his books are bashing. Its a masturbatory libertarian right wing fantasy series. Magic is deployed in this series like WMDs are used IRL. They're not the best books by no means, however most of your opinions are bouncing off the walls of an echo chamber of your own making.
I read the whole Sword of Truth series up to Naked Empire on my first entrance, it was the last book written at the time. It was maybe my third big series read in the genre. I was still a noob. I did finish the series as they came out. My sci/fi/fantasy library could now rival most youtube channels. After reading the real good series I look at all those Goodkind books on my shelf with such shame. They are truly just awful. Keep up the good work! I really enjoy your perspectives.
I loved the video you an Elliot made discussing Goodkind. I found world hoppers through Murphy Napier not long ago, and I’ve been having a great time reading through y’all’s recommendations. After that discussion you and Elliot had, I feel no regret whatsoever in passing over goodkind’s books. You guys saved me some wasted time on bad fantasy, so thank you so much for that heads up
I think the "wizards glass" thing that keeps popping into your head might be from a dark tower book title perhaps? I consider myself a fan of the sword of truth series. At the same time, your criticisms are quite valid. The first two books do indeed steal alot. The second one virtually lifts the aes sedai vs black ajah thing nearly verbatim. The later books are somewhat less guilty of this at least, though it is also valid to suggest that book 1 was perhaps the best written of the series.
I picked sot because I just finished wot and wanted another long series to dive into and I remember really hating it. The conversations were weird, the characters were boring and some parts made me feel really uncomfortable. The last straw was when the main character magically could be with his loved one. Why? 'cause REASONS. I remember thinking to myself: most of the books in the series arent even in Hebrew, and even if they were...I am not putting an efert or time for that garbage
I hope you read more of Terry Goodkind works just so you can make more videos on them, because your videos are funnier when you're making fun of books you can't stand instead of ones you like
Hey Daniel nice video! Just wanted to let you know that Blind Guardian has 2 songs called "Wheel of Time" and "Ride into Obsession" that are written for WOT. If you haven't listened to them I strongly suggest you do! Cheers :)
For years, i have been a fan of several of the Sword of Truth books. I don't like terry goodkind himself though. I tried robert jordan years ago and when i was on the 5th book i just got bored with the whole story. I was not impressed at all. I could never read LotR, mainly because The Hobbit completely turned my off to it because it was first person. Back in the day, Dragonlance was my initial introduction to fantasy. Now, i would say the Riftwar Saga by Feist is amazing. The Night Angel Trilogy from Brent Weeks is great. Currently I am trying to read something newer: the Hallowed Wars trilogy by Tim Akers. Thanks for the honest review.
Honestly you’re review made me really sad. I loved his books when I read them in middle school, then I stumbled on your video and you pointed out everything that I never noticed before and it tarnished my fun-read memories. Don’t get me wrong I’m not on the ruined childhood bandwagon, i just can’t go back to how was for me now and that makes me sad. On the plus side I found a new channel to watch on TH-cam. So hopefully I’ll find another series to read.
Two authors were recommended to me (in my 20s) when I began to be interested in fantasy novels - Robert Jordan and Terry Goodkind. I read The Eye of the World first, followed by Wizards First Rule. Being new to the genre, I enjoyed them both. It was very new to me, and was what I was looking for. I have since stayed within the boundaries of fantasy and horror since. My favorite author is Stephen King by the way. I have been reading his books since I was about 9 or 10, and I'm now 50. Back to Jordan and Goodkind, in the last couple of years, I reread the entire WoT books, and enjoyed them even more the second time around. This was not the case with SoT. Of his original SoT series of 11 books, my last reread covered books 1-4, 6, and 9-11, with 6 being my favorite. Book 5 has the "chicken that wasn't a chicken" thing, and I had no desire to experience that again. And in book 7, the characters were absent until the very end. Book 8 was just too preachy. I noticed on this reread how much repetition is in the books, along with other issues, such as his Ayn Rand preachiness. I also read some of his books that came out after SoT11, and they were atrocious. I mean, it seemed as if another person wrote them. They were dumbed down so much, I questioned if he even wrote them. I questioned if this was his true writing and the original 11 were shadow-written or completely written by someone else. I can no longer read Goodkind's books. Characters I was vested in in early books became shadows of themselves to where they were no longer recognizable. I was, in fact, offended. Prior to your video(s) about Goodkind, I was unaware of his previous comments and views on his book vs other authors. That being said, I mostly agree with you because I went beyond Book 1. However I will not read a new books by him, nor can I recommend him, as we done to me.
It's the only time I ever bought an entire setied of fantasy books in one stop at a goodwill.. Read the first 2 books, then donated them back to goodwill the next week. Now I stand in the book isle googling shit to make sure it doesn't happen again.
I started reading sf&fantasy in the late 60s so my experience of reading was to grab whatever i could Asimov (DOC)Smith Tolkien Lewis etc...i just devoured it all,now when we got to the 90s there was an explosion of great fantasy books a sort of golden age when Jordan,Martin,Erikson,Pullman,Hobb were crushing it plus you had Rowling,Modesitt,Eddings,JV Jones,Feist and Tad Williams all of them starting great(even epic) series... Then in the middle of all this we had Terry Goodkind...wow...honestly The Sword Of Truth felt very generic but kinda readable but once past the first book in the series it seriously descended in triteness and offence for cheap and banal reasons...in other words it was shiiite... thank Gods we had those other authors to fall back on...
I didn't comment on the original review because like several of the other comments, I read the series when I was younger and had not reread it since. I do agree with several of the points you made, some of them unfortunately had to be pointed out to me. I will say that I never considered wizards first rule to be the best in the series, I preferred Faith of the Fallen. That being said, I dont think it's a bad series over all (I stopped at book 12) and I really enjoyed the rules that were interwoven into each book.
I got introduced to fantasy by taking one of the books off my brothers shelves and started reading. One that self was wheel of time, and next to it was wizards first rule. Luckly, I picked wheel of time.
The first and second book of the powder mags trilogy are amazing. The final one I thought was perhaps a little weaker but it’s by no means a bad conclusion, I mean to go back and recheck some stuff before returning to sons of empire The magic systems are just amazing, old school elemental stuff, fringe sympathetic voodoo stuff and of course super gunpowder cocaine explosion and bullet bending magic That’s your elevator pitch right there for the magic
Where do you and your listeners find the interviews or lack thereof with authors that skirt around Terry Goodkind. I must be going to the wrong websites.
I read three of Goodkind's novels, liked a couple elements, but hated the plotlines mirroring each other in every single book. I couldn't even pick up the fourth one, and haven't attempted another of his books since.
Just watched the review and this! And I agree with what you said here - you’re not wrong about the things you said 😂😂😂 I still somehow had a good time reading the book when I read it last year, but I also wasn’t taking it all that seriously. I had also previously watched the show when I was younger so I think nostalgia played a factor there as well. And I think you’re a little more well read than me and noticed more things than I did. The comment you made about it being half Winnie the Pooh and then half sexual weirdness was my biggest issue with the book - it was so weird! Not to mention the a’dam similarities felt like straight up stealing to me. Did you know the second book is called STONE OF TEARS?? I mean, come on!! And after learning about how terrible of a human he is, I’m no longer interested in continuing the series 👎🏼
It wasn't exactly the collar itself that took the power and controlled the person, it was the Mord Sith who takes the power and controls it. The Rada'Han was a collar designed to help save young wizards whose untrained minds would be torn apart by their magic by stifling it, but also to help control them during the training process, and to eventually administer the "test of pain" which was something that every wizard must pass. But the Mord Sith could control the Wizard's power without use of the collar, it was only an object of power that existed, and the intent of that object was twisted by it's current user.
Did one person seriously say that Goodkind's express purpose in writing his books was to glorify Randian philosophy and then say it's fantasy for fascists? WTF?! Objectivism is pretty much as far away as you can get from fascism.
I don't see the point of defending the books or telling people why I like them. Every single time I even try to talk about it online I just get insulted, ridiculed, and dog-piled. When I read the series (I have read it maybe 4 times) I didn't know anything about the author, or the horrible stuff he has said and done. I just liked the characters and story. Someday I will pick them back up off my shelf and re-read them. And I suspect I will still like them a lot, because that's just who I am. The number of times I have been told how garbage I am for that has really soured me on the idea of engaging in any kind of discourse about them. Even in this comment section - just scrolling through it a bit - and you see people insulting not just the books, or the author, but just anyone who maybe kinda liked the story. I say insult, but some of the stuff said about us is pretty horrible. I don't understand why you are surprised that no one wants to talk about?
"How often does the train pass here?" "So often you don't notice." The blues brothers :-)) I read those books but the longer you get into it the worse it gets. Every book is somehow worse than the one before.
WFR was the first fantasy book I read as a kid, and it remained my favorite fantasy series into my early 20s when I was introduced to WOT, which is way better. Even as a kid I noticed the old fantasy tropes in WFR, wizard gives hero magic sword to fight evil wizard, plus a hot chick and dragons. The series was definitely wrote one book at a time, without a cohesive overall plan, that creates plot holes, inconsistencies, and timing issues. However, despite that, each book is a good read. I'm not a fan of books 7-10, and I almost put the series down when you find out that Richard's wife was all a hallucination (she wasnt). The last three books do a good job bringing the story full circle, and even fix the whole "because love" issue that allows the Richard and Kahlan to have sex. His magic system gets very deep and complex when dealing with "higher" magics, almost theoretical physics. Richard is a bit basic, but he is a thoughtful and empathetic character that always tries to see the best in people, which bites him in the ass. He is OP with his own magic, but its balanced by his lack of learning. That does get a bit old, because even Rand eventually learns how to do basic things with his magic, Richard doesn't. Either he is lashing out in rage, or the plot needs it to happen. The series villian of Jagang is great, he is one of my favorite villains. Able to read thoughts, interact with dreams, torture people in their sleep, and if they are gifted he can control their magic, and make slaves of them. Even showing the Sisters of the Light fighting to stay enslaved they are so broken and fearful. There are alot of good characters, and alot of good elements in the series. As for Goodkind being a dick... well... no defense of that. I dont have to like the guy to enjoy his works.
I always viewed Goodkind's books as fantasy-lite, so to speak. They can be entertaining in portions, but you have to take them for what they are. I didn't ding Goodkind quite as much as Daniel, because sometimes there is originality when you combine together enough "older tropes" and try to make them work in a new setting. Much like music where you can typically point to influences in every song you listen to. That said, I am strongly suspicious that Goodkind modeled Richard after some vision he had (RIP Terry) of himself, and that's unusual. I can't think of any other author in the fantasy space that injects obviously so much of their own person into a character. And, thus we get to see the long monologues from Richard and the other principal characters, because they are clearly reflective of Terry's own philosophy. I would say that the "Confessor" character is fairly original, although it doesn't always make sense. This is often a problem in Terry's writing - he has to try and make something fit the narrative as he goes and you may not get an explanation until the plot elements specifically FORCE it. And once it's forced on you, it doesn't always resolve in a way that is completely satisfying.
Read these books a decade ago in highschool and have recently started wizards first rule agian for nostalgic reasons. Have to say its not the same experience 😔
I got to SoT book number 4 before I started sighing and rolling my eyes ALOT by book 3. The dialogue just continues to get worse. It’s repeated several times and is very simple. even when discussing difficult subjects. But don’t get me started on Richard. I swear he’s like an over powered anime character. Continuously gaining new abilities, new titles and more power but low and behold. He still doesn’t know how to do shit with it. Eventually it just becomes his way or die and kalhan was no better. The only character I liked was zedd but I think the narrator I listen too brought him to life perfectly. But the worst of it all was all the fucking flash backs! Every chapter was a flash back to the point it may as well been a quarter of the previous book.
I must agree with Terry Goodkind that, yes. His books are the greatest of all time...because...he's stolen tons, TONS off off of legit the greatest of all time. Tolkien, Wiese and hickman, the list goes on. So, yeah. Terry's the world's best theif in all of lit, for sure. Hell, he is the Kanyay West of fantasy Lit.
How’s your day going??
Better now thank-you for the upload. I have had quite a day and this is all I needed.
Mines fabulous! Got a new Heeler puppy! 😍
How the heck are you?!
I work all night, I work all day, to pay the bills I have to pay
Ain't it sad.
Off work heading on a short vacation so awesome.
Good
my introduction to terry goodkind was learning he rates only his own books on goodreads, and they're all 5 stars. what a guy.
I actually can't believe he has done this. I mean, its one thing to rate all your own books, its one thing to rate them all 5 stars, its also crazy that they are the only books he has ever rated. But the thing I think is bat shit insane, is he rated the 5 stars knowing everyone would see. This is the action of a man that has no idea what he has done. That is what creeps me out about this guy
Wow, just wow...and 'what a guy' lmao. These comments are more entertaining than Goodkind's ego-driven awfulness.
Don't we all? 😬
Tbf, every author I've seen who has a GoodReads account does that, usually with a cheeky little comment like "well if anyone's going to love it it's me ;)". I think it's kind of supposed to show they have confidence in their work, or maybe they just HAVE to add a review when they add their book to the site, idk. With this guy tho I doubt it's for marketing reasons--I'm sure he actually believes he deserves it.
Birds of a feather flock together. I was visiting goodreads a while back and clicked on James Patterson’s page. (I know he’s not a fantasy author, but wait-) He was trying a similar algorithm manipulation that reeked of desperation. His list of “currently reading” were mostly his own titles!
You could argue that Terry is neither Good nor Kind.
It's one of those names like "Honest Abe"
He IS however, really Terry-ble
fuckin' roasted
More like Terry Badcruel.
(I stole that from a comment I read somewhere.)
I have made this joke for many years, first when talking about how he treats his characters, then later after finding out what an *absolute* cockwomble he was (just found out the dude kicked it a few weeks ago--back literally middle of last month). I mean, we're talking he was the Axl Rose of fantasy writers.
Total tw@twaffle. But, my parents always taught me to speak good of the dead, so.
Terry Goodkind is dead.
*Good!*
I love how as soon as you mention Wizard's first rule at 0:25 your cat gets up and leavs just like "oh crap not this shite again".
That was a great catch! Thanks for the laugh.
Funny story: I loved Goodkind until about a year ago. SOT got me through so really tough times when I was first starting college, and I was hurt to hear you drag WFW in your initial critique So much so that I read WOT out of spite. Immediately every good thing I ever thought about Terry Goodkind crumbled. I was almost so let down that I couldn’t enjoy wheel of time for how amazing it is until I was halfway through the second book. Now I just look at my copies of the sword of truth series on my shelf, and I’m honestly considering donating them. The magic systems are carbon copies, and the sisters of the light v. Sisters of the dark plight is almost identical to the black ajah in wheel of time. They fact that Terry won’t even acknowledge the obvious parallels is even worse.
You became a Wise One
I can just *see* your facial expression reading WOT
Moonstar79 it was a frown. The whole time. And not at what I was reading.
@@timothyodom5132 I figured as much 😬
Years ago there was a rumour going around that Terry Goodkind and Robert Jordan were the same person.
The fact that Terry Goodkind can get published should give all aspiring authors hope. Can't say he's good for nothing!!
It definitely inspires me
this is how I feel about twilight and fifty shades too. if they can make it then maybe I can get published someday.
Aaron Thorne
Agreed!!!
@@Ishasgirl Hey, say what you will about the quality of twilight (I never read it), but it did change the game of YA for years
Hello Aaron (and others)!
Have you seen the interview Alan Moore of "Watchmen" and "V for Vendetta" fame gave on the subject of how bad writing can inspire? I had never heard the concept expressed in quite such a way before, but essentially his point was that reading items of "poor-quality" literature can be as - or possibly even more - motivational for productivity as reading the "greatest of the great" examples. His wording was something like "well, if THAT dreck can make it to print, then I'll show THEM something worth publishing"! Quite an interesting opinion, given what this discussion seems to be aiming at...
I hope you are all doing well!
-Stéphane Gérard
I started reading fantasy around late 2014. I blazed through WoT and then moved onto suggestions from r/fantasy and several different fantasy blog. When I eventually stumbled across Sword of Truth, I asked r/fantasy if I should start this series and the response could be summed up as "Unless you are a 13 year old libertarian or have a favorite flavor of crayon stay far away from Terry Goodkind."
It's good to see that decision validated by basically every adult who reads and/or reviews fantasy.
I read it all when I was 13 year old "sorts" libertarian as my third or so fantasy series and since the third book it was so boring for me that every book up until the tenth one I read the beginning up until the moment I could not bear it anymore, usually 5-10% of a book, then skipped to ending to see where did the plot go. Also, searching for sex scenes because I was 13 years old of course I did. It is funny how I did not miss anything in these plots.
It was bad even from that perspective.
Or unless you want your fantasy experience to be ruined.
"Favorite flavor of crayon"
Holy shit, that's a good one.
@Watchu Mean "Lots of people read these shitty books" is not a refutation of anything I said. The Transformers movies have raked in billions of dollars and those movies suck ass.
Hundreds of thousands of people having shitty taste in media is not the air tight argument you think it is.
@Watchu Mean I was using them to paraphrase your worthless argument. Go be pedantic somewhere else.
I read the first two books in Sword of Truth when I was 13, and even then I noticed how much he had stolen from other books. It didn't bother me as much then - I was just starting out on my own writing and most of my stuff was basically Wheel of Time with a little Eddings thrown in for good measure. I just sort of assumed that Goodkind was very young, like me, and wanted to write like all the authors he admired. I could understand that, and thought it was a little charming. Then I found out he was over 40, and also that he was a prick, so... Also, returning to the books as an adult I realized that on top of stealing everything, he is also not a very good writer, his ideology is awful and all his characters are basically monsters. Not to mention all the rape. All. the. rape. Yeah, so basically Sword of Truth is the worst.
@The Meta ... what?
I was probably a little bit younger than that when I read Sword of Truth, and I just found it to be a boring, poorly-written series. I didn't even realize he was an Ayn Rand dipshit until I saw Daniel Greene's episode on Terry Goodkind.
I'm curious, are you still writing?
@@enaidealukal9203 Oi, leave Ayn Rand out of this
@@Assimandeli No, ayn rand sucks.
i only read the first 3 books in the series, (because my boyfriend really wanted me to) and my absolute favorite aspect of them is that the "seeker of truth" who could "always tell if someone way lying" ALWAYS fell into every stupid trap.
Not gonna lie, when I saw the video come out, I was like, "fuck this guy." Honestly though, as you kept making points, I realized that the things you said were making more sense. I'm not going to lie and say I flat out hate the book, I read the book and enjoyed it, first when I was a about 12 and later about 3 years ago. It was really nice the first time around, I had just gotten my intro to fantasy with Eragon and then went to SoT. I will say that the 1st book is a decent prelude to what is to come and that the series peaks at about book 2-4. I even got a warning from the librarian when I was first checking them out. "The first few books are good, but the rest suck." I'm probably a broken record here but Richard does deal with some trauma and the antagonists are really enjoyable after the first book and through the mid series. The threat from the Old World is much bigger than a dark wizard in his castle and provides a chance for more growth to occur to individual characters. It's even better when the heroine gets separated from Richard and there is more development there. However, going forward, I can't seem to remember a lot about the series other than I enjoyed it (sorta..?) and that there was a cool character with a sword and magic. I'll probably have to go reread it without rose tinted glasses and see what I notice, although I kinda don't want to. After reading WoT and Sanderson's books, I went back to read Eragon and found to my dismay, I couldn't finish it. The voice was just so immature and you could pick out tropes left and right. I still kinda enjoyed it in a juvenile kind of way but it no longer remains close to my heart like it did when I started fantasy. I don't want to ruin my experience with SoT either but hey, I'll probably re-read it sometime soon and I'll see what I think.
But jesus, that author picture still creeps me out, his eyes follow you everywhere.
Paragraphs can be your friend.
Looking forward to Worldhoppers; all aboard the hype-train
Terry Goodkind, see also Dunning-Kruger effect.
Ehh... I was heavily experienced in fantasy (having read WoT, LotR, Shannara, Dresden Files, RiftWar, Eragon, and a few others) when a friend (a self-avowed Objectivist) recommended this series.
I liked the initial premise, but by the time I got to the book where he REALLY starting ripping off WoT, Kahlan had already almost been raped, like, in every book, and I just got sick of it.
IIRC, there's one book where she doesn't get almost raped, and it's the one where she gets beaten nearly to death instead. I think the book before that one had her almost get raped twice, so the number of books and the number of those scenes matches up.
@@nachofilament294 - Soul of the Fire. SIGH. Even SoT FANS don't talk about Soul of the Fire. Magic. Fucking. Chicken. :(
@@ytpython73 I love chickens. They are magic
@@nachofilament294 doesn't that beating also cause her to miscarry? Like JFC Goodkind, we get it, you hate women
I don't think his books are good or anything and it doesn't need to be pointed out in the writing but in any kind of medieval setting women would be attacked AAALOT, a majority of women were attacked in some sexual way throughout our history.
I'm only 12 and I am not a very experienced fantasy reader and I still thought this book was bad
Im glad you started reading fantasy at that age. You are perfect age to be able to understand the books but also have both time and energy to read a lot of them.
If you find writing interesting i suggest you start making your own stories. Good luck ^^
You have much better taste in books than I did at your age. If you want good epic fantasy, I highly recommend Dragonlance Chronicles.
@@StarvingArtist600 oooh you said it bro. dragons and twins trilogies are perfect for a young mind. the coolest thing is that you can actually play the campaign afterwards
@@Toshiro_Mifune the irony is, Dragonlance (the original books, at least) are not really even that good (when you look at them "objectively" in retrospective). Yet they are part of the genre legacy and they ARE entertaining to read and usually everyone finds a fave character in them etc. And the follow-up books which were written more as actual books and less as an DnD promo really are good (Legends trilogy is great, many short stories as well...)
And, as you've said, if you like it, then you can just get some friends and start playing DnD, which is always a great thing to do. (Especially when you are 12 - what I'd give to have as much time to play RPGs as I had when I was 12... although, thinking about it, with the corona around, I'm actually playing 3 campaigns a week again, so... :D We are in a good old times again!)
@@sirien.neiris i could not read anything from salvatore or weiss/hickman now that i'm almost forty even if my life depended on it. but when you're young and into fantasy i think these are great, doesn't have to be the next harry potter or hobbit, just the fact that we could read these stories and talk about them all the time while playing our versions of them, made it special. Caramon & Sturm are still someof my favorite characters ever, even if i'm not into that type of fantasy anymore. cheers.
It was the first fantasy book I read. Thought it was okay- moved over and read the first three Wheel of Time
Books and quickly realized WFR was not near as good as I thought it was
You hit the nail on the head, bro. You’ll get no arguments from me on this topic.
BAHA! Kanye peeking in there killed me.
I stated reading The Wheel of Time after half way through Sword of Truth... he stole everything!!!
Not true...the magical killer chicken was all goodkind.
I will say this about the series, It got my friend into reading books. At 19, he had never read anything he didn't have to, until this series. Now he regularly reads any kind of book.
Started Wizards First Rule, about a year after it came out. Stopped by page 70. It was mired in tropes, and predictable. Bought it again 10 years later, never opened it. It made a nice Goodwill donation. No used bookstore wanted another copy.
I've read all the books by Terry Goodkind and have read the first two books in the wheel of time series. Goodkind plagiarized the hell out of Robert Jordan, and it's so bad.
I know this is an older video but I'm just now stumbling across it. I read all of the sword of truth series when I was in my late teens, early 20s. At the time, I liked them pretty well. I think Terry has some decent skill writing action, and even though Richard and the gang are wearing extremely thick plot armor I enjoyed the story for the most part.
When I come back to the series now, I find it incredibly hard to stand. I'm not a Wheel of Time fan, but Terry's theft is still obvious. What I find more offensive is how repetitive and stupid his stories are. It's the same story over and over. Richard is right, nobody believes him, and then we find out he was right all along. Every time.
Once he finished the series, he went back to it again... but it honestly felt like a ghost writer had written his newer books. The threat made no sense, characters regressed, and the plot armor thickened once again.
I have since graduated to better writing. If you haven't read Patrick Rothfuss' Name of the Wind, I cannot possibly recommend it enough. He takes an age writing his novels, but all that work pays off. Anyway, that's my 2 cents.
Yeah, when I read Sword of Truth it was middle school and my only option was basically whatever my small local library had, which included all of those books. And even then I could tell it was getting worse. Eventually I just felt invested and needed to know how it ended, although the ending is so bad I shouldn't have bothered.
What really bothered me was the whole "oh, good guys can't win here, let me see, yup, turns out there's some super awesome weapon/magic/trick that will automatically make them win, yeah, I know, we never mentioned it before, but, here it is, annnnnd book over"
Yes.....After I watched your last Video, I went to good reads and reacquainted myself with the series. I read the whole series back in the day. At a certain point I felt that I had invested in the series so much that I had to finish. Uhhhh. one of the worst train wrecks you could witness. Yes, there are some good books in there, Yes, there are some really good themes and moments of Awesome. But yes he blatantly rips off the Wheel of Time. The farther you go into the series, the more he repeats himself with constant recaps and even repeats himself in the same paragraph. The farther you go into the series, the more he repeats himself with constant recaps and even repeats himself in the same paragraph. It's just bad. more and more he just force feeds his philosophy into the story with Richard as his mouth piece. Bad, Bad writing.
I see what you did there. I see what you did there...
Wizard's First Rule was one of the first Fantasy books I read, back when I first started getting into the genre. At the time I loved it, and eagerly leapt into the rest of the series... In retrospect, it was a bit like realizing I liked roller coasters, and decided I'd try just jumping off a cliff to get the same rush. I think the analogy holds because the series pretty much nose dives into the ground so hard, it could count as a reenactment of the cataclysm from Dragonlance. It was a gradual decline at first, but by book four, the series pretty much falls on it's face, and slowly limps away for the next eight books. What could have been built upon to make an interesting fantasy world, simply becomes Goodkind beating you over the head with his personal politics for a thousand page per book. By the end, ALL of the heroic characters speak in the same voice, and have the exact same opinions, to the point where they actually say that ANYONE with a different opinion is the enemy and needs to die for Truth and peace to reign. I bought the entire series after reading the first book, and as punishment for my poor decision making, I forced myself to read ALL of them. Never again.
PS, I recently went back and reread the first book, and.... It's garbage.
Lol!!!!! This was great!
What are the odds you get some hate clap back from Goodkind.
God Bless America that would make my day!
Traci Bailey I would die laughing!
The SoT series are both my favorite and most hated bookseries. I just fell in love with some of the women in the series (as you can see by my screenname). But i have found Terry Goodkind to be a very very scary man, since before and definitly since book 5. There are things in those books, things done to the characters, it freaks me out that a living person thought of that. As much as i love some of the characters, there are whole sections that i cannot stand to re-read.
Robin Hobb is my fav author so far when it comes to fantasy
I had to power through his first book. I liked some of the characters. I liked the woman who used bones and didn't have a foot. I liked the wizard who helped the little girl escape. I didn't really like any of the main characters.
SPOILERS:
The first time I tried to read it I got to the part where they sacrifice the little boy and I dropped it for about a month. It's like he was just trying to make the most perfect villain and he didn't realize that the best villains have a little bit to sympathize with. It's easy to root for Richard when you know that Rhal is sacrificing children and his right-hand man likes to rape little boys. You can't make your main character likeable just by making his enemies comically evil.
There was a train in my background when you said that there was a train in your background
Is your version of "must be funny in a rich man's world" on Spotify/iTunes yet? I can't find it
I made it all the way to naked empire, or pillars? Which is later? before not getting around to finishing the series.
That being said, my own introductions to the genre were the Belgariad and Sword of Shannara, so my tolerance for... familiar elements...in fantasy is probably higher than most?
Looking forward to the ARC review! Loved the Powder Mage books. So cool that McClellan sent you the new book!
Powder mage is cool the setting is unique
Omg. I just thought of it... Is Brian Griffin from Family Guy based off of Terry Goodkind?
.
Ridiculous...
...Brian still feels bad occasionally for being a douche. ;)
no, brian can't even finish one book, and terry has like 12 or something.
jeremalaria Fair.
@@brainzpvz2592 I'm unfamiliar with Gilderoy Lockhart, or Harry Potter in general. Is he also a douche?
Is there a reason that episode of Worldhoppers (2nd I believe) is private?
I'm about 7-8 chapters in to Wizard's First Rule right now, and as for the moment, it's not that bad. Terry Goodkind has a weird way of people dealing with anger issues (just *CHOOSE* to not be angry, seems to be a weird mantra that he is pushing), and is not good at building suspense, but I don't see weird issues SO FAR.
The author on the other hand, just seems to be a massive douchebag. When there is a decent response compared to a douchebag response to be made, Goodkind seems to *CHOOSE* the douchebag response, every time.
do yourself a favor and stop after the first book, as someone who went through the entire series I wish I had I actually really enjoyed the Wizard's First Rule, the rest of the series gets progressively worse in my opinion and the last book of the series actually ruins the first book
Wizard AND Glass is actually a great book. :)
0:12 The cat's looking at him like, "You good, bro?"
That may be why I liked it as well. I remember liking it when the only other fantasy I had read was Harry Potter...haha.
hmm, I must admit I felt kind of heartbroken after your review. (I really liked the first couple of books when I was young, was I that wrong?) But since it's been soooo long since I've read them, I didn't really feel like I could actually defend the books. Or if I really wanted to (cause you know, there is a reason I didn't finish the series). Also there is this whole thing about Goodkind being, ahem, not a very nice person... The only thing option would maybe be to reread the books, but I honestly don't know if I want to.
What would be interesting though: a conversation between you and Jade from Bedtime Bookworm. If I'm not mistaking, she mentioned to actually have read some books in the series when she was younger. I would be interested in her thoughts on it.
You were definetly wrong. And I liked the books too when i read them.
Though for me atleast i think it was because of it was first epic fantasy that i read and this was the stuff that got me into epic fantasy and next thing i discovered after this was WoT witch in turn made me realise how bad sword of truth was.
Didnt expect anything different when i heard he would be reviewing this thogh was suprised that there were actually people that were recomensing him this.
@@OsSLatvia Yeah, it was sort of the same for me: it was some of the first epic fantasy that I read. I read a lot more since then, so would probably view the series a lot different now, but like I said: I don't know if I actually want to reread this (I mean, I only have so much time and that should be spend wisely :P). Daniel made an interesting point about the book being preachy. I think I saw it more as a depiction of the standard 'wrong' and 'right' at the time, but looking back the preachyness seems obious and I don't think I would like it much now.
Thank you for sharing this @@jmparker78 ! It's very interesting and I agree with most of it. (omg, I forgot a lot of the things he's talking about, but remembering them now is... well, it's something)
I put the book on the wishlist and I’ll read it after I finish the dark tower series
Hey, so I watched the other video and this one, and here is the one point where my wife and I disagree with you (other than this, you were spot-on): it is the perspective that Kahlan is just the prize at the end. While I understand that perspective, she is given enough of her own development (and even more in the next few books) to the point where the end of the Wizard's First Rule is almost more about her being able to find the love ahe thought she could never have than it is about Richard getting the girl.
And going off of that, his diversity of well thought-out, compelling characters (especially female characters) is what kept my wife and I reading.
But the Randian soapboxing is eventually what made my wife give up on the series (I finished it for completionist purposes). We read it before we were as strongly immersed in the world of adult fantasy, and so didn't notice some of his ripoffs, especially of Robert Jordan.
All of that being said, they guys is a massive asshole, and I'm glad I never gave him my money (Libraries ftw).
I mean, the one thread that Goodkind has running through virtually all of his female characters is that they were all tortured and/or sexually assaulted at some point. that's pretty fucked up and says something about Goodkind's view of women
When I read book 2 and got to the sisters of the light (and the secret sect who secretly worship the Keeper of the Underworld or whatever) I literally had to look up whether the Wheel of Time was written first or vice versa because...... yeah.
The music in the end is awesome! Can you give us it's name?
Çağan Kaplan it’s in the TH-cam audio library. Idk the name off the top of my head but I’ll send it to you when I get home.
@@DanielGreeneReviews thank you pal.
@@cagankaplan5302 Its called scratch the itch!
@@DanielGreeneReviews thanks!
I sped through the first several Sword of Truth books years ago and thought they were pretty good at the time, as I was new to the fantasy genre. After reading MUCH more fantasy and catching your review of Wizard's First Rule & this video, I'll freely admit that I fall in the "know better, do better" group. My spouse started listening to WFR to see if it was indeed as bad and I've had to overhear the being chapters. IT IS INDEED THAT BAD. TG's later books contain most of the *can't unsee it* scenes that haunt my mind and turn my stomach.
Thumbs up earned right away, for leveling up your editing stats these last couple vids.
Enjoyed the first episode of worldhoppers & am excited to see more.
Can't wait to hear your thoughts on the Powder Mage trilogy! It wasn't perfect but it was still super good, so I'm excited to see your analytical opinion on it, and the second series is turning out to be incredible as well. It's awesome that the author sent you an ARC. Also I want to thank you for steering me clear from the Sword of Truth haha. I've had that on my TBR for a while but now I know it's probably not for me.
Dude I know I’m late to this but I wanted to be able to argue on his behalf... I tried to reread this series that was such a big deal to me as a kid....well fuck man you’re dead on. I’m grateful for that series because it opened the fantasy genre door for me. It isn’t good though I couldn’t even pay attention to the audio book which is the second attempt at giving this series a chance as a adult.
Yep, I read SOT when I was kiddo, like 12 or so, and I thought it was awesome, but even then was weirded out by the BDSM and castrations. I thought it was a decent story and I stuck with it through "Blood of the Fold" but by the time I was 16, I was already so annoyed at the "Deus Ex Machina" clichés and bad character development and the melodrama, I had to quit. All I remember now some 20 years later is that Terry made me feel like the characters that I loved in SOT where infantile and half-baked by BOTF. And this coming from a kid that could tolerate watching Robotech, which now in hindsight is so much troglodyte garbage, I couldn't get past the 3rd episode in the 1st season as an adult. - P.S. I just looked up the series and realized I made it well past BOTF, I'm sure I read Temple of the Winds, and maybe even Soul of Fire. I have vague memories of being done after Football Star Richard saved the world by making touchdowns and killing people; that might have been the last straw... but then again I was ok with Robotech.
Glad to know you're reviewing brian mcclellans work, I recall recomending it to you once.
I read it when I was 13-14 I think, and I remember it fondly as my first epic fantasy series. Didn't know a thing about Ayn Rand of course.
As far as I understand though, I would not want to reread. That's why I haven't read the newest books as well after Chainfire.
Perhaps I will at some point. All that said, after experiencing many more series, I see that's it clearly a level below average in general.
Can't hate Richard and Kahlan, though, lol.
I haven't read Sword of Truth or know much about Terry Goodkind, your videos and the Worldhoppers is the first I've kind of ever heard of him.
But I wouldn't mind throwing a counterpoint to your opinion that Terry steals his ideas.
Is it possible for two people to come up with the same idea? From the worldhoppers video on Terry, I got the impression that Terry doesn't read the fantasy genre, although he maybe lying about how much he reads but isn't it possible that the things you and others think he's stolen is actually just his ideas but because he doesn't read the genre, he doesn't know that its been done before in the exact same way?
Sorry for the delayed response but I just found this channel.
The answer for this is no. In the charge of TG ripping off WoT it's much too blatant. The number of repeated similarities is just too high.
Normally authors might take a concept or even come up with similar stories independently and it's not as blatant. See for example Hunger Games and Battle Royal. Even if hunger games is a rip off (I don't think so), there is more than enough original content/plot that it is it's own story.
I like the sword of truth books. Have almost all of them, and have read almost all of them. You analysis is accurate in my opinion. Still enjoy them, but you are correct and don't deserve the hate you have gotten. Not defending author, or his comments...
I usually don't like when people attack authors but I ABSOLUTELY support anyone bashing Terry Goodkind.
Please read sword of shannara!!! I want to see ya rip another book for its unoriginality, it was hilarious. All the more cathartic when Terry Goodkind is an awful human being.
Sword of Shannara was Terry Brooks. They were ok although not memorable. The sequel series left more of an impression and felt less like a Tolkien ripoff
All the people in the comments that feel personally attacked by Goodkind's politics. Stop being the insufferable problem his books are bashing. Its a masturbatory libertarian right wing fantasy series. Magic is deployed in this series like WMDs are used IRL. They're not the best books by no means, however most of your opinions are bouncing off the walls of an echo chamber of your own making.
Job well done Daniel. You get 100% on your Terry Goodkind test.
I read the whole Sword of Truth series up to Naked Empire on my first entrance, it was the last book written at the time. It was maybe my third big series read in the genre. I was still a noob. I did finish the series as they came out. My sci/fi/fantasy library could now rival most youtube channels. After reading the real good series I look at all those Goodkind books on my shelf with such shame. They are truly just awful. Keep up the good work! I really enjoy your perspectives.
I loved the video you an Elliot made discussing Goodkind. I found world hoppers through Murphy Napier not long ago, and I’ve been having a great time reading through y’all’s recommendations. After that discussion you and Elliot had, I feel no regret whatsoever in passing over goodkind’s books. You guys saved me some wasted time on bad fantasy, so thank you so much for that heads up
Oh wow. I thought the comments section in the previous video was uncharacteristically civil. I didn't know you were editing it.
I think the "wizards glass" thing that keeps popping into your head might be from a dark tower book title perhaps? I consider myself a fan of the sword of truth series. At the same time, your criticisms are quite valid. The first two books do indeed steal alot. The second one virtually lifts the aes sedai vs black ajah thing nearly verbatim. The later books are somewhat less guilty of this at least, though it is also valid to suggest that book 1 was perhaps the best written of the series.
Yep I think it just sums up this guy. I am really digging that echo intro btw! I hope your cat stops exploding.
Terry Goodkind died 17 September 2020.
Had you said power mage series or Powder Mage series i.e. Brian McClellan?
Anyone have a link to the worldhoppers Goodkind vid, I don't watch them regularly and so have a hard time finding it
What demon spawn is the thing to the left of the one-leg table?
I picked sot because I just finished wot and wanted another long series to dive into and I remember really hating it. The conversations were weird, the characters were boring and some parts made me feel really uncomfortable. The last straw was when the main character magically could be with his loved one. Why? 'cause REASONS. I remember thinking to myself: most of the books in the series arent even in Hebrew, and even if they were...I am not putting an efert or time for that garbage
I hope you read more of Terry Goodkind works just so you can make more videos on them, because your videos are funnier when you're making fun of books you can't stand instead of ones you like
Hey Daniel nice video! Just wanted to let you know that Blind Guardian has 2 songs called "Wheel of Time" and "Ride into Obsession" that are written for WOT. If you haven't listened to them I strongly suggest you do! Cheers :)
My biggest issue with it is the resolution of the main plot points come out of nowhere, at least so far as the readers are concerned.
For years, i have been a fan of several of the Sword of Truth books. I don't like terry goodkind himself though. I tried robert jordan years ago and when i was on the 5th book i just got bored with the whole story. I was not impressed at all. I could never read LotR, mainly because The Hobbit completely turned my off to it because it was first person. Back in the day, Dragonlance was my initial introduction to fantasy. Now, i would say the Riftwar Saga by Feist is amazing. The Night Angel Trilogy from Brent Weeks is great. Currently I am trying to read something newer: the Hallowed Wars trilogy by Tim Akers. Thanks for the honest review.
Honestly you’re review made me really sad. I loved his books when I read them in middle school, then I stumbled on your video and you pointed out everything that I never noticed before and it tarnished my fun-read memories. Don’t get me wrong I’m not on the ruined childhood bandwagon, i just can’t go back to how was for me now and that makes me sad. On the plus side I found a new channel to watch on TH-cam. So hopefully I’ll find another series to read.
Two authors were recommended to me (in my 20s) when I began to be interested in fantasy novels - Robert Jordan and Terry Goodkind. I read The Eye of the World first, followed by Wizards First Rule. Being new to the genre, I enjoyed them both. It was very new to me, and was what I was looking for. I have since stayed within the boundaries of fantasy and horror since. My favorite author is Stephen King by the way. I have been reading his books since I was about 9 or 10, and I'm now 50. Back to Jordan and Goodkind, in the last couple of years, I reread the entire WoT books, and enjoyed them even more the second time around. This was not the case with SoT. Of his original SoT series of 11 books, my last reread covered books 1-4, 6, and 9-11, with 6 being my favorite. Book 5 has the "chicken that wasn't a chicken" thing, and I had no desire to experience that again. And in book 7, the characters were absent until the very end. Book 8 was just too preachy. I noticed on this reread how much repetition is in the books, along with other issues, such as his Ayn Rand preachiness. I also read some of his books that came out after SoT11, and they were atrocious. I mean, it seemed as if another person wrote them. They were dumbed down so much, I questioned if he even wrote them. I questioned if this was his true writing and the original 11 were shadow-written or completely written by someone else. I can no longer read Goodkind's books. Characters I was vested in in early books became shadows of themselves to where they were no longer recognizable. I was, in fact, offended. Prior to your video(s) about Goodkind, I was unaware of his previous comments and views on his book vs other authors. That being said, I mostly agree with you because I went beyond Book 1. However I will not read a new books by him, nor can I recommend him, as we done to me.
I thought something was wrong with my audio at the beginning
It's the only time I ever bought an entire setied of fantasy books in one stop at a goodwill.. Read the first 2 books, then donated them back to goodwill the next week. Now I stand in the book isle googling shit to make sure it doesn't happen again.
I started reading sf&fantasy in the late 60s so my experience of reading was to grab whatever i could Asimov (DOC)Smith Tolkien Lewis etc...i just devoured it all,now when we got to the 90s there was an explosion of great fantasy books a sort of golden age when Jordan,Martin,Erikson,Pullman,Hobb were crushing it plus you had Rowling,Modesitt,Eddings,JV Jones,Feist and Tad Williams all of them starting great(even epic) series...
Then in the middle of all this we had Terry Goodkind...wow...honestly The Sword Of Truth felt very generic but kinda readable but once past the first book in the series it seriously descended in triteness and offence for cheap and banal reasons...in other words it was shiiite... thank Gods we had those other authors to fall back on...
Can't hear the train in the background.
Recommended the jhereg series on the previous goodkind video, found out its called the vlad taltos series, still recommend it
Damn I already got the first six books .
I didn't comment on the original review because like several of the other comments, I read the series when I was younger and had not reread it since. I do agree with several of the points you made, some of them unfortunately had to be pointed out to me. I will say that I never considered wizards first rule to be the best in the series, I preferred Faith of the Fallen. That being said, I dont think it's a bad series over all (I stopped at book 12) and I really enjoyed the rules that were interwoven into each book.
Can ANYONE tell me what that moving fuzzy thing is near the bottom right of the video? Freaking me OUT 😂😂
I got introduced to fantasy by taking one of the books off my brothers shelves and started reading. One that self was wheel of time, and next to it was wizards first rule. Luckly, I picked wheel of time.
Literally just got done with that..... >.> 1:13
The first and second book of the powder mags trilogy are amazing. The final one I thought was perhaps a little weaker but it’s by no means a bad conclusion, I mean to go back and recheck some stuff before returning to sons of empire
The magic systems are just amazing, old school elemental stuff, fringe sympathetic voodoo stuff and of course super gunpowder cocaine explosion and bullet bending magic
That’s your elevator pitch right there for the magic
Would be happy to discuss this with you
Truth. But now I want you to review the whole SoT series😀
Where do you and your listeners find the interviews or lack thereof with authors that skirt around Terry Goodkind. I must be going to the wrong websites.
I read three of Goodkind's novels, liked a couple elements, but hated the plotlines mirroring each other in every single book. I couldn't even pick up the fourth one, and haven't attempted another of his books since.
Just watched the review and this! And I agree with what you said here - you’re not wrong about the things you said 😂😂😂 I still somehow had a good time reading the book when I read it last year, but I also wasn’t taking it all that seriously. I had also previously watched the show when I was younger so I think nostalgia played a factor there as well. And I think you’re a little more well read than me and noticed more things than I did. The comment you made about it being half Winnie the Pooh and then half sexual weirdness was my biggest issue with the book - it was so weird! Not to mention the a’dam similarities felt like straight up stealing to me. Did you know the second book is called STONE OF TEARS?? I mean, come on!! And after learning about how terrible of a human he is, I’m no longer interested in continuing the series 👎🏼
It wasn't exactly the collar itself that took the power and controlled the person, it was the Mord Sith who takes the power and controls it. The Rada'Han was a collar designed to help save young wizards whose untrained minds would be torn apart by their magic by stifling it, but also to help control them during the training process, and to eventually administer the "test of pain" which was something that every wizard must pass. But the Mord Sith could control the Wizard's power without use of the collar, it was only an object of power that existed, and the intent of that object was twisted by it's current user.
Did one person seriously say that Goodkind's express purpose in writing his books was to glorify Randian philosophy and then say it's fantasy for fascists?
WTF?!
Objectivism is pretty much as far away as you can get from fascism.
I agree. Some people are just too ignorant to realize that they're just too ignorant.
@Vox Populi Ayn Rand was an extreme individualist. Fascism is a collectivist ideology.
You have no idea what you're talking about.
I don't see the point of defending the books or telling people why I like them. Every single time I even try to talk about it online I just get insulted, ridiculed, and dog-piled. When I read the series (I have read it maybe 4 times) I didn't know anything about the author, or the horrible stuff he has said and done. I just liked the characters and story. Someday I will pick them back up off my shelf and re-read them. And I suspect I will still like them a lot, because that's just who I am. The number of times I have been told how garbage I am for that has really soured me on the idea of engaging in any kind of discourse about them. Even in this comment section - just scrolling through it a bit - and you see people insulting not just the books, or the author, but just anyone who maybe kinda liked the story. I say insult, but some of the stuff said about us is pretty horrible.
I don't understand why you are surprised that no one wants to talk about?
"How often does the train pass here?"
"So often you don't notice."
The blues brothers :-))
I read those books but the longer you get into it the worse it gets. Every book is somehow worse than the one before.
WFR was the first fantasy book I read as a kid, and it remained my favorite fantasy series into my early 20s when I was introduced to WOT, which is way better. Even as a kid I noticed the old fantasy tropes in WFR, wizard gives hero magic sword to fight evil wizard, plus a hot chick and dragons. The series was definitely wrote one book at a time, without a cohesive overall plan, that creates plot holes, inconsistencies, and timing issues. However, despite that, each book is a good read. I'm not a fan of books 7-10, and I almost put the series down when you find out that Richard's wife was all a hallucination (she wasnt). The last three books do a good job bringing the story full circle, and even fix the whole "because love" issue that allows the Richard and Kahlan to have sex. His magic system gets very deep and complex when dealing with "higher" magics, almost theoretical physics. Richard is a bit basic, but he is a thoughtful and empathetic character that always tries to see the best in people, which bites him in the ass. He is OP with his own magic, but its balanced by his lack of learning. That does get a bit old, because even Rand eventually learns how to do basic things with his magic, Richard doesn't. Either he is lashing out in rage, or the plot needs it to happen. The series villian of Jagang is great, he is one of my favorite villains. Able to read thoughts, interact with dreams, torture people in their sleep, and if they are gifted he can control their magic, and make slaves of them. Even showing the Sisters of the Light fighting to stay enslaved they are so broken and fearful. There are alot of good characters, and alot of good elements in the series. As for Goodkind being a dick... well... no defense of that. I dont have to like the guy to enjoy his works.
I always viewed Goodkind's books as fantasy-lite, so to speak. They can be entertaining in portions, but you have to take them for what they are. I didn't ding Goodkind quite as much as Daniel, because sometimes there is originality when you combine together enough "older tropes" and try to make them work in a new setting. Much like music where you can typically point to influences in every song you listen to.
That said, I am strongly suspicious that Goodkind modeled Richard after some vision he had (RIP Terry) of himself, and that's unusual. I can't think of any other author in the fantasy space that injects obviously so much of their own person into a character. And, thus we get to see the long monologues from Richard and the other principal characters, because they are clearly reflective of Terry's own philosophy.
I would say that the "Confessor" character is fairly original, although it doesn't always make sense. This is often a problem in Terry's writing - he has to try and make something fit the narrative as he goes and you may not get an explanation until the plot elements specifically FORCE it. And once it's forced on you, it doesn't always resolve in a way that is completely satisfying.
It actually was one of the first fantasy series I read and agree had I known how much was stolen from elsewhere I wouldn't have enjoyed it.
Read these books a decade ago in highschool and have recently started wizards first rule agian for nostalgic reasons. Have to say its not the same experience 😔
Wizards Glass is from a Setphen King book I think. Or it might just be from the comic adaption of The Gunslinger stuff
Wizard And Glass is the 4th Dark Tower book (I should know).
I got to SoT book number 4 before I started sighing and rolling my eyes ALOT by book 3. The dialogue just continues to get worse. It’s repeated several times and is very simple. even when discussing difficult subjects. But don’t get me started on Richard. I swear he’s like an over powered anime character. Continuously gaining new abilities, new titles and more power but low and behold. He still doesn’t know how to do shit with it. Eventually it just becomes his way or die and kalhan was no better. The only character I liked was zedd but I think the narrator I listen too brought him to life perfectly. But the worst of it all was all the fucking flash backs! Every chapter was a flash back to the point it may as well been a quarter of the previous book.
I feel like these intros trip me out😂
I must agree with Terry Goodkind that, yes. His books are the greatest of all time...because...he's stolen tons, TONS off off of legit the greatest of all time. Tolkien, Wiese and hickman, the list goes on. So, yeah. Terry's the world's best theif in all of lit, for sure. Hell, he is the Kanyay West of fantasy Lit.
I bet it glad u didn't fake soften your review now, well maybe, but be honest Daniel, your negative reviews have been some of the more interesting.