posted
I am rereading the Sword of Truth series and I am a huge fan of the Wheel of Time series. While I have been reading I can't help but compare the major hero from both series. (and find a lot of uncanny similarities)
Rand Al'Thor Uses Magic Is a king-Emperor Has a dedicated people(Aeil) Struggles greatly with his role Uses the void
Discovers his parents were not his real parents and who his real parents were.
Is torn with the fact that he loves three women and his relationships with them suffer from varying levels of disfunction throughout the series
Is/was going insane
Richard Rahl (Cypher) Uses Magic Is a King Has a dedicated people(Dahara) Is much more accepting of responsibility Uses the void-kinda
Discovers his father was not his real father and who his real father was/is
Has a stable marraige throughout most of the series(lots of strife but normally not against eachother)
Extremely good with understanding people
Im sure there is more but I hope there is enough here to start the topic. Feel free to add more similarities or dissimilarities.
Overall I would feel that in a lot of ways Richard Rahl is more the hero. He accepts his role and strives to save others. Richard Rahl chooses what he thinks is right and almost never puts himself first. He makes the hard decisions. Rand Al'Thor on the other hand is very wishy-washy and constantly wants to run away from his responsibilities.
Posts: 832 | Registered: Jan 2005
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posted
Dangit, now you made me miss Legend of the Seeker even more! I had just gotten over the cancellation, then you post this and the bitter feelings come rushing back!
Posts: 1937 | Registered: Nov 2006
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posted
If you haven't read the books, trust me, they're even better than the show. But be prepared for some confusion. They changed a lot.
Plus, they aren't done, which is a really nice thing. There's the 11 books of The Sword of Truth, a novella called Debt of Bones, a quasi-sequel called The Gift of Nines, and there's a new Richard and Kahlan book due out next year, called The Omen Machine.
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posted
I thought this post was about a battle between the two. When Suvudu did their cage match, Richard wasn't included. Kahlan was, but she was soundly trounced by Drizzt Do'Urden.
In all seriousness though, "death is lighter than a feather" and "duty is heavier than a mountain". Rand carries the responsibilities of the world on his shoulders. He isn't happy about it, but he bears it stoicly. Would you be happy if people had been prophecying your death for thousands of years? Rand accepts his role, and every death is a pebble on that mountain.
You forgot about the fact that Richard is into S&M and Rand has three wives. Gosh, don't these authors have anything better to do than use their books to fulfill their fantasies?
Then again, maybe they're called fantasy novels for a reason. . . .
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posted
I apologize. I've only read the first book of the Sword of Truth. I was rightly shocked when all of the leather, whips, and chains came out (and seemed to consume a third of the book).
I just can't bring myself to continue. It seemed as if Goodkind couldn't decide to pursue cheesy old Piers Anthony fantasy or adult erotica.
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posted
Honestly, that was one single episode. It's important for the purposes of letting you know who and what the Mord Sith are, for understanding Richard's ability to turn the sword white, which informs his character, for the Con Darr and for an understanding of who Denna is to Richard and vice versa. It's a distasteful scene, for sure. Even the episode Denna was disturbing, and they'd watered it down a lot for TV.
But if you didn't continue the series because of it, I'm sorry. I think you missed out.
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posted
Oh, I don't know about the tv show, as I never watched it -- I only know that the the bondage sub-story drug out WAY too long in the book.
Richard was so goofy "golly gee", and the novel was such an innocent seeming fantasy tale . . . and then it devolved into a crazy S&M story.
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posted
Bad guys sometimes torture good guys. It's not a focus of the series.
Have you read The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever? The lives of multiple people are warped beyond recognition by one obscene and unforgiveable action of the main character near the very beginning of the first book. It was a rape, and while the book explains where it was coming from, it never attempts to justify it in any way. In fact, it makes a point of showing how all of his subsequent choices are crappy because of that one evil act.
But the series isn't about rape. It's about powerlessness and perseverance and joy and sorrow and different kinds of heroism and villainy and different kinds of redemption and damnation. And yet it wouldn't work at all without that rape. Granted, it doesn't take up a quarter of the book the way Richard's torture at Denna's hands seems to, but since it's one book out of 11, it's still only a small part of the story.
Also... I get the S. I didn't notice very much M.
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posted
I gave up on the SoT series about 6 books into it. I hate being preached at, and not only was it preachy, it wasn't well written OR well thought out.
I tolerated it for a while, and I still like the first 2-3 books, but I have rarely ever read a series, even crappy ones, where I didn't care how the story ended. I doubt I will ever bother reading the last 2-3 books of Goodkind's series because I simply don't care at all.
Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
Friends I know that have read them all were very disappointed in the ending. All I know is that I wasn't impressed with the first book. Not to bag on Goodkind, but it just didn't catch me.
Give me RJ or Brandon Sanderson any day.
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posted
Two was enough for me. My cynical side appreciated the title premise of Wizard's First Rule, but the story was so predictable I was truly amazed the hero couldn't see the big reveal coming.
(I mean, seriously. "We're banning fire?" I don't see why that would raise any eyebrows...)
By the second book, I realized that it was likely the same kinds of awful things were to happen to the protaganists in every book, and I didn't really feel a need to follow that.
Not to spit on anyone's parade, but are there any good recent fantasy series out there? I could use one.
Posts: 3826 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
It's funny, because I couldn't even get half way through the first Jordan book.
Recent fantasy series that I've enjoyed:
Percy Jackson (Rick Riordan)
Fablehaven (Brandon Mull)
Fitzchivalry Farseer (Robin Hobb). There are two other trilogies and two standalone books in the series.
Falcon Quinn (Jennifer Boylan)
The Heir trilogy (Cinda Williams Chima)
I haven't read it yet, but I'm told that the Nicholas Flamel books (Michael Scott) are really good.
The Secret Country trilogy (Pamela Dean). Not recent, but superb.
Mordant's Need (Stephen R. Donaldson). Also not recent, and I'm not mentioning the Thomas Covenant books because I think they should be obvious, but Mordant's Need is just two books, and it was wonderful.
Notice that the only one of those series that isn't young adult is the Robin Hobb. That really is where most of the quality fantasy series are popping up. Mostly because there's such a vast quantity of it now, which even if you take Sturgeon's Law into account ("90% of everything is crud") still allows for quite a lot of good fantasy.
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quote:Originally posted by Lisa: Notice that the only one of those series that isn't young adult is the Robin Hobb. That really is where most of the quality fantasy series are popping up. Mostly because there's such a vast quantity of it now, which even if you take Sturgeon's Law into account ("90% of everything is crud") still allows for quite a lot of good fantasy.
Yeah, the last new fantasy series I read that really impressed me was Stroud's Bartimaeus trilogy. Also young adult.
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posted
Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman Old Kingdom Trilogy by Garth Nix
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(links are to reviews that may contain some spoilers)
quote:And the Bastard grant us, in our direst need, the smallest gifts: the nail of the horseshoe, the pin of the axle, the feather at the pivot point, the pebble at the mountain's peak, the kiss in despair, the one right word. In darkness, understanding.
--Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold.
. and very mildly, sorta maybe, spoilerish . . . . .
quote:... she worried. I’m not getting it right. You are brilliant, the Voice reassured her. It is imperfect. So are all things trapped in time. You are brilliant, nonetheless. How fortunate for Us that We thirst for glorious souls rather than faultless ones, or We should be parched indeed, and most lonely in Our perfect righteousness. Carry on imperfectly, shining Ista.
posted
Yes. She writes amazingly. She's on tour now for her new Vorkosigan novel (her scifi series), and she did a great Q&A, plus had a reading of the first scene of her current project (another Vorkosigan novel -- this'll be the second in "quick" succession after an eight year intermission).
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
You know, the Vorkosigan series is great. I really enjoyed it, and I've reread it a couple of times. Shards of Honor was amazing. But Paladin of Souls was the first book in a long time that had me set it down midway, shaking my head and just breathing for a moment.
quote:Originally posted by Lisa: It's funny, because I couldn't even get half way through the first Jordan book.
Recent fantasy series that I've enjoyed:
Percy Jackson (Rick Riordan)
Fablehaven (Brandon Mull)
Fitzchivalry Farseer (Robin Hobb). There are two other trilogies and two standalone books in the series.
Falcon Quinn (Jennifer Boylan)
The Heir trilogy (Cinda Williams Chima)
I haven't read it yet, but I'm told that the Nicholas Flamel books (Michael Scott) are really good.
The Secret Country trilogy (Pamela Dean). Not recent, but superb.
Mordant's Need (Stephen R. Donaldson). Also not recent, and I'm not mentioning the Thomas Covenant books because I think they should be obvious, but Mordant's Need is just two books, and it was wonderful.
Notice that the only one of those series that isn't young adult is the Robin Hobb. That really is where most of the quality fantasy series are popping up. Mostly because there's such a vast quantity of it now, which even if you take Sturgeon's Law into account ("90% of everything is crud") still allows for quite a lot of good fantasy.
I love Hobb, have read some Scott, read a lot of Donaldson's stuff (although I will have to check that series out, I haven't even started that one), and LI liked Percy Jackson. Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
The Dalemark Quartet by Diana Wynne Jones was also outstanding. You might know her for writing Howl's Moving Castle, a novel that was made into a Miyazaki movie.
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(links are to reviews that may contain some spoilers)
quote:And the Bastard grant us, in our direst need, the smallest gifts: the nail of the horseshoe, the pin of the axle, the feather at the pivot point, the pebble at the mountain's peak, the kiss in despair, the one right word. In darkness, understanding.
--Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold.
. and very mildly, sorta maybe, spoilerish . . . . .
quote:... she worried. I’m not getting it right. You are brilliant, the Voice reassured her. It is imperfect. So are all things trapped in time. You are brilliant, nonetheless. How fortunate for Us that We thirst for glorious souls rather than faultless ones, or We should be parched indeed, and most lonely in Our perfect righteousness. Carry on imperfectly, shining Ista.
--Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold
I said I disliked Bujold a few years ago, and a couple of people here convinced me to give her another chance.
Thank God. He books are outstanding, particularly the Chalion books (Curse of Chalion and Palidin of Souls, and the Hallowed Hunt, sorta). I also loved her book Feast of Souls.
Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
CT Bujold has left me breathless too! I remember one scene in Hallowed Hunt that was described so perfectly I stopped reading for a moment just to appreciate the incredible writing. It was as if she put me so far into the story, I had to take myself out for a moment just to re-center myself. Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
Something she said at the signing I attended relates to those quotations, I think. She said she had a lot of things related to the position of women for Ista to say, that she had been contemplating handing off to Ekaterin (if I'm recalling correctly -- Cordelia and Alys might have gotten bits as well), but Paladin of Souls came along first, so Ista got to be the voice.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
I found the first Robert Jordan book to be powerfully soporific. I made it through the prolog fine, but I know I read the first few pages of the first chapter at least ten times, only to wake up not remember what was happening in the story. So I'd start over, and fall deeply asleep again.
All I remember was that the protag was named after currency. The story just wouldn't stick, to the point that I began to regard the book as somehow magical.
There is a LOT of great YA fantasy out there now.
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