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sayterdarkwynd t1_ixugavy wrote

Debatable. I enjoyed the series. Mostly.

The first four books are definitely the strongest of the bunch: Kahlan especially becomes a remarkable character at some point. But as many have said: there are certain motifs that are consistently revisited. The Mord-Sith are a major "character" in the series and will try to reinvent themselves as something better eventually....but you still need to deal with their shit.

And there are hundreds (and I do mean hundreds) of pages of philosophical drivel which if you do not agree with drag on and on and on. *Especially* in book 6 where (once again) the main character is fucking abducted and held against his will.

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LordOfTheStrings8 t1_ixuwekk wrote

>Especially* in book 6 where (once again) the main character is fucking abducted and held against his

Oh man I remember that part - I think he spends literally around 100 pages going on about why he should be free and why the enemy is wrong.

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Zoenne t1_ixv1lim wrote

Yep, this whole book is basically "won't anyone think of the plight of entrepreneurs under communism?"

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molly_the_mezzo t1_ixv5jvg wrote

I genuinely think the series is fun and I like it, but when I recommend it I give like 20 warnings, and tell them to either skip book six, or just cut their losses after five.

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Zoenne t1_ixv6p1s wrote

Yeah I don't actually recommend it anymore, because it's just Too Much in many ways XD For me it's clear there was a big drop in quality after book 5, but we couldn't have known that when we read the series as it was being published. So if you're already invested you might as well continue, if you see what I mean? I re-read the first few books a couple of times each when I was waiting for the later ones to come out, and then I read those mostly out of curiosity about how it ended. I read The Omen Machine when it came out (marketed as "a Richard and Kahlan novel", set directly after the last book of SoT) and just hated it. I havent read any of the Nicci books either.

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bpusef t1_ixv6s48 wrote

Tbh book 5 is probably worse.

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molly_the_mezzo t1_ixv76ef wrote

I can handle anything but that goddamn statue, I don't care how bad it is lol

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bpusef t1_ixvsmtt wrote

You may actually be right. The statue is maybe the most absurd thing in the story.

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sayterdarkwynd t1_ixuxtg7 wrote

To be fair, compared to the rival forces philosophy he kinda *was* right. But dragging on and on through the entire book from essentially the starting paragraph till the very last few pages? That was a bit much. All while converting every female character that crosses Richard into a fangirl and revelling in being friendzoned.

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HoeNamedAsh t1_ixul7vd wrote

The books are hard to read and do droll. It had potential with the world building. The TV series is leagues above the books I’m mad it got cancelled.

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sayterdarkwynd t1_ixuwfkf wrote

I hated that piece of shit television show. Especially the casting. Kahlan was good. Zedd and Richard were just...wrong. And painfully bad. Books were superior, IMO.

Worldbuilding-wise I love the universe, and I do appreciate it as a whole (I enjoyed the series despite the preachy bits.) Once I found Erikson and Sanderson and others like them, however, I simply never went back to Goodkind.

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Sometimesummoner t1_ixv10c7 wrote

There is certainly Rule 34 out there somewhere of John Galt and Richard Rahl just ranting about being so exceptional.

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0rlan t1_ixuy6v7 wrote

I completely agree with that comment! I really enjoyed the series overall but there's definitely a couple in the middle that get very 'samish'. The stand alone titles are worth a read too.

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greenappletree t1_ixuz542 wrote

Yah it’s one of those series that I don’t mind reading hundred upon hundred of pages but don’t particularly think it’s that good. I think i stopped after then 4 th as well. One criticism were the weird bdsm/masochistic which I found weird and didn’t really add to the stories.

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teamwaterwings t1_ixv31mx wrote

Yeah I love this series but Christ when he literally stands on a stump to give a speech

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LurkerFailsLurking t1_ixvc7h7 wrote

>Especially in book 6 where (once again) the main character is fucking abducted and held against his will.

In book 1 he's abducted and tortured and turned into a BDSM sex slave and eventually falls in love with his captor right?

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