Terry Goodkind vs. Robert Jordan
Kings of Fantasy Fiction
In 1994, after Jordan's fifth "Wheel of Time" installment, Terry Goodkind released "Wizad's First Rule". It was also a TOR Book, and the first in "The Sword Of Truth" series. In the decade to come Terry Goodkind would be Robert Jordan's greatest challenge. Today these authors allude to the eminent end of their respective series, with the commencing of simultaneous finales.
It begs to be asked: who will be the king of fantasy fiction?
In analyzing the achievements of these writers, we must start at the beginning. Having a head start of four years automatically puts Robert Jordan in the driver's seat. His characters were deep personalities, and well thought out. Reading about them, you could understand, and possibly even know them. As well developed as the characters were, it was the world around them that was so utterly captivating. This world, so vividly portrayed, was automatically acceptable with each change of setting. If ever the written word could jump off the page into reality, it would happen through Robert Jordan's creation.
The release of "Wizard's First Rule" was so untimely, only skilled planning and care could rescue the plot from a fast and nasty fantasy death. So many elements of Terry Goodkind's story were blatantly related to "the Wheel of Time" that if "Wizard's First Rule" didn't flop, it could only be hailed as the better book. Of course, "Wizard's First Rule" was a hit. "The Sword Of Truth" would continue for over a decade. Reading both series was like watching twin brothers battle it out in the boxing ring.
But like twins, these two writers who seemed similar, turned out so very unalike each other. Instead of focusing on a wide array of character like Robert Jordan, Terry Goodkind chose two driving forces for his stories. "The Sword Of Truth" revolved solely around the adventures of Richard Cypher and Kahlan Amnell. Robert Jordan created many descriptive, and well rooted settings to heighten interest in his world. Goodkind established a time limit crisis, after which the world would fall under immediate doom, were the heroes to fail. While Robert Jordan was telling a more straightforward adventure, Goodkind would put blatant messages into his script.
The popularity of both writers continued to grow even after the turn of the millennium. However, Robert Jordan showed signs of slowing down. The number of "Sword Of Truth" novels was catching up to the number of "Wheel Of Time" novels. Ladder volumes of the "The Wheel Of Time" just seemed like so much filler, and weren't very interesting. Long before the craze of his books peeked, Robert Jordan projected to run his series to six books. After the sixth book, fans realized that the story could hardly end.
Jordan boosted his projection. Today Robert Jordan has written eleven "Wheel of Time" volumes, and is hard at work on the twelfth and last installment. Incidentally, this finale is projected to run from twelve to fifteen hundred pages, bespeaking of a rather lopsided ending. Goodkind has been unable to maintain the exciting pace that he began with. However, his ladder titles continue to display interesting twists that Jordan seems incapable of achieving. While Richard Cypher is now more of an over the top preacher, than a hero, Jordan's vast array of characters have grown beyond his control. Most of them, with their similar and difficult to pronounce names, are hardly worth keeping track of.
While "The Sword Of Truth" became slightly annoying before the tenth volume, "Phantom", "The Wheel Of Time" has all but lost coherency. Many fans can only hope the finale will be worth the almost twenty year wait. Only time can judge who will reign supreme, but coherency and pacing will be with "The Sword OF Truth." In conclusion I'll leave off with a question.
Should Robert Jordan still be mentioned in the same breath as Tolkien, or should he be replaced, perhaps, by Terry Goodkind?
Published by Tony garcia
I like to play bass and guitar on occasion. I love to read, write, play assorted games occasionally, and I am getting into gardening. I've begun to hate watching TV, save for one show. I like comics, a... View profile
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36 Comments
Post a CommentUm, Alex, perhaps you didn't get the memo: Jordan assumed room temperature several years ago. I seriously doubt he'll "stumble across this post".
While they're both good books, I personally prefer the Wheel of Time. The Sword of Truth just, honestly, is very dumbed down. Plus I'm sure they've both read the others books. The Sword of Truth just seems the less intelligent of the two series.
*Last message for Alex, miss-typed in the name field. Crazy Jordan fans trying to slander Goodkind is just sad. Both write great books for different reasons. No one copied anything and I doubt they've even read one another's books. You'll find similarities in all fantasy books.
Hey Sean, you do realize Robert Jordan is DEAD and has been for years, right? He hasn't even written the last few books published under his name. Suffice it to say, he won't be dropping by to read your comment. Further, "hardcore" Jordan fans like you give a bad name to both the author and his books. Ugly.
Goodkind. Robert Jordan's books are endless waves of disposable characters. You invest hour after hour and feel like you haven't moved forward an inch. It's relentless and draining. Goodkind's books are swiftly paced and offer plenty of twists and turns to keep things interesting. Further, every time I hear someone claim Goodkind copied Jordan, I've got to laugh. It's such b-s it's absurd to even imagine. The stuff they usually claim was copied is found in every sci-fi/fantasy epic ever created, from Star Wars to Highlander. Give it a rest. It's just not true.
Robert Jordan if you ever stumble across this post - good job! Goodkind if you read this - F you man - I only read your books because I didnt know of Robert Jordan. You are a F-ing loser - im guna write a childrens novel and on the 1st page i will say 'thank you r.j. for being an inspiration. F*ck you goodkind for being a fuking copycat.'
If anyone cannot see the blatant copying then there brain is rather small. All Goodkind has done is re-write Jordans words in a much trashier way - using rape, tortue and graphic murder to keep people entertained. I have read everything from both sagas and countless other fantasy novels... yes it is true that many, many storylines and ideas overlap HOWEVER, most other authors have a unique story and unique characters - THE ONLY GOOD PARTS OF THE SWORD OF TRUTH SAGA ARE THOSE TAKEN FROM WHEEL OF TIME - WHEN GOODKIND WRITES SOMETHING ON HIS OWN ITS F-ING TERRIBLE! Read both sagas and you will see.
Strange Adam that you should say that Robert Jordan has passed out of contention in relation to GRRM and SE considering RJ's first movie rights were just sold to Universal in a seven digit deal. Not to mention SE's novel series has barely posted more than three million sales in it's four years, while GRRM has put up slightly more. RJ has more than FOURTY-FOUR million sales. Granted he has had thrice the time, but has put up ten times the numbers. Contentious? I think so.
kelsey i agree with what your saying. most books have similar themes anyway. Theres nothing to do about it, you try to right a fantasy book that it 100% unique and original and yet interesting. You will find it nearly impossible fantasy in itself is a theme and a category and has to follow under certain restrictions. to say goodkind copied jordan is utter stupidity, what your saying that is jordan copied tolkein? I dont think so, imo goodkind prove his series stands alone. althought it may elements that have been seen before like all other books , it tells a unique and altogether different story than anyelse. goo goodkind! jordan is bleh. i went 100 pagesi nto the 4th book and kept falling asleep. Any good author would not make his reader drag on endlessly just to establish a point later on, it should all feel fluid and entertaining.
i say goodkind > jordan. I tried reading jordan the first book was great and epic but then it started to lose flavor. by the 4th book i found rand extremely annoying and most of the content to be filler that drags on with little interesting happening. My vote is on goodkind, he writes in a style i like more. Also to be noted is another great up and coming author j.v. jones check her out!