Someone had to do it... (Terry Goodkind | Sword of Truth | Spoilers)

[@vduncan3171]

I read the first two books when I was 13. They were my first foray into 'epic' fantasy. I was reading goosebumps, fear street, Christopher Pike type books before that. I wrote to Terry for English class for a write to your favorite author project. He did write back and gave me a signed Blood of the Fold bookmark (which was his newest release at the time). After Stone of Tears I started reading Wheel of Time, Lord of the Rings, Sword of Shannara and any other fantasy I could get my hands on at the time. I did start blood of the fold at some point but dnf'd it midway. Never went back to the series since. I do credit those first two books for getting me into fantasy however, so there's that lol.

[@JosephReadsBooks]

I started the series when I was 13 as well. It is really interesting how many people got into fantasy thanks to Terry Goodkind.

[@scottv5587]

I loved this series as a teen

[@JosephReadsBooks]

Me too! It was my first fantasy series after Lord of the Rings.

[@sethball2475]

I was probably never going to read this series anyway, but your video is just the final nail in the coffin of my desire to go anywhere near it. This series is a favourite of my best friend, Richard. He loves all these big name Fantasy series. When we first became friends, after meeting in a bookstore and talking about books, we didn’t go too long before we started recommending books to each other. My problem was, I didn’t like long Fantasy series made up of 800-1000 page books. Not my thing then, not my thing now. But that was all he was recommending - and after he followed up on and enjoyed a lot of what I had talked him into reading, I had to give in and take some kind of recommendation. I ended up reading Tad Williams; I wasn’t going anywhere near Robert Jordan, or his other big fave, Terry Goodkind. I wasn’t loading in anything longer than four books or so, and nothing unfinished with no end in sight. Over the years, the Goodkind and Jordan situations played out with lots of books…and more and more, it was clear that the Terry Goodkind thing was my friend’s favourite - every book, every sort-of connected book (when he talked about, it all sounded weird and complicated). I wasn’t bullied, but I did get curious about Goodkind. I took a recommendation from Richard, and read one of Terry Goodkind’s modern-setting ‘thrillers’, called Nest. I hated it, hated it, I hate everything about it. I went in so pumped because of a friend’s enthusiasm, and never expected that Nest would be one of the worst books I ever read, up there with Cornwell’s Depraved Heart. Those two books have one thing in common: ALMOST NOTHING HAPPENS. But Goodkind’s book had a whole host of problems I could not stomach; I knew my friend’s worldview, politics, and philosophy of life were very different than mine…he’s still my best friend, but Goodkind’s messaging and metaphors are for my friend - I’m not surprised he loves Goodkind’s books - and are totally NOT for me. I would never read another Terry Goodkind book again, and some multi-book Fantasy series fueled by Ayn Rand would just about explode me into a million pieces. Your video has helped me understand that what I got from Nest is creeping around in Sword of Truth. That’s a titanium pass, for me.

[@JosephReadsBooks]

I am glad I never read Nest. I don't blame you when it comes to avoiding huge series. They are a huge turn off for a lot of people. I'm glad I could set in stone your refusal to read the series. Learn from my mistakes 😂.

[@thefantasynuttwork]

My god this is amazing

[@JosephReadsBooks]

Thanks! I hope you enjoyed the ride 😂

[@OnlyTheBestFantasyNovels]

I'm . . . . not sure what I just listened to. I had planned to try this series at some point to see if it was as bad as people say . . . you just chainfired that plan 🤣

[@JosephReadsBooks]

I'm glad I could save you from that experience 😂.

[@davidsylvester2715]

They sword of truth taught important lessons

[@traviswatkins1285]

I LOVED those books for a long time. My favorite series for awhile. Then I read more, listened actually since I'm all about that audible. I re-visited it a few years ago and god DAM, did they not hold up. Way too much focus on SA, long winded, preachy, and Richard is SUCH a Garry Stew. Literally every problem cannot be solved without him, usually single handedly.

[@JosephReadsBooks]

Richard is the ultimate Gary Stew! I might be reading the first book again early next year(thanks to this video). I am going in knowing that it is not going to go the way it did when I read it as a 13 year old.

[@MPScrimshaw]

The first four books in this series were the first four adult fantasy books I ever read as a teenager and I loved them I still have a place on my shelf for those four books just from nostalgia but boy oh boy does this series go off the rails very quickly and very far

[@JosephReadsBooks]

I was the same as a teenager. I'm going to keep the signed copies of the first two books as a momento. That series got me into fantasy. In spite of the flaws it means a lot to me.

[@jeroenadmiraal8714]

Why are the covers of these books so epic though, they are very seductive

[@JosephReadsBooks]

They were super seductive when I was a teenager 😅

[@Chance.Dillon]

Okay this one seems like one I gotta catch simply cause I’ve always been Terry-curious

[@JosephReadsBooks]

I hope you enjoy the ride 😂. The dumpster fire does not slow down for anything.

[@sonic31century1]

On KZbin lookup "Wizard's First Rule - Trailer HD [LotS]" That is a fan made trailer on KZbin that uses footage from Legend Of The Seeker to show the events of Wizard's First Rule. Legend Of The Seeker was the TV show that was loosely based on The Sword Of Truth series. Mostly it just had episodes that used the character names but did not adapt the books. But the fan made trailer is good.

[@JosephReadsBooks]

I will check it out. I never watched the show.

[@sonic31century1]

@@JosephReadsBooks The trailer rearranges scenes from the two seasons of Legend Of The Seeker to more faithfully adapt Wizard's First Rule. The actual show as it was written and shot was a very loose adaption of the book series. Changes were made from book to series. For instance Darken Rahl is Richard's older brother instead of his father.

[@Zivilin]

I never knew about the books but i remember liking first season of the show. Primarily because it had the monster-of-the-week adventure style of Xena/Hercules, which i loved growing up. No idea how the show holds up now though. But the books sounds much worse than i remember from the show. 😂

[@evastrange]

Oh dear. 😅 I read the first three(?) volumes early on in my fantasy reading "career", and it put me off reading multi-volume epic fantasy for nearly a decade. I dnf'd it because I got frustrated with how the story kept recycling and renewing itself without seemingly ever making any progress. Years later, I dnf'd A Song Of Ice And Fire after book 3 because the self-recycling quality of it gave me Sword of Truth flashbacks, and I was like, No! I promised myself! NEVER AGAIN! 😆 I don't remember the rest of it being this bad. I was more forgiving/less perceptive back then, obviously.

[@JosephReadsBooks]

I really enjoy giant fantasy series but I agree with you about the story progressing. I need some momentum or I'm going to move on and read something else. I think I have become less patient the older I get.

[@camillo6788]

I've read them all, with the omen machine etc. Unfortunatelly (or not) I've read the series before actually hearing it was not so original. I also had no idea of how "strange" the author was (although you might get a hint because of some wierd shit going on). For a first fantasy series like that, its not bad, at least it doesn't feel like it until the magic chicken. I recomend the audiobooks by audible, good quality. I did listen/read Confessor multiple times. Richard fighting his way out of slavery and starting an uprising is kinda fun :D. The new books on Nicki's adventures are not even worth the paper though. Wonder how would it go if I'd decide to read the series again now after some years. Probably not great. A young reader is probably more forgiving. Cheers!

[@JosephReadsBooks]

I might be re-reading the first one next month. I'm only doing it if a few people I know start it first. I'm not going down that path alone 😂.

[@Nothing2seeh3r]

If I remember right, the dimension he sends everyone to… is Earth? Like, Richard literally created Earth.

[@JosephReadsBooks]

Is that what happened? I forgot about(or maybe was too dumb to realize) that 😂.

[@secretfirebooks7894]

Joseph, you fool! You've engaged my sick, depraved sense of curiosity. Now I must read these books!!

[@JosephReadsBooks]

I will apologize in advance for the path I have sent you down.

[@mastersal4644]

I read the entire series - I liked the first few books until soul of the fire I think. And then continued on because I couldn’t believe that we had not reached the nadir yet and I had to see if the next got worse. Yes it did

[@JosephReadsBooks]

I really liked them as a teenager but if I had read them later in life I never would have made it past the third book.

[@mastersal4644]

@@JosephReadsBooks very true

[@thatsci-firogue]

So that's why whenever I visited charity shops as a kid these books made up the bulk of the already lacking Fantasy sections 😂

[@JosephReadsBooks]

Here it is the opposite. I never see used copies of his books for sale but they are in every Barnes and Noble.

[@ARedStoneWall]

I remember giving up in book 4, somewhere around the beginning. It just wasnt getting any better and the occasional cool idea wasnt worth his very obvious sexual kinks. Weird stuff in hindsight.

[@JosephReadsBooks]

He did have some cool concepts but they were weighed down by the creepy stuff.

[@GrammaticusBooks]

Would you believe I've never heard of this series? Sounds like a pass. Thanks for taking the hit on this one!

[@JosephReadsBooks]

How could you haver heard of them? Terry Goodkind himself said he was one of the greatest authors of his generation 😉. I read the series as a teenager when I didn't know any better and now I'm just trying to save others from my mistakes 😂.

[@jeroenadmiraal8714]

I obtained a second hand copy of the first book just because I am curious about how shitty it is.

[@JosephReadsBooks]

I might be reading it again in January just to see how it is.

[@XanaduCastle]

i own the first couple hardcovers that i got from a thrift store last year. the world concept sounded interesting but once i read up more about him online i realized he is hated within the fantasy genre lol

[@JosephReadsBooks]

Yeah.. If only he had been nice or at least didn't talk where people could hear him 😂.

[@richardadcock5450]

It kinda sounds like the Dark Tower series meets the Wheel of Time

[@JosephReadsBooks]

I don't if that comparison moves the Dark Tower up or down my TBR 😂.

[@sw3dge]

I could write a book with all my thoughts in response to just this video. I've never even read the series. What I will ask is, why has every single bookstore in North America carried these books my entire life?

[@JosephReadsBooks]

Because they sell! I don't know why but they always sell. I never see them in used book stores.

[@richardadcock5450]

Unfortunately I read the first 3 then I decided it wasn't for me.

[@JosephReadsBooks]

I read 14 of his books and eventually learned my lesson 😂

[@keithlowe5512]

An odd series. I remember enjoying the first few books before the quality nosedived. I'm not a hyper critical reader a lot of the time but I recall not being able to read latter entries at all. Also have no real memories from the series, probably a damning statement?

[@edgarclot3905]

I read the first book as a teen, and thought "this is okay." But then the next book turned into BDSM sleaze and I never finished that crap

[@edgarclot3905]

Watching the video - turns out the BDSM started earlier than that lol

[@JosephReadsBooks]

Yup. He dedicated almost a third of the first book to it 😂

[@chocolatemonk]

I feel like either you like this series or WoT as "the foundational" or "inspired me so" fantasy series. I like SoT better but both are flawed. I just think everything is just a bit better besides the lectures on freedom and liberty at end of series. Consequences, problems and solutions are realer. better battles.