I'm about 2/3rds through Confessor right now. In that book, I came to a realization.
His books are quite entertaining when something is happening. Goodkind does have a talent for writing an action scene and building suspense. His action scenes might not be as 'cool' as Brandon's (You just can't compete with the dimensions that allomancy throws into the mix) but they are fun to read.
However, in his books, when nothing is going on, they are among the most boring books I have read. I'm in the group of people that used to be a big reader, then stopped. I was turned off of books by school mostly. We read old, boring novels and were forced to analyze them for one kind of element or another. In my entire high school career, I read 2 books (including those assigned in English class). Then, with JKR and HP, I was brought back into the wonderful world of reading, realizing that reading can be fun. It's possible to just sit back, and throughly enjoy a great story. Sometimes, Goodkind meets this goal, in other's he doesn't.
Confessor is the only book I can remember reading since highschool that I have been tempted to skip ahead pages simply because I don't care what is going on. When things are happening, it's great, but when nothing is going on he just drudges on and on about things. Two characters will get into an argument about something, and within 2-3 paragraphs into it you'll understand both sides, but he'll just keep repeating himself over and over and carry that on for 5-10 pages. That just isn't interesting to me. In Phantom there was a section of about 40 pages towards the beginning that took me 5 might s to read, simply because each time I went to read it, I literally fell asleep trying to drudge through the mess. Once that section was over, it was easy to read 200+ pages in a single night.
That is kind of how the series has been with me. There are a few things I love, and a few things I hate. I love some of the wizard rules, and have found myself quoting the first rule to multiple people both online and in person. I love the logic he presents in those rules. As I said, his action is also great. Yes, it's very cliche, and the hero always wins, and there are many parts about it to which someone could complain, but none of that bugs me, and I enjoy it. However, I really hate how he crams his philosophy down your throat, and really hate how he sets up situations to make altruism look worse than it is.
Also, I find it a little humorous that as much as he says his books aren't fantasy because "Magic isn't a central part." Yet, he has spent no less then 150 pages in each of the last three books going into great depth about how the magic system works. Providing details that IMO sound fake and no one really cares about. It's almost like he threw it in there just to say "Hey, look, my 'magic' system is based on math and science, thus it's not really 'magical' and so these books aren't fantasy."
Ok, that's enough ranting. I have to go find out what happens to Richard...