Mormegil Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Has Tairy every explained, incidentally, why he chose to use a setting that superficially, to the casual and uninitiated observer so closely resembles a fantasy world for his books that are novels and most definitely are not fantasy stories? Yes, he has, for example in this interview: http://www.scifidimensions.com/Aug03/terrygoodkind.htm They ask the following question: Theoretically, you could have chosen any one of a number of literary genres to get your philosophical message out. Why did you choose fantasy? In the first part of his answer, he acknowledges writing fantasy: I chose fantasy because it allows you to do some things quite well. The example I gave before about understanding the nature of abuse couldn't have been done in a contemporary setting, because it's very familiar. Fantasy allows you to shine a different kind of light on human beings. I believe the only valid use of fantasy is to illustrate important human themes. It seems to me that the following part explains the 'why' best: I'd like people to know that my stories are not just fantasy, although fantasy is a very ancient kind of storytelling, and has a very noble tradition. One of the things that draws me to fantasy is that, despite the clichés and trappings and garbage, fantasy is about heroes. Heroes struggling against evil and triumphing. That is a wonderful thing to write about. I love stories about heroes. (My apologies for not being very funny.) ETA: Oh, and I haven't read any of TG's books. I just really like these threads, especially some of the spoofs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry. Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 I read through the noble goat stage and then decided that not only did I need to stop reading books with philosophies that I consider to be an anathema, but that crap-filled books aren't worth my time when I could read tons of very well-written works instead. So no, no pacifist slaughter scenes in my reading history Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deluge Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 I read through Naked Empire. As a 14 year old, I thought, "oh, cool, deserve victory! Blindly believing that your actions are all justified makes perfect sense." Luckily for me, I would later realize just how stupid that sounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davos Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 I stopped reading after Wizard's First Rule and frankly I had to choke down most of it. It was recommended to me by the same person who got me to read AGoT so I thought that it must get better at some point. When the suckatude increased page by page all the way to the end i decided it just wasn't worth gagging through a second volume of the same crap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinDonner Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 I only read Goodkind after seeing these threads. I read Stone of Tears cos I wanted some material for the parodies, and also I felt it was slightly bad form to be criticising an author I'd never actually read. It was pretty bad. And then, once the pain had faded, I read Soul of the Fire. That was a stupid idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaxom 1974 Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 TG: That is a wonderful thing to write about. I love stories about heroes. Cool. When do the heroes show up in the series? I'm still waiting. *** I read through the "Greatest Statue Ever Carved By Man" one. I forget which one that is, though I have the next one (Pillars of Creation I think), though I've never read it as of yet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Pita Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 I'm not writing a book about philosophy - I'm writing adventure tales I just had to post this. And no, it is not a joke. Edit-I'm just gonna post great snippets: And because you so completely understand the position this guy is in, it feels like 40 pages of torture (insert unnecessary pun about how it's even worse on the readers) It's important to show a loving relationship between two people that is true to life. (insert another unnecessary "but you don't do this" joke) Magic in my novels is used in three ways: the simplest is as a metaphor for technology. A good example is a magic carpet. There's no magic carpet in my novels, but if someone needs to travel a great distance, they could use a magic carpet, while in a contemporary novel they'd use a car. The second way, and I think the most important, is as a metaphor for individuality and individual ability. The mediocre world doesn't want individuals to rise above what everyone else is doing. The third way I use magic is as a metaphor for coming out of an age of mysticism into a Renaissance. So, in a way it's the struggle between the Dark Ages and the Renaissance. (Insert unnecessary "And let's not forget Deus Ex Machina" joke here) I never allow my characters to use magic to solve their problems. (Insert COMPLETELY unnecessary and predictable line) I have always, as a reader, disliked cliffhanger endings (Insert "Has he read his own books?" joke) (Insert witty closing line) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabriele Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Can everyone on this thread please at the end of your next post state at which book you stopped with the series, or if you've made it all the way to the end? I'm dying of curiousity. Hi, I'm back after several days of internetness. My computer caught a really evil virus and needed some purging to regain its moral celery. I read Wizard's First Rule half way through the torture scene, then decided it was too much. Not necessarily too much torture - I can stomach that - but too much badly written torture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maltaran Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 I read WFR. That's it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Pita Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Up to Naked Empire. I finished it. After I was a Lemming. I feel dirty inside. I fed the Yeard to get it, but then I got my posting spree (where I got top 5 in three threads) so I think I may have made up for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zap Rowsdower Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Can everyone on this thread please at the end of your next post state at which book you stopped with the series, or if you've made it all the way to the end? I'm dying of curiousity. It is my intention to finish the entire series. However I am only about halfway there... I just started reading that one Goodkind book that has that pair of neo-classical fascist statues on the cover, which I think is Faith of the Fallen. But I can't be sure. Finishing the entire SOT series may be problematic because it seems I've developed a highly allergic reaction to Terry's writings: I can only read for a about a page or two before the writing style makes me close the book in disgust. Then I only resume reading again after a period of weeks. And all of Terry's books are hundreds of pages long. At the rate I'm going I'm going to be reading Terry Goodkind for the rest of my life. And if that isn't a depressing thought, I don't know what is. On a lighter note, I'm making a little bit of progress on my Goodkind/Lovecraft parody "The Yeards of Madness." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Pita Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 I want a Yeard Hobb parody, but I can't write nearly well enough to make DickChivalry a believable character. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alytha Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 I only read Chainfire, which apart from not making much sense in terms of coherence, plot or characterisation, wasn't all that horrible. I expected worse. Which doesn't mean that I'll read any more Goodkind of my own free will anytime soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VigoTheCarpathian Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Read all of them: bought them up through "Chainfire"...if I had a time machine, this would be one thing I would definitely do: walk up to my past self and slap the library copy of WFR from my pasty, nerdy hands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Pita Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 I wouldn't do anything, except maybe talk myself into ignoring the TG books at the bookstore after I became a Lemming,and spending my shineys on some Bakker or Hobb. Or Dostoevski. Or even Salinger, if I was in a particular self-mutilating mood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenMockingbird Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Read all but Phantom and Pillars. My high-school library was badly stocked taste-wise, and I had yet to develop standards. Phantom's plot was on Wikipedia two days after it came out. Goodkind is predictable enough that actually reading the thing would have been redundant and painful. Oh, yes, and I'd like to apply for Lemminghood. I wrote a parody if anyone needs a bribe... http://asoiaf.westeros.org/style_emoticons/New/leaving.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elrostar Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 See, my problem is that I haven't actually read any of them. And so I feel like I'm not properly qualified to criticize the books. But at the same time, people here keep telling me NOT to read them because it could cost me my sanity (much in the way that your maximum sanity score is reduced as you increased your Cthuhlu Mythos score in the CoC RPG). So I'm torn. Also, it just seems incredibly painful to read, and there's so much actual good stuff out there to read that it seems like a waste to read SoT instead? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Wolf Maid Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Read all but Phantom and Pillars. My high-school library was badly stocked taste-wise, and I had yet to develop standards. Phantom's plot was on Wikipedia two days after it came out. Goodkind is predictable enough that actually reading the thing would have been redundant and painful. Oh, yes, and I'd like to apply for Lemminghood. I wrote a parody if anyone needs a bribe... http://asoiaf.westeros.org/style_emoticons/New/leaving.gif No need to bribe to be a Lemming. Parodies are most welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foreverlad Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 See, my problem is that I haven't actually read any of them. And so I feel like I'm not properly qualified to criticize the books. But at the same time, people here keep telling me NOT to read them because it could cost me my sanity (much in the way that your maximum sanity score is reduced as you increased your Cthuhlu Mythos score in the CoC RPG). So I'm torn. Also, it just seems incredibly painful to read, and there's so much actual good stuff out there to read that it seems like a waste to read SoT instead? The SoT series is a morality porno: Plot contrivances with shitty dialogue lead ins. The difference between them? Porn is advertised as smut. Don't trouble yourself over missing out on the series. It's like looking back on these last 7 years in American politics. If I could have avoided them, I would have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Wolf Maid Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Forverlad, why are you a second generation lemming of discord? Just curious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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