Trashmaster Lives if the series really seems like your cup of tea but you just can’t break through, then I would chip at it until the third book. That’s a lot of reading and a big turning point in the series, if it doesn’t click for you by then it might not.
@@jaredodowd9731 Start at book 3 is my advice! It switches the focus off Rand and just flows so much better! I forced my way through the first two, but the third I actually enjoyed! I'm starting the fourth now. But honestly, if something doesn't click with you, it's best not to force it. Just try something else and then come back around to WoT at another time. I hope this helps!
I went to a signing of his when Naked Empire first came out (when I was a fan of his). Goodkind is so in love with is own work. "I'm not a fantasy writer. I am a philosopher..." Bleh...
Based strictly on these reviews, he has changed the face of fantasy by driving fantasy authors in the other direction, so as to avoid ever being compared to Terry Goodkind.
I can't imagine unironically saying you don't do the main things that make good fantasy good and thinking that's not a self report. You just called yourself a bad fantasy writer, my guy.
I always took the similarities to be deliberate. That he was taking the piss out of the Wheel of Time and what he no doubt saw as its wimpy main protagonist. So he replicated the Aes Sedai (which are in themselves a fairly direct rip off of the Bene Gesserit from Dune) and had his main character stand up to them.
It really is disappointing. I’m a big believer in a high-tide raising all ships. Terry seems to embody the opposite of that. Put others down to raise your own ego/status.
I apologize for this not being relevant to your comment, but I just wanted to say that it's a little surreal to see you commenting on another UA-camr's video. I know, I know, this is UA-cam, it's kind of expected, but you have opened my eyes so much and improved my world-building process to such a great degree that--for me--it's a little like seeing a celebrity on the street. Thank you for all you do.
@@RagPen01 It takes courage to admit those things man... I'm still ashamed that I read Ayn Rand when I was 15 and thought "A=A" was a brilliant insight....
@@RagPen01 I was in the same boat till my early 20s even though I wasn't ever too political before that. Then I realized "free market" and "meritocracy " are a sham just hiding crony capitalism.
@@ThatOneKidJohnny I dont celebrate anyone's death but if there's a lesson to be learned here consider the overwhelming support and love that came after the death of Terry Pratchett vs Goodkind. Who I literally just learned died a month ago from a random youtube comment.
His attitude reminds me of Gilderoy Lockhart in a way. "Why yes I know a great author with loads of talent, me, I highly enjoyed my book." He probably has portraits of himself all over his house. God's gift to literature that one
That’s a perfect comparison. Never thought of that before but man there’s just too many parallels. The overinflated ego, condescending treatment of his peers and even in his writing he flat out steals other writers ideas and claims them as his own 100% original instead of crediting other authors who inspired his writing, just like Lockhart claiming fame for other wizards achievements.
Nao Shadowpaws He does in fact have a drawing over his desk reminding him "don't be afraid of greatness." I'm not making this up. 😉 It's in the making-of section on the Legend of the Seeker DVDs.
I would say: "an author that need to say others writers are bad to appear as great can't be great Good authors start by admiring other others. Great ones continue to admire them long after they became better than them.
A King (much like a god), is that person (or entity) who can proclaim themselves as such and have none both willing and able to contest it. Goodkind is _absolutely_ a writer, and none could in good faith contest that. There are, however, _many_ who could contest his claim to being a *good* or even *competent* writer.
@benjaminallison4973 At stealing ideas, plot elements & characters from other more beloved Fantasy series and than injecting his crazy weird politics into them.
_"My primary interest is in telling stories that are fun to read and make people think. That puts my books in a genre all of their own."_ The man is a living self-parody. He's a pure embodiment of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
@@dj_koen1265 It is? Wow, that's a new one on me. Seems a bit arbitrary. But then again, if... *squints*... DJ KOEN asserts something is cringe, who's any mere mortal to argue otherwise? I guess the term is now banned from all discourse and nobody will ever use it again. He has spoken.
@sundered soul Not sure why im getting attacked for saying that, maybe you feel offended by it or you have nothing better to do, but its exactly people on the internet like you that annoy me. I wont be intermingling in this comment section any further so please resist the urge to respond.
@@dj_koen1265 Responding, as not requested. Oops, guess I really don't have anything better to do ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But you probably do, since you won't be responding to this, right?
Goodkind's ego aside, props to you for spotlighting an amazing artist who definitely deserved better. Artists don't have it easy, and this sort of situation could honestly have hurt him career-wise
I don't think RJ ever said anything unkind about the Darrel Sweet artwork for WoT's covers, although there artistic mistakes a first year art student wouldn't make. Really great cover with new artist for AMoL, though.
@@DreadPirateBob In Europe they all just have the symbol for wheel of time on the cover and each volume just has a different color for the wheel. I honestly prefer it that way, lol
Terry: "I've changed the world of fantasy literature forever with my outstanding and remarkable writing! No other writer will ever be able to recreated something as great as my books, they'll only TRY to copy it, while everyone else carves for more of writing!" Me: I just literally found out this guy existed.
@@jerryfiore5818 Funnily enough I read one of his books for the very first time and it became the first fantasy book in ages I felt was so bad I couldn't even learn from it. I think it's the first book I ever read that failed the Bechdel test. 10 chapters in, 6 female characters, and almost every paragraph is either about how much they love the main character, how much they want to marry the main character, how awesome the main character is, or how much they want to kill someone on behalf of the character. I reached the point where I wanted the main character to die so these women would shut the fuck up about him and talk about something else for ten minutes. But then I realised then they'd probably fall weeping to the floor and cease to function save to wail over his death, and realised it was time to read something decent instead.
@Son of Stringer If he's changed the face of fantasy, how come I'm only hearing about him now unlike George R.R. Martin, J.K. Rowling, C. S. Lewis, or J. R.R. Tolkien...?
@@simohayha6031 Twilight has massively outsold Terry Goodkind, would you say they're good books? Probably not. Numbers are not an objective reflection of quality in any sort of entertainment medium. There's a lot of people who consume "trash" media and have bad movies, songs or books as guilty pleasures, i have quite a few of those as well but i would never claim they're good. Also if you look at people praising/defending Terry's work you'll see that a lot of them became fans of his as teenage boys and if you look at the content of his books you can easily tell why.
@@xKinjax I only mentioned the sales of his books. And you are the one ranting off about how this isn't accurate for BLA BLA BLA. Next you go on saying how a lot of people consume trash media. But if anything is an objective reflection is that. It is merely a comment to make people who base their opinion on whatever Greene says think, because selling a lot of copies definitely does say something.
@@zalamael So, you're telling me that Mr Goodkind did not say and do all the things mentioned in this video? Because I have no reason to believe that he didn't. Therefore I do not like him as a person. I haven't read any of his books, so I don't have an opinion on those. Although it might surprise you, it is possible to hate an author and love his work or vice versa. In my case that would be Andrzej Sapkowski, the author of the Witcher series. I dislike him as a person for multiple reason, but I love his books and think they are great. Btw I don't normally call people racist because I think the term is way overused and used falsely when it's used, but you might actually deserve that term. However, that's not something I could determine by such a short comment. What I can determine however is, that you like to think in extremes and without compromises, which is nearly always a bad thing. Oh btw are you aware of the irony in your last two sentences? It's palpable.
@@zalamael I'm sorry, but did you just judge someone based on tangential evidence and then conclude that his criticisms are political when literally nothing in the video involves Goodkind's politics? Are you, by any chance, a 15 year old Republican virgin edgelord who is angry at everything because you weren't allowed to have nice things?
I always love a good roast on terry goodkind Edit, after watching: Daniel, you’re SO respectful! It’s why we love you so much. Even when you’re dragging Goodkind through the dirt you do it ....politely? And calmly. It’s very nice and entertaining to watch. And thank you for standing your ground in not giving this douche any more spotlight than he already has.
Just to add insult to injury, it's likely Robert Jordan's Amyloidosis was related to his service in Vietnam. So, a Combat Veteran (whether you endorse the war or not) who served his country honorably, was likely exposed to toxic levels of Agent Orange that may have ultimately led to his succumbing to Amyloidosis, the disease that took his life. And...Terry Goodkind thought he'd let everyone know he had the heart of a sixteen year old. Thanks for the update there, Terry.
My uncle was a Green Beret in Vietnam and thankfully his health is still ok, but I still see the sweat on his head when a medical chopper flies overhead. Grow a pair Goodkind! R.I.P. Robert Jordan and thanks for your service. 🇺🇸
My initial reaction was to defend Terry, as The Sword of Truth Series was one of my first (and most enjoyable) forays into fantasy novels, however, when I think about it (after your good point), he built his main character (Richard) into a legendary 'War Wizard' but, by the end of the series (dozen+ books) he never at any point was in control of his abilities bar one fleeting moment. I hung on to the series in the hope that he would at least realise his full potential towards the end (like Rand) but it never happened and I wondered why. Snobbery and the inability to create a magic system seems to be the answer. As for the rest of the video, quite shocked and disappointed to learn that Terry was like this. Dampens my thoughts on the series.
Don't listen to haters like Daniel Greene... This guy is a liberal communist sympathizer so of course he would hate Terry Goodkind's words about freedom and living your life to the fullest and how you want to live it. I stopped watching this video only 4 minutes into it.
@@aesir1ases64 Well personally I can't really seperate them completely. Book and author. I can still read a book from an author I came to disagree with (as for her/ his big (political) opinion differences), but it will inevitably dampen my enjoyment of his or her books. I can still have nostalgic sentiments and be immersed in the story during the reading process, but there will always be those tinges of consciousness making me feel torn. + For the future I don't wanna support them financially any longer or propagate their work. Though they are undoubtedly entitled to their own opinion 👐🏽.
Didn't T.G. get a mediocre tv show adaptation, whose strongest selling point was the bondage babes? At least, that's the only thing I remember from the show.
@@acerba I just rewatched it for the nostalgia so I'm biased, but lowkey it probably wouldn't have gotten a second season without the softcore dungeon porn
Entitlement, *check* Delusions of Grandiosity, *check* Believing the rest of the world is lame, and he is the "Chosen One", *check* Lack of empathy, *check* *Narcissistic Personality Disorder intensifies*
@The Crazy Cat Gentleman so then he’d like goodkind. He’ll beat you over the head with his message. No need to be confused, stick to what you’re good at
I got my room mate who likes Ayn Rand to read Wizard's First Rule and even he didn't like it. Also, when I showed him the picture of Terry on the back cover of the book he said he looks like the kind of person who legitimately believes that you need a high IQ to understand Rick and Morty.
@@therevolutionary3536 Joke about dumb, socially maladjusted people thinking that liking the show makes them intelligent. No one actually does this it's just a punchline to explain a certain type.
Based on the first three minutes of writing style review, it sounds like he promotes Ayn Rand's philosophy the exact same way Ayn Rand promotes it: writing novels where the characters randomly jump into a three chapter monologue about why it is the best.
It is in this comment section. If you search for long enough, you will find it lol. It is honestly beautiful how many people in the fantasy community dislike him. There is alot of Terrys in fantasy. Terry Brooks, Terry Pratchett and Terry Goodkind to name a few. And ironically despite containing the word ‘good’ in his name... Terry Goodkind is the furthest from good in every sense of the word.
@@twenty-fifth420 Objectivism is all about declaring yourself good based on your self imposed standards of excellence that you try to shove down everyone else's throats to be smug about how indubitably awesome you are So.... yeah.... he's good, alright
It boils down to political differences. His Sword of Truth books, essentially made the protagonists Conservatives, whereas the antagonists were a portrayal of Communists. So it is only natural that Left Wing supporters would hate his works, as his villains were heavily based on the historical leaders of Communism, including the degenerative and psychologically abusive tactics that they used. Of course, supporters of Communism (or should I say, supporters of the lie of Communism) grew to hate him as a result. If the antagonists in his books were based on Nazis, he wouldn't be controversial in the slightest. In fact, he would probably be applauded.
@@gavinsmith9871 alas, these days I don't have enough time to read as much as before, so the booktube is my outlet and Daniel is one of the most talented youtubers in the genre. :-)
Terry Goodkind... Onision... Terry Goodkind... Onision.... you know, I'm suddenly so much more worried about Terry's boasting that 'he has the heart of a sixteen year old'
"Most fantasy is one-dimensional. It's either about magic or world-building. I don't do either." Goodkind did nothing but world-building in Wizard's First Rule, and Stone of Tears is literally about Richard (the main protagonist) learning to control his gift of magic before it kills him. Does he even write his own books?
"All in all, he's just another guy who likes to hear himself talk. Despite what he says, nothing separates his work from the average modern fantasy author, and like them, his greatest failing is the complete lack of self-awareness that overwhelms his themes, plots, and characters."
Terry Goodkind : They have elements of romance, history, adventure, mystery, and philosophy. Most fantasy is one-dimensional. It's either about magic or world-building Me: Erm... isn't history and philosophy technically PART of world-building?
What terry is aluding to is like plato wrote books Ayn rand was more a philosapher who wrote a novel to spread her beleifs Plato wrote atlantis and republic as metaphores and philosaphy books hidden behind fantasy this is a practice that goes on in philosaphy in my honest opinion even tho i am an objecivist (somone who follows ayn rands ideology) rand isnt a great writer
@@demonic_myst4503 The very predictable "Time for Rand to write her beliefs in the form of a giant legal speech/entire chapter length monologue" in particular stands out to me.
@@theshadowling1 tbh i like the fountainhead speech the court case but that feels like a classic legal case trope make some grand speech to the jury even tho you never be aloud to do this in real life edit id dont like rands writing just watch the speech from the film online its clipped on youtube
"That puts my books in a genre all their own" Who wants to tell him sub-par to middling fantasy is common enough to be its own sub-genre already? Terry, buddy, you ain't some author blessed with divine inspiration. You're just a writer with an ego that far outstrips your talent
Nothing wrong with ponytails. Unless you're wearing one to compensate for the hair you're losing up front. At which point, well just do an image search of him. As for insulting Robert Jordan that doesn't bother me as much as the fact that he mocked the man's health while he was in the hospital. Not cool.
"What I have done with my work has irrevocably changed the face of fantasy." ... wait, does he think he's J.R.R. Tolkien? Or maybe J.K Rowling? (I know she's actively creating her own downfall now, but that doesn't change what she did in the past for the MG & YA fantasy genre with the original HP series.) But seriously, who the hell does he think he is?
He sold around 25 millions of books. He changed fantasy as much as many other famous writers. You can say what you want but he is known, he is not random guy that think he is famous because he write few pages that no one ever read. He is in 100 most readable writers in history. Not many people can say that.
@@Dark-wy9yb Obviously he has sold books, but selling books alone doesn't mean you're making an impactful change to the genre. Also, I had never heard of him or his books before this video. But then again, that's probably a me thing, nothing else.
Years ago now, the artist who did the cover for his book that he then dragged online, actually reached out to me on GR to ask questions about another author's books. Her books didn't happen to have very many reviews at the time and of the few there were I had written several. He didn't have the time to read the book he was designing the cover for (not uncommon, deadlines are pain for all creatives if we're honest), but it was important to him to include imagery relevant to the story so he reached out to me to ask for some synopses. I was delighted to help and it really underpinned that he took the story seriously and had respect for both the author and the readers. I absolutely believe that he worked diligently with the publisher to create the cover for that book and Goodkind was wildly out of line with his nonsense post.
"What I have done with my work has irrevocably changed the face of fantasy." My dude, the Inheritance Cycle has done more for the genre of fantasy than you ever will, but you probably don't even consider that literature because it was written by someone under the age of 25.
@@SyndicShadow It wasn’t mine personally (that would be the Ranger’s Apprentice), but yes. It’s a perfectly serviceable, even downright good story. Elitism much?
Reader: "I noticed a similarity...." TG, against all natural philosophy: "NOTICING SIMILARITIES IS FOR CHILDREN, NOT A NATURAL HUMAN FUNCTION. I WRITE ABOUT IMPORTANT HUMAN STORIES AND KNOW ALL ABOUT WHAT IT IS TO BE HUMAN, WHICH IS WHY MY CHARACTERS DO NOT NOTICE SIMILARITIES OR PATTERNS IN THE LITERATURE THEY READ, NOR SHOULD YOU."
Wow, what did that just say? That doesn’t even make sense. I wish I’d never read his works but at the time (since I was and still am new to fantasy) I didn’t realize the unoriginality, and liked his childish portrayals of good vs evil. I do think he was wrong when he said he’d write two less than two much. He really dragged the series out and the same dilemmas of being separated started to get really old. I mean, if I were in love I think I’d find a way (as a wizard ya know) to keep my beloved with me or create a magic travel system. What’s the point of being a wizard if you can’t do magic to keep your loved one safe? Lol whatever. I’m done with this author. I just wish I’d been done sooner. Thousands of pages of reading I’ll never get back.
@@williamhale9366 He is beyond absurd. He's rejecting human intellect itself in order to defend his borrowings from other writers which readers have spotted. I assume he couldn't plagiarize his awful prose. He is to fantasy writing what Lawrence Welk is to music.
Terry is a good source material for an antagonist that I am building in a sense that he preaches moral values of mankind all the while keeping his immoral attitude held high. In other words, the guy is a jerk.
Read this forums.spacebattles.com/threads/the-wizard-of-woah-and-irrational-methods-of-irrationality.337233/ _Trust_ me. ... Smart people shit on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality and everything Less Wrong stands for, Harry Evans-Verres is a smug jerk throughout, and near the end Hermione gets brought back to life with unicorn's blood. The effect he was going for was because she's part unicorn she's purer now, but accidentally wrote her like she was some kind of monster merely imitating humanity. Good thread, great commentary on amateur fiction
@@yellowbrand wheel of time is not that unoriginal. the first book is pretty formulaic, but the other ones are pretty creative in terms of culture, world building and plot.
I've studied (not practiced) Objectivism for years now, and I can tell you this with 100% certainty: Ayn Rand would have hated Terry Goodkind. She had no patience for one-trick hacks who copy & pasted themes and characters from other authors (especially herself). Just to restate for clarity, I am NOT defending Ayn Rand. I am only making an observation based on my research.
@@douglasdea637 What you say is true about the absolutism of Objectivists, but, ironically, her philosophy is also wholly modular and broken into six discrete tenets which makes it easy for anyone to accept or reject them independent of one another. This is why so many people can be (and are) fans of Rand for her politics and economics (old-fashioned, American classical liberalism and capitalism) while rejecting her views on religion (atheism). Rand herself would probably be aghast that she has many more Christian conservative fans now than atheist ones (probably by several orders of magnitude). Most of Rand's work is not true philosophy anyway but aggregation of other, existing philosophy. Those who like both Aristotle and Adam Smith already inherently agree with Rand a third of the way, and that includes most peoples living in the West. Even if hardcore Objectivists are not comfortable with this, it is a major reason for her sales success over the decades.
Dude, I went to his Facebook page and read his backpedaling apology (for insulting that cover artist), and he claims it was all a misunderstanding. The comment section is roasting him 😂😂
He sounds like the Steven Seagal of novelists. I can imagine him announcing to people that he's just finished reading the greatest book he'd ever read, and when they ask who wrote it he would reply dramatically, "I did!"
I mean, for all his faults, Terry does stick to the traditions get by his idol. The only reason no one makes a six hour radio broadcast about Objectivism to the world in his books is that they don't have radios.
I've been reading fantasy and scifi for my whole life and the words "Terry" and "Goodkind" are ubiquitous on the fantasy shelf. In all those years of buying books, reading books, talking to other fans about books and watching UA-cam shows and channels like yours, the number of Terry Goodkind books that have interested me enough to buy or read one is precisely zero.
I'm convinced Goodkind has never read a fantasy-book in his life. At most he has read the wikipedia pages of the genre-definiction and most popular series. You can just smell the narcisism from his answers.
The only reason I would disagree is that his rip-offs of other works are very specific and direct in a way that would be hard to do without having read at least some of the books in the series that he is ripping off
So, I always knew that I didn't like Mr. Goodkind's writing. I found it quite shallow. That being said, I didn't know about his ego, and what he said about Robert Jordan. Now, I simply don't like Mr. Goodkind. He's definitely not living up to his last name, being neither Good, nor Kind.
@@wintersking4290 Yeah, no wants to steal from one of the best selling fantasy authors since the late '90s.... Also the show was already very popular before 2015.
"overly preachy annoying approach" Looks like someone hasn't experienced the 50 page monologue at the end of Atlas Shrugged. A decent book just ruined by essentially dropping in a thesis right at the end.
Terry Goodkind is the embodiment of the "don't ever meet your heroes, they will disappoint you". I enjoyed the Sword of Truth and the subsequent Nicci books more or less for what they were. Admittedly, Terry was on a single track after writing Faith of the Fallen, which for me was his best book. After that, he seemed to delve into just constantly hashing out the same things over and over and over again. I will not deny that it was a struggle to read the last 5-6 books from the main Sword of Truth series. Still, I appreciated his writing for what it was, even if it got worse over time. Somehow I missed that he passed away back in September, which is sad. Then again at 72, he wrote a ton of books, raced a lot of cars and enjoyed his life. It is sad to think that his perpetual "foot in mouth" is what so many will remember him for. He is hardly the first author that was a pretentious jerk and he will not be the last. He just had the misfortune of being so in the social media age where his words were magnified and followed him everywhere. RIP
Yeah. I read some of them, my mom read the whole series. She always says when we discuss it is “How many times can the same two characters be raped and tortured before its like, okay, enough.” These poor two people get tortured etc a million times and its like. Write about something else. Please 😩 Frikin love the TV show tho lol.
While not totally agreeing with his views he very deliberately put into his works, I did enjoy the series for what it was, I felt the sword if truth kind of refreshing as it was an interesting spin of fantasy with analogous themes to normal world politics. I started the series shortly after he died. It is a bummer knowing he was pretty arrogant though.
You literally just described almost every author ever. Could you imagine meeting poe or Hemingway lol hell Shakespeare like these guys were some awful humans
agnat86 it’s not a matter of her writing being particularly scathing or shocking (though it can be controversial) she’s more infamous for how her characters dryly monologue her political beliefs for pages on end. She’s an objectivist and that’s all she knows how to write about. Her stories are just a mouthpiece for her to write her manifesto
@agnat86 Ive read several ayn rand books and if im honest they are very interesting fiction. The problem isnt so much her or her politics, its her fanboys who believe her fiction is a reality. The John Galt character is as good of a description of the delusion the far right live under as any; a man who produces all the value of society through his own brilliance where everyone else can but leech from that. If you want a advisory for a rand book thats pretty good, 'The fountainhead' was revolutionary for my philosophical growth. It has many interesting ideas and things in it particularly to do with anarchism. For the record, im a marxist, so i certainly dont subscribe to rands beliefs, but I do see value in her work, just not her politics.
The Sword of Truth is my embarrassing highchool series. I think I read like 8 of them in a row. Then somehow I went directly from that to Malazan, and I think my brain grew ten sizes that day.
I read all of his work in the SOT novels, he finished the story arc and needlessly continued. Every time that he referenced a point in an earlier book he just reprinted a page from that book. Lazy.
Every time I saw Jordan blogging (I guess that's what it was, he was doing an online "update" sort of thing on how he was doing before his death) and had to deal with Goodkind's idiot fan base who could not read the frikkin dates of publishing to figure out who stole from who, I disliked Goodkind a little more.
My "favorite" use of magic to just make things happen that Goodkind wanted to happen was a scene where he had Kahlan stuck in a pit full of rapists. She took one of them over with her power, and then for something like 12 hours straight she had to rely on him alone to protect her from getting raped and it was very harrowing and scary. But... her powers were supposed to regenerate every hour. She should have been able to take over 12 more dudes. Goodkind conveniently forgot about this just to make the story more rapey. The way his magic worked conveniently changed all the time.
Glad to know your reading comprehension sucks. Never does it say 1 hour. He never states a specific time. Just that her's is much quicker due to her strength.
Not an hour, but he stated somewhere that Kahlan was strong even for a Mother Confessor and could restore her powers in “a couple of hours” as opposed to a regular Confessor needing like 12+ hours. He specifically juxtaposes her with her half sister a regular confessor. So yeah, maybe not everyone, but she could have taken over a couple of guys.
@@FreeWorldSpirit313 Actually, Kahlan herself states in Wizard's First Rule that her power takes "about two hours" to recover. It's when Richard learns about confessors after visiting Agaden Reach.
I'm beginning to believe the reason why I enjoyed every single book of The Sword and Truth series is because I had first exposure disorder. For the people who don't know what first exposure disorder is, it's basically when the first thing you experience is the worst or best thing out there.
was going to say. Dan tried to say representing Ayn Rand with the monologuing for politics was not a good way to represent her but, I recall Atlas Shrugged has at least 2 long ass monologues that are basically just a radio transcript of a speech.
When I was a kid I used to read all kinds of fantasy. I read hundreds of fantasy books between the ages of 10-15, and there were only two authors I disliked so much that I recoil from the name. One of them was Terry Goodkind. As far as fantasy goes, reading his books is like eating raw oats.
I read Terry's sword of truth series in my teens. Had no idea he was such an arrogant prick :-) My favorite author though is Robert Jordan and his Wheel of time.
I also read the series when I was young, I thought they were great! Then I re-read them as am Adult, and boy was I disappointed! The memory is not the reality.
I do still enjoy them actually, have read them four times in total. Buuut I read a translated version, which has most books split up into two, so thise might actually be better than the original
@@Heidelmann Trust me, you DON'T! Unless you're the type that likes abuse. What was a fantastic story, is buried DEEPLY under the author's social-economical views. On and on about communism, it's like every other page Terry, is beating that dog. These things a kid wouldn't understand or care about, but as an adult, you'll understand it's a tedious monotonous promotion of an agenda. If you must read them, stop with the second or third book. To venture further is craziness!
@@kewlztertc5386 The books are all about kidnapping, torture, and rape. Somehow, they just get worse as they go along too. The chicken as an antagonist broke me, but it wasn't as bad as the communism defeating statue. The entire book about tertiary characters never seen before in the series made me give up completely.
The further into the Sword of Truth series he got, the more the themes start veering from Objectivist to Nietzschean. Richard Raul, being the Hero, (ubermensch) has force of will that others simply do not; it's natural and good for others to serve this heroic man.
That's not exactly Nietzschean, only a caricature of it, but I get what you mean. And it's true. It's like Rothfuss with Kvothe. These authors see themselves as "better" human beings. Not buying into that.
Guys, if you gonna recommend the man a Terry in the future, please recommend him Terry Prachett instead. That's the good Terry, that's the Terry who deserves all our love and respect. Not only was he a really good writer but back when he was alive, he was some of the most wholesome writers around. This Terry though, this Terry's an insult. Now if you excuse me, I'm gonna bleach my brain with The Other Wind by Ursula K.LeGuin.
One of my best friends growing up was a die hard sword of truth fan and would constantly gush over the books and reread them often. It was actually something her whole family would go crazy over (in hindsight their preachy political views line up with Goodkind's so I can see why they clicked so well). Anyway, she used to go on about it so much that earlier today I nearly ordered it out of curiosity but got distracted. Thank the gods I did. The UA-cam algorithm blessed me with this video and prevented me from supporting this author. I've never removed a book from my cart faster. Will be picking up a WoT book I was saving for next month instead to cleanse my soul.
Yes! Wheel of Time is better - one of the best fantasy series! Also recommend: - Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb - anything by Brandon Sanderson - Name of the Wind - anything by Terry Pratchett
In my case I saw this only after having in my bookshelf... Had nothing else to read so I picked up "Wizard's first rule". Am on page 110 and must admit to a sadistic curiosity if the book will/can get any blander or worse in every aspect of fantasy writing 😱
@@jakubcerny1138 It's been 15 years since I read them, but they're bad in an entertaining way, as far as I remember; I'd consider them so bad they're good. So no shade for people who'd want to hate-read them;
@@maximeteppe7627 I did not hate the books per say, what bothered me most was the improbability of the solutions which resolved the conflict - it just seemed improbable and therefore not very gripping. 🤷 Having said that if people enjoy them, then I will not condemn them for it, I have some books, which qualify as "guilty pleasures" as well 😇
One thing I do absolutely respect in this vid is that you stuck to Terry and not his politics. I don’t know if your neutral, centrist (not always the same thing), dem or rep but you kept to the man. You kept it to the man. The only criticism of his work was what you felt was Hackeery I implementing them to his story telling and his inability to recognize other writers quality. I read like three books of his and then got bored and moved on. Political beliefs are open to criticism but often they become strawmans of what the critic think of the politics as opposed to the actual worthy criticism of the artist in question as an artist or a person.
The only thing i knew about Terry Goodkind was his books were all but guaranteed to be found where second hand books were sold, and they were usually the thickest ones on the shelf, almost obnoxiously so. And it looks i now have even more reason to skip them
I watched this video over a year ago now and I still scowl at his books when I see them in any bookstore. I'm always standing there thinking "he is neither good nor kind"
I don’t mean to start drama. This is just a detailed explanation of why I will not be reviewing his works on the channel.
Contevercial
Ayn Rand though... ua-cam.com/video/t0CyunRUJmc/v-deo.html
Trashmaster Lives if the series really seems like your cup of tea but you just can’t break through, then I would chip at it until the third book. That’s a lot of reading and a big turning point in the series, if it doesn’t click for you by then it might not.
@@jaredodowd9731 Start at book 3 is my advice! It switches the focus off Rand and just flows so much better! I forced my way through the first two, but the third I actually enjoyed! I'm starting the fourth now. But honestly, if something doesn't click with you, it's best not to force it. Just try something else and then come back around to WoT at another time. I hope this helps!
Have you heard of sever bronny?
"What I have done with my work has irrevocably changed the face of fantasy." ...but, I thought you didn't write fantasy?
yeah he doesnt 'write fantasy, remember. he cant be in there. Taking right from your words, Terry!
He did change the face of fantasy...by being not part of it
Well a baseball-bat is not a part of the face either ... nobody said the change was positive!
I went to a signing of his when Naked Empire first came out (when I was a fan of his). Goodkind is so in love with is own work. "I'm not a fantasy writer. I am a philosopher..." Bleh...
Based strictly on these reviews, he has changed the face of fantasy by driving fantasy authors in the other direction, so as to avoid ever being compared to Terry Goodkind.
Terry is fantastic at inventing his own reality. Too bad he can’t do that in his books...
Whats with these words that pop up in your video are gone before theres time to read them. Its kind of annoying..
destruction 100
\o/ \o/ \o/
DAYUM
Magliome79 damn son, you hit him like Tyson hitting Leon Spinks.
"It's either about magic or a world-building. I don't do either." What a hilarious self-own
It doesn't matter how good the plot, or the characters are, if the world-building is bad then the series is just unreadable for me.
@@DezXereanas and sweet jesus was terry's worldbuilding TERRIBLE. Mr Westland
😂😂😂
I can't imagine unironically saying you don't do the main things that make good fantasy good and thinking that's not a self report. You just called yourself a bad fantasy writer, my guy.
@@DezXereanaswtf
Plot is main reason in book all of them is secondary
why is he called Goodkind, when hes Badrude
Underrated
lol
Grelod the kind be like:^
Hahaha love this
Lol
"if you notice a similarity, then you probably aren't old enough to read my books"
So your target demographic is elderly people with Alzheimer's?
Brah....😂
Damn.
😂😂😂
I always took the similarities to be deliberate. That he was taking the piss out of the Wheel of Time and what he no doubt saw as its wimpy main protagonist. So he replicated the Aes Sedai (which are in themselves a fairly direct rip off of the Bene Gesserit from Dune) and had his main character stand up to them.
dead people.
My goodness, I had no idea he was like this.
It really is disappointing. I’m a big believer in a high-tide raising all ships. Terry seems to embody the opposite of that. Put others down to raise your own ego/status.
Im glad i read his series young lol god he is a prat.
I apologize for this not being relevant to your comment, but I just wanted to say that it's a little surreal to see you commenting on another UA-camr's video. I know, I know, this is UA-cam, it's kind of expected, but you have opened my eyes so much and improved my world-building process to such a great degree that--for me--it's a little like seeing a celebrity on the street. Thank you for all you do.
@@trevorlong8659 love the book UA-cam community!
Same here; I wasn't aware either
Just a reminder, the main character in his books makes a statue so pretty it destroys communism.
This is my favorite factoid I will take away from all of this. Thanks for summing it up so I don't have to read it. Yikes.
Take that, McCarthy!
The fact that i cried at that part of the books will forever symbolize my cringiest free market worship phase
@@RagPen01 It takes courage to admit those things man... I'm still ashamed that I read Ayn Rand when I was 15 and thought "A=A" was a brilliant insight....
@@RagPen01 I was in the same boat till my early 20s even though I wasn't ever too political before that. Then I realized "free market" and "meritocracy " are a sham just hiding crony capitalism.
“Because terry needed a dragon.”
How dare you sir, we ALL need an emotional support dragon in these trying times 😂
I mean, fair
Not gonna lie, I already have a dragon run fenced off in the backyard. Just need to find the dragon...
Fair point
It definitely doesn’t get completely forgotten about after the 2 books or anything. Nope
He sounds like the “not like the other girls” version of fantasy authors
😂😂😂👏👏👏
And now he's dead
lols the PMAB of fantasy writers
Imagine thinking you’re above fantasy and thinking that fantasy is inherently bad
@@ThatOneKidJohnny I dont celebrate anyone's death but if there's a lesson to be learned here consider the overwhelming support and love that came after the death of Terry Pratchett vs Goodkind. Who I literally just learned died a month ago from a random youtube comment.
His attitude reminds me of Gilderoy Lockhart in a way. "Why yes I know a great author with loads of talent, me, I highly enjoyed my book." He probably has portraits of himself all over his house. God's gift to literature that one
That’s a perfect comparison. Never thought of that before but man there’s just too many parallels. The overinflated ego, condescending treatment of his peers and even in his writing he flat out steals other writers ideas and claims them as his own 100% original instead of crediting other authors who inspired his writing, just like Lockhart claiming fame for other wizards achievements.
Gilderoy is actually based on a real life person Rowling knows. Hmmmmmm
Lockhart at least had charisma on his side. Goodkind seems to be lacking that pretty badly.
iwillgodownfighting2 Fair point
Nao Shadowpaws He does in fact have a drawing over his desk reminding him "don't be afraid of greatness." I'm not making this up. 😉 It's in the making-of section on the Legend of the Seeker DVDs.
Tywin Lannister: Any man who must say, "I am the King", is no true king.
Any writer who must say he is great is no true writer. LOL
Not sure if I agree, but in this case it's completely adequete
I would say: "an author that need to say others writers are bad to appear as great can't be great
Good authors start by admiring other others. Great ones continue to admire them long after they became better than them.
or to quote from somewhere in Wheel of Time, "the louder a man shouts his honesty, the more i hold on to my wallet/purse"
A King (much like a god), is that person (or entity) who can proclaim themselves as such and have none both willing and able to contest it.
Goodkind is _absolutely_ a writer, and none could in good faith contest that. There are, however, _many_ who could contest his claim to being a *good* or even *competent* writer.
All Game of Cringe quotes have aged poorly thanks to those awful last seasons.
I’m confused. How can Terry have “irrevocably changed the face of fantasy” when he doesn’t write fantasy?
THATS WHAT I WAS THINKING
yes
He's changed it by showing us how not to be a writer
He's just that damn talented.
@benjaminallison4973 At stealing ideas, plot elements & characters from other more beloved Fantasy series and than injecting his crazy weird politics into them.
_"My primary interest is in telling stories that are fun to read and make people think. That puts my books in a genre all of their own."_
The man is a living self-parody. He's a pure embodiment of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
To everyone who reads this, stop referring to the dunning kruger effect
Its cringe
@@dj_koen1265 It is? Wow, that's a new one on me. Seems a bit arbitrary. But then again, if... *squints*... DJ KOEN asserts something is cringe, who's any mere mortal to argue otherwise? I guess the term is now banned from all discourse and nobody will ever use it again. He has spoken.
@sundered soul Not sure why im getting attacked for saying that, maybe you feel offended by it or you have nothing better to do, but its exactly people on the internet like you that annoy me.
I wont be intermingling in this comment section any further so please resist the urge to respond.
@@dj_koen1265 Responding, as not requested.
Oops, guess I really don't have anything better to do ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
But you probably do, since you won't be responding to this, right?
...living? Nope
Terry goodkind: I've changed fantasy. Raised the standarts...
me: Who the hell is Terry Goodkind?
An author that died at age 72, in Sept. 2020. They show book covers of his books in the video.
Someone who doesn´t write fantasy novels....
Daniel: imma shame this mans career
You: imma end this mans whole career
update: borrowed one of his books...didn't get past hundred pages.
That's what I'm saying
Goodkind's ego aside, props to you for spotlighting an amazing artist who definitely deserved better. Artists don't have it easy, and this sort of situation could honestly have hurt him career-wise
I don't think RJ ever said anything unkind about the Darrel Sweet artwork for WoT's covers, although there artistic mistakes a first year art student wouldn't make. Really great cover with new artist for AMoL, though.
I looked at his site & his work looks amazing!
no kidding, the artist is amazing
I threw away all my WoT jackets. So bad.
@@DreadPirateBob In Europe they all just have the symbol for wheel of time on the cover and each volume just has a different color for the wheel.
I honestly prefer it that way, lol
Terry: "I've changed the world of fantasy literature forever with my outstanding and remarkable writing! No other writer will ever be able to recreated something as great as my books, they'll only TRY to copy it, while everyone else carves for more of writing!"
Me: I just literally found out this guy existed.
Did you go to a vomitorium afterwards?
@@jerryfiore5818…um EXCUSE ME that is actually not what a vomitorium is you uneducated pheasant. Jkjk… kinda
@@jerryfiore5818 Funnily enough I read one of his books for the very first time and it became the first fantasy book in ages I felt was so bad I couldn't even learn from it. I think it's the first book I ever read that failed the Bechdel test. 10 chapters in, 6 female characters, and almost every paragraph is either about how much they love the main character, how much they want to marry the main character, how awesome the main character is, or how much they want to kill someone on behalf of the character.
I reached the point where I wanted the main character to die so these women would shut the fuck up about him and talk about something else for ten minutes. But then I realised then they'd probably fall weeping to the floor and cease to function save to wail over his death, and realised it was time to read something decent instead.
The irony of his last name.
More like Terry Badmean, am I right guys?
@@Strideo1 - oh sit down and enjoy your up vote
Well kind means Child in Dutch, so 1 part of his name is correct
@@janniekl.schoefs4828 Terry Goodchild. That's kinda worse.
@@aria5614 His full name is Terry You're A Badchild Now Go To Your Room.
Terry: I don't write fantasy.
Also Terry: I've changed the face of fantasy!
🤦🤦🤦
@Son of Stringer
If he's changed the face of fantasy, how come I'm only hearing about him now unlike George R.R. Martin, J.K. Rowling, C. S. Lewis, or J. R.R. Tolkien...?
@@DemonicRemption clearly the writing world is rigged and he is being sabotaged
it’s all a grand conspiracy against him
@@DemonicRemption well he did sell 25 million copies... Has or had, 14M on his bank account
@@simohayha6031 Twilight has massively outsold Terry Goodkind, would you say they're good books? Probably not. Numbers are not an objective reflection of quality in any sort of entertainment medium. There's a lot of people who consume "trash" media and have bad movies, songs or books as guilty pleasures, i have quite a few of those as well but i would never claim they're good. Also if you look at people praising/defending Terry's work you'll see that a lot of them became fans of his as teenage boys and if you look at the content of his books you can easily tell why.
@@xKinjax I only mentioned the sales of his books. And you are the one ranting off about how this isn't accurate for BLA BLA BLA. Next you go on saying how a lot of people consume trash media. But if anything is an objective reflection is that. It is merely a comment to make people who base their opinion on whatever Greene says think, because selling a lot of copies definitely does say something.
I am aware of the existence of Terry Goodkind since 20 minutes ago, when I started watching this video. I hate Terry Goodkind.
Better than me. I read the sword of truth series a decade ago. Now I find out the author is a famous dick.
@@zalamael So, you're telling me that Mr Goodkind did not say and do all the things mentioned in this video? Because I have no reason to believe that he didn't. Therefore I do not like him as a person. I haven't read any of his books, so I don't have an opinion on those.
Although it might surprise you, it is possible to hate an author and love his work or vice versa. In my case that would be Andrzej Sapkowski, the author of the Witcher series. I dislike him as a person for multiple reason, but I love his books and think they are great.
Btw I don't normally call people racist because I think the term is way overused and used falsely when it's used, but you might actually deserve that term. However, that's not something I could determine by such a short comment. What I can determine however is, that you like to think in extremes and without compromises, which is nearly always a bad thing.
Oh btw are you aware of the irony in your last two sentences? It's palpable.
Zalamael Semper Dius
What if I am Jewish, I love Robert Heinlein, and I still hate Terry Goodkind?
@@zalamael I'm sorry, but did you just judge someone based on tangential evidence and then conclude that his criticisms are political when literally nothing in the video involves Goodkind's politics?
Are you, by any chance, a 15 year old Republican virgin edgelord who is angry at everything because you weren't allowed to have nice things?
Same David. Watched video. Sad. Also...don't really care #backtoreallife I'm gonna go with Daniel on this one.
The irony of him mocking Jordan's illness is that Terry himself died only a year after this video was published.
I mean not really ironic. He made those comments 15 years before his own death and died a year after Daniel spoke about it.
8o Terry. Is dead???
@@giants8585 no, it's ironic. It's exactly like rain on your wedding day.
Wizard's First Rule is what you read when you have to know about twenty other fantasy books and the test is tomorrow.
Merlandese Hahahaha that’s gold! 😂
I enjoyed WIzard's First Rule but they just got shit after that.
Too bad cause the name is really cool.
Condoriano He literally puts all of his effort into the title
@@HarbingerOfMorningWood The Wizard's Rules themselves are the only parts that he didn't seem to lift from another fantasy author's work.
I always love a good roast on terry goodkind
Edit, after watching:
Daniel, you’re SO respectful! It’s why we love you so much. Even when you’re dragging Goodkind through the dirt you do it ....politely? And calmly. It’s very nice and entertaining to watch. And thank you for standing your ground in not giving this douche any more spotlight than he already has.
Olivia Morgenstern Daniel must be Canadian. He was so polite in his roasting
@@carlosrueda9204 He's actually from the South (Alabama specifically, I believe), but then again, the term "Southern Hospitality" exists for a reason!
@@kmk1225 thought it was Maryland. Damnit Daniel you move too much.
Just to add insult to injury, it's likely Robert Jordan's Amyloidosis was related to his service in Vietnam. So, a Combat Veteran (whether you endorse the war or not) who served his country honorably, was likely exposed to toxic levels of Agent Orange that may have ultimately led to his succumbing to Amyloidosis, the disease that took his life. And...Terry Goodkind thought he'd let everyone know he had the heart of a sixteen year old. Thanks for the update there, Terry.
What a classless man :(
My uncle was a Green Beret in Vietnam and thankfully his health is still ok, but I still see the sweat on his head when a medical chopper flies overhead. Grow a pair Goodkind! R.I.P. Robert Jordan and thanks for your service. 🇺🇸
The heart of a sixteen year old, but the maturity of a 12 year old.
@@No-hf5xb oh fuck off
By "heart of a sixteen year old" he probably meant the maturity of one
And/or probably an underaged girlfriend
My initial reaction was to defend Terry, as The Sword of Truth Series was one of my first (and most enjoyable) forays into fantasy novels, however, when I think about it (after your good point), he built his main character (Richard) into a legendary 'War Wizard' but, by the end of the series (dozen+ books) he never at any point was in control of his abilities bar one fleeting moment. I hung on to the series in the hope that he would at least realise his full potential towards the end (like Rand) but it never happened and I wondered why. Snobbery and the inability to create a magic system seems to be the answer.
As for the rest of the video, quite shocked and disappointed to learn that Terry was like this. Dampens my thoughts on the series.
It should not, your jugdment of the series should never have any relation to how cool or good of a person the writer is.
@@aesir1ases64 It isn't - I just explained why I was disappointed in the series. The other stuff just adds to it.
Don't listen to haters like Daniel Greene... This guy is a liberal communist sympathizer so of course he would hate Terry Goodkind's words about freedom and living your life to the fullest and how you want to live it. I stopped watching this video only 4 minutes into it.
@@aesir1ases64
Well personally I can't really seperate them completely. Book and author.
I can still read a book from an author I came to disagree with (as for her/ his big (political) opinion differences), but it will inevitably dampen my enjoyment of his or her books.
I can still have nostalgic sentiments and be immersed in the story during the reading process, but there will always be those tinges of consciousness making me feel torn.
+ For the future I don't wanna support them financially any longer or propagate their work.
Though they are undoubtedly entitled to their own opinion 👐🏽.
@@aesir1ases64 It should, your jugdment of the series should always have some relation to how cool or good of a person the writer is.
When I clicked on this video, I was confused.
"How is Terry Goodkind controversial?"
Then I realized that I had mixed up T Goodkind and T Pratchett.
Didn't T.G. get a mediocre tv show adaptation, whose strongest selling point was the bondage babes?
At least, that's the only thing I remember from the show.
@@acerba I just rewatched it for the nostalgia so I'm biased, but lowkey it probably wouldn't have gotten a second season without the softcore dungeon porn
@@HenryGlick I'm convinced that adding softcore dungeon porn guarantees sales
lol happened to me too, there is/was only ONE T.
(and his last name does not start with a G.)
I made the same mistake, but I mixed him up with Terry Brooks.
Entitlement, *check*
Delusions of Grandiosity, *check*
Believing the rest of the world is lame, and he is the "Chosen One", *check*
Lack of empathy, *check*
*Narcissistic Personality Disorder intensifies*
You fool! He’s actually the chosen one protagonist for reality!
@@lamarepository248 🤣
So every single loser who likes Ayn Rand ever?
We can laugh at him all we want, but diagnosing someone you’ve never seen in real life is a bit much (this dude sucked though lol)
@@conormeehan. Nah, NPD is literally a prerequisite to being a Ayn Rand fan.
He likes perfect characters with no flaws because he can relate.
please tell me this is sarcastic. i don't think a could cope if it isnt
@@andrewgreenwood9068 yes lmao it's definitely satire, he is a prick
@@andrewgreenwood9068 you’d like goodkind. He spells everything out for you, no need to read between the lines or infer anything
Same
@The Crazy Cat Gentleman so then he’d like goodkind. He’ll beat you over the head with his message. No need to be confused, stick to what you’re good at
“I don’t write fantasy”
“I’ve changed the face of fantasy”
Why did you even include the word 'controversial'?
"Why is Terry Goodkind" would have sufficed.
Answer: "There is no good reason for Terry Goodkind".
Your comment is silly but it made me laugh so thanks. ^^
Man, this comment did not age well.
@@marcelocapeljunior3579 How so? His passing didn't make his garbage fiction any better.
Looks like terry is not of a very good...kind? 🐶
"Leave Terry Goodkind alone. Who he is is punishment enough."
Punishment for us
I got my room mate who likes Ayn Rand to read Wizard's First Rule and even he didn't like it. Also, when I showed him the picture of Terry on the back cover of the book he said he looks like the kind of person who legitimately believes that you need a high IQ to understand Rick and Morty.
What do you mean by understand rick and morty
@@therevolutionary3536 Joke about dumb, socially maladjusted people thinking that liking the show makes them intelligent. No one actually does this it's just a punchline to explain a certain type.
@@ヴァリ-z3e I've definitely seen people who act like that unironically
@@rhetard2749 me too.
So he judged a book by it's back cover?
Winner, winner. Chicken dinner.
Not gonna lie, I clicked on this video because the thumbnail made me think the title was:
Why is Terry Goodkind?
"the man who must brag for himself knows no one else will"
@Rudra Baku Robin Hobb
@Yongo Bazuk who said that?
4:06 "It would be profitable for me to dive deeper into Sword of Truth... I'm not going to." That's some integrity, there. Good on you. Sincerely.
That thumbnail makes him look like the weekly villain in a Highlander TV episode.
Hey hey hey! Show some respect for the Highlander TV Series. It had better class than that.
... in principle....
ok yea he does...
He even has a K in his name like most of the Highlander villains!
Villain is a strong word. More like extra that richie kills in a b plot story while duncan is doing something more interesting.
Based on the first three minutes of writing style review, it sounds like he promotes Ayn Rand's philosophy the exact same way Ayn Rand promotes it: writing novels where the characters randomly jump into a three chapter monologue about why it is the best.
I'm glad he explicitly said his works aren't fantasy. If they were, they'd be a disgrace to the genre.
I seen somewhere someone called him “Terry Badmean” 😂
I personally prefer the Yeard
he is of the bad kind
It is in this comment section. If you search for long enough, you will find it lol.
It is honestly beautiful how many people in the fantasy community dislike him. There is alot of Terrys in fantasy.
Terry Brooks, Terry Pratchett and Terry Goodkind to name a few.
And ironically despite containing the word ‘good’ in his name...
Terry Goodkind is the furthest from good in every sense of the word.
@@twenty-fifth420 Objectivism is all about declaring yourself good based on your self imposed standards of excellence that you try to shove down everyone else's throats to be smug about how indubitably awesome you are
So.... yeah.... he's good, alright
It boils down to political differences. His Sword of Truth books, essentially made the protagonists Conservatives, whereas the antagonists were a portrayal of Communists. So it is only natural that Left Wing supporters would hate his works, as his villains were heavily based on the historical leaders of Communism, including the degenerative and psychologically abusive tactics that they used. Of course, supporters of Communism (or should I say, supporters of the lie of Communism) grew to hate him as a result.
If the antagonists in his books were based on Nazis, he wouldn't be controversial in the slightest. In fact, he would probably be applauded.
"I refuse to learn a single thing about Fantasy, which is how I know I am the best the genre has ever seen."
Just say "ubermensch" already.
TIL Kings and Generals watches Daniel Greene. I find that awesome.
@@gavinsmith9871 alas, these days I don't have enough time to read as much as before, so the booktube is my outlet and Daniel is one of the most talented youtubers in the genre. :-)
Kings and Generals holy shit m8 I love your vids exciting to see you on this channel as well
King and generals?!?! Whattt
@@KingsandGenerals who else read it in the narrator voice
I think it's neat that Terry Goodkind took time from his writng schedule to hit the dislike button 675 times.
@@nikib4586 i actually quite like his books but so much fucking exposition
My eyes have never rolled so far back into my head good GOD. Terry Goodkind is the Onision of authors.
Omg yes!
But Onision is the onision of authors.
@@arempy5836 he may have a "book" but id hardly call him an author, lol
Terry Goodkind... Onision... Terry Goodkind... Onision....
you know, I'm suddenly so much more worried about Terry's boasting that 'he has the heart of a sixteen year old'
Onision has written 3 or 4 books by now, hasn't he?
"Most fantasy is one-dimensional. It's either about magic or world-building. I don't do either."
Goodkind did nothing but world-building in Wizard's First Rule, and Stone of Tears is literally about Richard (the main protagonist) learning to control his gift of magic before it kills him. Does he even write his own books?
He tried to run away from the magic as much as possible while teasing it within reach, just like Richard and Kahlan's relationship.
I had no idea that he was such a horrible person. Mocking Robert Jordan was the last straw for me. Pathetic.
oh no he didnt!
Bought his book before watching this. Just threw my copy of wizards first rule in the trash
@@briani8785 Consign that shit to the depths of Writer's Hades, as it should be.
Set right the natural order!
Lol, dont want to be caught with that on your shelf.
"All in all, he's just another guy who likes to hear himself talk. Despite what he says, nothing separates his work from the average modern fantasy author, and like them, his greatest failing is the complete lack of self-awareness that overwhelms his themes, plots, and characters."
Yeah. This. This. This!
Terry Goodkind : They have elements of romance, history, adventure, mystery, and philosophy. Most fantasy is one-dimensional. It's either about magic or world-building
Me: Erm... isn't history and philosophy technically PART of world-building?
sick burnnnnn
What terry is aluding to is like plato wrote books
Ayn rand was more a philosapher who wrote a novel to spread her beleifs
Plato wrote atlantis and republic as metaphores and philosaphy books hidden behind fantasy
this is a practice that goes on in philosaphy in my honest opinion even tho i am an objecivist (somone who follows ayn rands ideology) rand isnt a great writer
@@demonic_myst4503 The very predictable "Time for Rand to write her beliefs in the form of a giant legal speech/entire chapter length monologue" in particular stands out to me.
@@theshadowling1 tbh i like the fountainhead speech the court case but that feels like a classic legal case trope make some grand speech to the jury even tho you never be aloud to do this in real life
edit id dont like rands writing just watch the speech from the film online its clipped on youtube
Terry is the guy in your friend group that you try to like and help out but they always say cringy things at the worst possible time.
"That puts my books in a genre all their own"
Who wants to tell him sub-par to middling fantasy is common enough to be its own sub-genre already? Terry, buddy, you ain't some author blessed with divine inspiration. You're just a writer with an ego that far outstrips your talent
Honestly he has a ponytail and he insulted Robert Jordan so that's just about enough for me.
Nothing wrong with ponytails. Unless you're wearing one to compensate for the hair you're losing up front. At which point, well just do an image search of him. As for insulting Robert Jordan that doesn't bother me as much as the fact that he mocked the man's health while he was in the hospital. Not cool.
Yo, what do have against ponytails?
Robert Jordan was horrible
Ponytail... I'm out
@@adampender2482 how?
"What I have done with my work has irrevocably changed the face of fantasy." ... wait, does he think he's J.R.R. Tolkien? Or maybe J.K Rowling? (I know she's actively creating her own downfall now, but that doesn't change what she did in the past for the MG & YA fantasy genre with the original HP series.) But seriously, who the hell does he think he is?
@Severus Von Emreis B-But professor...my textbook only has 196 pages!
Clearly he is Coldsteel the Hedgehog. Nothing personnel, kid.
@Severus Von Emreis I sure will, professor Snape!
He sold around 25 millions of books. He changed fantasy as much as many other famous writers. You can say what you want but he is known, he is not random guy that think he is famous because he write few pages that no one ever read. He is in 100 most readable writers in history. Not many people can say that.
@@Dark-wy9yb Obviously he has sold books, but selling books alone doesn't mean you're making an impactful change to the genre.
Also, I had never heard of him or his books before this video. But then again, that's probably a me thing, nothing else.
Years ago now, the artist who did the cover for his book that he then dragged online, actually reached out to me on GR to ask questions about another author's books. Her books didn't happen to have very many reviews at the time and of the few there were I had written several. He didn't have the time to read the book he was designing the cover for (not uncommon, deadlines are pain for all creatives if we're honest), but it was important to him to include imagery relevant to the story so he reached out to me to ask for some synopses. I was delighted to help and it really underpinned that he took the story seriously and had respect for both the author and the readers. I absolutely believe that he worked diligently with the publisher to create the cover for that book and Goodkind was wildly out of line with his nonsense post.
"What I have done with my work has irrevocably changed the face of fantasy."
My dude, the Inheritance Cycle has done more for the genre of fantasy than you ever will, but you probably don't even consider that literature because it was written by someone under the age of 25.
inheritance cycle was ok... good at best.
@@chodebon75 That's not really the point. The point is that it was the gateway into fantasy for millions of young readers.
@@a.morphous66 let’s just say... probably.
If that was your gateway into fantasy, yikes. It may be up to taste to SOME extent, but seriously, the inheritance cycle?
@@SyndicShadow It wasn’t mine personally (that would be the Ranger’s Apprentice), but yes. It’s a perfectly serviceable, even downright good story. Elitism much?
Reader: "I noticed a similarity...."
TG, against all natural philosophy: "NOTICING SIMILARITIES IS FOR CHILDREN, NOT A NATURAL HUMAN FUNCTION. I WRITE ABOUT IMPORTANT HUMAN STORIES AND KNOW ALL ABOUT WHAT IT IS TO BE HUMAN, WHICH IS WHY MY CHARACTERS DO NOT NOTICE SIMILARITIES OR PATTERNS IN THE LITERATURE THEY READ, NOR SHOULD YOU."
We are a pattern seeking monkey and this is an idiotic quote. I personally find Goodkind's prose unreadable.
Wow, what did that just say? That doesn’t even make sense. I wish I’d never read his works but at the time (since I was and still am new to fantasy) I didn’t realize the unoriginality, and liked his childish portrayals of good vs evil. I do think he was wrong when he said he’d write two less than two much. He really dragged the series out and the same dilemmas of being separated started to get really old. I mean, if I were in love I think I’d find a way (as a wizard ya know) to keep my beloved with me or create a magic travel system. What’s the point of being a wizard if you can’t do magic to keep your loved one safe? Lol whatever. I’m done with this author. I just wish I’d been done sooner. Thousands of pages of reading I’ll never get back.
@@Anhorish Came here to say EXACTLY this. The fact is the exact opposite of what he expressed. For fuck sake..what an Ego!
@@williamhale9366 He is beyond absurd. He's rejecting human intellect itself in order to defend his borrowings from other writers which readers have spotted. I assume he couldn't plagiarize his awful prose. He is to fantasy writing what Lawrence Welk is to music.
What? This is so stupid! How can people analyze two pieces of fiction without finding similarities at all? This is beyond stupid.
I guess when Malfoy told Harry to stick with the Goodkind, Harry made the right choice to decline...
"No one's slick as Gaston..." is all I can think about Terry.
Terry is a good source material for an antagonist that I am building in a sense that he preaches moral values of mankind all the while keeping his immoral attitude held high. In other words, the guy is a jerk.
I would read that book
Sébastien Cimpaye 😂 You have no idea what the plot is!
MICHAEL DUKES good point sorry 😆 I meant I think he would make for a good antagonist
Read this
forums.spacebattles.com/threads/the-wizard-of-woah-and-irrational-methods-of-irrationality.337233/
_Trust_ me.
... Smart people shit on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality and everything Less Wrong stands for, Harry Evans-Verres is a smug jerk throughout, and near the end Hermione gets brought back to life with unicorn's blood. The effect he was going for was because she's part unicorn she's purer now, but accidentally wrote her like she was some kind of monster merely imitating humanity.
Good thread, great commentary on amateur fiction
Hey I might steal this idea
It's pretty hilarious how he'd copy elements of Wheel of Time, then say "If you noticed a similarity, you're not old enough to read my book" lol
@@yellowbrand wheel of time is not that unoriginal. the first book is pretty formulaic, but the other ones are pretty creative in terms of culture, world building and plot.
@@Vickynger They really aren't.
I've studied (not practiced) Objectivism for years now, and I can tell you this with 100% certainty: Ayn Rand would have hated Terry Goodkind. She had no patience for one-trick hacks who copy & pasted themes and characters from other authors (especially herself).
Just to restate for clarity, I am NOT defending Ayn Rand. I am only making an observation based on my research.
Ayn Rand hated just about everyone. Unless you were 100% with her you were evil incarnate and worthless. Being 99% with her wasn't good enough.
@@douglasdea637 What you say is true about the absolutism of Objectivists, but, ironically, her philosophy is also wholly modular and broken into six discrete tenets which makes it easy for anyone to accept or reject them independent of one another. This is why so many people can be (and are) fans of Rand for her politics and economics (old-fashioned, American classical liberalism and capitalism) while rejecting her views on religion (atheism). Rand herself would probably be aghast that she has many more Christian conservative fans now than atheist ones (probably by several orders of magnitude). Most of Rand's work is not true philosophy anyway but aggregation of other, existing philosophy. Those who like both Aristotle and Adam Smith already inherently agree with Rand a third of the way, and that includes most peoples living in the West. Even if hardcore Objectivists are not comfortable with this, it is a major reason for her sales success over the decades.
She wouldve raged about him not carrying himself on the strength of his own writing ability and essentially being a IP thief.
@@yellowbrand he also used a ton of confirmation biases in just that one paragraph alone.
Not credible enough when you take that into account.
@@wk3820 lol ok boomer
He is right that ayn rand is also a fantasy author. She imagined that libertarians did anything, which is quite the fantasy.
For a second I thought you were talking about Terry Pratchett... but thankfully your talking about the thief of ideas
Terry Pratchett is a treasure and is still missed.
lol same. I once bought a terry goodkind book bc when I saw the name 'terry' I thought it was terry Pratchett.
@@DanielGreeneReviews One of my literary gods.
WHO SAID SOMETHING ABOUT LORD PRATCHETT?! A Certain Magical Vimes Railgun would like to have a word with them.
@@minissa2009 One of the Greatest Gods, period. FULL STOP.
Dude for real could hold up any pantheon of God's on his street cred alone!
Dude, I went to his Facebook page and read his backpedaling apology (for insulting that cover artist), and he claims it was all a misunderstanding. The comment section is roasting him 😂😂
lol, thanks, you made my day!
"That puts them in a genre all in their own." WOW, TERRY!!!!!!!!!!
Got to admit. This video is fun watching Daniel react to his thoughts.
I heard he died in 2020. I went to the doctor in 2020 and my doctor told me that I have the heart of an alive person.
What he thinks he is: “Terry Pratchett”, “Neil Gaiman”, “Brandon Sanderson” etc
What he actually is: “Apage you Narcissus
He is right in that quote. He doesn't do world-building or magic. At least not well
Sooooooo I'm guessing brandon sanderson won't be finishing the sword of truth series??? 😅
i mean...that will be a step up won't it?
honestly i would be interested to see if he could fix it
@@andrewgreenwood9068 how do you fix crap?
@@machibutinenglish1468 by making it into manure?
It's still going on? The last few were filler and pointless. I could say the same about most of them.
He sounds like the Steven Seagal of novelists. I can imagine him announcing to people that he's just finished reading the greatest book he'd ever read, and when they ask who wrote it he would reply dramatically, "I did!"
“If you notice a similarity, you’re probably not old enough to read my books.”
Ok boomer.
"Come back when you're too senile to be able to realize that I'm a hack."
jackson pine notice how i commented this 4 months ago when that meme was popular. and dont call me “little one” dude.
@jackson pine Ok boomer.
GET IT, KIDDO.
Anyone who still says "OK boomer" is a dumbass.
"Ayn Rand wouldn't want something this preachy representing her beliefs" Have you read Ayn Rand? That's literally all she does.
Goodness, I remember being pressured to read Anthem by Ayn Rand in Middle School. I hated every second of it.
I mean, for all his faults, Terry does stick to the traditions get by his idol. The only reason no one makes a six hour radio broadcast about Objectivism to the world in his books is that they don't have radios.
@Domagoj Čović Says the clown who likes Rand, and can't use punctuation properly.
@Domagoj Čović My friend? Pedro?
@Domagoj Čović OK then... lol
I've been reading fantasy and scifi for my whole life and the words "Terry" and "Goodkind" are ubiquitous on the fantasy shelf. In all those years of buying books, reading books, talking to other fans about books and watching UA-cam shows and channels like yours, the number of Terry Goodkind books that have interested me enough to buy or read one is precisely zero.
I'm convinced Goodkind has never read a fantasy-book in his life. At most he has read the wikipedia pages of the genre-definiction and most popular series. You can just smell the narcisism from his answers.
The only reason I would disagree is that his rip-offs of other works are very specific and direct in a way that would be hard to do without having read at least some of the books in the series that he is ripping off
He's definitely read Wheel of Time lol
he definitely aint reading at all now tho
So, I always knew that I didn't like Mr. Goodkind's writing. I found it quite shallow. That being said, I didn't know about his ego, and what he said about Robert Jordan. Now, I simply don't like Mr. Goodkind. He's definitely not living up to his last name, being neither Good, nor Kind.
Hearing those quotes I think my eyes rolled so high they did a complete rotation.
Because his entire work is copyright infringement of Robert Jordan.
Plus some Tolkien and a dash of Martin.
@@Adamdidit before 2015 Martin wasn't famous enough for anyone to want to steal his stuff.
@@wintersking4290 Yeah, no wants to steal from one of the best selling fantasy authors since the late '90s.... Also the show was already very popular before 2015.
@@stuffbenlikes Dude the show didn't exist before like 2015... What're you talking about.
@@wintersking4290 Game of Thrones started on HBO in 2011.
"Now let's look into Terry Goodkind's ego."
Looks at video and there's only 15 minutes left. That is not enough time to go into his ego.
Just watched this video for the first time...then went to Twitter and found out that Goodkind died...weird timing
Roasted🥵
"overly preachy annoying approach" Looks like someone hasn't experienced the 50 page monologue at the end of Atlas Shrugged. A decent book just ruined by essentially dropping in a thesis right at the end.
Just found out terry passed away 😮 I didn't realize he was 72, he didnt look that old to me
Terry Goodkind is the embodiment of the "don't ever meet your heroes, they will disappoint you". I enjoyed the Sword of Truth and the subsequent Nicci books more or less for what they were. Admittedly, Terry was on a single track after writing Faith of the Fallen, which for me was his best book. After that, he seemed to delve into just constantly hashing out the same things over and over and over again. I will not deny that it was a struggle to read the last 5-6 books from the main Sword of Truth series. Still, I appreciated his writing for what it was, even if it got worse over time. Somehow I missed that he passed away back in September, which is sad. Then again at 72, he wrote a ton of books, raced a lot of cars and enjoyed his life. It is sad to think that his perpetual "foot in mouth" is what so many will remember him for. He is hardly the first author that was a pretentious jerk and he will not be the last. He just had the misfortune of being so in the social media age where his words were magnified and followed him everywhere. RIP
I agree Faith was the best, very opinionated, and the rest after that were mostly filler.
Yeah. I read some of them, my mom read the whole series. She always says when we discuss it is “How many times can the same two characters be raped and tortured before its like, okay, enough.” These poor two people get tortured etc a million times and its like. Write about something else. Please 😩 Frikin love the TV show tho lol.
While not totally agreeing with his views he very deliberately put into his works, I did enjoy the series for what it was, I felt the sword if truth kind of refreshing as it was an interesting spin of fantasy with analogous themes to normal world politics. I started the series shortly after he died. It is a bummer knowing he was pretty arrogant though.
You literally just described almost every author ever. Could you imagine meeting poe or Hemingway lol hell Shakespeare like these guys were some awful humans
Bruh, overly preachy politics is exactly what Ayn Rand fans are looking for
agnat86 it’s not a matter of her writing being particularly scathing or shocking (though it can be controversial) she’s more infamous for how her characters dryly monologue her political beliefs for pages on end. She’s an objectivist and that’s all she knows how to write about. Her stories are just a mouthpiece for her to write her manifesto
@agnat86 She writes with the passion and humanity of a wet sponge and her philosophy is for brainlets.
@agnat86 Immerse? My bro I've read like half a book.
@agnat86 I don't need to read all of her books to know what objectivism is.
@agnat86 Ive read several ayn rand books and if im honest they are very interesting fiction. The problem isnt so much her or her politics, its her fanboys who believe her fiction is a reality. The John Galt character is as good of a description of the delusion the far right live under as any; a man who produces all the value of society through his own brilliance where everyone else can but leech from that.
If you want a advisory for a rand book thats pretty good, 'The fountainhead' was revolutionary for my philosophical growth. It has many interesting ideas and things in it particularly to do with anarchism.
For the record, im a marxist, so i certainly dont subscribe to rands beliefs, but I do see value in her work, just not her politics.
The Sword of Truth is my embarrassing highchool series. I think I read like 8 of them in a row. Then somehow I went directly from that to Malazan, and I think my brain grew ten sizes that day.
This guy is a joke. I'm impressed he managed to sell a book, while being so unprofessional.
There is an irony to a man claiming to have the heart of a 16-year-old dying at the age of 72.
I read all of his work in the SOT novels, he finished the story arc and needlessly continued. Every time that he referenced a point in an earlier book he just reprinted a page from that book. Lazy.
Every time I saw Jordan blogging (I guess that's what it was, he was doing an online "update" sort of thing on how he was doing before his death) and had to deal with Goodkind's idiot fan base who could not read the frikkin dates of publishing to figure out who stole from who, I disliked Goodkind a little more.
I misunderstood the thumbnail. I thought it just said "why is Terry Goodkind?" And I thought, "Good question"
My "favorite" use of magic to just make things happen that Goodkind wanted to happen was a scene where he had Kahlan stuck in a pit full of rapists. She took one of them over with her power, and then for something like 12 hours straight she had to rely on him alone to protect her from getting raped and it was very harrowing and scary. But... her powers were supposed to regenerate every hour. She should have been able to take over 12 more dudes. Goodkind conveniently forgot about this just to make the story more rapey. The way his magic worked conveniently changed all the time.
Thank you!
Glad to know your reading comprehension sucks. Never does it say 1 hour. He never states a specific time. Just that her's is much quicker due to her strength.
@@FreeWorldSpirit313 I can't remember it being one hour either but it has been over a decade since i read the books.
Not an hour, but he stated somewhere that Kahlan was strong even for a Mother Confessor and could restore her powers in “a couple of hours” as opposed to a regular Confessor needing like 12+ hours. He specifically juxtaposes her with her half sister a regular confessor. So yeah, maybe not everyone, but she could have taken over a couple of guys.
@@FreeWorldSpirit313 Actually, Kahlan herself states in Wizard's First Rule that her power takes "about two hours" to recover. It's when Richard learns about confessors after visiting Agaden Reach.
it's like Daniel is just channeling my inner monologue regarding Goodkind
I'm beginning to believe the reason why I enjoyed every single book of The Sword and Truth series is because I had first exposure disorder.
For the people who don't know what first exposure disorder is, it's basically when the first thing you experience is the worst or best thing out there.
Grinn, nice one (thank goodness I started with Tolkien as a kid, thanks parents!!)
Terry: idolizes Ayn Rand’s work
Terry: writes unlikable characters who give long hectoring monologues
Yup, checks out
I mean, he's gotta be a narcissist, right?
was going to say. Dan tried to say representing Ayn Rand with the monologuing for politics was not a good way to represent her but, I recall Atlas Shrugged has at least 2 long ass monologues that are basically just a radio transcript of a speech.
When I was a kid I used to read all kinds of fantasy. I read hundreds of fantasy books between the ages of 10-15, and there were only two authors I disliked so much that I recoil from the name. One of them was Terry Goodkind. As far as fantasy goes, reading his books is like eating raw oats.
And the other was?
Things that aren't true for $1000 please
@@FreeWorldSpirit313 you wanna fight about it?
Just curious, who was the other?
I read Terry's sword of truth series in my teens. Had no idea he was such an arrogant prick :-) My favorite author though is Robert Jordan and his Wheel of time.
I also read the series when I was young, I thought they were great! Then I re-read them as am Adult, and boy was I disappointed! The memory is not the reality.
I do still enjoy them actually, have read them four times in total. Buuut I read a translated version, which has most books split up into two, so thise might actually be better than the original
@@kewlztertc5386 I have got to reread them. So many people have said they have had this experience.
@@Heidelmann Trust me, you DON'T! Unless you're the type that likes abuse. What was a fantastic story, is buried DEEPLY under the author's social-economical views. On and on about communism, it's like every other page Terry, is beating that dog. These things a kid wouldn't understand or care about, but as an adult, you'll understand it's a tedious monotonous promotion of an agenda.
If you must read them, stop with the second or third book. To venture further is craziness!
@@kewlztertc5386 The books are all about kidnapping, torture, and rape. Somehow, they just get worse as they go along too. The chicken as an antagonist broke me, but it wasn't as bad as the communism defeating statue. The entire book about tertiary characters never seen before in the series made me give up completely.
"Overly preachey approach to politics," isn't the fountainhead mostly one long speech? Overly preachy seems to describe Ayn Rand perfectly.
The further into the Sword of Truth series he got, the more the themes start veering from Objectivist to Nietzschean.
Richard Raul, being the Hero, (ubermensch) has force of will that others simply do not; it's natural and good for others to serve this heroic man.
That's not exactly Nietzschean, only a caricature of it, but I get what you mean.
And it's true.
It's like Rothfuss with Kvothe.
These authors see themselves as "better" human beings.
Not buying into that.
Guys, if you gonna recommend the man a Terry in the future, please recommend him Terry Prachett instead. That's the good Terry, that's the Terry who deserves all our love and respect. Not only was he a really good writer but back when he was alive, he was some of the most wholesome writers around. This Terry though, this Terry's an insult. Now if you excuse me, I'm gonna bleach my brain with The Other Wind by Ursula K.LeGuin.
One of my best friends growing up was a die hard sword of truth fan and would constantly gush over the books and reread them often. It was actually something her whole family would go crazy over (in hindsight their preachy political views line up with Goodkind's so I can see why they clicked so well). Anyway, she used to go on about it so much that earlier today I nearly ordered it out of curiosity but got distracted. Thank the gods I did. The UA-cam algorithm blessed me with this video and prevented me from supporting this author. I've never removed a book from my cart faster. Will be picking up a WoT book I was saving for next month instead to cleanse my soul.
Yes! Wheel of Time is better - one of the best fantasy series!
Also recommend:
- Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb
- anything by Brandon Sanderson
- Name of the Wind
- anything by Terry Pratchett
In my case I saw this only after having in my bookshelf... Had nothing else to read so I picked up "Wizard's first rule". Am on page 110 and must admit to a sadistic curiosity if the book will/can get any blander or worse in every aspect of fantasy writing 😱
@@jakubcerny1138 It's been 15 years since I read them, but they're bad in an entertaining way, as far as I remember; I'd consider them so bad they're good. So no shade for people who'd want to hate-read them;
@@maximeteppe7627 I did not hate the books per say, what bothered me most was the improbability of the solutions which resolved the conflict - it just seemed improbable and therefore not very gripping. 🤷
Having said that if people enjoy them, then I will not condemn them for it, I have some books, which qualify as "guilty pleasures" as well 😇
One thing I do absolutely respect in this vid is that you stuck to Terry and not his politics. I don’t know if your neutral, centrist (not always the same thing), dem or rep but you kept to the man. You kept it to the man. The only criticism of his work was what you felt was Hackeery I implementing them to his story telling and his inability to recognize other writers quality. I read like three books of his and then got bored and moved on.
Political beliefs are open to criticism but often they become strawmans of what the critic think of the politics as opposed to the actual worthy criticism of the artist in question as an artist or a person.
The only thing i knew about Terry Goodkind was his books were all but guaranteed to be found where second hand books were sold, and they were usually the thickest ones on the shelf, almost obnoxiously so.
And it looks i now have even more reason to skip them
I found my copy of Wizard's First Rule at a charity store. I dumped it in that same stores donation bin after I finished reading it.
I watched this video over a year ago now and I still scowl at his books when I see them in any bookstore. I'm always standing there thinking "he is neither good nor kind"