The Sword of Truth he will have easily eclipsed his rival.Hannis Arc, working on the tapestry of lines linking constellations of elements that constituted the language of Creation recorded on the ancient Cerulean scroll spread out among the clutter on his desk, was not surprised to see the seven etherial forms billow into the room like acrid smoke driven on a breath of bitter breeze. Jordan in the blockbuster fantasy stakes, but if his learningĬurve continues to rise at its current rate, then before he finishes Summing up, I'd say that Terry Goodkind is looking to match Robert But along the way there are scenes of tortureĪnd humiliation that would certainly give younger or more delicate Give Richard, in particular, the key to understanding his own Sense that it all works out, that the suffering is necessary to Work, it would be the heavily sado-masochistic treatment the heroes If there is one thing that might put readers off Goodkind's Goodkind genuinely is learning his trade, rather Into the story with some subtlety, and inventively tackling newĪreas with gusto. Winds, Goodkind is weaving a mystery subplot of sadistic murder In Stone of Tears, Goodkind also pillages a little tooįreely from Jordan's Aes Sedai with the introduction of Up (a Gollum clone with no obvious reason for being in the plot). Particularly true when the blatant Tolkien rip-off Samuel turns The critical 'splat against the far wall'. Of gauche writing where the book came very close to performing Wizard's First Rule, there are several instances Ground running but seem to have gradually lost their ability toĭeliver the goods ever since, Goodkind is visibly learning. The other excellent thing about Goodkind is that his craft is Greater peril, but with commensurate rewards. Secondly, Goodkind cranks up the tension with each story,Įscalating the stakes each time, placing his protagonists in ever In the fantasy publishing days of Robert Jordan, king of the unfinished To a satisfactory conclusion each time, leaving the reader with Story each time, based around the same set of characters but coming Goodkind manages toĭo two things with each volume. Less and less meaningful plot per volume).
Series (with its endlessly recycled plots) and Jordan'sĪgonisingly prolonged Wheel of Time (gradually doling out The Sword of Truth differs from both Eddings' interminable Each new opponentįorces Richard to delve into his own latent magical abilities,Īll the while he is trying to solve the problems that prevent One more difficult to defeat than the last. The fight to save the Midlands from a series of deadly foes, each Heartland around Birmingham and Coventry), formerly sealed offįrom Westland by a barrier. Of "the Midlands" as the distinctly non-magical industrial (silent guffaws all round for British readers, more used to thinking Kahlan comes from over the mountains, from the magical Midlands Helps her to defeat a quartet of assassins sent to murder her. Westland meets up with Kahlan in his native woods one day, and
Richard Cypher, humble woodsman and guide in peaceful The overall storyline of The Sword of Truth is bog standard To clamber on the Eddings/Jordan bandwagon would be selling a I would say that to dismiss Goodkind as just another author trying Three thousand pages at a headlong gallop over the last month, Goodkind's The Sword of Truth series as just anotherīookshelf-collapsing fantasy blockbuster. Volumes, one could be forgiven for immediately dismissing Terry With over three thousand pages already published in a mere four
Temple of the Winds (Orion, £17.99, 528 pages, hardback published 29 December 1997 trade paperback published 19 June 1998 at £11.99 mass market Millennium paperback published 5 October 1998 at £6.99) Published 29 December 1997 reprinted 5 October 1998) Published 1996 reprinted 5 October 1998.)īlood of the Fold (Orion, £6.99, 698 pages, paperback. Stone of Tears (Orion, £6.99, 1056 pages, paperback.
Published 1995 reprinted 5 October 1998.) Wizard's First Rule (Orion, £6.99, 774 pages, paperback. The Sword of Truth Volumes 1 to 4 by Terry Goodkind
Terry Goodkind: The Sword of Truth - an infinity plus review