Stone of Tears

Sword of Truth #2

by Terry Goodkind

First rate epic fantasy from the man who deserves to become the Tolkien of his day. The young hero is just beginning to understand the magic he has at his command, and only under the tutelage of the Sisters of Light can he control the Gift to combat the dark powers still arrayed against him.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Epic Fantasy, High Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Magic, Adventure

640 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 1995

About the author

Terry Lee Goodkind was an American writer. He was known for the epic fantasy series The Sword of Truth as well as the contemporary suspense novel The Law of Nines (2009), which has ties to his fantasy series. The Sword of Truth series sold 25 million copies worldwide and was translated into more than 20 languages. Additionally, it was adapted into a television series called Legend of the Seeker, which premiered on November 1, 2008, and ran for two seasons, ending in May 2010.
Goodkind was a proponent of Ayn Rand's philosophical approach of Objectivism, and made references to Rand's ideas and novels in his works.

Reviews

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as the first book but I still loved it

Happy Reading!

Mel ❤️

[Gavin · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 2019 reread of the Sword of Truth continued with Stone of Tears and I'm happy to say the reread is going well so far as I quite enjoyed this one. Despite its flaws and Goodkind's crazy morality this still proved to be a fun and engaging 1990s style fantasy epic. It had a great mix of fun magic, intriguing characters, and a plot that was interesting enough to hold my attention from start to finish with very few dull spots or lulls. Pretty impressive considering the audio for Stone of Tears is 38 hours long!

I've prattled on about the strengths and weaknesses of the SoT series and Goodkind as an author in my review for Wizard's First Rule so I'll not bother to do so again in this one but I will say that while I never understood the WoT comparisons while reading WFR I can see why they are thrown Goodkind's way after reading Stone of Tears. The introduction of The Keeper as an enemy and the Sisters of the Light/Dark into the story definitely felt like they were things inspired by the success of WoT. Not that I'm saying those things were bad! Goodkind might have borrowed a few WoT ideas but he still managed to weave a fairly original tale that felt consistent in tone and feel with the first book in the series.

The story in this second book was actually quite engaging. With Darken Rahl gone both D'Hara and the Midlands are in turmoil. Into the void a few new enemies appear. The biggest threat comes from the Keeper of the Underworld. He has gotten a bit bored with his eternal imprisonment and wants to escape to the world of the living to inflict a bit of eternal suffering and torture on everyone. It is up to Richard to stop him but he has problems of his own as he has no idea how to control his wizard powers and will die unless he can find a way! Kahlan had her own task in this one as her days of fun gallivanting with Richard were over as she had to get back to her day job of being Mother Confessor and start trying to whip the Midlands back into shape. A task a lot harder than it sounds since she has no wizards or fellow confessors left to help her. To make matters worse the lands are starting to bicker with each other at the worst possible time as a new enemy has arrived and is seeking to rule all the lands.

The story was a lot more fun than it sounds and it was easy to get caught up in Richard and Kahlan's struggles as they got themselves caught up in plenty of adventure and intrigue as they sought ways to defeat the various threats that had arisen to oppose them.

The weird thing about the SoT series is the fact that I usually find myself rooting for Richard and Kahlan even though their morals are pretty fucked up. I felt like Kahlan went off the deep end a bit in this one so I've no idea why I'm still a fan of hers. I'm sure I'd savage characters that did the stuff she did in this one if it happened in most other books so I've no idea why I always seem able to give Richard and Kahlan a pass. Perhaps Goodkind is just that engaging a writer or perhaps I just view him as that insane that it lets me give his characters a pass as I just roll my eyes and try to ignore the worst of the Goodkindisms in the tale!

All in all I had a great time with this 2019 reread of Stone of Tears!

Rating: 5 stars. It has its flaws but I'm just going to go ahead and leave my 5 star teen nostalgia rating intact. This series used to be my absolute favourite and it turns out even a reread cannot taint my fond memories of my early reads all that much. As it happens I found Stone of Tears super readable and quite engaging even this time around so it would have earned a 4-4.5 star rating from me anyway!

Audio Note 1: The official version of the series was narrated by Jim Bond. He is not awful but does not bring the story to life and actually manages to make it sound a bit boring with the way his narration drones on.

Audio Note 2: The NLD version of this series was narrated by Nick Sullivan. He gives a pretty good performance and manages to breathe life into the story. Why they never went with him for the official versions is beyond me!

[Choko · Rating 4 out of 5]

*** 4. 25 ***

[Richard Houchin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richard: we've gone from children being brutalized to the very depths of psychosexual sadism and perversion, including copropilia and yes, a little bit of pedo/necrophilia too
Mike: pedo AND necro?
Richard: yeah
Mike: at... the same time?
Richard: yes. I feel genuinely guilty reading this book
Mike: .....
.......
Richard: it's unbelievable
Mike: Dammit amazon, why don't you have same-day shipping?
Richard: it's a book they would sell to children without carding them, but if GTA gets sold to a kid it's horrible
Mike: haha
GTA4 is supposed to be excellent, incidentally
Richard: so i have heard
Mike: but i don't even know what platform its for
Richard: i bet it doesn't have pedonecrophilia, though, and i didn't even mention the bestiality yet, or, even worse, the masochism connected with all of this.
I'm really shocked by the series
Mike: ......!
Richard: and i am just on book 2 of 11
Mike: good lord
maybe he's trying to scare people off
Richard: i am genuinely hoping the characters die and die soon
Mike: ...
uhhh
Richard: because their lives are unspeakable
Mike: "Richard: i am genuinely hoping the characters die and die soon
and yes, a little bit of pedo/necrophilia too"
So maybe you hope they grow up ... and then die?
Richard: when the characters get into life threatening situations, I don't feel dramatic tension
i feel hopeful, like maybe a happy ending is finally in reach!

[J.G. Keely · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is always curious to see fantasy authors who don't consider themselves to be fantasy authors. Case-in-point: Terry Goodkind. The former landscape painter has told us how he isn't a fantasy author in every interview he's ever given:

"The books I write are first of all novels, not fantasy, and that is deliberate; I'm really writing books about human beings."(1)

"To define me as a fantasy writer is to misunderstand the context of my books by misidentifying their fundamentals."(2)

"The stories I'm telling are not fantasy-driven, they're character-driven, and the characters I want to write about could be set in any world. I'd like to address a broader audience."(3)

""What I have done with my work has irrevocably changed the face of fantasy. In so doing I've raised the standards. I have not only injected thought into a tired empty genre, but, more importantly, I've transcended it showing what more it can be . . ."

Then the interview usually devolves into a discussion of Ayn Rand and 'the meaning of art', just in case you missed the pretension of declaring fantasy books 'not fantasy!'

The guy certainly has a chip on his shoulder, but it makes me wonder whether he has actually read any fantasy. He doesn't seem to realize that the things he claims separate him from fantasy are fundamental parts of how modern fantasy works. A novel that's fundamentally about character interactions with a magical setting? How droll. Goodkind doesn't reinventing the novel; he doesn't even reinvent the fantasy novel, he just twists the knobs to get a little more steam out of it.

Michael Moorcock critiqued Tolkien as a false romantic, which is rather apt considering that his love story takes place almost entirely in absentia (prompting Peter Jackson to infuse some extra loving with a hot, elven, psychic dream sequence). Most fantasy authors rectify this by having the girl come along for the journey. Goodkind likes to keep the separation for much of the story as our hero tries to seek her out across a continent (though she is often just in the next room! Oh! What a tragic coincidence!)

Actually, after the first time it's just an annoying and painfully artificial way to try to hold off the conclusion for another hundred pages. It's a good thing Terry doesn't have to rely on magical or artificial means to keep his stories fresh!

The rest of the time, the hero finds the girl and lovingly transfixes her on his mighty sword. No, really. I'm not sure why these authors always end up feeling as if they have to dump their sex fetish issues at this particular juncture: "Huh, I dig BDSM. Maybe I should confide my fantasies in a book for mass publication".

I cannot think of a single female character in the entire series who isn't either raped or threatened with rape. If you want to give me an example of one, remember: I'm counting magical psychic blowjob rape as rape. I wish I never had the opportunity to qualify a statement with 'don't forget the psychic blowjob rape'.

I don't mind actual BDSM literature, but I'd rather have my own reaction to it than be told "isn't it totally dirty and wrong!? (but still super sexy, right?)" Porn for porn's sake is fine, but remember, Goodkind isn't some escapist fantasy author, these are 'real stories about real people' so he has to act like his magic porn is somehow a reflection of real life.

Goodkind's books are cookie-cutter genre fantasy, but the first few aren't that badly done, and if you like people narrowly missing one another, bondage, masochism, rape, and dragons, it might work for you, but the series dies on arrival part-way through, so prepare for disappointment.

If you are enjoying the series, you should probably avoid reading any of his interviews, as he rarely misses an opportunity to claim that he is superior to all other fantasy authors, and never compare him to Robert Jordan, because

"If you notice a similarity, then you probably aren't old enough to read my books."(4)

Goodkind truly lives in his own fantasy world if he thinks his mediocre genre re-hash is 'original' or 'deep'.

Then again, I've never met an adherent of Ayn Rand who didn't consider themselves a brilliant and unique snowflake trapped in a world of people who 'just don't understand'. The Randian philosophies are also laid on pretty thickly in his books, but at least he found a substitute grandmother figure to help him justify his Gorean sex-romp as 'high art'.

All in all, he's just another guy who likes to hear himself talk. Despite what he says, nothing separates his work from the average modern fantasy author, and like them, his greatest failing is the complete lack of self-awareness that overwhelms his themes, plots, and characters.

My Fantasy Book Suggestions

[Aela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is monsterous - considerably longer than the first book of the series, Wizard's First Rule -almost 1000 pages long. Needless to say, I never once found it boring,dull,or droning on and on. Every page and chapter in the book added something to the plot and the continuing saga of Richard and Kahlan.

The story starts right from the same time when Wizard's First Rule ended, not having to explain months or years of events that the reader didn't get to, well, read about. That always annoys me when a series does that. So far, this series is made all the better because it hasn't done that.

In this book, even more than the first one, I noticed that Goodkind switches to the point of view of several other side characters - and in some cases, different villans. However, this really adds a lot more depth to the book. I like to have different perspectives on events - it just makes the book seem all the more interesting. Some of my favorite side characters were introduced - including Sister Verna, one of the Sisters of Light. I identified most with her because she is the tempermental, strong-willed kind of lady who is just trying to do her job, yet Richard (known as Richard With the Temper amongst the Mud People - and for good reason) is constantly been a stubborn ox and arguing with her about everything. Of course, I understand Richard's point of view as well. He's already half-denying that he has the magical gift,yet of course he does - but in addition he has to leave his love, Kahlan and journey to a far-off place without marrying her as planned!

Cutest character - a baby gar that Richard almost kills, but seeing the way it cries and looks up at him with those big eyes, decides to leave it be. He ends up befriending the gar, Gratch, who follows him around as a loyal friend. Awwww!♥

I also loved Warren as a character. He's the shy, mousy sort of guy who is always made fun of. However, Richard sees him as a friend and important ally, since Warren can decipher the confusing prophecies that name Richard as the "bringer of death".

And Richard certainly lives up to his title. He seems to be really accepting his role as the Seeker, and now a wizard, in this book. At times it seems like he is always intense, focused, sometimes insulting to people, and making threats to those who may count themselves as his enemies. But what really made the book interesting was how Richard seemed to be able to do everything, any challenge -including things that nobody else had done for thousands of years. Yet, he always attributes his accomplishments to luck, chance, or foolish superstitions and stories.

At the same time, I found Kahlan's story intriguing - especially with the addition of Chandalen as a stubborn and usually insulting side character. He becomes loveable though, especially when he and the reader are able to recognize how Kahlan is not only a strong woman, but a fierce war leader as well.

And the ending - well let's just say it was satisfactory - for the reader and the characters. I'm still in love with this series and am looking forward to the third book.

[Kara Babcock · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was bad. I found parts of it way better than the first book, Wizard's First Rule, and parts of it abysmal. The only saving grace was the fact that I'm a sucker for crowning moments of awesome, and this book has quite a few.

Richard seems to be turning into a Mary Sue (or Marty Stu, if you have it that way). Don't get me wrong--I love to torture a character, rip away his world, and do bad things to him in general. But you need to make them stick. When you send someone through this pain and they emerge completely whole and happy, what's the point? So far Richard seems to be a rather static character. Yes, he's learning more magic, but he's still a headstrong idiot.

Massive trigger warning (although I don’t know how you could learn about these books without being warned about this before now) for rape in this book. Like, every second chapter Kahlan gets raped. That is … wow.

Weighing in at 979 pages, this book is a doorstopper that could have been edited down to a respectable 500-600. Parts of it were unnecessary, adversely affecting the pacing of the entire story. By the end, I just--well, I wanted it to end.

The story has merit. The characters are likable (not loveable). With some effort, I find the books enjoyable. But they could be better.

[Bethany (Beautifully Bookish Bethany) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

2022 Reread: This was a lot of fun. I definitely think this is a much better book than Wizard's First Rule in terms of pacing, writing, and plot.

*********************

The last time I read Stone of Tears I was a teenager, so it has been a long time! I have to say, despite some issues I mostly had a good time with this. The Sword of Truth series isn't groundbreaking by any means, but it's escapist fantasy fun with plenty of magic, plot twists, and characters I adore. (Richard, Kahlan and Zed top that list!). The characters are put into seemingly impossible situations, but good always manages to triumph.

We occasionally get Goodkind inserting some of his philosophical views in an eye-rolling way, but the plot generally makes this a page-turner and Richard is just the sweetest of all cinnamon rolls. In this book he must come to accept his wizard side, and will go through a lot to get there. Prophecy also plays a role again, and I always find that to be a fun element of the story. We meet the Sisters of the Light and Sisters of the Dark, and Richard must face his deepest fears. For the most part, I really enjoyed my time with this book. However, there is one very big exception that should be discussed.

The biggest issue I had was the frequent use of sexual assault of women as shorthand for evil. I will be getting into this in more detail below. But before I get into it, I will just say that for some readers, the content I describe would be enough not to want to read the book. And that's completely valid. For me, it did somewhat detract from it, but this is also a nearly 1k page book and there was so much of it that I loved regardless. But it's something to know going in.


****MILD SPOILERS AHEAD******


I will say I hadn't remembered how frequently r*pe and attempted r*pe happen in this book. From wartime violence to a means of degrading women during a coup, there we get numerous scenes with varying degrees of description. This might be a character coming upon the aftermath of a city being sacked where most of the women were sexually assaulted and murdered, a scene of a character being put in a situation where she is going to be assaulted but it fades to black, a scene where a character has been assaulted numerous times and is expecting it to happen again, and in perhaps the worst of it, we get a pretty graphically described scene of Kahlan experiencing assault and attempted r*pe. In addition, there is a character who is pregnant as the result of an assault and Sister Verna tries to convince her to keep the baby and not blame the sins of the father on the child. It's still framed as a choice, but it's kind of a lot. There are other examples but those are the major ones that stand out. Obviously this book came out in 1995 and the conversations happening at that time were very different, AND it's worth noting that Richard (our paragon of morality) is deeply repulsed by this kind of behavior, refuses to use women in this way, and even resists an open invitation from a woman who is not Kahlan. Still...it's pretty intense and worth knowing what you're getting into.

Alongside this, I noticed that promiscuity in women tends to be associated with being evil. It's not totally puritanical about it, as sex in a loving or affectionate relationship seems fine, and Zed has women flirting openly with him and it's not treated as a negative. HOWEVER, there is a pretty horrifying, graphic scene showing how the Sisters of the Dark are able to take in male magic (and we could talk about how having male and female Han or magic that are generally incompatible doesn't hold up great today either). But this is achieved through a violent ritual where the woman lets a monster with a barbed phallus have sex with her. Yep. I had forgotten about that one too. And the Sisters of the Dark encourage a novice to use her body to seduce Richard, and that choice does not lead her down a good path.

*sigh* I can't remember if things get better later in the series, but I definitely think these things were overused in Stone of Tears and some of it was difficult to read. If it wasn't for that, on enjoyment this could probably be a 5 star read for me, even if I don't think this is the highest quality version of fantasy. I still love a lot about it.

[Andrew · Rating 1 out of 5]

I honestly made it only halfway through the book before I had to put it down. The story was dragging on by the time I put it down. I already could tell that things like the marriage would not take place for a very long time. The return of Darken Raul I thought to be kind of lame. It seems the author is already trying to milk the story for more books, rather than push a stronger plot.

The final straw was the grotesque perverse explicit sex. I thought form reading the first that I could see where Goodkind was drawing the line at what he would put in the book. I was regretfully very wrong. I did find the irony funny that Goodkind goes to the trouble to create fake vulgarity, not even showing all of it, then goes on to show scenes of such perversion as to offend anyone with decency. I'm sure that as an author he views it his mission to offend everyone he can, and he has succeeded with this reader at least.

[Igor Ljubuncic · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite SoT book. I've read it three or four times in my late teens. And then I made a mistake and tried reading it again in 2014. A lot has changed in 15-20 years. But this review is based on how I felt reading this thing back then.

I even remember the day I bought the book. I stepped into a store and saw the lovely Tor cover. There was Richard, Sister Verna (is that her name), or is it Kahlan, and that garr thingie.

I opened one of the pages at random, and it was the scene when Richard encounters the garr's mother and slays her. In the middle of the page, it read:

Blood flies.

That one sentence hooked me back then, until I shattered my memory with a 2014 reading. My advice to you book worms out there, let your childhood classics rest, they probably won't turn as good as you remember them.

And no limericks for you today, I'm gonna keep them for later books in the series, because they surely deserve them more. Oh, I did confuse books 6 and 8 when it came to writing my reviews, but at that point in the series, it really makes no practical difference. Downhill is downhill.

But Stone of Tears is a solid one. Classic, epic, adventurous, and not to be read by cynics over 25 years of age.

Thanks for all the fish,
Igor

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of you may say that the writing is bad. I'd say not great but not bad either.
Some of you may say the characters are a bit whiny and the dialogues a little kiddish. I'd have to agree with that.

Then why the hell 5 stars?! you'll ask.

I'd say:

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 for a damn good story! Original and entertaining from beginning to end!
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 for magic and prophecies, for love and friendship, for bravery and sacrifice!
and last but by far not least
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 for Gratch!

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stone of Tears, much like its predecessor in the Sword of Truth series, was an entertaining story written in mediocre words.

The whole of the book -- or at least every other page -- is filled with sensational imagery and description. Everything about the characters and the events is passionate, desperate, and extreme. It gets a little tiring.

Even so, I enjoyed reading how various prophecies unfolded in twisted ways, I loved the boyish friendship between Richard and Gratch, and I even wept at the conclusion of the sub-story of Adie and her Pell.

If you enjoy magic and danger, this book is a decent yarn to entertain you between more taxing literary challenges.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

A couple years back I read the first book in the Sword of Truth series, Wizard’s First Rule, and it made me get all ranty and weird. But long story short: even though the book featured some of the most naive and derivative writing I’ve ever seen (at points, it was positively juvenile), and even though a large part of it read like a BDSM wet dream, I enjoyed reading it. It remains to this day one of the most batshit things I’ve ever read. So here I was reading book two, Stone of Tears, which I assumed from its absurd length, was just as batshit as the first one. Hooray!

Let’s just say I wasn’t wrong.

Stone of Tears follows the newly minted Seeker of Truth, Richard Cypher — fresh from saving the world from the evil Darken Rahl, who of course turned out to be his father, but he doesn’t know that yet! — and his one true love, the Mother Confessor (don't ask) Kahlan Amnell, as they go from the brink of happily ever after to HOLY SHIT THE WORLD IS ENDING AND IT’S ALL OUR FAULT in the blink of an eye. After getting their happy ending in Wizard’s First Rule, the two are separated by vast distances and improbable plot points, as Richard is taken away on the eve of their wedding by the mysterious and sinister Sisters of the Light, who profess to be teachers of wizards, and claim that unless he comes with them to their super duper secret palace in a land of far away, his burgeoning magical powers will kill him. So after forcing Richard to leave her — with that age old thing that isn’t actually a thing in real life but only in bad fiction, where a person shoves another person away, making them believe I DON’T REALLY LOVE YOU, so as to save their life, instead of being calm and rational about it and being all hey, I don’t know, honest? and maybe saying things like, “hey, Richard, I know you hate collars and all and it makes you feel like you’re back in the bad rapey place, but I love you and I don’t want you to die, so you’re going to go with these creepy women, okay?” But no, it’s, “I don’t really love you! Leave me! And you obviously don’t love me if you won’t do what I say!” Completely and utterly moronic.

So Richard goes off to study with these motherfuckers and he' s completely hostile the whole time and acting like an idiot, while Kahlan heads off to find Richard's grandfather, getting waylaid along the way by war in the Midlands by an Imperial army that is such an anti-democracy stand-in it's not even funny (cue a mini Ayn Rand lesson in the middle of my silly fantasy novel -- Terry Goodkind is a professed libertarian). Then Darken Rahl sort of comes back from the dead and the underworld threatens to eat the world of the living unless IMPORTANT RICHARD OF THE PROPHECIES can get his shit together. You know, fun stuff like that. Things get weirder from there, and so much crap happens it would be a waste of time for me to write it all out, not to mention you probably wouldn't even believe me because so much weird shit happens in this book -- like, rapey shit and junk -- it's almost surreal. Goodkind does manage to pull the whole thing into narrative form somehow by the end, which is frankly a miracle, but just barely.

Unbelievably, I think the writing has actually devolved since the first book. Or, at least it felt like it at points. In reality, Goodkind is the same ponytailed dude writing the same overly seriously ponytailed things. My reaction probably has more to do with the joy of discovery being gone. You know, that feeling you get when you're entering a new fictional world that goes something like, "Oh! This is here! What is this new thing? My brain feels pleasant right now!"? For a good chunk of Stone of Tears, that sense of discovery is missing, and in its place Terry Goodkind substitutes mind-numbing repetition, both of dialogue and of situations, mostly to do with the love story between our heroes, Richard and Kahlan.

When he's describing the rules of his world, or introducing certain characters, and certainly in his descriptions of battle in the Midlands, the book is interesting, even very interesting at points. But it takes Goodkind twice as long as a more talented author to get his point across most of the time because the dude doesn't understand the concept of subtlety. If he was about to be eaten by a giant slavering tiger and the only thing that could save him was understanding the concept of subtlety, Terry Goodkind would get eaten by the tiger. He just. Doesn't. Get it. It literally LITERALLY takes him pages of having characters repeat the same information over and over to even have them communicate in basic language with each other. Sometimes he, again literally, has characters repeat exactly what they just said the sentence before, but in a different form. He also falls into the juvenile writing traps of having characters say each others' names constantly, and having characters say exactly what they mean at all times. These are characters with no inner lives, because they are constantly taking all of their thoughts and screaming them to the world. It is super annoying. On top of all this mess -- there's just too much mess for me to even deal with properly in this review -- his characters not only talk stupid, but they're constantly doing stupid things for no reason except that the plot demands it, and more often than not, we're left with a hero who vacillates between incredible stupidity and superhuman nobility and competence, with nothing in between. The book is about two hundred pages too long, and almost none of the characters speak like they are real people. All together, it is just so freaking weird.

There were some good tings about the book. There would have to be in order for me to keep going. That thing is like 979 fucking pages long. I mentioned that I liked his action scenes, and I do have to commend him for creating Kahlan Amnell because she is a fucking badass (and I do really love the concept of the Confessors). Some of his other characters are pretty good as well (like Zedd), even as others are completely awful (i.e. Rachel, has Terry Goodkind even met a child before?). But I think mostly the reason I kept going, and the reason I will probably read the rest of the series eventually (besides having an OCD story completion fetish) is that I can appreciate the vast scope of the world Goodkind has created, and that even though I believe him to be unskilled as a writer, the world he has created lives on in spite of him. This thing is an undeniable feat of imagination, and there ain't nothing in this world I love more than the possibilities of the imagination.

Final verdict, 2.5 stars.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

ThIS.IS.FANTASY.



This series has true evil and true goodness. This has deep magic and war.

Finally an author who not only has good ideas but true writing talent putting so many others in their tiny places.

Fuck best sellers with nothing inside I could read Terry Goodkind all day.

Again I feel like my brain grew some new smart cells while reading this. He is so skilled at describing the mental state and progress of his characters and has the most scintillating dialogues. Not to mention how much philosophy is in this book.

The plot was much different from the first book and gave us the opportunity to really study the personalities of each character on an individual level.

Richard had to use his head like no other and was so wickedly smart throughout the whole book. He’s growing in wisdom and magic and I cannot begin to imagine what he will do in the next books. Also he's shedding some of that babyness and innocence while remaining a good person and I love it.

He made some very interesting friends that I’m very excited about. Also Nathan. Holly shit, I don’t know if I want him out or in or alive or dead, this is so deliciously mysterious!

While I am on his squad I have to take a moment to talk about the Gar. The cuteness relief was perfect and the moral lesson from it was perfect as well.

When it comes to Kahlan I have to correct myself from my review of the first book because she is not “one of the most hard core” she is the most hard core female character.

Forget the confessors magic, put it completely aside because what she did for and during that battle put to shame so many others and showed us the mastery of Terry Goodkind. The tactics, the emotions, the execution down to the last moment were impeccably done. This has to be one of my favorite battles of all time.

And then to go from that to the rest of things she had to face, I crown her the ultimate braveheart crown.

Even though the book was even bigger than the first, again I never felt for one second that a single sentence was not needed.

This is a series for those who truly enjoy world building. Terry Goodkind goes into detail about many different peoples of his world, he tells us their customs, their traditions, he wants us to understand the differences they have with each other as well as their histories.

This is not a romance masqueraded in swords and wanna be assasins and stupid snowflakes.

This is some real shit.

[Krystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fantastic continuation of the series, with some new themes to freshen things up. I really fell in love with these characters, and there was plenty of action and adventure to keep things interesting.

Solid follow up to Wizard's First Rule.

[Shannon · Rating 1 out of 5]

A huge disappointment after the first novel. I got through about half of this novel (hundreds of pages) before I felt all the meandering of the main tale and the love story were making the tale bland. After my glowing review of his first book I reluctantly gave up on this one and the rest of the series.

OVERALL GRADE: C minus to C; WHEN READ: 2001 (reviewed early April 2012).

[PurplePrimula · Rating 1 out of 5]

This has to be one of the most awful books I've ever subjected myself to. There were trouble already with the first book in the series, but I foolishly thought it might get better. I've listened to about a fifth of this audiobook now and that's just about as much as I can stomach.j

Really we can divide the entire series up in four parts so far.

About 20% crying. These characters cry constantly. Every little thing has them bawling their eyes out. At times I felt like I was about to drown in tears.

About 10% sex, and so far not one instance of it being consensual. Not ONE. Seriously every time any man who isn't Richard sees a woman she becomes prey.

About 20% Wheel of Time. The Sisters of Light was what finally made me give up in disgust. It's Aes Sedai all over again, complete with Mistress of Novices, angreal, black Ajah, the lot. Lifted completely from WoT, it seems to me, and altered clumsily to fit this story instead.

About 50% violence and torture, and revelling in it in a way that rather makes me worry for the mental health of Mr Goodkind. Every time someone is being trained for anything at all, it's through torture. Threats are thrown about all over the place. One character is even told by Richard at one point that if he opens his mouth to say anything at all for the rest of the day, even an apology, he will die. And Richard is supposed to be the good guy... At the point where I decided I'd had rather enough, one man was about to skin his best friend alive, and as a reward he gets to seduce a girl who didn't have a say in the matter. He is even told how to manipulate her into letting him. And all the way through, it has this feel of someone's fantasy being played out and the impression of the author going 'wow, yeah, cool!' at particularly gory bits. It's amazing some of these characters even have a single drop of blood left in them at all. I would say that it was amazing any of them were even sane, but sanity seems to be in short supply already in this book, so perhaps there wasn't really that much of it to lose in the first place...

Every single woman in this book seems to be a blood thirsty animal and every single man seems to be a potential sexual predator. All in all, the world building here is horrid. I definitely wouldn't want to live in it, not one bit. Even places that are supposed to be peaceful sound pretty awful. There's no balance to it at all. Honestly if it was me having to 'save the world' in this book, I'd probably just leave it to sort it out for itself, because I can't really see much worth saving.

Horrible book. Absolutely the most awful dreck.

[Jessica]

This book was less of a Wheel of Time Redux than the first one, but that's mainly thanks to the introduction of S&M and horny Mud People. You heard me. And this is where, I'm afraid, Terry Goodkind and I parted ways. The book was fine, It's not like I was disgusted or offended by it, but I just didn't care enough about the characters to keep going after this one.

[George Straatman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Warning: this review is fueled by seething frustration.
I must admit that I did not actually finish this book, but rather did what I rarely do and cast it aside in utter frustration and bewilderment. My attraction to fantasy…as both a writer and fan…is rooted in the belief that fantasy is the most creative genre where constraints are virtually non-existent. To my dismay, I am finding that this is often anything but the case. While it is true that there are intriguing new worlds, systems of magic and cultures aplenty...a sizable portion of the fantasy offerings dust off and propagate the imbecilic notions that have made the four step death dance the most popular movement in human history. I was sickened by the king and country tripe espoused in Kay’s Tigana, but even that did not adequately prepare me for Terry Goodkind’s Stone of Tears.
After reading through 570 pages of the second novel of this series, I can only conclude that this author is an idiot of Himalayan proportions. Never in all of the years that I’ve been reading have I encountered a protagonist who openly advocates genocide and absolute racial cleansing. Goodkind kind repeats this vile act, not once, but twice. The Jokopo race is annihilated to a one by the mud people and this act of cleansing is justified by the theory that these people are inherently bad and must be effaced from history…Kahlan Amnall (who along with Richard Cypher/Rahl could well be the most annoying pair of protagonists that I’ve ever encountered. Though Goodkind attempts to paint their great love in shades of Romeo and Juliet, he fails wretchedly.) and her insidious rhetoric to the Galeans that they must kill every soldier of the Imperial order to a man was the last straw (exacerbated by her insistence that the cavalry horses must have their legs broken and those who disagreed with her strategy of a war of obliteration should also be killed to a one). All of this slaughter is undertaken in the name of rightful vengeance, honor and the lofty ideals of the grievously offended without ever a thought that descending to the same level creates the same monster. To openly espouse total ethic cleansing as the legitimate action of supposedly moral people is vile. If this is any indication of his personal belief, Goodkind would have had the victors of the Second World War order the extermination of every living Japanese and German survivor.
Goodkind is technically a very capable writer, but to propagate this kind of tripe is odious and he should be ashamed.
The worst part of this is that I received all eleven novels as a Christmas present.
I give this novel a 1/5

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.0 Stars. Good (if very long) sequel to Wizard's First Rule. Expanded the scope of the overall story and continued to add depth to the characters. The magic system is very compelling though the writing is often clunky and can sting the ears. Still, a good solid read.

[Eric Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Opinionated Look at:

Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth Book 2: Stone of Tears

By Eric Allen

Well, I said there might be a bit of time between reviews in this series since I'm not being paid to do this anymore. Apparently I meant it. It's been, what, 4 months since I posted the last one? Anyway, for a very long time Stone of Tears was my favorite book in the series, right up until Faith of the Fallen came out and bumped it down to number 2, where it remains to this day on my list of favorites in the series. I really do love this book, even though there are many things in it that I utterly abhor. For example, there is more violence against women in this book than all of George R. R. Martin's entire written library combined. These are things that as a male teenaged high school student didn't strike me as all that bad, but as I got older and hopefully wiser, I find to be pretty horrifying and in rather bad taste. This book would have gotten 5 stars if only it had just known when to tone it down a little bit.

We begin what seems like mere minutes after the previous book ended. There seems to be great trouble with the Underworld, and Zedd takes off to enlist the help of Addie, who is the most knowledgeable person he knows on the subject, to try and put things right again. Meanwhile, Richard and Kahlan return to the Mud People because reasons, and make plans for their wedding. But, it seems that killing Darken Rahl in the previous book has activated Richard's innate magical abilities, and these abilities are now killing him. Enter three Sisters of the Light and long story short, Richard is taken away to learn magic while Kahlan heads north back to the midlands only to find an army doing horrible evil things.

The Good? While there isn't much improvement in the writing over the first book, the quality doesn't really go down in this book. It's still pretty well written, if clunky at times. I think this one could have used maybe a little more editorial influence, but as a whole, the writing is pretty good for someone who had only written one book ever at the time of it's publication. (including unpublished works)

The world, which was magical and mysterious in the first book has been expanded upon greatly in this book, adding in more of the Midlands, more of how governments work, more of how magic works, and we see more locations and things to make it feel a lot less like a few scattered towns in a vast wilderness as it sort of did in the first book. It gives the book, and the series, a far more epic scope and feeling to it.

There are some pretty amazing action scenes in this book. Kahlan's nighttime raid on the Imperial Order. Awesome. Richard vs. Lilianna. Awesome. Sisters of the Dark vs. everyone. Awesome.

Something I've always liked about this series is that the solution to the conflict in one book will often be the direct cause of the conflict in the next one. I've always liked the cause and effect sort of thing Goodkind tries to implement in his stories. Every action has a reaction. Everything you do has consequences even if you can't see them at the time. It's a pretty good lesson to learn in life, and a pretty entertaining way of trying to teach it.

The Bad? The beginning of this book is kind of a mess. It jumps around all over the place, and a lot of what's happening just isn't all that interesting or exciting, and it takes quite a while for things to really start moving at all. We have characters we've never seen before showing up just to give long stretches of exposition. Action scenes that are somewhat out of context, and therefore also somewhat boring. We have characters revisiting places they've already been and doing things they've already done. It probably could have been handled better, but Goodkind was a relatively inexperienced writer at the time, so it's forgivable. This is part of the reason I said this book could have maybe used a little bit more editorial influence in it. A good editor could have sat down with Goodkind and tried to sort some of the mess at the beginning of this book out, and maybe made it a little more exciting and enjoyable.

There are some very, very uncomfortable moments in this book. Moments when characters do or say things that are pretty horrible, and not usually what you would be expecting the heroes of a story to do or say. When Kahlan makes Richard put the collar on for instance. That scene is pretty painful. Kahlan down in the pit. That one's pretty bad too. Verna flat out giving her blessing to the murder of the innocent, or stabbing one of her best friends in the back? These people are supposed to be our heroes?

The romantic plot in this book is pretty cheesy. It's better than the constant one-note, OMG we love each other but we can never be together line we heard 73,000 times in the first book, but it's still pretty clunky. And the resolution to the conflict in the love story is pretty heavy handed and laughable too.

There's more cheese in this book than Wisconsin. Now, there's two ways you can really look at it. As something to be constantly annoyed by, or as part of the book's charm. I prefer the latter. I know I'm reading an extremely cheesy story, and I enjoy it for what it is, rather than complaining about it. Of course, if your tolerance for cheese is low, you're probably going to want to skip this one.

The Ugly? Again, the violence against women in this book is so over the top into horrors out of H.P Lovecraft's worst nightmares, that it really puts a stain on the rest of the book. It drives home how evil the Imperial Order is, but it is extraordinarily offensive, crass, and frankly childish of the author to have done so in such a way, and in such vivid detail. There are other, better ways to show how evil people are than to show the aftermath of an entire city's worth of women raped to death. Honestly! Kahlan in the pit is another pretty offensive part to get through. Instead of, oh, I don't know, using some of that awesome martial arts training she displayed so often in the first book to bring the hurt on and buy her enough time to figure out what's wrong with her power, she lets the guy grope her? Really? Bad, Terry Goodkind. Bad! No treat for you. THAT'S NOT HOW WOMEN THINK OR ACT!!! Honestly, I used to think he was good at writing strong female characters... now I'm starting to wonder what I must have been smoking when I thought that. There were just a whole lot of horrifying, terribly offensive things toward women in this book that really didn't even need to be there at all.

Anyway, in conclusion, the beginning of this book is pretty clunky and terribly put together, the book is unrepentantly cheesy, the love story has some really stupidly artificial tension tossed into it and it's resolved in such a cliche way, and the violence against women is pretty over the top. However, despite it's flaws I still enjoy it quite a bit. It's still my second favorite book in the series, though having reread it, I'm starting to see where some of the bad writing and terrible storytelling decisions Goodkind made in future volumes came from. If you liked the first one, and can stomach a ridiculous amount of sexual violence (or better yet just skip it entirely because it adds exactly nothing to the story), this is a pretty good followup. But, again, this series is not for everyone. It carries a pretty strong "R" rating,if not an "NC-17", for extreme violence, much of which is against women, sexual content, and detailed, graphic descriptions of gore, rape, other sexual violence, and so on.

Check out my other reviews.

[Wanda Pedersen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let’s call this 2.5 stars for my reading experience of this volume. I was quite shocked, as I had enjoyed the first book enough to give it 3.5 stars. But reading this one just wore me down. Just as the first volume dwelt lingeringly and lovingly on Denna’s torture of Richard, this volume seems to document the brutality and misogyny of the Imperial army in the same way.

Finally, just over 80% of the way through, I reached a point where I just couldn’t take any more and resolved to set the book aside until I could face that level of hatred & violence again. Now, I get that Goodkind is setting the bad guys up as truly evil with these attitudes of theirs, but I am a woman and when I read all this violence and vitriol against women, it grinds me down. I hear enough of this shite in the news each day and reading it in this extreme form in literature too just feels like masochism.

Last night, feeling buoyed up by my Sherlock Holmes summer project, I resolved to finish this book. I am pleased to report that the hiatus did the trick--I was able to finish the novel without noticeable distress. And now Richard and I have learned the Wizard’s Second Rule--you may do things with kindness as your intention, but these acts may lead to unexpected negative consequences. As they say, no good deed goes unpunished.

I have planned to read the third book in this series before the end of the year. I have to say that I’m kind of dreading it and that I am already planning to use my new strategy for reading it. The Blood of the Fold are another bunch of misogynist assholes, so I’m planning plenty of breaks while I read that sucker. I can’t guarantee that I will finish it, but I will give it an honest try.

Book number 324 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.

[Ricardo Portillo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Apparently, I have two things going against me liking Goodkind's books, 1) I have read Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series prior to starting the Sword of Truth and 2) my threshold for misogyny is not sociopathic.
I am quite aware that Robert Jordan himself is sub-par and works off of Tolkien and Frank Herbert etc., but at least he used some discretion and tact. But Goodkind, my lord, he just rips off ad nauseam from Jordan's constructs and mythologies. Always staying strategically one inch away from legally defined plagiarism.

And he doesn't even do anything with what he rips off! Every character is just a robotic cutout, following a script designed to (try) to make the reader feel something, regardless of how the character would act in "real life".

Now as for the women-hating, geez. Every young woman is raped (if you are not Kahlan) or almost raped (if you are Kahlan), and/or prostitute's themselves for personal or society's gain. If there were a valuable message from all this I guess it would be ok, but there is none! It is completely gratuitous and, more disturbingly, seemingly meant to titillate in some cases. So far in this series the *only* battered woman I've found worth reading about is Denna. With Denna, Goodkind at least tries to explore the psyche of a woman who has gone through such ordeals. But that's the extent of his merits, after that he just uses misogyny as an easy and lazy way to get the reader riled up. He apparently does not have the talent to provoke the reader in any other way.

Finally, then I start reading about the author, the interviews, etc. He is not a likable person. There is a seediness that permeates this author and his writing. He is a machiavellian and misogynistic delusional douche. I think that sums up Goodkind in a nutshell.

[Gwen (The Gwendolyn Reading Method) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uh, parts of this were just fine but the romantic parts were so saccharine I wanted to gouge my eyes out and I'm a person who can only be described as a super-mega romance reader... I loved book 1, but this one I could barely get through.

[Leila · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my second time read of Stone of Tears and I enjoyed it all over again. If you like fantasy do try this series.

[Aly Lauck · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m riveted with this series!!

[Rob Towell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series as a whole is very good. I found that once I picked up the first book I flew through the whole series, stopping only when I read the last one out. I then continued reading as they came out. When I started reading them their was only five books, now that the series is complete we can set the whole thing into some perspective. I will be happy to see the TV show starting fall of 2008 and hope it is as good as the books.

On the less than benign side, the author does tend to stop telling the story and start preaching pretty often in the books. The books were written by a Moral Relativist in the style of Ann Rand and he tends to spend what seems to be about 20% of each book preaching this message of Objectivism. As someone solid in my faith and not very sensitive to other view points it did not affect me and I was able to continue reading, however I have met people who hated it based solely on the authors preaching and others who loved it for the same.

The Books bounce from Great to below average and back up to great again as you read through the series. I found Wizards First Rule, Blood of the Fold and Faith of the fallen were all five star books worth every minute spent reading them. While Stone of Tears, Soul of the Fire and Naked Empire were a waste of time all together. The rest of the series I would consider a three star series worth the time to read, but nothing special.

A strength of the Author is that he has the ability to articulate well and balances the need to describe a setting whether it be a city tavern or palace with enough detail for you to feel like you are there while not rambling on forever without focus. His ability to engage you in the emotion of the character at the time and create exciting scenes of both political and martial nature is impressive. I plan to read his other books as soon as I get a chance.

A weakness of the author is he seems to give the Protagonist powers and abilities just so he can think of a way to take them away. It also seems that all the other characters in the book only exist as contrast for the Protagonist (Richard). Also the scope of power available to the characters varies greatly by plot and this can be very frustrating if you keep track of stuff like that. Or if you are like me and try to solve the problem in you mind before seeing what the protagonist does.

My only technical peeve with these books was the inconsistent nature of the way Magic/Powers worked and how they interrelate, which also focused heavily on every new power introduce was a trump over every other power.

All in all though there are good and bad things in these books they are overall very good.

[A · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Stone of Tears” is the second book in Terry Goodkind’s “Sword of Truth” series and it is every bit as good as its predecessor, “Wizard’s First Rule.” After the big reveal about Richard’s heritage at the end of Book 1, the opening of Book 2 seamlessly moves forward with more magical intrigue and adventure.

It all begins with an unexpectedly brutal battle in D’Hara, where Zedd discovers that something magical has gone horribly wrong. He knows that Richard is the one who needs to get to the bottom of things, but Richard and Kahlan have left for the village of the Mud People. Their plan: to indulge in some much-needed relaxation and to prepare for their upcoming wedding. Everything is going well until Richard begins suffering from crippling headaches and three women known as Sisters of Light show up, warning Richard that his headaches are caused by his magical “gift.” As his power grows his headaches will become worse, eventually proving fatal unless he learns to control his magic.

The sisters claim that Richard must wear a Rada’Han – a magical collar that controls his gift – then follow them into the Old World in order to receive the training he needs. He is reluctant to agree to their terms, but eventually he’s left with no other choice. Kahlan stays behind with the Mud People and Richard leaves with the sisters, but unbeknownst to them this will put the fate of the entire world in jeopardy. During his battle against Darken Rahl in Book 1, Richard accidentally tore the veil between the world of the living and the underworld. According to prophecy, Richard is the only one who can seal the veil and place the Stone of Tears back on the Keeper, preventing the evil fiend from escaping into the world.

At nearly 1,000 pages long, “Stone of Tears” isn’t a light read but it is an engrossing one. Just as with the first book I read this story late into the night, even when I had to get up early the next morning. There were a few slow chapters but for the most part the plot moves right along, aided by relatable characters and the increasingly fascinating mythology of Richard’s sword, the Sword of Truth.

[aria ✧ · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think I’m done with this series. I can’t take more of this😀

Richard and Kahlan infuriated me to the point of tears. Much like the first book, the scenes became repetitive after a while and everything was just so stupid. I don’t care anymore.

Especially after the multiple rape scenes, pedophilia, getting turned on by being shit on and general messed up kinks this book had…I’m good.

[Larry · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dnf around 50% to put it simply I do not care. What frustrates me the most is that I wanted to like this series, but Terry Goodkind is just a bad writer and doesn’t know how to tell a story in an interesting and thought-provoking way. Most of the time it feels like Terry Goodkind is sitting next to me jabbing me in the rips saying “look at this that’s the idea I’m going for in this scene” everything is just too on the nose because he thinks he’s smarter than his readers. If you told me this was written by a high schooler going through puberty I would say, oh that makes sense.