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ashleyk50413's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Somehow this was entertaining despite some major flaws.
There were lots of references to world details that weren’t explained, perhaps because many readers are already familiar with the world from other books. If these details were occasionally more descriptive and differed I would have enjoyed them. Instead, they are often the same detail from the same angle. It felt like if I needed to understand a character’s motivations better, that character would suddenly think, “Ah yes, tragic backstory detail” in a fairly wooden way. When I needed the same reminder again, the character would pretty much repeat the earlier tragic backstory detail, but it read more like narration than a character recalling traumatic and formative experiences.
The magic in the book didn’t really make sense. Characters at their weakest seemed to perform magic to similar effect as the same character at peak strength toward the beginning of the book. The author often gave the same minuscule glimpse into the magic system with no further explanation, and I got annoyed with seeing that same glimpse over and over, nothing new.
I did not enjoy the book’s treatment of rape.
The main character did not feel realistic. This is a powerful heroes on an adventure, plot focused fantasy.
These were my biggest complaints. If you like fantasy, you’re probably already used to wading your way through them. You probably already know if you enjoy reading Terry Goodkind or not, but I wanted to share my experience as a first time Goodkind reader starting with this book. I’m now desperate to go read some female written fantasy.
There were lots of references to world details that weren’t explained, perhaps because many readers are already familiar with the world from other books. If these details were occasionally more descriptive and differed I would have enjoyed them. Instead, they are often the same detail from the same angle. It felt like if I needed to understand a character’s motivations better, that character would suddenly think, “Ah yes, tragic backstory detail” in a fairly wooden way. When I needed the same reminder again, the character would pretty much repeat the earlier tragic backstory detail, but it read more like narration than a character recalling traumatic and formative experiences.
The magic in the book didn’t really make sense. Characters at their weakest seemed to perform magic to similar effect as the same character at peak strength toward the beginning of the book. The author often gave the same minuscule glimpse into the magic system with no further explanation, and I got annoyed with seeing that same glimpse over and over, nothing new.
I did not enjoy the book’s treatment of rape.
The main character did not feel realistic. This is a powerful heroes on an adventure, plot focused fantasy.
These were my biggest complaints. If you like fantasy, you’re probably already used to wading your way through them. You probably already know if you enjoy reading Terry Goodkind or not, but I wanted to share my experience as a first time Goodkind reader starting with this book. I’m now desperate to go read some female written fantasy.
Content Warnings
Minor: Rape