Does size matter? (Debt Of Bones - Terry Goodkind)

Member Name: angiepanj

Product:	Debt Of Bones - Terry Goodkind
Date:	29/10/03 (49 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good story, provides history to 'The Sword of Truth', pictures

Disadvantages: very short, writing style a bit jerky, not value for money

This book was short.

Very short.

Its not a bad read, just there isn't really much to it. I certainly wouldn't advise anyone to buy it- I just don't think you get enough story for your money. Its definately readable though, so if you enjoy fantasy and can beg borrow or steal a copy from somewhere, then I would certainly recommend it as an hour or so of light entertainment. My copy was borrowed from the local library.

In the Sword of Truth books, Terry Goodkind produced a fantasy series of truly epic proportions, in volume if nothing else. This rather fun prequel is much more along the lines of a novella than anything else, although it does have its moments.

The book centers around a character that readers of the Sword of Truth series will be quite familiar with, the wizard Zeddicus Zul Zorander. Despite his immense wizardly power, he is quite a whimsical soul, our Zed, whose hobbies include putting people into unecessary danger, taunting the enemy and ignoring advice. Just an average wizard going about his daily business. He does have the ability to speak to five different people at the same time, which, when you're the head wizard, can come in very handy.

The story begins with an ordinary young woman (Abby) going to see the wizard (because of the wonderful wiz he wuz). She carries with her a mysterious bundle, which when pressed she reveals to be bones. On the way to the huge castle in which he holds his audiences, she meets up with a rather nasty woman, who, although it is not revealed to us at first, is holding her family to ransom. The terms of this are that she needs to bring the wizard to a certain place, by manouvering him into assisting her. The reasons are not given at this point, although you can tell from the sound of the baddies in this, and Terry Goodkind's other books in this series, you can be sure they are something typically unpleasant (after all in Sword of Truth series, wasn't th

e young Richard Cypher toutured for months on end by a young woman in red leather holding a pointy stick?? Scary eh?).

As with the other books I have read by Terry Goodkind, I tend to feel there's something rather lacking from his writing style. When you first begin to read the book, it doesn't really flow as well as it could do. The story does quite quickly suck you in, so that its much less noticable as the book progresses, but the jerkiness is still there. Its almost as though he makes up the story line in bullet point format, and is so desperate to get to the end of his list he doesn't worry about how he accomplishes it.

Despite this fault, it is nonetheless quite a compelling story, his characters are as true to themselves and well drawn as always in his books. In the young Zed which we are presented with in this prequel, you can quite clearly see the entertaining, cantankerous but gentle old man he will become throughout Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. The continuity is good, the baddies are an earlier incarnation of the original threat that will later be faced by Zed and his companions, and this book explains exactly why the world in which the first of the Sword of Truth books is set, is the way it is. The book also poses the moral question of whether its better to sacrifice the individual for the good of the many, or to save the individual about whom you care and disregard the outcome. Its got some pretty pictures to look at too.

Its a very friendly, happy read, and the ending will give you a nice warm fuzzy feeling. I wouldn't recommend anyone buys it as I really don't see it as value for money and would definately have felt hard done by if I had paid the cover price. Even so, for Terry Goodkind fans, or even for those who would like to be introduced to his writing, its not a bad read.

* price stated is from amazon

Summary: