Warheart by Terry Goodkind (the last Sword of Truth)

[Flip]

I first ran into Goodkind's Sword of Truth fantasy series way back in 1994, and FINALLY this is the final installment of the 18 book series, it was published in November 2015. I can, at last, put Richard and Kahlan, the main characters, to rest. Its been a love/hate relationship with this series. The first 5 or 6 books were right in my teenage wheelhouse of epic fantasy and i loved them. Since then, the books have become increasingly preachier, as i think Goodkind is more interested in sharing his view and philosophy on life, as opposed to expanding the world he created and focusing on good writing. He started to become the Ayn Rand of fantasy. Totally full of himself in what he thought was 'right', and stubborn in the process.

You can feel Goodkind bleed his own wants/desires into the Richard character. Richard is always right, Richard figures out the puzzles, Richard saves the day, Richard is big and strong and handsome, Richard is the source of reason, Richard is perfect. Basically every books ends in some deus ex machina.. every single time. How can that continue to be interesting enough for me to keep reading? I dont know, i felt invested and knew eventually that this series would have to end, so i kept going. If i saw a new book in the series at the store i would roll my eyes, "Fucking shit, a new Goodkind book, whelp, guess i have to buy it."

Goodkind deteriorated into a terrible author, in my opinion. His dialogue was tired and repetitive, his adjectives were rehashed ad nauseum that, at some points, i couldn't believe this got through an editor. The women are always supposedly beyond beautiful and Richard is always dashing, I dont reccomend this book, but if you were a Goodkind fan as a kid, maybe re-read the earlier novels up through, maybe, the 8th book.

I rate this 1 fart out of 5, and solely because i am happy to not make myself read another book in this series. The ending was awful, but at least it ended.

PS, Goodkind is a terrible person and here are some quotes as to how great he thinks he is:
"First of all, I don't write fantasy. I write stories that have important human themes. They have elements of romance, history, adventure, and mystery. Most fantasy is one-dimensional. It's either about magic or a world-building. I don't do either." -Terry Goodkind
and
"What I have done with my work has irrevocably changed the face of fantasy. In so doing I've raised the standards. I have not only injected thought into a tired empty genre, but, more importantly, I've transcended it showing what more it can be-and is so doing spread my readership to completely new groups who don't like and wont ready typical fantasy. Agents and editors are screaming for more books like mine" -Terry Goodkind

[Julius Seeker]

Yeah, I'm afraid to return to that series because I am sure I won't like it much.

There is some absolutely ridiculous stuff even in the first few books:
1. He seems to like torturing his characters, which is kind of boring to read about.
2. Stupid cultures, like the face slapping stuff.
3. Sex magic.
4. Pedophilia.
5. Cheesy over the top violence.
6. Gratuitous narration which appealed to me more as a 13/14 year old. Part of what I felt I was growing out of fantasy when I got a little older - yet I still liked Robert E Howard...


Preachiness is right. I remember that started around The Pillars of Creation, and it didn't seem natural. I took my name from the series, but I really don't want to associate myself with him or his vision for what's best for the world. I can stomach a terrible person writing good literature, but a terrible person putting forth their preachy vision. No thanks!

On the other hand, I have started reading Wheel of Time, and between that and Fire Emblem, discovering why I loved fantasy as a kid.

[kali o.]

My foray into SoT was limited to the TV series -- and it ended definitively after 3 seasons I believe. I am curious how you would compare the TV show to the books, but I feel it covered its arcs well and ended appropriately (a rarity for TV). The show was cheesy as all fuck, but I figure it probably stayed fairly true to the books over it's limited run.

[Flip]

I actually didnt watch too much of the TV series, but i just looked it up real fast and see it survived two seasons that were loosely based on the first two books. I remember some episodes, though, and i was OK with it being done in the Xena/Hercules style. Yes, it made it cheesy, but the books werent all that serious anyways. Like Seek pointed out, yes there was gratuitous violence and torture, sometimes, but the books never read as dark as Game of Thrones, for example. I feel like his writing was perfect for an adolescent teen, but nowadays is just terrible.

The episodes i saw, i remember it following the Darken Rahl story line close enough in the grand scheme of things, but each episode was like a little mini story that never happened in the books. It was shot in a way that each episode needed to have a beginning, climax, and an end, but most of those arcs never took place in the books. However, the underlying/overarching story was close enough. Richard did live in Westland with his grandfather, who he didnt know was a great wizard. Kahlan does come seeking out Zed for help to fight off Darken Rahl, Richard does get named Seeker and given the Sword of Truth, eventually he finds out he is Darken Rahl's son, and then Richard kills Darken Rahl at the end.

On another tangent, god i hate the naming that Goodkind uses. Westland and Midland, so generically boring. As Richard travels he runs into villages of Mud People, Straw People, and Half People, for example. That is how they introduce themselves, "Hello, we are the Straw People." Jesus fuck, can you get a little more creative?

Back on topic, I dont think i watched the series long enough to even be introduced to the Mord Sith, but looking up pictures now, they got a really hot chick to play Cara. Of course, like i ranted about, every woman in these books is stunning, its like ugly or fat people just didnt ever hang around Richard. Which is good for a horny nerdy teenager to read, but simply dumb when you think about it.

[Julius Seeker]

Some of his main characters and world just vanished. Like the magical creatures from Wizard's First Rule were saved, but then were never seen again. Chase and some other characters vanished without a trace. Chase was another somewhat over the top awesome archer who never missed his mark; as weapons he carried 18 daggers, 12 throwing axes, and like 30 other swords and spears.

Did Chase ver come back after the second book, or was he just forgotten about?

Speaking of sex, I remember there were never any happy sex scenes. They were depressing, and I wanted to cry after each and every one of them! Even during the sex magic scene when Richard finally banged Kahlan, he thought she didn't know it was him so he was depressed the whole way through, and she was on a very runny period at the time. Kind of anti-climactic, forgive the pun!

Ah, the memories =)
I actually liked the books a lot growing up. I don't think Goodkind was too far off the line of the sorts of characters that were in a lot of TV shows and movies at the time. Peter Parker on Spider-Man was pretty much Richard Cypher, Cyclops on Xmen was Richard Cypher, even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were a bunch of mutated Richard Cyphers. The same could be said about 90% of post-Tolkien fantasy.

Now it's already too late for me to not get way too much off topic, so: Tolkien himself even wrote a character similar to Richard Cypher who went by the name Prince Turin Mormeigil Neithan Gorthol Agarwaen Adanedhel Turambar the Black Sword - a hero who performed heroic deeds, but the story was largely about his whole story was about how being so perfect made his life suck; he was a great hero who slew the father of dragons. He was a great warrior; he was such a great warrior that he accidentally killed his best friend. He met a feral woman Niniel who had been cursed by the god Melkor, he fell in love with her; and it turned out she was his long-lost sister all grown up! When the curse was lifted from Niniel, and she regained her memories, the disgust was so much that she killed herself and her unborn child. Turin killed another one of his friends for telling him this story, and then when Turin discovered the truth, he also committed suicide. In the end, their parents were there to see the fate of their children. How's that for a Luke and Leia story? I didn't even mention that Turin was partially to blame for the downfall of two great Elvish Kingdoms. That was a fun chapter of the Silmarillion

[Shellie]

Holy crap, 18? I stopped around Pillars... I want to pick it back up though.

The tv series appealed to my fangirl of the book status at the time(ask Sine about my squealing when Cara was introduced lol). God I wish it had been done well...