Sword of Truth series, by Terry Goodkind

Who's read these? I'm quickly getting really into the series. Just finished book 5 and I'm waiting impatiently for 6 and 7 to come in the mail. I'm actually amazed that I'm so into it now, I almost gave up in the first book. The characters didn't seem terribly original, and the whole thing seemed a little too predictable to me. But, now that I'm this far in I've found that there have been a few unpredictible twists and turns in the plot - and the thing that really keeps me coming back is the strong female character in Kahlan, something that is generally lacking all too much in the fantasy world.

Any recommendations of other fantasy/sci-fi books/series with a strong female protagonist? Any comments on the SoT series? I'm starting to feel like a rabid fan - glad I waited to read them till they were almost all done!

 

I love the Sword of Truth series. I'm a hopeless romantic and supreme fantasy geek, and i love the way Goodkind writes. The first six books are my favourite. Imo he should have stopped the series at Faith of the Fallen, or perhaps Naked Empire. I don't particularly like the character of Jennsen, so that could be why. Although i've yet to read Phantom, and if that returns to the glorious heights of Stone of Tears i'll gladly change my opinion. Read Debt of Bones if you want a bit of background information on Zedd, the boundaries and the SoT world in general.

As for strong female characters, have you read The Mad Ship series by Robin Hobb? That's all i can really think of right now.

 

Thanks for the recommendation - I'll check those out!

Yeah, though I'm not that far into it, my brother did say much the same thing about the later books. I think it's because he planned to finish the series with a trilogy in books 9-11, so book 8 kinda builds up to it, and book 9 is also supposedly slow building up to the rest of the trilogy story. He said Phantom (10) picked up the pace quite a bit, and now everyone is waiting in toe-tapping anticipation for the 11th and last book. I hope it's a worthy finale!

 

As do i. I'm a little surprised at the pace that he churns these bricks out, so hopefully the wait for number 11 won't be too long a one. The only problem i have with them is my need to re-read the whole series every time a new book comes out. As you can imagine it gets more and more tedious I havn't read any of them in about a year though, so i'm looking foward to reading them all again

 

Yeah, I hope 11 will be out before too long! I just finished the Pillars of Creation a few days ago, and I HAVE Naked Empire and Chainfire... but I don't think I'm gonna read them just yet. Even though I'm really into the series. PoC seems to end at a very good stopping point. And from what I've about Naked Empire, it ends on a suspensful note leading into the Chainfire trilogy. I figure right now I have some closure for the moment, and if I wait to read the next three when Phantom comes out in a mass market paperback, I might be freshly finished with them by the time the last book appears. That's what I'm hoping at least....!

RE: Robin Hobb, is the Mad Ship series a complete work? I'm getting really frustrate by getting myself into all these incomplete series... I need to read one that I can finish!

 

Brilliant series, up there with Robert Jordan's series for me. I read all of his books on release, normally spend the week before the book release re-reading the series. They're fantastic books.

Robin Hobb's Mad Ship series is a trilogy isn't it? I must admit, I've only read the Farseer trilogy and the first two (as the only ones out) of Soldiers Son trilogy. (it is Soldiers' Son isn't it? The second book is Forest Mage or something...can't remember...)

 

I've heard that Terry Goodkind is very preachy. Yet, i cannot find out what he is preachy about. So what is he preachy about?

 

Take your pick...eh, I wouldn't say he's all that preachy. There're some good messages in there, but I don't really think he's sticking them down your throat, or trying to get you to believe in them, they're just a part of the story, something that builds the characters and their personalities.

 

but is there like an overriding message? I've heard he is into Randian philosophy...

 

He's very very strongly against communism/socialism. That's actually why I had to "take a break" from the books for a while, because I was starting to feel a little brainwashed. I've read up to PoC, and I'll probably finish the remaining books when I hear about the release of the last title. But that's probably what you had heard about, Tempra, because throughout the series he's continually fighting against the "Imperial Order" and their extremely corrupt socialist ideals.

 

Yeah, that is true. The Old World is highly socialist, to an extreme degree. =/

 

Thought I'd revive this thread and see if anyone's looking forward to the coming release (in November) of the LAST book of this series!

My little bro, who got me into the books to begin with, is so excited he can barely talk of anything else! I'm looking forward to them myself, because I still haven't finished the books written so far. I seemed to be at a good stopping point after book 7 (because it didn't run right into the next volume with reader on the edge of her seat...) so I've taken a break since then. I might re-read those earlier volumes, not sure, but I'll at least pick up where I left off and read up to the new novel leading up to release.

Anyone else?

 

They're excellent books. I've read all of them, and I'm eagerly anticipating the final novel.

As for him being preachy...I always thought he intended to bash (as was mentioned) the socialist Imperial Order. I also saw him taking a shot at organized religion. He always said (esp. in Faith of the Fallen, which I think is the finest book) about how the priests said mankind was sinful and horrid, where as Richard always believed that they were capable of great beauty. Seemed to attack those things to me, and advance more of a...humanist worldview I suppose.

 

Not to pull up tons of random threads from years ago, but if you haven't kept up with this series, you are missing something truly great.

Yes, people either love Goodkind for his truth or hate him for beating us over the head with his Ayn Rand fandom... but the story is still damn good.

The Sword of Truth Saga itself has ended, but the latest novel is out, the Omen Machine is a brand new novel about Richard and Khalan.

Superb.

 

I just finished the series and I freaking loved it!

 

i loved the series, and i cant wait to pick up The Omen Machine!

 

I didn't know the new book was out! The Omen Machine, hmm? I sure hope to hell that it isn't as disappointing as his "The Law of Nines," which was a horrible book.

EDIT: Wikipedia says The Omen Machine won't come out until July of this year?

 

I didn't either! Can't wait to read it! It's already out?

 

Umm... right... Correction: Its official release date as of this post set for July 19th, 2011.

 

Yeah, I couldn't force myself to read the Law of Nines either.

You are right about the release date for the Omen Machine, thank you for the correction.