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39 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
In one word: shallow., November 11, 2001
I can remember when I read "Wizard's First Rule" I was impressed. Not only because it renewed my faith in the fantasy genre, but also because it was fun, hard to put down and -albeit a few cliches here and there- well written. I can remember forsaking many a night of going out just to stay in and reading about Richard, Kahlan and all of the other characters from this series that intrigued me so. The strongest point of the books was that: character development and the consistency these characters maintained throughout the story. Unfortunately all that appears to have been lost in "Soul of the Fire". An avid reader of the series, I must say this last book was not up to par with the first four (although there has been a visible decadence since "Blood of the Fold"). Firstly, I was shocked to see that almost half of this book is dedicated not to the characters we know and love, but to Anderith and its people. I would be all well and good if they played a major role in what we are told is the story's epicentre (namely, the chimes), but unfortunately, they serve no higher good than providing constant anticlimaxes. Perhaps it is not just that, but rather that the characters are so badly created that no-one except for Fitch (and to an extent, Beata and Dalton) gets a reasonable development. Even so, Fitch is utterly inconsistent, sometimes showing incredible stupidity and sometimes the cold-heartedness of a mass murderer. When I started reading this book I thought Fitch would mimic characters such as Steerpike in "Gormenghast", slowly rising to power and corruption, perhaps not the freshest option but the most viable. He does not. Or rather, he half-does it. What is worse, he disappears for most of the second-half and comes back suddenly just to be cut off the story in a most casual fashion, again, something that shows another of the book's weaknesses. It seems that the author tried to tell too many stories at a time, but couldn't finish them off properly (we know authors have deadlines too!). My hunch is that he had so many plotholes by the second half that he decided to write off many of the side stories (Beata, Fitch) to carry on with the main theme (the chimes). The last quarter of the book seems hurried and the conclusions are too abrupt for the reader to digest. Out of the blue, Richard comes up with the solution for beating the chimes, as abstract and underexplained as it is. The chimes, supposedly central to the story become just feeble reasons to innocuously explain the rest of the plots. The storytelling is shallow and incongruent, and after jumping from plot to plot, reading over unnecessarily dull chapters (most of them involving less than masterfully portrayed political scheming in Anderith) the reader becomes confused and frustrated. There is some merit to this book, though. The simpering and almost sickeningly melose realtionship between Richard and Kahlan has been, fortunately, toned down. Furthermore, the book does off with much of the homoerotic porn novel eroticism that its predecessors contained, making it less "trashy" than before (reading about Richard's "manly chest" and "bulging, powerful arms" can get tiring after a while). Also, the narrative takes on a different style in "Soul of Fire", being concise and assertive rather than the more lyrical approach given to the other books. This neither enhances nor hinders the reading, but it does make the experience feel fresh. I understand that authors cannot always write about the same things; clearly, in this book the author tried to stray from the traditional and create a different type of novel in his series. While I would not say that he has completely failed, it is far fom being a job well done. Moreover, this book has left me indifferent as to what may come next in the series. It feels like this was not a proper "Sword of Truth" book, but two books in one, one about Anderith and one about Richard and the chimes, both failing to converge in the end and leaving the novel it as it is: two unfinished, rushed parallel stories that hold little relation between one another.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Adequate writing, great storytelling., July 8, 2000
I've been hearing negative things about this book for the last year. So when I picked it up, I expected it to be slow, boring, overwritten, and completely pointless. It's none of those things. I'm the first to admit Goodkind doesn't have a good command of the language. His writing is, at times, simplistic. But it doesn't really matter, because the man is a storyteller. He is deeply passionate about the stories and characters in his books, and it shows. This guy can keep me up all night reading his stuff, because I have a need to know what happens next. Fact is, there are a great many people who have more words, and a greater command of English, than Goodkind. And most of those people couldn't tell a story if their lives depended on it. Goodkind has dyslexia, and the fact he's read so much, and is able to produce a novel annually, despite his disability, is astounding to me. How many people could write a 1 000 page novel in less than a year? How many could do it when the words they write appear nearly incomprehensible to them? There are people who can use big words in fancy sentences, and there are people who can tell a damn good story. And there a rare few who can do both. Goodkind may not be the best crafter of the language in the world, but he can story-tell circles around most of his comptemporaries. Perhaps some of his detractors are bitter. Goodkind spends his time doing something he truly loves. Look at Jordan -- a far better writer, who has produced far weaker books, out of laziness and a lack of commitment to his work. That Goodkind puts so much of himself into his work is to be respected, I don't care who you are, how well you write, or what's up your bum. Sometimes, I wish people would just lighten up and enjoy a good story. The world's too stuffy for me as it is.
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A bit anti-climactic, but by no means boring!, August 10, 2000
By A Customer
I have heard and read a significant ammount of criticism of this book. While I will agree that it wasn't the usual sort of Terry Goodkind fare, I do not feel that this book was boring or plodding in any way. In the prior books in this series, the complex political climate of the Midlands was often a topic of discussion, but was never thouroughly explored (at least to my satisfaction). After all you can't possibly expect to rule the world without some occasional political maneuvering. Secondly, the tone of the ending of the book and the implied return to Westland gives Goodkind the perfect opportunity to reintroduce the character of Chase, who hasn't been seen since book #2 "The Stone of Tears", a character that I liked and have missed. My only qualm is the almost complete lack of magic in the story. While I know that that was the central point of the whole plot of the book, a Sword of Truth book without magic (to take a line directly from "Wizard's First Rule") is like meat without gravy, just plain dry. Otherwise a fantastic book, a beautifully drawn political drama which portends big things for the next installment.
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