A brief warning. This blog post will likely contain minor spoilers for the Sword of Truth books, and bigger ones for the new one, The Omen Machine. You have been warned.
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Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series is one of my favourite series of fantasy books. When I heard the news he'd be writing more books in this series I was, of course, quite excited. I always enjoy the opportunity to return to the fantasy worlds I enjoy and the characters I've come to know.
Now I wish he'd just left it as is.
If I was Terry Goodkind, I'd be embarrassed to have my name on this book. It doesn't feel like a Sword of Truth book. The original eleven were deep, moving, epic fantasies. Characters were well developed and likeable and the plot was well thought out. They were well written, adult fantasy tales.
The Omen Machine, on the other hand, seems more akin in writing style to a young adult fiction. Not the adult oriented style we've come to expect. The Law of Nines, his last book, was also in a different style. However, The Law of Nines was also a different style and genre of book altogether, and this style seemed to suit it. It doesn't suit the Sword of Truth.
Not that I mean to imply young adult fiction is poorly written. Not at all. There's plenty of respectable books in the young adult market which are good for any audience. The Omen Machine, however, would not be one of these.
It seems to me that Goodkind has forgotten his characters. Zedd didn't come across as the smart, eccentric wizard that he is. The Mord Sith didn't feel like Mord Sith. Cara's wit, while still present, didn't seem as, well, witty. Kahlan didn't seem to be as strong a character, and Richard seemed to have lost a large chunk of intelligence.
The plot, also, seemed frail in comparison to past books. Basically, Richard and co. receive a number of confusing prophecies. They later stumble across a machine which seems to be issuing these prophecies. They get confused by the predictions of this A.I. and bumble around like fools trying to work out what it's talking about. They, of course, never seem to work out the prophecy until after the prophecy has happened, by which time it's too late.
In one of the most frustrating moments of the book, the machine finally issues a prophecy regarding Kahlan. The prophecy explicitly implies that Kahlan is in mortal danger, yet Richard just doesn't seem to get this, and barely takes any extra steps to protect her. This then leads into the books rushed, and rather unsatisfying conclusion. Though, in all honesty, rushed conclusions are hardly anything new for Goodkind.
I've never been much of a fan of how Goodkind writes about prophecy either. He just seems to unnecessarily over complicate it for no good reason. With prophecy being at the forefront of this new book, it just serves to bug me even more. As much as this is a personal gripe, it still doesn't help the book any.
Length is another thing where this book doesn't hold up. On a page by page count, sure, it matches his others. But, taking into account spacing and words per page, this is much shorter. I'd estimate at a little over half the length. The chapters are shorter too. One chapter in The Omen Machine when spaced out as in, say, Wizard's First Rule, would probably only take up two or three pages.
If only quality over quantity was applicable in this case.
I found myself skipping over large chunks of this book as well, as I found it uninteresting and repetitive. Quite often the characters would seem to be having conversations that they'd already had a handful of chapters ago. Or there would be long, detailed explanations from one character to another of facts they should already know.
I don't get it. I know Goodkind has the talent. It just feels like he's been lazy with The Omen Machine. Like he just got a book out for the sake of getting one. Like he has made his riches off the original eleven, and the television series, and knows that a new book is going to sell well, no matter how terrible it is. I feel extremely let down by Goodkind with this book.
It's not over either, I'm sure. The tale was left open enough for there to easily be at least one more book. I can only hope that any future books are more worthy of the Sword of Truth legacy.
In favour of the book though, it did introduce a new villain, who I feel has potential. The chapters introducing him were among the more interesting of the book. One character isn't enough to save a book, however, so hopefully he picks up his act again for future books.
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