I've just finished reading "Wizard's First Rule" by Terry Goodkind, the first book in the Sword of Truth series. It was an impulse buy while browsing at Barnes & Noble and it was one of the most engrossing fantasy novels I've picked up in a while. Reminding me a great deal of the "Sword of Shannara" series (some of my favorite books), the story revolves around Richard Cypher, chosen to be the Seeker and carry the Sword of Truth to defeat an enemy in a far off kindom. It's got prophecy, magic, dragons, a love story, and even some S&M thrown in for good measure.
I haven't devoured fantasy at this kind of rate since I picked up "The Eye of the World", the best news is that there is another six books in the series all with good reviews.
In other news, as it was my birthday last week I decided that I deserved to buy myself a digital camera, so I got myself a Casio Exilim EX-S3 3.2 megapixel digital camera. It is really tiny, just 90x57x11mm, I wanted something that I can just slip in my pocket.
On my way home from work I popped into the new Shaw's supermarket that just opened and while browsing the "shop the world" section, spotted the food products from home; nestle chocolate, PG Tips tea, etc. I couldn't resist buying a Yorkie and a Lion bar, I haven't had either for years.
The Sword of Shannara is so close to Tolkien's work that I consider it plagiarized. I seem to recall a couple moments that were lifted straight out of Tolkien. I never read another book by the author I was so disgusted.
Re:Eh?
gav on 2003-06-03T18:10:32
There is a big difference between plagiarism and being influenced. The "Sword of Shannara" is definitely influenced by Tolkien, as is most fantasy written in the last half century. If you are going to disregard any stories that contain elves, dwarves, wizards and magic, with a basic plot involving a young character with a magical item going on a quest to destroy evil plagiarism, you're going to throw away a lot of decent reading. I'm sure that Tolkien would be glad that people are developing the basic genre he created, the literary world is plenty big enough, after all, "Star Wars" is basically a rip off of the LOTR but set in space.Re:Eh?
djberg96 on 2003-06-03T18:55:20
If you are going to disregard any stories that contain elves, dwarves, wizards and magic, with a basic plot involving a young character with a magical item going on a quest to destroy evil plagiarism...Oh, it's far worse than that, I think. I remember feeling that all he did was change the characters names and cut out the long winded stuff. I've read plenty of other fantasy stories that don't tread anywhere near so close. I'd do a point by point comparison, but that would actually require reading the book again. Oh, wait - here's a link. Even Orson Scott Card was bothered by the book, but he didn't go so far as to call it plagiarized. I think he was just being polite to another writer.
after all, "Star Wars" is basically a rip off of the LOTR but set in space.
I have no idea where you're getting this. The movie is based largely on Akira Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress. Other than a "travel" motif, the stories have little in common IMO.
