Customer Reviews

The Omen Machine (Sword Of Truth)

5 star:		(115)
4 star:		(36)
3 star:		(33)
2 star:		(26)
1 star:		(62)

 

 

First off, I am (was?) a huge SoT fan and like most everyone else, enjoyed the earlier books and tolerated the last few. I just finished The Omen Machine and quite frankly, I think I'm done with Richard and Kahlan (and TG as well). Don't get me wrong, I loved these characters early on, but with every installment, they get weaker and more one dimensional.

But even so, this one surprised me. A couple of the reviews already posted hit it on the head. ALL the characters are mere shadows of what they used to be. The dialogue is very weak, stunted and repetitive, and absolutely nothing exciting happens in the whole book. Seriously, not one thing.

What happened to the awesome power of Richard Rahl, when in a rage looses his power to blast through massive doors, blowing them from the hinges and reducing them to splinters skittering across the floor? What happened to 'calling the target' and 'dancing with death'? Now Richard just steps aside, "raking his fingers through his hair", wondering what to do. In this book, Richard's power and presence as a War Wizard and The Seeker of Truth is gone, and he comes off as just a guy with a cool sword.

The rest of the characters come across the same. Bewildered and ineffectual. It's a shame because there used to be so much depth to these individuals, but in this book they are just taking up space. They're just not the awesome characters we've come to love from 'Stone of Tears', 'Blood of The Fold' and 'Faith of the Fallen'. Those books are among the best Richard and Kahlan novels. I'm afraid this one falls far short.

TG doesn't have the story anymore. He's just filling pages with tired rhetoric playing off the fact we all used to love his characters.... hell I still love his characters and wish he would go ahead and write a book about them. You know.. the witty ones that invoked reactions from me while I read the the books.. the ones that made my eyes water and my chest heave, the ones that made me literally throw back my head and laugh. The ommmminous knowledge of a mord-sith and that if there are magics like that in this world WHAT ELSE WILL MR GOODKING HAVE IN STORE FOR US! or OMG the mud people, I laughed so hard when Richard slugged one of them. Just so many great memories from the series.


Apparently he has crap in store for us though. I used to be a really big fan, I've recommended and got numerous friends to start/buy this series.. Then I read the last 3 books, and was terribly underwhelmed. But hey, I finished the series, I was mostly content, and had every intention of reading any book Mr. Goodkind put out. I'd enjoyed huge swaths of the SoT series and felt prepared to give him a chance in any universe. Seems fair? I thought so.

Anyway, one of the 5 star reviews hit it on the head. It's like TG has turned this into Harry Potter. Lamest War Wizard EVER. Richard never does anything even moderately interesting with his almighty powers. I don't want to read Harry Potter or anything remotely like it, I don't want things spelled out for me to the point a moderately intelligent 6 year old could puzzle it out..

AND SOME WIT? Can we have some wit? ...

I'd still recommend you checkout the series, the first half of it is amazing (And Faith of the Fallen was a real gem)... but I wouldn't bother reading anything after Chainfire. All it does is make me angry. </10cents>

As a strong fan of the Fantasy Genre, and an avid supporter of the Sword of Truth series, I found this book vastly disappointing. There are a great number of reasons not to read this book. A few of such are as follows-


1 - The Circus of Stupidity
The whole short book comes off as a carnival show meant to display how everyone in the whole world who isn't Richard's close friend is an absolute moron. Every character that they encounter is viciously, unforgivably unintelligent. But it doesn't stop there; even the characters that we have grown to love (Nathan, Zedd, etc) have lost their edge, wit, and depth. These characters have suddenly lost the ability to grasp complicated concepts, and it is just sad.

2 - The Televised Evangelist
I am among the few who actually enjoyed some of the heavy preaching in the SoT series, but this book takes it over the top with endless snippets of proselytism that somehow completely lack the substance to actually engage, amuse, or teach anything at all. It is as Terry Goodkind is trying to hammer us over the head with his philosophy, but doesn't seem to have the time or inclination to follow his preaching through to conclusion. It only serves to cause frustration.

3 - The Ink is Fading
The text of this book has no impact. It has none of Terry Goodkind's usual depth or tension, and feels as if it had been written by someone completely different. It doesn't pack a punch. There is no spark. The writing is repetitive. The dialogue is boring. The words fall flat. No matter how much I tried, I just couldn't get myself to care about anything that happened.

I had issues, like most readers, with some of the previous books but not with our friends, the protagonists.

First and least important issue: the font size; Why?

Second issue (maybe the most important): It really felt like all of the protagonists in this book had regressed - significantly. In the last several books all had increasingly come to realize that Richard's instincts were tempered by magic and that freely trusting in him with every fiber of their being was the only way to save their souls from the keeper. After 11 books of Richard being correct, on all counts, suddenly all of his friends couldn't try any harder to be the first to disbelieve him. "Oh Richard, you're just letting your imagination get the best of you." "Don't you think you're reading into this a bit too much?"

Third issue: The dialog of the main characters felt off - dumbed down.

Fourth issue: Repetitive conversation, phrases, backstory... "I think this is the thing we're looking for", "Is this what we're looking for?", "Yes, this is the thing we're looking for", "I agree with you that this might be the thing we're looking for" or "I understand symbols", "Understanding the nature of symbols, I can now translate these symbols", "These symbols look very symbolic and it is right that they do so because they're symbols."

**spoiler**

Fifth issue: Nathan, over a thousand years old?, Nicci hundreds of years old?, First Wizard Zedd, Mother Confessor Kahlan... and the most they've got on an entire population of people and a form of magic that is uncounterable is "The country is wild and I once overheard a whispered rumor from my cousin's wife's best friend... which mentioned a 'hedge maid". Come on... flimsy.

**super-spoiler**

Sixth issue: The ending. The entire book builds up to dealing with the problems caused by the hedge maid and though her magic is unstoppable... storming her castle and killing her off takes like 5 pages of giant words.

It boils down to... I don't think I'll buy another Richard and Kahlan book and that sucks.

1. Purchase the Audio version of the book.

2. Invite over a roomful of friends.

3. Play the "Dark Darkness" Drinking Game.
Rules: Drink every time Goodkind uses the word "dark" or "darkness".
Caution: Do not use hard alcohol or your drinking game will be over far too quickly.

4. Play the "Prophecy is for Prophets, Not for Profit" Drinking Game.
Rules: Drink every time someone demands that only prophets (or only the gifted) should engage in prophecy.

5. Once you and your friends are good and drunk, have a rousing debate on whether Goodkind prefers:
A. Cara's blue eyes or Kahlan's green eyes.
B. Red leather outfits, brown leather outfits, or white leather outfits.

6. Pull out your poker chips and place bets on the total number of times each of the following will be stated, restated, reworded, and paraphrased:
A. We have no idea how the books in the library are currently organized.
B. The books in the library really ought to be organized.
C. I have decided that the books in the library will be organized.
D. This is how the books in the library will be organized.
E. A sheet of paper will represent each book in the library.
F. I'm not sure you should bother organizing the books in the library.

7. Cash in your poker chips and have a great night.

SOT brought me to the world of sci-fi/fantasy. I've purchased, read, and re-read all previous novels. The (what was supposed to be) final trilogy was a little weak, but I was glad the series reached an acceptable conclusion.

The Omen Machine was one of the worst novels I've ever read. There's no character development, no action, no conclusion. Just a weak bridge to what I assume will be a sad extension of a dead storyline. I sold my copy of the Omen Machine almost immediately after finishing. The 3 dollars I received brought me more value on a fast food dollar menu than this profound disappointment would. As far as I'm concerned, SOT ended with confessor.

I've read all the books in the S.O.T series, and also the Law of Nines. When I heard this book was coming out, I thought- terrific! Perhaps this will redeem the storyline that ABC ruined with it's incredibly lame tv series, Legend Of The Seeker; with it's woos of a Richard, who looked more like a 25 year old pizza delivery guy than a towering muscled woodsman/guide/warrior/hero and a Zed that looked more like a homeless psych patient than the Gandalf's brother I had imagined.

I hung in there and read The Omen Machine and when I got to the last page, I was left feeling like this was a school assignment, based on The Sword Of Truth books and the goal was to fill lots of pages with lots of words.

The actual story could have been told in 200 pages and it would have been a tight, interesting new twist in the longer saga. Goodkind also did a clever turn in tying in The Law Of Nines theory, which tells me that one day, we may see a time jumping Richard and Kahlan book that could bring the contemporary characters together with the originals to correct some error in the world of magic. That would be cool.

I had a couple of issues with The Omen Machine. First, there were several times when the most basic question could have/should have been asked by Richard, and for some inexplicable reason, our hero, one we know to be wickedly intelligent, couldn't come up with the query and we're left reading a scene that feels more like this: "OK, if it's bigger than a bread box but smaller than a house can I safely assume that it's not female?" Yeah, I didn't get it either. Where did the wizard's ability to sense talent in others disappear to? Why would deadly and devoted body guards stand outside of a room when the previous threats had happened inside of seemingly safe and inspected rooms several times already? The Mord Sith we have come to know over the first 11,000 pages of writing, would have been sitting alert, agiel in hand, in a chair right next to the person they were guarding. Some of the situations were not plausible given the talents and personalities of characters we already know.

Second, there was a LOT of repetitive information. The information we read seemed to be repeated. More than one time we were told the very same information. See what I mean? One detail was surrounded by redundancy as Richard said something out loud and one paragraph later, Zedd wondered about the same thing and then two paragraphs after that Zedd said, out loud the same thing that Richard had said out loud moments before and then Zedd said, "So what you're saying is ..." repeating the same... ARRRGHHHHHHHH! I got it the first time! And the second and third and fourth...

Granted, this book did not repeat itself anywhere near as often as the HORRIFIC Jean Auel, The Land Of Painted Caves; a 768 page book whose entire "story" could have been told in 76 pages. Still, I actually started skipping over parts of The Omen Machine when I saw I was going to have to read the same information again.

SPOILER******There was such a build up of the dangerous and powerful female nemesis, and though she was creepy when we finally met her, her end was a two second finger flick. Danger managed!

The Omen Machine felt like a story scoth taped to the series and I want the next book to be welded to it with unbreakable metal. I hope the next book, aside from a very short recap at the beginning, will get on with telling the story without redundancy to fill pages. We can take it! We're intelligent and we can remember what you just told us.

I'll hang in there and read the next one only because I have come along for the whole ride thus far. I know Goodkind can lose the dead weight, tune the engine of this storyline and take it for a fast and memorable run instead of the Sunday drive wandering around neighborhood that I just finished reading. Vroom Vroom. Let's go Terry.

I loved the previous books. I muscled through the slower books that were obviously meant to be set-up novels (Soul, Pillars and Phantom) and enjoyed the ending of the series. I felt it ended in a satisfying way with adequate closure to all open story lines (although I wanted more from Shota). I would have been absolutely fine with the series over.
This new book is a travesty of Goodkind's series. The characters are shallow and moronic and have shed all their characteristics that we have come to love...Zed's favorite lines in this book are "What do you mean", "I don't know" and "never seen that before"...where is the witty wizard of the 1st order? The Mord-sith let a woman covered in blood with a knife cross a room and come inches from offing the confessor? Since when is Richard controlled by the swords rage and not its master? Since when did he say "Sword be true this day"? Let the sword have a taste of blood? Nathan is useless (and the whole book is about prophecy). When did Kahlan becomes so helpless? The Bishop is ridiculous. ETC...
The chapters are short...and any length they do have is due to the repetition of dialogue...someone says it...someone repeats it...someone else repeats it...Zed asks what do you mean...everyone repeats...sometimes saying the same thing in the same paragraph 3 different ways... then we have a mysterious chapter ending...new chapter begins...where were we...oh, yes...repeating.

Not the same writer, but the same one who wrote The Law of Nines, not the same Sword of Truth story. Avoid it. It will only ruin the rest of the masterpiece.

Let me start by saying that I've been a fan of this series for many years. I usually read through the entire series once a year. In particular, I absolutely love 2, 6, and the last three (prior to Omen Machine). I think that Terry Goodkind has done his fans and his characters a huge disservice by putting out trash like this. I can't even fathom how it is getting good reviews on here.

I'll also say that in all my years of buying books on Amazon (or anywhere else), I've never felt the urge to leave a review. This book did it for me. I know that the Sword of Truth series is largely considered to be a step down from Wheel of Time and A Song of Ice and Fire, among other epic fantasy series, but this was far below any low Goodkind has committed before.

What I love about the previous novels is the depth of character and the interesting connection I could make to my own life and our world. He did a good job of providing subtle (and sometimes not) commentary on our world today, which I really enjoyed, even if I did not agree with him at times. The Omen Machine was empty of that type of linkage, and any sort of character development at all. Of all the characters we saw in this book, none of them saw any movement or any change. They were one-dimensional. This book was a framework for what could have been a good novel.

I usually devour new books. When the latest WoT book came out, I read it in about 8 hours. This took me weeks to read because I had no interest in it. I'm a Kahlan fan and I didn't even like her in this book. Cara felt forced to be more light-hearted just because she was married. Loose ends were ignored, and the book didn't even feel complete. There should have been some extra scenes in that book to wrap it up and present us with a good place to start the next one, but they were not there.

Goodkind is in money-making mode. He's at the point in his career when he can write books and people will buy them because its him. He has Legend of the Seeker, which is utter garbage, after saying he'd make sure they would stay true to the spirit of the books. Not necessarily the story, but the spirit. That's not even the case. Hey Terry, take a look at Game of Thrones. That's how you should have done it. You're destroying your characters and your legacy, and I think I'm more upset about it than you are.

If another fan asked me if they should get the book, I'd tell them not to. Borrow it or get it at the library if you really feel like you need to read it, but do not spend money on it. Terry Goodkind should not get paid for writing that piece of 6th grade level trash.

I was thrilled when this book was announced. I absolutely devoured all the previous books in this series. I don't normally buy books that are not released on kindle, but because of my past love affair with this series I made an exception. Boy was I disappointed.

The book throttles back on everything that made the series so successful. Gone are the thrilling action scenes that make you realize it's 2AM and you have been turning pages for 4 hours. Gone are the depth and feeling behind the characters you love. The adult darkness found in other novels has vanished, replaced by a flat and very young-adult type prose. The characters feel like they are 2D depictions in a 3D world.

There are not even any real challenges for the protagonists to overcome. They spend the majority of the book locked safely away in a palace and you are forced to listen to them drone on about the most uninteresting details that normally occupy very small percentages of a successful fantasy series. The story is completely unbelievable even when placed within the confines of a fantasy world. Even though Kahlan and Richard basically just saved the world, the world leaders inexplicably question their judgement on arcane and trivial issues.

Even Terry's basic writing style does not fit with earlier novels. Yes he did lay off some of the proselytizing found in earlier versions, but it's replaced by a complete flatness. His chapters often end and pick up only seconds away from where they were cut off, and the transition leaves you puzzled and unhooked.

And finally, the fact that this book says 400+ pages is extremely misleading. The font size is gigantic in the print version, and I finished this book in about 4 hours over the course of 2 days. I am an average reader and it normally took double this time to read his earlier versions.

In short, this book will leave any serious lover of the series wanting. I am saddened that my fond memories are now tarnished with this boring and pale imitation of the characters I used to love. Mr. Goodkind missed the mark on this one.