Ahira's Hangar

Should I read it? And WHY?

D.W. Come to the Duck Side... DARK! I MEANT DARK!DAMNIT!<i>Edited by: danlo60 at: 11/19/02 4:15:43 pm
</i>

It's a satisfying read, leaves you hungry for more!

Here's part of my post from Danlo's thread:

My reasons for liking it..

I did find TW's (Tad Williams) MS&T work to be quite 'Tolkien-like'. He did a lot of language developement (not to the extent of Tolkien) - the Sithi, trolls & various human 'nationalities'.
I felt a lot more....darkness in MS&T than JRRT's LOTR. Maybe it was 1920's vs. 1980's attitude, I don't know. Many similarities - if you like JRRT, you'll like MS&T imo.

Many twists & turns - reappearances of characters and I think the best part for me was the (IMHO) superior 'travel management' of TW. He does a masterful job of maintaining the story line thru several character's travels throughout OstenArd, where the story takes place.

The climax of the story is a great twist from what I was expecting, causing the downfall of the bad guy anyway, and nearly bringing me to tears.
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I must be confused .. I read a book called Wizard's First Rule by Terrence Goodkind ..

it was dark definitely more dark than other stuff ..

are we talking Goodkind?? or some other book by the same title by Williams?? health and healing<i></i>

have i missed something - i thought that was a Goodkind book too ? someone explain please ?? <i></i>

Yes this is a Goodkind book and I will transfer this topic 2 Gen. Fantasy--Darth my man--check ur authors--and Earthy will reply 2 anything that pops of in William the same way Please feel free 2 discuss Terry Goodkind and his works here--and please disregard the silly posts above--thank u!--danlo
If the brain were so simple we could understand it, we would be so simple we couldn't.
Lyall Watson
<i>Edited by: danlo60 at: 11/19/02 4:15:12 pm
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Ahhh .. I see!!

no drama .. back to The Wizards First Rule .. I totally agree this was a really good read .. but a tad dark in spots .. particularly the child sacrifice thing .. that still turns my stomach just the recollection of it ..

pure nasty!! and totally ewww-worthy!!

but the story keeps you in there .. well it did for me .. I became attached to the characters .. even though they did carry the most innane of names for fantasy characters .. you know totally uninventive .. Jim Bob .. Sharon .. [I am making these up cos I cant remember the characters true names - but they were all very hum-drum names]

The characters however .. moved beyond the uninventiveness of their names .. to the depth of compelling characters indeed.

It is a good read .. I never finished the entire series .. got to about book 3/4 I think from memory .. not because I wasnt interested in finishing but because I never found the books ..

I think Goodkind writes well .. he is a little darker too .. but apart from the incredibly vile imagery of that child-sacrifice .. the other darkness added a layer of evil to the bad-dude that really worked ..

my 2 cents :p :sky
health and healing<i>Edited by: danlo60 at: 10/31/03 10:24 am
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My relationship with Goodkind was very similar to my relationship with Marilyn Manson: a flash in the pan. At first I thought they were cool and different. I loved the long graphic torture scene in Wizard's First Rule and I loved the music video of Beautiful People. I never thought either of the two had anything sensible to say but I ignored it. Then gradually my liking waned. After about an year I realized there really wasn't much in Goodkind except gratuitous violence and Jordan-like stuff with less Jordan-like dawdling and less Jordan-like consistency and detail. I also realized I didn't really like Marilyn Manson's music now that I had gotten over its newness. The bad aspects of Goodkind and Manson became glaringly apparent and I could ignore them no longer which pretty much killed my enjoyment.

Terry Goodkind, in addition to not being really that great an author, happens to be in love with preaching his political views. I hate preachy authors even when I happen to agree with them and I don't agree with Goodkind. Far from that. Goodkind is an admirer of Ayn Rand and that is painfully obvious. (For example, it doesn't take a genius to see that the D'haran empire is an allegory of the Soviet Union and a misguided one at that.) And I'm just about diametrically opposed to Ayn Rand. <i></i>

What can I say - Never read Goodkind & never new there was such a title - I was confused , but being a new mod, I was resonding to it as a reference to Williams series.

Anyway, read it Darth - it looks good! (maybe I will too!)

If we can't laugh at ourselves, who then?

earthy
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I have to admit that the last book in that series made me sick to my stomach. Ick! I think it was called The Pillars of Creation? I don't want to do any spoilers, but please be aware that particular book takes a walk on the dark side! my sister, o my sister! There's the cause on 't. Whether we fall by ambition, blood, or lust, Like diamonds we are cut with our own dust -- John Webster's "The Duchess of Malfi", first performed in England in 1614<i></i>

thanks for the warning .. Goodkind does take a walk on the dark side per se ..

speaking of stomach churning/turning .. the sacrifice of the boy child .. had that very effect on me .. very dark I thought .. :: shudders ::

.. whereas the chapter where the protagonist meets the weirdo's who use torture on each other and themselves .. didnt strike me as nauseating .. though definitely weird .. and dark ..

health and healing<i></i>

There was quite a bit of S&M in that first book, wasn't there, Sky?
But it's nothing compared to the last book and the chicken. Winter is Coming
Blood and Fire
Unbowed,Unbent,Unbroken<i></i>

*smacks self silly*

I can't post in the correct forum or get authors right either.

:doh

D.W.



Unspeakably Evil....<i></i>

i'm halfway through the series, and I loved most of the books as individual books, but the series as a whole has a few problems - like the way he keeps introducing a thing in one book, using it in that book and a tiny bit in the next, then forgetting about it afterwards (just a few to mention - the other side of the Sword, the Con Dar, Richard's Gift (does seem to get used less and less)). <i></i>

I read A Debt of Bones in Legends and liked it quite alot..I'm saddened to hear that the series doesn't pan out to well... *****
Before, you are wise; after, you are wise. In between you are otherwise.
Fravashi saying (from the formularies of Osho the Fool) <i></i>

There are some pretty good moments in his books -- my major complaint is the same one I have of Jordan -- after writing so many books in a series, can we please have some closure? Even a hint that the end of the story is coming? For whatever reason, both authors seem to have lost their way...in Jordan I suspect it is the huge cast of characters and the complexity of his plot (he has LOTS of subplots going on in addition to the main series plot) -- I'm not sure what is going on with Goodkind. I do know hew has gone from telling stories about dragons and other cool mythological creatures to telling stories about pet goats...

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Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell

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Perhaps I'll come for you myself some night. You ought to see me...my fur is white now, pale as snow,but the stature, the majesty, the power, those have not left me...We are the direwolves, the nightmares who haunt your racial memories, the dark shapes circling endlessly beyond the light of your fires.~George R.R. Martin<i></i>