REVIEWS
BOOK REVIEWS OF THE SWORD OF TRUTH SERIES
Book Review: Wizard’s First Rule
Length: 49 Chapters
Release Date: September 1994
Written by: Terry Goodkind
Edited by: James Frenkel
Published by: Tom Doherty Associates, LLC; 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
A simple woods guide named Richard Cypher is about to embark upon a journey which will change his life in all ways, forever. After the brutal murder of his father, Richard travels into the forbidden Upper Ven forest near the deadly boundary between his home, Westland, and the mysterious Midlands to try to find some answers. Those answers come in the form of a beautiful woman in a white dress, named Kahlan Amnell, who is being tracked by assassins. After saving her, Richard discovers that she is from the Midlands, trying desperately to save her world from the conquering sword of D’Hara, led by the evil Darken Rahl who is searching for the Boxes of Orden; an ancient magic which gives control of the forces of life and death. Together, they seek out the last great wizard so that he can make a vital appointment: he must name the Seeker of Truth, who must then use his wits and the powerful Sword of Truth to figure out a way to stop Rahl and save everyone.
This book has a little of everything. While there are some rather clichéd characters, such as the dragons and the all-powerful wizards, Mr. Goodkind tells an original story which encompasses many human issues which plague us today. Richard starts off confused due to the events and problems which are thrust upon him to solve as the new Seeker of Truth. While he gains a direction in which to focus his search, answers are more often than not slow in coming and he is hobbled by hardships fought along the way. For example, he has a hard time even getting started, for the way by which Kahlan entered Westland was only good for one trip. Further, there are many interesting and mysterious elements inserted into the story. Richard, for example, has an old secret which he keeps for his father that is somehow connected to everything. Kahlan is obviously more than she seems, but Richard, who does not know the ways of the Midlands or of magic, decides that she’s worth having as a friend and refuses to ask about her secrets. Even Darken Rahl seems to have more to his story than simply conquering the world. All in all, it is a good story and well worth taking the time to read.
Book Review: Stone of Tears
Length: 71 Chapters
Release Date: October 1995
Written by: Terry Goodkind
Edited by: James Frenkel
Published by: Tom Doherty Associates, LLC; 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
It seems that all is well with the world. Richard Cypher and Kahlan Amnell have figured out how to be able to love one another and are returning Siddin to the Mud People; Darken Rahl has been killed, and D’Hara is free from the grip of evil rulers. However, it seems that things will not stay this way for long. An odd, black stone shaped as a tear has come out of the still-open Box of Orden, and Zedd and Chase nearly die when a beast from the underworld comes looking for it. Zedd quickly identifies a growing threat from the very depths of the world of the dead and hurries off to try to stop it. Richard is experiencing headaches strong enough to render him unconscious and he doesn’t know what will happen to him. Three mysterious sorceresses who call themselves “Sisters of the Light” appear, claiming that Richard has the gift of a wizard, but then things turn sour when they demand that Richard put on a collar and come with them—and Richard won’t wear a collar to save his life. A visit from Shota, the witch woman, makes things worse when she claims that Richard has torn the veil between the worlds of life and death, which if allowed to go unchecked will result in the death of everyone and everything. Further, she tells him something he never expected: Zedd is Richard’s grandfather and he is the bastard son of Darken Rahl! In an effort to save him, Kahlan forces Richard to wear the collar and go with the Sisters of the Light to the Palace of the Prophets to train. Richard is alone and heartbroken, believes that Kahlan no longer loves him, is immersed in a world ruled by his captors, and has as his only true friend a baby gar named Gratch whose life he saves. The Sisters of the Light seem to have ulterior motives for what they do, and some of them don’t work for the Light at all. Kahlan rushes to Aydindril to find Zedd and get his help with Richard, but the Midlands is suddenly falling to corruption and invading armies, and she must use her office as Mother Confessor to stop it. Zedd has problems of his own as his magic is tainted by underworld magic and he needs to rush off to find a cure before it kills him.
Stone of Tears is the longest book in the Sword of Truth series. Though some parts of the plot are rather slow-going, there is a good balance between those parts and quicker, more riveting ones. The story builds upon the human themes discussed in Wizard’s First Rule; Richard starts this story even more confused than before; his entire world is shaken. From the revelation that he is a wizard, to the shocking truth of his ancestry, to the perception that Kahlan no longer loves him, Richard has a lot of problems of his own to solve before he tackles the threat of the underworld—a threat which he cannot yet comprehend, let alone combat.
Book Review: Blood of the Fold
Length: 54 Chapters
Release Date: October 1996
Written by: Terry Goodkind
Edited by: James Frenkel
Published by: Tom Doherty Associates, LLC; 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
Richard Rahl is at it again. He has come to accept his wizardly birthright, has ended the threat of the Keeper of the Underworld, has taken command of D’Hara as the ruling Lord Rahl, and is presently preparing to leave Aydindril to prepare a force to fight off the invading Imperial Order with Kahlan Amnell, his love and the Mother Confessor, whom everyone believes has been executed—a little trick courtesy of Zedd to keep her safe. As Richard is eating a meal at the Confessor’s Palace, however, a group of mriswith from the Hagen Woods appears with an apparent intent to kill him. Richard kills them with Gratch’s help, but wonders what mriswith are doing in Aydindril at all. Soon after, a band of people arrives from the People’s Palace in D’Hara: two of the corps of Lord Rahl’s personal bodyguards and four Mord-Sith, all of whom claim to be there to guard Richard. Richard, using his wits as Seeker, turns his situation to his advantage by taking command of the D’Haran forces which occupy Aydindril and demanding the surrender of all the lands of the Midlands so to forge a united D’Hara against the Imperial Order’s threat. Treachery is afoot, though, in the guise of the Blood of the Fold: the self-appointed “cleansing” force of the “Keeper’s taint of magic.” While Richard is stuck playing political games in Aydindril, the Lord General of the Blood of the Fold moves to capture the Mother Confessor, the greatest taint of them all, whom he believes to be still alive. In the Old World, the Prelate and the Prophet of the Palace of the Prophets have died. The Prelate Annalina wills Verna as her successor and leaves her with the responsibility of weeding out the Sisters of the Dark at the palace. Verna’s time is running out, though, as the Emperor Jagang of the Imperial Order, a dream walker with the ability to enslave the minds of the magically gifted, is moving to take the Palace of the Prophets and all its sorceresses as his own. Worse, Warren, Richard’s wizard friend, has shown himself to be a prophet. With a prophet, Jagang could easily bring about his own total victory.
The detailed descriptions of the political games Richard is forced to play can become frustrating to read, and for this reason I recommend that the reader take the time to get at least as far as Chapter 18 before putting the book down. It should be noted that there is decidedly less hacking and slashing in this book than in the previous two; this instalment is more about the issues of thought than issues of action. The enemy here, while corporeally in the form of the Imperial Order, is in reality the ideas which it puts forth. The same goes for the Blood of the Fold; their heretical beliefs are shown early on to be the true taint, not magic. A heady read, this book is for the reader who likes to sit back and reflect.
Book Review: Temple of the Winds
Length: 70 Chapters
Release Date: October 1997
Written by: Terry Goodkind
Edited by: James Frenkel
Published by: Tom Doherty Associates, LLC; 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
Emperor Jagang of the Old World is incensed. Richard Rahl has destroyed the mriswith, saved the city of Aydindril from his puppet army of Blood of the Fold, destroyed the Palace of the Prophets, and seemingly worst of all, changed the rules of his game Ja’la to be more a game of skill than of brute strength. In retaliation, he sends a Sister of the Dark to the ancient, hidden Temple of the Winds to retrieve an item of powerful magic, which he uses to start a plague amongst the people of Aydindril. By doing so, he invokes a terrible prophecy known as a bound fork which essentially allows its victim to choose the way in which he dies with no escape from this fate. One way, Richard can opt to do nothing and be killed by the firestorm of the plague. The other way, he can try to save his people, but will die in the attempt—because “the one in white, his true beloved, will betray him in her blood.” Kahlan Amnell, the white-clad Mother Confessor, cannot fathom this fate and tries desperately to prevent it. Richard is busy trying to sort out the surrender of the Midlands and also trying to deal with two guests: the attractive Nadine Brighton, a childhood friend sent by Shota who is infatuated with Richard, and Drefan Rahl, a healer half-brother of Richard’s. A mysterious serial killer is brutally murdering the prostitutes in Aydindril. Nathan Rahl, Richard’s distant relative and the only experienced prophet in the world, seems to have an agenda of his own. Warren, the only other prophet, begins experiencing the headaches of the gift—which will eventually kill him unless he can find someone to help. Zedd and Prelate Annalina are in serious trouble when they are captured by tribesmen who are intent on sacrificing them. Finally, the Temple of the Winds itself appears sentient, and not ruled by entirely good spirits.
This story has one of the most complex plotlines of the series. Nathan, Warren, Richard, and Zedd’s stories all occur entirely independent of one another and each person has his own problems to solve, but the separate plots all converge upon a conclusion which, in a single word, can only be described as spectacular. Mr. Goodkind again expounds upon more heady, mental themes in this story. An old conflict between the wizards who hid the Temple of the Winds and the reigning elite at the Wizard’s Keep is brought to light. Richard learns a lot about the history of war wizards, of whom he is one, and about the origins of various people and things of magic such as the Confessors and the sliph. The strong thematic undercurrent in this story concerns the extremes to which the use of magic should be taken and the power of forgiveness—and Richard must figure these things out before the plague kills him and those he loves.
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posted by TOM in the JOURNEY BOOK FORUMS
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posted by kilcher at 12/30/2003 02:22:00 PM
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