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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
Wow. What a slog. If you’re looking for a book filled with nothing my cliches, bad writing, “glistening eyes”, and a near constant need to rehash what has happened, this is the book for you. This book had sentences like, “he stood on his wizard rock, thinking wizards thoughts.” I think if the author wasn’t so self obsessed, I *might* not have hated this book quite as much...that’s doubtful though because it really was a shit book.
It also rips off a lot of other fantasy books in painfully blatant ways. I nearly gave up several times and now wish that I had. During the random BDSM portion, it felt more uncomfortable than surprising. Like...is this just weird wish fulfillment on Terry’s part? Is he just very into woman with beautiful hair in red leather suites? Is this a self-insert? Why is this even happening? (More importantly, did the character change after being so traumatized?...spoilers, no.)
It attempts to have “empowered” female characters yet at the end it becomes clear major focus that our OP main character, Richard, can mind control her, in a sense. Which is a weird reveal and feels pretty gross. The worse sin though, was that she was useless (so useless that I’ve already forgotten her name). She literally just cries through the entire book. If she wasn’t pretty, I’m not sure Richard would have really needed her for anything at all.
Overall, I have no clue what people were reading that gave this high stars.
**UPDATE** This book still sucks. But it was so bad that it has now become good. It’s kind of like Tommy Wiseau’s The Room. It’s a dumpster fire, but it’s a dumpster fire that you love. It fills you with warmth and fondness...somehow. Anyways, I’m half planning on reading the next book because sometimes you just want to read something you know you’ll hate.
Having now also read the first Wheel of Time book, I often confuse things that happened in this book with events from that book. To say this book is a ripoff would be an understatement. This book feels more like a Mad Libs where the character names were switched out.
I also cannot stop thinking of Bird Person from Rick and Monty when I think about this book.
The end.
It also rips off a lot of other fantasy books in painfully blatant ways. I nearly gave up several times and now wish that I had. During the random BDSM portion, it felt more uncomfortable than surprising. Like...is this just weird wish fulfillment on Terry’s part? Is he just very into woman with beautiful hair in red leather suites? Is this a self-insert? Why is this even happening? (More importantly, did the character change after being so traumatized?...spoilers, no.)
It attempts to have “empowered” female characters yet at the end it becomes clear major focus that our OP main character, Richard, can mind control her, in a sense. Which is a weird reveal and feels pretty gross. The worse sin though, was that she was useless (so useless that I’ve already forgotten her name). She literally just cries through the entire book. If she wasn’t pretty, I’m not sure Richard would have really needed her for anything at all.
Overall, I have no clue what people were reading that gave this high stars.
**UPDATE** This book still sucks. But it was so bad that it has now become good. It’s kind of like Tommy Wiseau’s The Room. It’s a dumpster fire, but it’s a dumpster fire that you love. It fills you with warmth and fondness...somehow. Anyways, I’m half planning on reading the next book because sometimes you just want to read something you know you’ll hate.
Having now also read the first Wheel of Time book, I often confuse things that happened in this book with events from that book. To say this book is a ripoff would be an understatement. This book feels more like a Mad Libs where the character names were switched out.
I also cannot stop thinking of Bird Person from Rick and Monty when I think about this book.
The end.
I LOVED this book. The only reason I came across it was a friend of a friend on a Facebook status about book recommendations, and I was hesitant to start something so long when it's so hard to find good fantasy stories, but this was absolutely wonderful. There are some parts that I really hated, they went on way too long, too gory, too descriptive, but although I thought while reading them that they were gratuitous and unnecessary, most ended up serving the plot and moving the story forward in a meaningful way that I was able to justify my discomfort. I'm not sure that Goodkind has any idea what it's like to be a woman, and thus Kahlan and Denna both feel very unreal and dramatic, but taking it for what it is in a book full of magic, it's forgivable. I love all the characters and the slow build of the main plot while other events, still action-packed and interesting are still unfolding. It's funny, smart, and suspenseful. When I think I know what's happening because it's following a lazy trope, it has just the right amount of a twist to make it fresh and interesting. I love the wizard rules and Underworld and I'm so curious to see where everything will go in the next installment in the series. I was also concerned that the book wouldn't be able to wrap up in time and that they were going to push the main plot into the sequel, but the ending of this book was satisfying enough to stand alone, but compelling enough to make me want to pick up the equally long sequel pretty soon after putting this one down. Thankful to that random Facebook commenter for this one because I've found a new classic and one I'll be recommending for a while.
Maybe I couldn't get into this book because I'm not a boy. Maybe I couldn't get into this book because it had a torture scene that seriously went way too far ("scene" is being overly scant with words -- what I really mean to say is that it occupied a good eighth of the book). Maybe it's because the romantic subtext had about as much heart and soul as the tea towel I hang off the oven door. Or it could be that the writing was so full of purple prose and "world building" (in the worst possible sense) that I forgot where I was in the plot at times. It's so hard to say which was the cause for me putting this book down.
Mostly I blame the fact that I cannot picture a hero with a name like "Richard" without imagining a giant penis (metaphorically speaking) running around the landscape.
Basically, I spent the entire first couple hundred pages doing this :
Until finally, I realised, life is too short. And I knew if I finished this horribly written piece of fire-kindling, I would feel compelled to read the rest of the series. Because I'm a glutton for punishment that way. That way lies madness, so I closed the book and gave it back to the person I borrowed it from.
Mostly I blame the fact that I cannot picture a hero with a name like "Richard" without imagining a giant penis (metaphorically speaking) running around the landscape.
Basically, I spent the entire first couple hundred pages doing this :
Until finally, I realised, life is too short. And I knew if I finished this horribly written piece of fire-kindling, I would feel compelled to read the rest of the series. Because I'm a glutton for punishment that way. That way lies madness, so I closed the book and gave it back to the person I borrowed it from.
An excellent first look/delve into the world, filled with Magic, Confession and Truth. I really enjoyed it and there was hardly downtime. I fell in love with characters and look forward to reading the next adventure.
I really liked this book. I like Kahlan because she is so brave and amazing. I like Richard because he helps Kahlan and he begins to fall in love with her. I love how they team up to do what they must. I will say that they jumped into their relationship a little quick. I liked the wizard and how they had to deal with him. I will definitely continue the series. 4 stars.
I loved this book, and I love this whole series.
I like the fact that Richard is a normal guy which is dragged in to this story a bit unwillingly, instead of him volunteering of his oh so good hart. I am also totally in love with Zed as a character.
The story is well written, and there's a good balance of action and character development. There is also the most important thing of all: humor.
I like the fact that Richard is a normal guy which is dragged in to this story a bit unwillingly, instead of him volunteering of his oh so good hart. I am also totally in love with Zed as a character.
The story is well written, and there's a good balance of action and character development. There is also the most important thing of all: humor.
I can see why people enjoy it, but I definitely expect more from a book. Characters with functioning brains, for example.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Awful. Utter tripe. Randian nonsense.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes