Posted: December 30, 2020
Stone of Tears
This second book in the Sword of Truth series establishes the series as a fantasy tale worth following. Even though it is derivative of The Wheel of Time I find the Sword of Truth to be the superior story.
Although I cannot prove it, I am of the opinion that Stone of Tears - and many elements of The Sword of Truth - is derivative of Jordan's A Wheel of Time.
The Stone of Tears in its very title reminds me of the Stone of Tear in The Wheel of Time. In this book we also have the introduction of the Sisters of the Light which remind me of Jordan's Aes Sedai. The control collar known as the Rada'Han is called an a'dam in The Wheel of Time. And so on and so forth. Enough similarities exist to fuel speculation about The Sword of Truth taking elements from the Wheel of Time.
That said, it is not a big deal to me because I have found greater pleasure in reading The Sword of Truth series more than I have in reading The Wheel of Time series. Goodkind might be using the same ingredients but he cooks a better meak.
This book shows how Richard is "captured" buy th Sisters of the Light, the backdrop being the village of the Mud People. We are introduced to mains series character who I have grown to love, Sister Verna. Her journey with Richard to the Palace of the prophets is quite memorable what with the introduction of Gratch, a gar and Richard's discovery of the sword fighting abilities granted by the Sword of Truth as he is intangled with the goings-on between the Majendie and Baka Ban Mara tribes.
The worldbuilding continues with the introduction of the Palace of the Prophets and the Old World.
We also have a neat adventure with Zedd and Adie that not only involves an undead guardian but gives significant historical backgrounders to the world of the the Sword of Truth.
It's baffling to me that even though Gookkind is a middling prose writer I am so taken by his story. This book, in particular is one of the three best books in the series.