Naked Empire, by Terry Goodkind
I travel a lot for work, so this review is of the Brilliance Audio unabridged version of the book on CD.
I really wanted to like this book. It has some great fantasy elements, and a good amount of action. This book is the eighth book in a series, which unfortunately wasn't marked on the CD case, but it does a good job of filling you in on the important bits from previous books, so you could get by without reading the previous ones.
The basic idea is that the hero, Richard Rahl, is trying to save his homeland from invading forces of the Imperial Order. The Imperial Order is, of course, quite evil. Richard, of course, champions individual liberty. Despite the rather obvious polarity of the sides, the book could have been a good one.
Unfortunately, I just don't seem to enjoy Goodkind's writing. There were three different aspects that grated on me.
First, characters often have a single mannerism that is used for characterizations. For example, Richard Rahl paces nearly constantly. Nicholas the Slide, one of the bad guys, runs his hands through his oily hair, over and over. The repeated use of these mannerisms just didn't work for me.
Second, the characters will quite often launch into extremely long explanations of moral philosophy. I understand that the moral aspect of the plot was part of the point of the book, but it feels like the characters are continually lecturing each other. Making this sort of thing more natural would have been helpful.
Third, the author seems to resort to making characters stupid in order to hit the reader over the head with a point. For example, during some of Richard's lectures, other characters will completely miss his point and ask stupid questions, presumably in order that we, the reader, won't get the point unless it's explained over and over again. Probably my favorite "stupid character" moment is when Nicholas is visited by his boss, the emperor Jagang. Nicholas knows that Jagang is a dreamwalker, and can take over the bodies of others. Yet, when one of his lowly soldiers barges into his room and starts making demands, Nicholas is obstinately stupid about realizing that it's a visit from Jagang. It's hard to take that sort of bad guy too seriously.
The main point of the book is the conflict between a people who have a creed of non-violence, and the Imperial Order. Richard Rahl steps in to convince the people to renounce their non-violent ways and retake their country from the Order. Not a bad plot, but the lengthy morality lectures get a bit old after a time.
I really wanted to like this book. It has some great fantasy elements, and a good amount of action. This book is the eighth book in a series, which unfortunately wasn't marked on the CD case, but it does a good job of filling you in on the important bits from previous books, so you could get by without reading the previous ones.
The basic idea is that the hero, Richard Rahl, is trying to save his homeland from invading forces of the Imperial Order. The Imperial Order is, of course, quite evil. Richard, of course, champions individual liberty. Despite the rather obvious polarity of the sides, the book could have been a good one.
Unfortunately, I just don't seem to enjoy Goodkind's writing. There were three different aspects that grated on me.
First, characters often have a single mannerism that is used for characterizations. For example, Richard Rahl paces nearly constantly. Nicholas the Slide, one of the bad guys, runs his hands through his oily hair, over and over. The repeated use of these mannerisms just didn't work for me.
Second, the characters will quite often launch into extremely long explanations of moral philosophy. I understand that the moral aspect of the plot was part of the point of the book, but it feels like the characters are continually lecturing each other. Making this sort of thing more natural would have been helpful.
Third, the author seems to resort to making characters stupid in order to hit the reader over the head with a point. For example, during some of Richard's lectures, other characters will completely miss his point and ask stupid questions, presumably in order that we, the reader, won't get the point unless it's explained over and over again. Probably my favorite "stupid character" moment is when Nicholas is visited by his boss, the emperor Jagang. Nicholas knows that Jagang is a dreamwalker, and can take over the bodies of others. Yet, when one of his lowly soldiers barges into his room and starts making demands, Nicholas is obstinately stupid about realizing that it's a visit from Jagang. It's hard to take that sort of bad guy too seriously.
The main point of the book is the conflict between a people who have a creed of non-violence, and the Imperial Order. Richard Rahl steps in to convince the people to renounce their non-violent ways and retake their country from the Order. Not a bad plot, but the lengthy morality lectures get a bit old after a time.
posted by Jay | 8:50 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home