InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "You dance like a woman"

randomsome1 (randomsome1) wrote,
@ 2009-08-18 23:18:00

Entry tags:

in ur novel eatin ur book

spreading the misery
The co-worker and I were taking bets on just how bad Terry Goodkind's new novel would be. After all, it was being touted as a thriller, not fantasy. We started off betting on whether the main character would be a businessman (to go along with Goodkind's Randroid-esque philosophies) or an ex-cop (for the blindingly cliche angle).

The main character's an artist, so we were both a little off-base. So we started taking bets on whether or not Goodkind would obviously tie this novel into his other novels--or whether he'd just write the same thing over again.

Turns out we were both right.

Gigantic sensitive-souled thick-haired fighter-type guy, last name Rahl, rescues a mysterious and beautiful and "obviously" intelligent ~~stone cold bitch~~ woman from out-of-control bad guys. She has a mysterious mission for him, and people want to kill him because of his name. Sound familiar?

Sorry, shikomekidomi--I don't know I can make it far enough in to find if another character has as bad a name as ~~Penis~~ Panis. But if you can make it past the first chapter, maybe you can let me know. To me, though, this just looks like Sword of Truth fanfic written by a teenager.

(For the record, I don't know if the dozens of typos are to be blamed on Borders, or a faulty c&p'd ARC. Some look like page breaks were missed, but some are repeated a few times. But even fixing them wouldn't fix the writing itself. That'd take a miracle.)

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threeoranges
2009-08-19 05:28 pm UTC (link)

Wow. He does like to... overdescribe things, doesn't he?

In a "I have to put down every single detail of the minute interactions between these characters in an attempt to convince you of their veracity" type way.

I'd try to parody it, except I doubt I could hit on the way he overdescribes stiltedly AND YET leaves us with not one single memorable image. Is he usually this bad?

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randomsome1
2009-08-19 05:44 pm UTC (link)

I can handle heavy descriptions, but these just clunk. It's like it's been put together by a kid rather than someone with a dozen long-winded novels under his belt. And while I don't remember his early works being this bad, it has been a few years since I sat down and actually read them.

"He remembered how she was standing just three feet and six inches north-northwest of him, and that she was standing funny. Somehow. We're not gonna talk about how she's standing funny, just that he could tell because he was an artist and not at all a woods-guide-cum-despot-cum-sculptor like the other character. Also, he's an artist that 'choreographs' his own fight scenes with evil pirate plumbers."

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	threeoranges 2009-08-19 09:02 pm UTC (link)
	Yeah, that pretty much torched it! :D Thanks! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	afy 2009-08-19 08:01 pm UTC (link)
	Terry Goodkind...yeah, I read one of his books once. And that was enough. Yuck! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	randomsome1 2009-08-20 02:58 am UTC (link)
	Some authors improve with time & experience. It seems that he's just devolved. (Reply to this) (Parent)