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I haven't seen any other reviewer mention it but I also thought that Goodkind had done a pretty darn good job of creating a fantasy version of the explanation for the European medieval world being forced to suffer through the bleak, anguished period we now call the "Dark Ages". Cara, indulges her realization that love is possible and so on.I'm not sorry that I read the series nor am I sorry that it took almost a decade of waiting and reading effort to finish it. When Richard recovers from his near fatal wounds with the help of sorceress Nicci's use of the all but forbidden subtractive magic, he discovers that he is the only living soul who remembers his beloved wife Kahlan, the Mother Confessor. All of Richard's friends and compatriots - Cara, his Mord-Sith bodyguard, Nicci the sorceress and former Mistress of Death, Verna and Ann, joint prelates of the Sisters of the Light, Nathan the prophet, the witch woman Shiota, even wizard Zedd, Richard's beloved grandfather - are convinced that Richard has lost his reason.
The Sisters of the Dark and the Sisters of the Light receive their just rewards. It's difficult to say whether "Chainfire" is the opening book in a trilogy or the ninth book in the now aging "Sword of Truth" series. You NEVER know. the word "Chainfire", which he will discover in his travels is the name of a long deeply hidden spell capable of literally unraveling existence itself. Richard who has also lost his command of the magical gift has fallen into the hands of the D'Haran Commander Karg. "Confessor", the eleventh novel (yes, you read that correctly), at long, long last winds the series up and, to Goodkind's credit, effectively ties up all the loose ends.
He has also traded his Sword of Truth to the witch woman Shiota for one critical scrap of knowledge. (By some readers' reviews, "aging" is a rather kind characterization. Richard, of course, has recovered his Sword of Truth. The slow destruction of magic by the chimes and the blood taint of the pristinely ungifted is resolved. I don't think it will constitute a spoiler or an overwhelming surprise if potential readers know up front that it's a happily-ever-after-all's-well-that-ends-well conclusion. Everyone in sight is trying to locate the powerful Boxes of Orden, the only known magical counterspell to the Chainfire spell which, it is now known, is flawed and is slowly destroying all magic in the world. But it's a sure bet that the series would have been much more effective in half the length and with some serious editing.As I closed the book on the final page of this monstrous series, I realized with a smile that I still enjoyed it. it could be the truth.Paul Weiss
many have called it tedious and repetitive). Without Richard's leadership and the Sword of Truth, prophesy dictates that the free world is doomed to fall to Jagang and the Keeper of Death. Zedd happily retires to the role of an aging wizard. In any event, to briefly summarize, Lord Richard Rahl is the sole survivor of a battle in which a troop of soldiers is brutally massacred by an unknown and, indeed, unseen enemy capable of enormous ferocity. Richard and Kahlan are re-united and the Emperor Jagang is defeated in a suitable climax. Kahlan is now in the hands of Jagang, the evil emperor (who along with a very small handful of people throughout the breadth of Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" universe is still able to see her). Worse yet, because Richard feels he must devote what remains of his life and energy to finding his beloved wife and rescuing her from whatever fate has trapped her beyond the world's ken, he has also reached the decision to not lead his weakened D'Haran troops in a final battle against the almost limitless hordes of the advancing Emperor Jagang. "Phantom", the rather bloated and sadly repetitive second instalment of this putative trilogy is based on Richard's relentless search for his beloved Kahlan, whose very existence has been erased from the history and memory of his world.
Even further enraging the readers is the fact that Jessen Richard's sister chooses to join the world of murders and rapists. After many hours of reading the dissapoint overwhelmed me as I headed to the freezer to grab the ice cream. All I can realy find the words to say is that after reading this eleven book series and being enchanted by many of the voices coming from this book of Kahlan, Richard, Zedd, Adie, Verna, Gratch and many more that I was sadly disapointed by the anticlimatic metaphysical garbage in the ending of bending worlds and alternate universes that flew into the books. This book series like a psychopatic boyfriend that says all the right things to get you entranced slits your'e heart in the end. I say skip the heartache and just buy another book instead. First this series even though about magic has always been rooted firmly in reality of the harshness of life struggles and the battles of war. This book should have wiped out and annilated the Imperial order on the Azirth Plains than given them a second chance at life and the new world without magic.
I really liked the final book and the first 4, as anyone reading the last 3 knows, are among the best books of this genre ever written. While the series did bog down at times with Goodkinds preaching it is still a fantastic series and well worth reading.
I enjoyed reading this book and the audio version deleted a lot of the digressing and sermonizing that I enjoy when I am reading. The abridged version of "Confessor" was excellent. It was all wonderfully done. The story line remained in tact. This used product arrived in good time and in very good condition. The Box suffered but the discs were in very good condition.
is this really over, or does another sequel rear its head. The conclusion to this novel is not terribly satisfying other than to say. it becomes a matter of gritting your teeth and swearing you will finish this book to see what (if anything) happens.My guess is the first 3 novels are 90% plot 10% philosophy; the second 3 are 75% plot 25% philosophy; the third 3 are somewhere around 50/50, and this last one is about 40/60. Be afraid. or sometimes the next page, or other times several pages. It is hard writing this review and separating my opinions of the total series from this ultimate novel.
You learned about characters and they were developed, and then somewhere along the way he decided he was more intent on being a philosopher.It is apparent that Goodkind is desperately in need of an editor who can stand up to him and tell him to greatly reduce the preaching in the stories.Even if one agrees (somewhat) with his philosophy, it is akin to reading some of Ayn Rand's books. the good guys win.Now the real question comes. Goodkind started out in the early novels as an excellent storyteller. until you get back to the actual story.In well over 50 years of reading fiction, I have seldom encountered characters who the more I learned about what they thought, the more uninvolved I became with them to the point where I actually began to dislike them. Be very afraid.RECOMMENDED ONLY IF YOU HAVE INVESTED THE TIME IN READING THE PRECEDING NOVELS. Events happened.
I didn't mind the technical discussions about Goodkind's view of magic, although it was somewhat hard to fathom exactly why Nicci was the most powerful sorceress alive, why the Witch Six was more powerful than she, etc., etc.When you get to any paragraph or speech that contains, where "X" is any character, "X loved Richard", "Richard loved life", "Kahlan.", "Nicci was beautiful" let your eyes roll back in your head for a moment and skip to the next paragraph.
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