Sword of Truth

I suppose it’s fitting that the first book review for a watery tart would be about a special sword. Fitting also that the sword’s special skill is to grant a truth-seeking ability to the Seeker-- the sword’s carrier... I’ll confess right now that I’m only ALMOST done with the series, but with 11 books, averaging 700 pages a piece, almost is close enough. I’ve been reading these books since February. Contrary to my husband’s misattributions, fantasy isn’t a genre I have read a lot of, particularly not adult fantasy. I think the reason is that I have a definite intolerance for things that are too far-fetched--magic, okay, space-time foibles, okay, alternative beings, okay. But so often the genre has some belief suspension required that ISN’T just --‘this is only a book, don’t worry about it‘--it is a logic issue or something. But I digress. I began this series because my husband (believing I read fantasy because of my Harry Potter obsession, and because somewhere he read a good review) bought me the book Confessor. A browse inside the cover told me enough to know HE hadn’t browsed inside the cover… it was the ‘conclusion of a series’… The LAST book. A poor start, in my opinion. I did what any other purist, book-loving, poverty stricken person would do. I looked up the series online, then got on the waiting list at the library for Wizard’s First Rule--the FIRST book in the series, and where I always recommend a person begin--the beginning. Oh, I know--where’s the adventure in that? But really, it is about my love of a surprise. If you read them out of order, it is too easy to figure out what is coming--you miss nuances and brilliant foreshadowing--it all becomes sledgehammer stuff… So one of the few orderly things I insist on, is reading series books in order… Back to the Review The Sword of Truth Series by Terry Goodkind Overall I have totally enjoyed the ride, but it is largely the ‘whole’ of it, instead of any given book. The world created was so complete and rich, and vividly described, and the action of the books was intense, keeping me turning page after thrilling page. There were enough drawbacks that any given book might not have passed off into “I recommend it” alone, but as a series, I actually do--I recommend the series. Story Summary Richard Cypher is a woods guide in Hartland and spots a woman in white being pursued by four men. He decides to help her, in spite of having been stung by an evil vine that is infecting his hand at great speed. He and the woman end up having to kill all four men, the woman using a bizarre trick that actually turns one man on the rest of his peers, and then the woman, to help him in return, takes him to Zedd, an odd hermit with healing abilities who likes to stand naked on his rock and read the clouds. (my kind of guy) It turns out Zedd is the reason Kahlen has come into Hartland (across a boundary thrown up decades earlier to protect Hartland from magic)--it begins a long journey to a world being taken over by an evil wizard who Richard is destined to face. It’s great stuff, but it is only the beginning. After Darken Rahl, the evil Wizard, there are Sisters of the Dark, there is Jagang, and there is prophecy about the end of life… it is a fabulous ride overall and I can’t summarize the later stuff at all, without giving away the end to earlier stuff--so there. There is a love story at the base, but it is understated because the two figures have multiple obstacles keeping them in other places, meeting other responsibilities. The battle scenes, are gruesome, vivid, and seem realistic… Kahlen ROCKS as a battle leader--probably the best written war scenes I’ve read. A group of women called Mord Sith are particularly intriguing--kidnapped in their early teens and trained to capture magic and use torture to enslave. They are an excellent way to delineate the different ways people can rule. I think though, my favorite feature, is an Ayn Rand-ish underlying story-- Jagang leads a group of people called the Order, who are using “Brothers” and preaching sacrifice for the greater good--a life after death that is more important in their thinking than this one--nobody is better than anybody else, people should be ashamed of accomplishments because they squash others down, and Richard and his allies are fighting for doing the best we can and being proud and sharing those achievements--for LIFE rather than death. The philosophy is entertaining, but serious, and I quite enjoyed watching a few characters undergo an awakening of sorts--in particularly a certain sister of the dark--but I don‘t want to give too much away. Faith of the Fallen though, was definitely my favorite of the series for this reason. (What? Compared to a book called Naked Empire? Well… yes… but only because naked means something different) Critique That said, I think it has failings related to its genre--VERY under-edited… there were typo-variety mistakes in every book that were noticeable. And it was under edited from the author too--there were times I felt pummeled over the head as he tried to get his point across. I don’t consider this a failing of WRITING nearly as much as I believe it is a failure of requiring REWRITING. In a three page span something could be rationalized and explained twice or thrice, when… if a person assumed the reader was reading the whole series, it didn’t need to be said AT ALL. It’s a little ironic that after all my grumbling about having to cut my own book, my primary complaint is that these books would be vastly improved by a 30% reduction--but that is a 30% reduction that doesn’t change the STORY at all--just a getting rid of repeated information and over-description. I think too that a couple times the characters were too slow to give up stubborn misconceptions, but that was actually a part of the page turning “come on already” that was going on. You KNEW they couldn’t remain that delusional. Recommendation I suppose what I end up with is a ‘definitely read if’… you need to be content with ‘long’--because the series is 7700 pages altogether, and you need to be willing to ignore the mistakes and repetition. If you are a fantasy reader, undoubtedly it is something you are already used to. I think if you normally stick to other genres and are persnickety that way, it might bug you more. But I believe all in all, the story is worth it. (there is a season of a TV show on Hulu called Legend of the Seeker that in my opinion totally fell short on the same topic, but if you DON’T read the books, they may entertain you and give you some of the flavor with less effort.)