Skip to main content

Reading: Confessor by Terry Goodkind

I'm reading this book right now. I bought this book at random. By random, I mean I didn't find anything more interesting at National Bookstore that day. I would have greatly preferred a novel by a Filipino author...but I don't like reading Tagalog and the English-language short story anthology by Filipino authors that I did find were printed on poor-quality paper. I used to be not at all fastidious about the quality of the print, but lately I am. It's strange.

Anyway, I think I've mentioned before that I really don't read high fantasy. I am fascinated by it but for some odd reason I don't like to read books about them. I once tried reading Tolkien's Silmarillion and The Two Towers (from The Lord of the Rings) but couldn't even get past the second chapter of both books. I was only able to finish The Magician's Nephew from C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia by some herculean effort. I really don't know why since I'm fine with watching the movies (The Lord of the Rings trilogy is some of my favorite movies of all time).

And then here comes Terry Goodkind.

I first heard about this author through the tv series, The Legend of the Seeker, which is based on Goodkind's The Sword of Truth series. FYI, I don't watch the show. Sometimes I catch it on TV when I'm flipping channels but I don't follow the story and only have a very basic grasp of what's it's all about. Obviously, the way all high fantasy usually is, it's good vs. evil with some unlikely hero rising up from the ranks to vanquish the great evil overlord of something or other. My sister is a fan of the show. I think that must have registered unconsciously in my brain so that when I did go to National Bookstore last week and saw this book, Confessor, supposedly the last book of the series, I just went and bought it without thinking about it too deeply, like "am I going to regret this?" It costs P315.00. I could buy two paperbacks at Booksale for less than that.

Yet, even more oddly, I have no regrets. It's a fascinating read right from the get-go. I don't know if it's Terry Goodkind's writing. The first line of the book goes like this:
"For the second time that day, a woman stabbed Richard."
Quite simple but it does very well in drawing the reader in. Understand that I don't have any sort of previous background on the series, and yet the story is not hard to follow at all. I had initial trouble orienting myself with the setting or who's working for who and who's on whose side, but the book is very plain-speaking. No overly manipulative characters or deceptive ones. Sure, there are evil characters who manipulate people but the book actually tells you that this character is so-and-so and he has this kind of power and he's bad but now you know, so no problem trying to decipher any hidden meanings between the lines. lol

I haven't finished reading the novel yet. I'm in the middle-part. But so far so good. I'm not sure if I want to read the entire series now or if I'm now entirely sold on the high fantasy genre, but this one book is doing a great job of entertaining me.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Moview Review: The Lady Shogun and Her Men

I've heard about this story for sometime now. The Japanese title is Ooku , which refers to the chamber in the shogun's castle where all the women of the shogun's harem are kept. However, Yoshinaga Fumi's manga, on which this movie is adapted, adds a twist: the shogun is a woman and beautiful men fill her harem. THE STORY In the year 1716 Japan, most of the men have died from a deadly disease that only affects men, resulting in their population dwindling to as much as 1/4 of the total population of women. Consequently, women fill in the traditional roles of men, performing hard labor, managing businesses and running government while men are pampered, protected and allowed only to indulge in light entertainment. In this nonexistent Japan lives Mizuno Yunoshin (Kazunari Ninomiya), a teenager from an impoverished samurai class family. He likes fencing and his childhood friend, O-Nobu (Horikita Maki), but because of his family's financial status (O-Nobu is a daugh...
3 comments
Read more

I have loved the stars too truly to be fearful of the night

THE OLD ASTRONOMER. - Sarah Williams R EACH me down my Tycho Brahé,—I would know him when we meet, When I share my later science, sitting humbly at his feet; He may know the law of all things, yet be ignorant of how We are working to completion, working on from then till now. Pray, remember, that I leave you all my theory complete, Lacking only certain data, for your adding, as is meet; And remember, men will scorn it, 'tis original and true, And the obloquy of newness may fall bitterly on you. But, my pupil, as my pupil you have learnt the worth of scorn; You have laughed with me at pity, we have joyed to be forlorn; What, for us, are all distractions of men's fellowship and smiles? What, for us, the goddess Pleasure, with her meretricious wiles? You may tell that German college that their honour comes too late. But they must not waste repentance on the grizzly savant's fate; Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light; I have loved the s...
Post a Comment
Read more

TV Review: The Queen's Classroom

Imagine a person with the emotional range of a terminator, the aura of Darth Vader and the Machiavellian mindset of Hitler. Now put her in a classroom. What you get is an unusual Japanese drama series that debunks the "heroic" teacher stereotype, presents searing commentaries about the state of the public school system, and gives you a character so evil and negative that the makers of the series had to show a clip at the ending transforming her back into just an actress. The show is called The Queen's Classroom and not for no reason. THE STORY Sixth grader Kanda Kazumi ( Shida Mirai ) is looking forward to spending her last year in grade school having fun and creating lasting memories with her friends. But problems arise when a strict new teacher, Akutsu Maya ( Amami Yuki ) is assigned as their homeroom adviser. Maya ranks her class strictly according to merit, punishing harshly those with the lowest grades while lavishly awarding those with the highest marks. So...
1 comment
Read more