just a dude
earlier books were great!!! the last few books were redundant, it's like Terry kept repeating himself over and over and over and over again- not to explain things or to get u set in the mood... but because he needed page fillers. I think it all started when Richard first met Sammie- almost the entire book was dialogue of him telling, basically, his life story to Sammie and her mother. DUDE- we read the previous books, what a waste of time! the series as a whole was awesome, last few books were horrible.
2 people found this review helpful
Marcus Swan
I'm shocked how this and the previous three books could have gotten any good reviews. The Terry Goodkind that wrote this second conclusion to the Sword of Truth series is the not the same Terry Goodkind that I remember. Maybe he's always been a bad writer and I was just too young to realize it, but this is terrible writing. Bad! It's disheartening that I can no longer think fondly of what I used to claim was my favorite series of fantasy novels. I will no longer consider Terry Goodkind one of my favorite authors after this trash. I just can't. It has been a chore to read starting with the Omen Machine. I've only been forcing myself to finish reading these because I want to finish the story I started back when I was in middle school. I just can't get over how bad this series has become. First fans are given a terrible TV series, then this? Terry Goodkind either lost sight or I was just too blind in my youth to see he wasn't great to begin with. On a positive note, books 3 and 4, Severed Souls and Warheart, are better than books 1 and 2, The Omen Machine and The Third Kingdom, but that isn't saying much. He repeats himself constantly in all of the books to the point that I often only skimmed through pages, but it isn't as bad here and the action does pick up. Once the wheels were set in motion, there was no saving this series. It was just a bad story to begin with [in The Omen Machine]. It's all very stupid. The half people, the undead, the occult. All poorly thought out ideas flimsily tied together. Also part of what made this so bad is that the author is clearly forcing the story to go the way he wants it to unnaturally. Nothing ties together in a way that makes sense in the world that he created, but things happen how they do because the author wanted them to happen. Too often, rather than explain anything, he just says, "occult powers!" I'm nearing the end and I just can't wait to finish this and forget that I ever wasted my time on anything Terry Goodkind has written. This has left such a sour taste in my mouth that I can barely remember that I ever liked the Sword of Truth to begin with. I must have just been a dumb kid reading his very first real fantasy novel and who got duped. The Omen Machine, The Third Kingdom, Severed Souls, and Warheart are trash. Absolute trash. Glad I didn't have to pay for the last two books. Probably would have quit while I was ahead if I didn't buy the first two books together. I hate you, Terry Goodkind.
8 people found this review helpful
Cory Cantlay
Starting with the omen machine, all of Terry's books have been pretty boring. When I go back and re-read the earlier books I enjoy them a lot, but something changes in his last 4 books. There are entire chapters of Richard going into explanations with nothing happening. Just terrible writing in my opinion, I found the last 4 books boring as hell.