Howl's Moving Castle

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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows JK Rowling 9/10

What can I say about the seventh book in the series? If you're going to read it, you will. The only reason to read the seventh is if you read the first six, and if you read that far you'll continue.

I finished Deathly Hallows in a day - I started just before 9 a.m. and finished a little after 7 p.m. This 10 hour reading spree (well, less. I took a few breaks throughout the day) wasn't because it was the best book I'd ever read...I think I just wanted to read.

It's ironic that, after my criticism of the fantasy genre with Faith of the Fallen, I return in the next post to state how much I enjoy a different fantasy book. Frankly, Deathly Hallows is a fantasy I can enjoy - the plot is not focused on the startling difference of the fantasy world with long descriptions of the environment, it's simply focused on events and characters who happen to be in an alternate world.

The Harry Potter series is not just a book for children, though it's mostly appropriate for them. If you enjoy reading and a good story...well, then, you've probably already read them. If you haven't, what are you waiting for?

Faith of the Fallen

Faith of the Fallen Terry Goodkind 7/10

Faith of the Fallen is the sixth or seventh in a series of fantasy books entitled "The Sword of Truth". I hadn't read any of the preceding books and was thus coming into things a little blindly, but the book was rife with detailed explanations of events that I can only imagine were covered even more specifically in the books where they originally occurred.

To be blunt, Faith of the Fallen is merely a rehash. It's a rehash of Ayn Rand and the Objectivist philosophy, only it's written by a less talented and less knowledgeable writer. I hate to be cruel for fear that Mr. Goodkind will someday stumble upon my blog and be deeply insulted, but I can only be honest. Faith of the Fallen is an obvious attempt to retell the story Rand told in The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged in a new scenario. He does a fairly good job, but simply due to subject matter he'll always be compared to Rand, and it's simply not a favorable comparison.

Rand had not only a better understanding of Objectivism, she had a clearer storytelling method and a more believable set of characters and character progression. If you want to read a novel to find out about Objectivism, I would recommend any of Rand's books over Faith of the Fallen unless you had a strong predilection to the fantasy genre.

Faith of the Fallen wasn't just about it's Randian hero and his battle against the quasi-communistic "New World" forces - it had other story elements to appeal to the fantasy enthusiast. Goodkind is a master of his alternate universe, and he is skilled in portraying a believable fantasy world, and then drawing us into accepting it.

All things said, I'm generally not a fan of the fantasy genre. My review has a negative slant for this reason. My understanding is that Goodkind's Sword of Truth series appeals to a wide audience. Choose your reading appropriately.