Is the Sword of Truth series worth finishing?

I have not been into fantasy books (or this site) for long - I read the George RR Martin books and loved them - especially the parallels with the War of the Roses. I figured I would try another epic series while I waited (seemingly forever) for the next book to be published. So I started the Sword of Truth series. I figured that it has to be pretty good - they made a TV show out of it, right?

I'm on book 8 of 11, and I am hitting a wall. Actually, I hit the wall around the 4th book; I really liked the first three. The plots repeat themselves (how many times can a person be abducted?), they get stupid at times (really, a killer chicken?), and they lean too much on thoughtless decisions by characters to generate irony. In short, I am having trouble caring any more. Reading the posts in this forum, I see that I am not alone.

The last three seem set apart. Are they better? Is it worth pressing on? If not, can you recommend another good series - I am now afraid of them petering out like this one seems to.

You know, I finished out of sheer stubbornness. The rampant political posturing and inane philosophy got to me, but I tried to soldier through that. I also had major WTF issues with the way the last book ended. Given the chance to do it over, I probably wouldn't have read more than the first 3 books or so, while it was still more of a basic epic fantasy and before it became little more than a soapbox for Goodkind's ranting.

tag searching fro 'epic fantasy' will get you lots of suggestions, a few off the top of my head that are worth trying:

fortress in the eye of time 5 books and finished
mistborn three books and finsihed
legend lots o f books
Magician - lots and lots of really quick reading books, not finished
curse of the mistwraith 8 books now and still going, still superb at book 4 which is as far as I've read, but I'm getting there. (plus janny Wurts is on LT to ask questions to)
chronicles of thomas covenant 8 books 2 more to go.
dragonlance - originally 3 and then 6, now hundreds. Some better than others.

This will give you a bit of a taste of the wide variety of Epic fantasy, if you read all of these and don't like any of them, than maybe it' not for you.

I quit at about book 3 as well. They just really weren't my cuppa tea. On the other hand, I loved The Dragonbone Chair and sequels by Tad Williams. Mistborn is indeed really good, as is Elantris, a stand-alone by the same author. I also liked L. E. Modesitt's Recluce series starting with The Magic of Recluce.

The Sword of Truth series isn't worth starting, if you ask me. I read the first and won't be reading any more.

Instead of hoping for a series that doesn't peter out (which they pretty much all do at some point), why not read some good stand-alone fantasy novels? Most of Guy Gavriel Kay's epic fantasy books are stand-alone or duologies, and are excellent. The Curse of Chalion and Moonheart are very good stand-alones. Anything by China Mieville is excellent.

I've come to believe that if a story can't be told in a maximum of 3 books (and even many trilogies are too long), it's not worth telling. Anything longer is just useless padding.

My brother-in-law loves the SoT books, but I've heard nothing but bad things about them at the discussion boards I frequent.

As for other epic fantasy series:

Don't fret out about the "8 books, 2 more to go" comment above regarding the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant; The first trilogy stands on its own, and if you like that you can always read the sequel trilogy which also comes to a complete resolution.

Missing from the list above is my favorite fantasy series, Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen, which is mind-blowingly epic. The ninth book is coming out within the next couple months (or, unfortunately if you're in the US, not until January) and from early reviews the series is only picking up steam as this ninth book ties in threads from the previous eight, launching a two-book finale to be concluded in volume ten, which should be out late next year or early 2011. And if you like those books, Erikson has also written some novellas set in that world, and the world's co-creator, Ian C. Esslemont, has his own companion novels that interweave with Erikson's.

I don't blame anyone not finishing off the SoT series but like #2 I managed to just about make it through.

Others worth a mention are The First Law series by Joe Abercrombie starting with The Blade Itself. There's also an ongoing series which I'd probably rate as high as anything I've read so far in the fantasy genre which is The Gentleman Bastard Sequence by Scott Lynch which starts with The Lies of Locke Lamora

Welcome to LT, Andrew!

You won't miss anything in not reading the last three books of Sword of Truth.

I can definately second the following series:

Curse of the Mistwraith by Janny Wurts -still absolutely excellant on its 8th book!
Malazan series by Steven Erikson starting with Gardens of the Moon - very good, but somewhat heavy going.
Magician by Raymond E. Feist

Since you enjoy Naval books, you might enjoy Temeraire (also known as His Majesty's Dragon) by Naomi Novik, as the main (human) character is a British naval captain and it takes place during the Napoleonic wars. There is currently five books in the series.

Another excellant read is The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Book two is due in the near future.

Once you have read all of the above, let me know and I'll recommend some more ;-)

I too stoped Sword of Truth at book one.

I would recommend Scott Lynch but be prepared, there may be a long wait. He plans for seven and the 3rd is getting delayed.

Also the same with Rothfuss he has an obvious trilogy but why so long between 1 and 2? The Malazan recommendation is by far one of the richest worlds out there.

Now that Eddings is gone the Bellegariad and Mallorean are probably worth a reread.

Right now I'm *trying* to read Sword of Truth, mainly because I told my wife I'd read her favorite book series at least once. I think I'm halfway through Fallen Empire right now and it's almost physically painful to read. The books feel like they were written by a misogynist and I have no idea how my wife can even stand them, much less consider them her favorites.

I gave up after book seven and I would recommend anyone to do so sooner than I did.

Just started Wizards fist rule myself, to read it concurrently with the start of Legend of the seeker on TV. From everythin I've read about the series the didactic soapboxing of Ayn Rands objectivism ie all the preaching of issues seems to start in the 5th book up to the 8th book, but then the last 3 books are a throwback to the first book. Especially on this site http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SwordOfTruth - the 5th paragraph under the line says
{Quote}Around the fifth book, Goodkind began introducing Objectivist themes and aesops inspired by Ayn Rand in the Sword of Truth. Many people who liked his early works found this a turning point in the series, but he also gained many new fans and gave the plot a depth it'd lacked before. Things went somewhat overboard in the eight book, Naked Empire, which contains the infamous evil pacifist plot. The last three books, collectively called the Chainfire Trilogy, brought back plenty of the early themes and events of the series, and Confessor, the last book, was specifically one huge throw-back to Wizard's First Rule. {/quote}

I know someone who went through almost the identical scenario - new to fantasy, liked Martin and was looking for more. I recommended Tad Williams' "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn" trilogy (as someone has above) and that was a hit with this person. It was a safe recommendation; Martin cited that trilogy in an interview as his inspiration for Song of Ice and Fire.

One of the things that was so nice about Memory, Sorrow and Thorn was the start with the young boy. Something we also witness in Eddings work. We seem to grow along with the hero and the time frame of the story. In GRRM you think you are getting that, but all these people you start following as they grow seem to also be getting killed and you have to start following others.

With Wizards if dim memory serves, it wanted to be worthy of a hardback release but seemed to have genre tried and true formulas so why were we paying for the hardback? While fantasy often does place a coincidence on all the characters being together all at once, for some reason it seemed too hard for me to accept that here. (Another person I couldn't do that for was Guy Gavriel Kay) Then by the end of the book, I felt please be the end of the book. I can't imagine that feeling for 12 books, but at lease Goodkind is finished. Look at Jordan and Martin, still not... (Erikson I would give a lot of credit because he seems much more complex then all mentioned here combined...)

I would also like to recommend Memory, Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams, and highly recommend David Eddings work for the same reasons mentioned by DWWilkin.
Terry Brooks series that begins with Magic Kingdom, For Sale/Sold is another good read if your looking for something a little lighter (YA).

I never even finished the first sword of truth book.

if you want epic fantasy recommendations, here is a site with a large list: http://www.castlefiction.com/epic_fantasy_main/epic_fantasy_series2.htm

Anne Bishop and Jacqueline Carey are both on the list, but they are not as traditional as the RR Martin's books. David Eddings, Tad Williams books come far closer to Martin's books.

In short, no.

I got up to book 4 or so, and was bored out of my mind.

I am so glad that I am not the only one that struggled after book 5 or so. Same painful story, different book. Nobody seems to learn anything new or do anything different in the never ending struggles to save the day. And the good guys just keep missing each other so they can never hook up and get anything done. I love L.E. Modesitt and David Eddings

By far the best I have read is Robin Hobb's Apprentice Series...

By far the best I have read is Robin Hobb's Apprentice Series...

I can't remember how many Sword of truth books I read, but it was too many. I got put off by his sick imagination. I feel as though I'm making a confession, but I have read every Wheel of Time book (Robert Jordan) more than once. The series has a lot of flaws, but it kept my interest. Jordan died while working on the last book of the series, but someone is apparently finishing it. They go back a way but my favourite heroic fantasy series are probably by Roger Zelazny (his Amber series), Michael Moorcock (Elric of Melnibone) and anything by Fritz Leiber. You can tell I'm an old guy. I'm just now listening to the audiobook version of Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Bubbles, but couldn't seriously recommend it.

I'll second (or is it 3rd after a double post, lol) allan.hird's recommendation of Robin Hobb's books. I probably wouldn't bother with the Soldier Son trilogy, but IMHO her 3 six duchies trilogies are all must reads. The first trilogy is Called Farseer & the books are Assasin's Apprentice, Royal Assasin & Assasin's Quest, 2nd trilogy is called Liveships & the books are Ship of Magic, The Mad Ship & Ship of Destiny, 3rd trilogy is called Tawny Man & the books are Fool's Errand, The Golden Fool & Fool's Fate. She's just released annother book set in the same world that refers back to some of the events & characters of the liveships books, book 1 of the Rainwild Chronicles is called The Dragon Keeper...

I thought Martin was/is fantastic, but I don't care for Robin Hobb. Her characters are predominantly the victims of fate and circumstance rather than driving the story, which I don't find compelling.

I've already recommended Tad Williams (#13, above), but for complexity and depth to rival Martin's worldbuilding I often hear R. Scott Bakker and Steven Erickson spoken of (neither of whom I've gotten to yet).

I read the first Hobb series and thought that it was inconclusive. Where are these raiders coming from, etc. I started the second, the Liveship, and put it down twice, but the third time. That was the kicker. It grew on me quite nicely...

Well, I finished it. Despite all your warnings and my own misgivings, I finished them all. I repeatedly quit, read other things, and later went back to it. I was like an addict chasing the dragon, always holding out a little hope that I would get the same enjoyment that I got from Wizard's First Rule. Just a little more wouldn't hurt, right? Maybe this time will be great like the first time...

So to answer my own question, regarding whether the series got better or whether one should just quit, my answer is - both. They got better towards the end, returning to some original themes and wrapping up loose storylines, but it was not worth it.

My advice to others - just say no to the Sword of Truth. Don't get trapped in the downward spiral like I did.

Thanks to everyone who offered sage advice. I'm heading to the library tomorrow with a big list compiled from your recommendations.

Good to learn how it all turned out for you. It also suggests that the Sword of Truth series is not destined to survive the test of time.

I guess I might be in the minority, but I actually enjoyed the series. Sure a few of the books in the middle slowed down and were at times dry. I recall there being one in hindsight after finishing the entire series where I thought, "The series could have done without that one " as it seemed more like filler. There were flaws to be sure, but overall an enjoyable series.

Now having said that I also didn't read this all the way through without breaks. I would read a book or two, take a break from the series and read a few in a different genre even, then come back for a book or two. Took about a year of reading in this fashion to finish it up.

I read all of the books hoping that they would become more interesting but alas they were redundant and frustrating as the characters fell into one trap after another and did not seem to progress towards andy goals. My suggestion is to stop reading them when you get too tired to carry on. They do not improve!

This is strange..I actually REALLY like the TV Show, Legend of the Seeker. So..I was obviously thinking of reading these...but now I'm not sure. I've actually heard many people say the show is better than the books.

I actually like the show better than the series, but the first book is still very good.

29: twilightnocturne - I agree. The show is better than the books. That is odd, because shows and movies are rarely as good as the books, let alone better. But in this case the show is better.

Re: show better than book -- this is all without mentioning that the actor who plays Richard is super hot!

I personally love Wizard's First Rule the best. I abandoned the series after book 3. I'm glad I did, even though I want to know what's up with Richard and Kahlan throughout the series, but if I'm not getting the same emotional attachments that I had for the first book, then I don't want to finish it.

I am reading The Law of the Nines, and it was an autographed copy of it the day it was released. Terry Goodkind and his wife are so sweet and friendly. It's a completely different book, but has very similar themes as it was for the first book. You do not need to read the rest of the series to understand The Law of the Nines. I think this book is better than the rest of the series as it's not taken in the fantasy world that Richard and Kahlan live in.

I personally hated the TV series. :-D I think because the first book was my favorite, and I rather have the TV series to remain the same flavor. There was some things in the show that turns me off. In the book - Richard learned about the Book of Shadows (is that what it's called?? It's been quite a while), in secret from his father, and didn't reveal that he knows about the book until the boxes of Orden was put in play by Darken Rahl. Yet, in the tv series, it was Zedd that gave him the book and Kahlan knew about it and gave him the book then. What about the silly mud people? I didn't see them in the TV series (I abandoned the TV series after 3 episodes). I don't care who's "hot".

this series is amazing