The Like/Hate Thread

[Ashe]

I read the first four books of the series, and Goodkind does that shit in, like, all of them.

Dude has some issues.

So? Its realistic shit. That's part of what Martin was going for in his Game of Thrones series as well - you see incest, things involving children, homosexuality, the whole gauntlet. The stuff happens, and was super prevalent even in the times that we don't consider modern (the Romans and Greeks were infamous about it), so there's no point in pretending that modern fantasy should be only PG style. I don't consider the sexual or violence material to be evidence of having issues.

That said, one thing about Goodkind is that he's mentioned he's a huge supporter of Ayn Rand and supposedly it strongly influences the "preaching" he does through the character of Richard (I interpret it more as simply being very practical and hard ass yet honorable, but if I actually read some Ayn Rand, I'd probably see it in other things that I don't think of).

Those pros and cons aside, the entire series is very awesome and I really enjoyed it, with the preface that I had "finished" the series when it was at the book just before the Chainfire trilogy started, which I have yet to read.

He's also releasing a new book that will involve the characters and start a new arc, but he's stated that "The Omen Machine" is not what he considers a "Sword of Truth" book, as that story is finished, and this is simply a new story within the world with the characters after the events of the original.