Terry Goodkind's 'Sword of Truth' book series
February 7, 2018 at 12:38 pm
(This post was last modified: February 7, 2018 at 12:39 pm by Paraselene.)
I remember being introduced to the writer and the series many years ago by a good friend, and I especially enjoyed the books in the beginning of the series. There are a total of nineteen books in the series to date, having ended with Warheart. He is currently starting a new chronicle involving two characters from the old series, but I am not here to discuss that.
Rather, I wanted to briefly discuss the Sword of Truth series. I personally found the beginning novels to be more involved in what message the writer was attempting to convey through his characters, but somewhere along the line his books became less characteristic of his earlier genius. I figure it has something to do with him wanting to pour all of himself into his writing in the beginning, to showcase the best of himself and what he had to offer, and that after his novels gained a foothold in the literary world he decided to become more lax in his approach toward writing.
There are many atheistic concepts especially in the early novels of the series, but also throughout. The one thing I was never quite capable of reconciling in my mind was his approach toward magic, Creation, and the Underworld. As far as I recall, there is no mention of the existence of god(s) anywhere in the novels, but at times it seemed to me that the main character was not quite as reasonable as he should have been. Certainly, the writer provided nearly acceptable arguments for how the main character was reasoning, but to me it seemed to be apologetic arguments that failed under heavy scrutiny. For instance, the writer would be completely reasonable in showcasing cognitive dissonance, something from which most theists suffer, in a particular character that could not accept the harshness of the truth over the comfortable lie, but then the writer would unreasonably insert Creation as though it was sentient and humans having souls that occupied an underworld after death.
Overall, the series is a great fantasy read. I just wish it would have been stronger in its atheistic intent.
Have you read any of the books in the series or even the entire series? What is your opinion of the series?
Rather, I wanted to briefly discuss the Sword of Truth series. I personally found the beginning novels to be more involved in what message the writer was attempting to convey through his characters, but somewhere along the line his books became less characteristic of his earlier genius. I figure it has something to do with him wanting to pour all of himself into his writing in the beginning, to showcase the best of himself and what he had to offer, and that after his novels gained a foothold in the literary world he decided to become more lax in his approach toward writing.
There are many atheistic concepts especially in the early novels of the series, but also throughout. The one thing I was never quite capable of reconciling in my mind was his approach toward magic, Creation, and the Underworld. As far as I recall, there is no mention of the existence of god(s) anywhere in the novels, but at times it seemed to me that the main character was not quite as reasonable as he should have been. Certainly, the writer provided nearly acceptable arguments for how the main character was reasoning, but to me it seemed to be apologetic arguments that failed under heavy scrutiny. For instance, the writer would be completely reasonable in showcasing cognitive dissonance, something from which most theists suffer, in a particular character that could not accept the harshness of the truth over the comfortable lie, but then the writer would unreasonably insert Creation as though it was sentient and humans having souls that occupied an underworld after death.
Overall, the series is a great fantasy read. I just wish it would have been stronger in its atheistic intent.
Have you read any of the books in the series or even the entire series? What is your opinion of the series?
"What a little moonlight can do." ~ Billie Holiday
