Review "Phantom" by Terry Goodkind
"Phantom" is the tenth book in Terry Goodkind's 'Sword of Truth' series.
It continues the story of Richard and Kalhan and their struggle against a multitude of evil forces. But like so many other books in this series, this story is one of the two primary characters ripped apart and desperately trying to get back together. Yes, the circumstances have changed from some of the other separations, and the situation is more complex than ever, but the song remains the same. (How many times can the separation of those two be the big plot device???)
Mr. Goodkind has created some excellent characters along the way and at times the world he created was very interesting and intellectually challenging. But in this book many of the excellent secondary charachters do little or nothing.
The book itself has some interesting and entertaining parts, but I find the second half of this ten book series not nearly as good as the first few books. In the beginning things were simpler, and the books explained the rules for magic in Goodkind's world in a logical and creative way. The characters were interesting and compelling. But somewhere along the way, Goodkind has gone 'Robert Jordan' on me. (Robert Jordan is the best selling author of the 'Wheel of Time' series - a series which is so huge and complex that in a 900 page book the main plotline moves forward a few inches and some major characters barely appear...) There are so many great characters - but in many of these books they barely do anything because new characters and new challenges must be created for the two primary characters.
Two other things bother me about the series. First, Goodkind has always enjoyed putting his philosophy and views about life into the good characters in the book, but at times it sounds like something written during the peak of the Cold War. Also, Goodkind's liberal descriptions of torture and violence are both a strength and weakness in the series - the first 150 pages of this book contain several entire chapters devoted to nothing more than detailed, gruesome scenes of what happens when the 'bad guys' army sacks and pillages and city. Was this just a reminder? This is book ten and that army has been roaming around for five or six books doing the same thing...... Did we forget how awful they are? At times early in the series (especially the early Mord-Sith parts), Goodkind is very creative in the use of descriptions of torture and human suffering. But at times he also gets carried away with it. (And yes, from this description, you can assume these books are not for kids or the squeamish.)
This book claims that the next 'Sword of Truth' book will be the last. Perhaps he can wrap it up and capture what made the first few books so great. Unlike with Robert Jordan's books, I am still reading and giving Goodkind that chance.
It continues the story of Richard and Kalhan and their struggle against a multitude of evil forces. But like so many other books in this series, this story is one of the two primary characters ripped apart and desperately trying to get back together. Yes, the circumstances have changed from some of the other separations, and the situation is more complex than ever, but the song remains the same. (How many times can the separation of those two be the big plot device???)
Mr. Goodkind has created some excellent characters along the way and at times the world he created was very interesting and intellectually challenging. But in this book many of the excellent secondary charachters do little or nothing.
The book itself has some interesting and entertaining parts, but I find the second half of this ten book series not nearly as good as the first few books. In the beginning things were simpler, and the books explained the rules for magic in Goodkind's world in a logical and creative way. The characters were interesting and compelling. But somewhere along the way, Goodkind has gone 'Robert Jordan' on me. (Robert Jordan is the best selling author of the 'Wheel of Time' series - a series which is so huge and complex that in a 900 page book the main plotline moves forward a few inches and some major characters barely appear...) There are so many great characters - but in many of these books they barely do anything because new characters and new challenges must be created for the two primary characters.
Two other things bother me about the series. First, Goodkind has always enjoyed putting his philosophy and views about life into the good characters in the book, but at times it sounds like something written during the peak of the Cold War. Also, Goodkind's liberal descriptions of torture and violence are both a strength and weakness in the series - the first 150 pages of this book contain several entire chapters devoted to nothing more than detailed, gruesome scenes of what happens when the 'bad guys' army sacks and pillages and city. Was this just a reminder? This is book ten and that army has been roaming around for five or six books doing the same thing...... Did we forget how awful they are? At times early in the series (especially the early Mord-Sith parts), Goodkind is very creative in the use of descriptions of torture and human suffering. But at times he also gets carried away with it. (And yes, from this description, you can assume these books are not for kids or the squeamish.)
This book claims that the next 'Sword of Truth' book will be the last. Perhaps he can wrap it up and capture what made the first few books so great. Unlike with Robert Jordan's books, I am still reading and giving Goodkind that chance.
posted by John Ringer at
12:27 PM
4 Comments:
First, I agree with the worn out plot of Richard and Kalhan getting separated. For a married couple, they have only "been together" about twice in all these years, the rest of the time they've been apart or figuring out riddles.
Furthermore, I too have spent many hours reading through Robert Jordan's monster sized novels and in the end I too quit reading them. The difference between Goodkind and Jordan (in my opinion) is the love of the characters. Rand turned into something I no longer cared to read about, while Richard is still the honest down to Earth guy that got caught up in this crazy world Goodkind has created.
So in the end, I just can't hang Richard up on the shelve, nor can I ignore Nicci, Nathan, Cara, or Jagang for that matter. They all are extremely interesting to me. No matter where the plot may need, I find myself caught up in their world.
For me, I guess it comes down to devotion.
{Bell ringing...}
Master Rahl guide us...
By
Anonymous, at 3:08 PM
I agree with you on the differences between Jordan and Goodkind. But Goodkind sometimes heads in Jordan's direction.... what did Cara, Ann, Verna, or Zedd do in the latest book? And why do we need the world threatened in so many ways at one time? (Jagang, Sisters of the Dark - Orden, Chainfire, Chimes, Six, etc.) It gets a little much sometimes.
And the almost continual philosophical discussions about individuality and morality and truth get old after a while.
I would still recommend the first four or five books to anyone, but after that, eh. I will withold judgement until I see what he does with the final book.
By
John Ringer, at 1:51 PM
What about Faith of the Fallen... It runs a close race with Wizard's First Rule.
When Richard gives his final speech in the Temple and smashes the "fault" in the sculptor I had tears in my eyes.
By
Anonymous, at 7:17 PM
"Phantom" is number one on the NY Times bestseller list this week for all hardcover fiction, so he is clearly doing something right.
"Faith of the Fallen" was the best of the second half books, but still not as good as the first three I think.
By
John Ringer, at 1:50 PM
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