Legend of the Seeker books - Sword of Truth books - Terry Goodkind - comments and reviews

The first series of Legend of the Seeker, known by addicts as LotS, is based on the first book in the Terry Goodkind series, Wizard's First Rule. The series is collectively known as The Sword of Truth series and consists of 11 books and the short prequel Debt of Bones.

The first series of Legend of the Seeker is, as I mentioned, based on the first book, and it is very loosely based on it. I saw the series first and after the end of the first series I decided to read the books.

Now the books are not short, in fact the paperback edition of Wizard's First Rule is 774 pages. I read the first four in paperback and the shortest was 648 pages and the longest 1056 pages. The rest I read in hardback and they ranged from 508 to 667 pages long. I guess the difference in the number of pages must be because hardbacks are bigger books than paperbacks? So all in all I read 7385 pages in about 4 weeks. I just wanted to see how it ended as soon as possible.

The main characters are Richard Cypher, the woods guide, Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander the Wizard and Kahlan Amnell the Mother Confessor.

When I read the first book the first thing that struck me was that the beginning was totally different to the TV series beginning.

Is this a bad thing? Well as I had not read the books first, when I saw the first episode the beginning looked fine to me. However that is not to say that I didn't think the first episode could have been better. Anyway I decided to stick with the series and it did get better, and I admit that I did like Bruce Spence as the wizard - in fact i liked Bruce Spence since I first saw him in Mad Max.

The main reasons, I suspect, why the books and the TV series differ so much is because each TV episode has to have some form of self contained story within the overall storyline and has to have, and generate, interest that will get the viewer coming back each week for more.

A book is free of that particular constraint and a well written story wil pick you up and carry you along.

Another reason may well be due to budget - some things in the book may not be reproducible on screen or just would not transfer well from printed page to screen. As an example, the whole Mud People section is left out as I suspect it would be difficult to transfer it to the screen in the depth required within the constraints of the number of episodes to be aired.

The key to enjoying the Legend of the Seeker TV series is to treat it as entertainment in its own right, and not as a comparison to the Sword of Truth book series. If you do that, it works well and you can critique it as you would any TV series, admiring the actors, haranguing their acting ability, enjoying the camerawork, music, dialogue, interplay between the stars etc.

The TV series of Legend of the Seeker is worth watching, the book series of Sword of Truth is worth reading, treat them individually and enjoy them, just don't compare them.

I will summarise all the books here in due course.

UK readers can buy the Sword of Truth books here.

In the meantime if you really want to know the difference between the TV series and books then dblyn has a useful hub here.

At the beginning of the Legend of the Seeker series,(based on the Terry Goodkind novel series, The Sword of Truth) episode one, you get to see the great barrier, shining green, that separates the Midlands from the Westland, and it is also described in book one of the series, The Sword of Truth.

The origin of the barrier is briefly detailed in both the TV series and book series but the specific details of how they came to be in existence is never touched on. All we know is that the wizard Zedd, (Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander) created the barrier.

Debt of Bones is the prequel to the series and goes into detail of how the barrier was erected and the principal protagonists.

It centres around Abby, a young mother whose village people, including her own child is being held hostage by the D'Harans. She comes to enlist the help of the First Wizard to free the villagers, stating that the wizard must help her as a Debt of Bones is owed.

Basically, if one does something for someone else, like saving a life, a debt is owed. If that debt is not discharged during life, the debt is passed on in death, in the bones of the person who owes the debt to the descendants of the person to whom the debt is owed.

Now the war against D'Hara is not going well and Zedd has come up with a solution, the barrier; but he now has to fulfil the Debt called on by Abby, seemingly interfering with the erection of the barrier.

He can either erect the barrier or save the villagers.

But things are not always as they seem and difficult decisions have to be made, by Zedd and Abby.

This is an interesting book, very short at 116 pages and very easy to read and an easy introduction to the magic infused world of Terry Goodkind.

UK readers can buy  Debt of Bones here.