Lora Hates Spam

by Terry Goodkind

Classic Fantasy and I've heard it's a popular series. Unfortunately I couldn't see the appeal and quite honestly, if it had been a new author I would have DNF'd. It started out enjoyable, making a few allowances for its era and the fact that it's one of the forerunners of tropes that have been overdone ever since.

Magic has been separated from the world by a boundary, keeping it in the Midlands which amused me because the part of England where I live is called the Midlands. Richard encounters an unusual woman, Kahlan, and seeks to rescue her from four men following her, only to find out that she's pretty good in a fight.

He finds himself on a quest in the company of the woman, a wizard and someone who might be called a ranger (sound familiar?) and fights evil entities who are able to attack near the weakening boundary. Of course his quest will take him to the very heart of evil and he's been chosen to be The Seeker.

As familiar as this sounds, it doesn't come over as just another clone. Richard is a likable character as is Kahlan and all the 'good guys'. There are some harrowing moments, but as the story progressed I didn't find myself as engaged as I would have expected, considering the popularity of this series. Parts of it were tedious at best.

The mud people were particularly an interesting society and the world building was fairly good, but the pace of the story just didn't keep up. Halfway through I was reading extra just to get it over with. A seriously irritating character was introduced at that point and I really, really just wanted out.

Some of the old, very popular Fantasy authors turn out to be really fantastic, but I don't think I'll be reading Goodkind again. Between him and Gemmell I'm feeling put off my older authors in this genre. Life is too short.