I think Goodkind started trying to have a more brutalist fantasy setting, with people acting as nasty as they do or did in real life. So whole cities get butchered and the women carried off as slaves. Which, well, happened. The first book was actually pretty good.
The first book can be said to have some holes. The second onward startys looking like swiss cheese, and it’s clear that apart form the constant Ayn Rand nonsense, he wasn’t plotting it out very clearly and the characters acted like twits whenever there was a need.
“Oh, my love! Despite knowing a vastly more experienced older Wizard who surely knows all about the potential problems of magic and can help, I’m going to emotionally browbeat you into accepting a life of quasi-servitude with some unknown but shady monsastic freaks, conventientlyu sending you on a long journey, mortal danger, and seperating us at this critical juncture!” :rolleyes:
As I read only the first book many years ago, my memories have faded (mercifully!) but here’s what I recall.
The arch badguy, who was named either Darken or Penis as I recall, had a henchman who was into young boys, and raped and murdered a few hundred of them, callously and without regret. He did nothing in the book other than rape and murder young boys, so it’s tough to see why he existed at all if not to make a political point. In any case the description surely would make Fred Phelps wild with glee. Then there were the dominatrix characters. It was implied that they were bisexual only as a result of being abused, so the apparent message is that straight is the norm and horrible things always attach to any other sexual orientation.
As for women in general, every single one throws herself at Richard within a few minutes of meeting him, and thereafter becomes incapable of thinking or acting. I call that sexism.
And yes, similar things happen in many other fantasy and science fiction novels, but that doesn’t make it right.
They’ve cast it with unknowns, and will begin shooting next month.
I notice that it’s being made by Rob Tapert, along with Sam Raimi, who were the men behind Hercules and Xena. I wonder about the expected tone of the show. And if Bruce Campbell will guest star as Zedd Zorander.
After reading this thread, I almost want to read the books to see if they’re really that bad. On the other hand, I’ve got a finite amount of time before I go down for the dirt nap.
As I said, the first one is brutalist but not bad. After that, the characters begin acting in increasingly stupid ways, and each successive book has fewer and fewer actual events, and more Ayn-Rand-ish nonsense. I mean, the books get really blatant in-your-face about it.
That… would be awesome! Hail to the King, err… Wizard!