The Sword of Truth - Terry Goodkind, pt. 1

 

    Hello there, and welcome the Empty Shelf, where we discuss and review fantasy and sci-fi series and novels. My name is Mike, and I’ll be your reader and reviewer today. 

Over the next few posts, we’re going to look at the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. This is one of the more controversial series and authors that we’ll get into, and I’ll explain why in just a bit. The Sword of Truth comprises 11 novels, a prequel novella, and a prequel novel. The same characters are further explored in a few sequel series. We’re just going to focus on the original, and primary, 11 novels for this discussion. 

Since there are 11 of them, and they’re not short, I’ve decided to break up the series. This episode will cover the first 4, next episode the following 4, and the final episode will cover the last three, which were conceived as a trilogy in the first place. 

Now, Terry Goodkind has received a great deal of well deserved flak in recent years based on a series of interviews he gave and panels he was on. He came off very arrogant and dismissive of the entire genre that was responsible for his career. He refused to admit to reading any book that was not his own, presumably for fear of promoting something he didn’t make, and the quality of his writing came into question as the series progressed. I’m not going to get into it here. If you want to know more, a simple google or youtube search will tell you all you need to know. 

Many critics believe his work to be derivative of a number of other works, and they’re mostly correct. There was a bit of a scandal around the cover art for one of his later novels, and there was an ill fated tv show that fans, like me, were stoked about, that ended up just being hot garbage. All of that has put a serious smudge on whatever legacy Mr Goodkind hoped to leave behind; he left us in 2020.

Enough of that stuff. Let’s talk about the books a little. At some point after devouring some shorter works, like The Belgariad and Legend, I wanted to try my hand at something larger. Again, I was looking for something that didn’t feel too cheesy. I stumbled across the Sword of Truth and dove in head first. 

The series begins with Wizard’s First Rule, first published in 1994. It is followed by Stone of Tears, Blood of the Fold, Temple of the Winds, Soul of the Fire, Faith of the Fallen, The Pillars of Creation, Naked Empire; and the conclusion, The Chainfire Trilogy, consisting of Chainfire, Phantom, and Confessor. It’s a lot of book, with the shortest, Temple of the Winds, clocking in at 530 pages hardback, and the longest, Stone of Tears, nearly 1000. 

The series revolved around a young man, Richard, learning that he can control magic, what that means; and of course, he has to save the world. Each book contains a “Wizard’s Rule,” hence the title of the first book. These rules were guidelines to the Wizards of old and are supposed to be sort of sign posts about how to BE a wizard in the first place. With each book, Richard learns a new rule and his power increases in a way.

Today, we’ll cover the first 4 books, Wizard’s First Rule, Stone of Tears, Blood of the Fold, and Temple of the Winds. So, let’s get into it.

In Wizard’s First Rule we meet Richard Cypher. Richard is about to get swept up in events he doesn’t really understand and people with power he can’t imagine. He encounters Kahlan, the story’s primary love interest, and they set off together through “the boundary,” with the help of Richard’s friend Zedd, to obtain one of the magical Boxes of Orden, which grant god-like power to anyone who is able to control all three. But they are foiled by the book’s primary antagonist Darken Rahl (which is the single WORST name I have ever come across in my fantasy readings.) Richard is captured and tormented, and Rahl opens the Boxes. Richard learns some things about his past that he would rather not know, but ultimately, he wins the day and destroys Rahl. The wizard’s first rule is “People are stupid. They will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they're afraid it might be true.” I agree with that one.

In Stone of Tears, Richard is taken to the far off Palace of the Prophets to learn to control his magical gift. The catch: Kahlan can’t come along, AND it will take him several HUNDRED years to learn what he needs to know. (There’s a spell on the palace that slows the passage of time.) He meets Nathan Rahl, a prophet and his distant ancestor, as well as Warren, a young wizard who will become more important in the future. Meanwhile, Kahlan leads a group of young soldiers on a revenge quest against the vicious Imperial Order who destroyed their city. In the end, Zedd discovers what became of Richard and is not pleased. Richard escapes the Palace of the Prophets and makes his way back home. The wizard’s second rule is “the greatest harm can result from the best intentions.” I agree there too, though it doesn’t do much to support the story. 

The third entry, Blood of the Fold, introduces the titular army of soldiers and their maniacal commander. They stir up nothing but trouble for our heroes and are ultimately defeated by their own hubris. Richard learns more of his power and the wizards of ancient times through various means at the Wizard’s Keep, and he and Gratch are instrumental in defeating an army of Mris-With loosed on the city of Aydindril. Behind all of this, Richard and Kahlan attempt to form a new Midlands Alliance.  "Passion rules reason," is the third wizard’s rule. Again, I’m not sure what it has to do with the story, but whatever.

The fourth book, Temple of the Winds, picks up right after the events of the third novel. Kahlan and Cara foil an attempt on Richard’s life, and we meet Nadine and Drefan - both part of Richard’s past, whether he knows it or not. A Sister of the Dark has been sent to Aydindril to release a magical plague on the city. The only way to stop it is for Richard to journey to the mystical and dangerous Temple of the Winds. He learns how to do this through more research in the Wizard’s Keep, and sets off to see it done. Once there, he gains a tremendous amount of knowledge about his own gift and the use of magic in general, but he must sacrifice that knowledge to return to the real world. Upon his return, he is gravely ill, and Kahlan - guided by Nathan - cures him. But in doing so, she releases a different magic on the world. The wizard’s fourth rule is “there is magic in sincere forgiveness. Magic to heal. In forgiveness you grant, and more so in the forgiveness you receive." This one actually makes sense in context. 

Oi. That’s a lot. These are hefty books, so quite a bit more happens. I’ve only covered the broadest of strokes. When I first read these, I really enjoyed them. Every time I’ve tried since has been a bit of a let down. 

Let’s address some of the criticisms.

1. The series is derivative. Well yes, it is. The first book, especially, is a standard quest tale. But I think what they’re getting at is a bit different. For example: there’s a character called Samuel who’s been corrupted into a pale, hunched over, somewhat feral creature by the sword of truth. Samuel, Smeagol…it’s a little too close for comfort.

In the second book, the sisters of the light are almost identical to the Aes Sedai from Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time. Even the Sisters of the Dark align with the Black Ajah. It’s pretty glaring.

In book three, The Blood of the Fold is a mirror image of the Children of the Light, again from Wheel of time. The only difference is they wear blue instead of white. Literally, that’s it. That’s the difference. 

The problem isn’t necessarily that the books are derivative. Everything is derivative to a point. I read somewhere once that there are only 7 types of stories to begin with, so there’s always going to be overlap. All you can do is put the freshest spin possible on the story type. Where Goodkind’s problem lies is that HE doesn’t believe he’s derivative. HE thinks he’s 100% original. And he’s dismissive of the authors and books that he’s accused of stealing from, calling them silly. He even insulted the health of Robert Jordan, which is just a dick move. 

2. Richard is a Mary Sue. Yup. He has no flaws whatsoever. I’m sure Terry thought he wrote a few in, but I assure you, he did not. Also, the magic in these books is really poorly constructed. Richard just sort of stumbles into tremendously powerful magic with no idea what he’s doing, or even how to do it. It just sort of happens and solves all the problems. That’s bad story telling. 

The world building in these books is actually not too bad. The history is pretty deep, and though it has holes in it and is probably made up to suit the situation, rather than the opposite, it works pretty well. I’d like to get a little more information about the wizards of old, but that’s beside the point. 

As I mentioned, the magic system is pretty crappy. It’s separated into Additive and Subtractive magic, which is ok on the surface, but there are no real rules established. Sometimes, with a soft magic system, there are no rules or limitations, and it works in context. Lord of the Rings, for example. We know there IS magic, but it doesn’t affect the story, so it doesn’t need to be explained. In Sword of Truth, the magic is integral to the story, but there’s no real rhyme or reason to how it works. Richard is somehow able to use incredibly powerful magic by accident, and it’s never really explained in any way. 

The prose style in the first few books isn’t awful. In fact, it’s really pretty good. Goodkind can put a sentence together and that’s nice to see. The problem is that he writes in circles. He can’t explain a thing once, he has to do it multiple times from a couple different angles. Alas, the extra angles don’t tell us anything that we didn’t get the first time around. 

I don’t have time to cover Character here, so I’ll get to that next time around. 

I think that’s about enough for today. I don’t want to bag on this series too much because I honestly did enjoy it at one point, and it was formative in my development in the genre. Some of the criticisms are just too glaring to ignore. 

I want to thank you for joining me in our discussion of the beginning of The Sword of Truth series. I look forward to reading along with you next time when we’ll continue our discussion with the next 4 books, Soul of the Fire, Faith of the Fallen, Pillars of Creation, and Naked Empire. Until then, Keep reading.