Confessor: Chainfire Trilogy, Part 3 (Sword Of Truth, Book 11) (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: first wizard, crypt staff, pristinely ungifted, Lord Rahl, Sister Ulicia, Imperial Order (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Makes an indelible impact.” —Publishers Weekly on Faith of the Fallen
 
“Few writers have Goodkind’s power of creation…a phenomenal piece of imaginative writing, exhaustive in its scope and riveting in its detail.” —Publishing News on Temple of the Winds
 
“Highly recommended.” —San Diego Union Tribune on Temple of the Winds
 
“Goodkind’s greatest triumph: the ability to introduce immediately identifiable characters. His heroes, like us, are not perfect. Instead, each is flawed in ways that strengthen, rather than weaken their impact. You’ll find no two-dimensional oafs here. In fact, at times you’ll think you’re looking at your own reflection.” —SFX on Blood of the Fold

Product Description

Descending into darkness, about to be overwhelmed by evil, those people still free are powerless to stop the coming dawn of a savage new world, while Richard faces the guilt of knowing that he must let it happen. Alone, he must bear the weight of a sin he dare not confess to the one person he loves…and has lost.
 
Join Richard and Kahlan in the concluding novel of one of the most remarkable and memorable journeys ever written. It started with one rule, and will end with the rule of all rules, the rule unwritten, the rule unspoken since the dawn of history.
When next the sun rises, the world will be forever changed.

See all Editorial Reviews

---

Product Details Hardcover: 608 pages Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (November 13, 2007) Language: English ISBN-10: 0765315238 ISBN-13: 978-0765315236 Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.7 x 1.9 inches Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies) Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (305 customer reviews) Amazon.com Sales Rank: #29,015 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books) Popular in these categories: (What's this?) #18 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Series > Sword of Truth #19 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > ( G ) > Goodkind, Terry This is item 11 in The Sword of Truth Series.

---

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

› Visit Amazon's Terry Goodkind Page

Front Cover | Front Flap | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Search Inside This Book:

---

Inside This Book (learn more)

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
first wizard, crypt staff, pristinely ungifted, torture tents, constructed spell, left wing man, scoring zone, man with the gray eyes, former prelate, war wizard, dream walker, dance with death, timed turn, witch woman

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Lord Rahl, Sister Ulicia, Imperial Order, Sister Armina, Commander Karg, Richard Rahl, Darken Rahl, Old World, People's Palace, Garden of Life, The Book of Counted Shadows, General Meiffert, Sword of Truth, First File, Sisters of the Dark, Azrith Plain, Subtractive Magic, Fellowship of Order, Palace of the Prophets, Emperor Jagang, The Book of Life, Panis Rahl, Sister of the Dark, Great Void, Sister Greta

Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Search Inside This Book:

---

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	77% buy the item featured on this page: Confessor: Chainfire Trilogy, Part 3 (Sword Of Truth, Book 11) 3.2 out of 5 stars (305) $19.77
	8% buy Sword of Truth, Boxed Set III, Books 7-9: The Pillars of Creation, Naked Empire, Chainfire 4.6 out of 5 stars (30) $14.60
	6% buy Phantom: Chainfire Trilogy, Part 2 (Sword of Truth, Book 10) 3.4 out of 5 stars (255) $7.99
	5% buy The Sword of Truth, Boxed Set I, Books 1-3: Wizard's First Rule, Blood of the Fold ,Stone of Tears 4.3 out of 5 stars (83) $14.31

Explore similar items

---

Tags Customers Associate with This Product  (What's this?) Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people. Check the boxes next to the tags you consider relevant or enter your own tags in the field below.  sword of truth(125) terry goodkind(115) epic fantasy(97) fantasy(81) magic(47) wizardry(45) series(43) wizards(35) epic(29) goodkind(15) finale(12) See all 66 tags... Your tags: Add your first tag

Search Products Tagged with   See most popular tags

---

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

---

 

Customer Reviews

305 Reviews 5 star:  (96) 4 star:  (47) 3 star:  (42) 2 star:  (58) 1 star:  (62)           Average Customer Review 3.2 out of 5 stars (305 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews 260 of 298 people found the following review helpful: 2.0 out of 5 stars the end is nigh, December 1, 2007 By  Samuel N. Starkey (Lafayette, IN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    Lets take a look back at the series so far: 1 Wizard's First Rule - great book, Richard meets Kahlan and defeats Darken Rahl. 2 Stone of Tears - even better, Richard captured by sisters of light, Kahlan leads a ragtag army to victory. 3. Blood of the Fold - good book, enter new villain Jagang, Gars vs. Mirswith. 4. Temple of the Winds - ok book, evil brother, cool plague, Kahlan uses chimes to save Richard. Why did he not know the consequences of this while in the Temple? 5. Soul of the Fire - another mediocre book, wedding, Anderith, Fitch gets killed. 6. Faith of the Fallen - back to a good book, but Richard is getting a little preachy, Nicci captures Richard (kind of like he was captured in books 1 and 2), carving the statue. 7. Pillars of Creation - I don't know how to rate this one, I admire an author of a series like this to take a big chance and set a whole book around a new character (Richard's sister) but she doesn't play much of a role in the next two books, so what was the point? 8. Naked Empire- The worst of the bunch, we were introduced to the idea of the supremely ungifted and their threat to magic in book 7. This book just reiterates that and contains some of the worst preaching by Richard. 9. Chainfire - Kahlan missing, only Richard remembers her. The sisters of the dark have used an incredibly complex spell with huge side effects to do something that Zedd did simply in the 2nd book. Richard goes to Shota then to Zedd looking for answers but they cannot help him. Ok now you know what happens in the first 564 pages. I would recommend skipping those first 564 pages other than a few good scenes that are recycled from earlier books. Richard's meeting with Shota plays out very similarly to the one in Wizard's First Rule including an attack by the Golem-like Samuel. Nicci rides into the Imperial Order Army to take out their wizard just like Kahlan did in Stone of Tears. 10. Phantom - Rachel is back, Richard keeps looking for a way to save Kahlan and gets captured in the process in a familar way in a familiar place. 11. Confessor - To the end, Nicci becomes Richard's mouthpiece for sermons, Kahlan looks deadly but does not get anywhere until Richard saves her. Richard is of course a great Ja'La player. Zedd does not do much, Rachael is more effective. Richard gives us a decent fight toward the end, but he is conveniently separated from his sword and other powers. Neither Richard or Kahlan ever live up to their potential powers. Shota becomes a deus ex machina showing up just in time to save several people including Richard. Some extraneous cameos by popular characters and quick uneventful deaths for others. The end comes with a twist but not much of a climax. Loose threads, questions? What about the disasterous baby born of a war wizard and confessor? Did the boxes of Orden fix not only chainfire, but also the chimes? With the chimes destroying magic, why did we need the pristinely ungifted to threaten magic as well? Did we really need 11 books to tell this story????? Looking back over the more than a decade I spent with this series, I think it was the repetitions that killed it. Repetitions in plot, repetitions in dialog, repetitions in themes. Don't get me wrong I mostly agreed with the themes. I liked the plot and dialog, Goodkind can write a great scene. There was just too much repetition of similar scenes, dialog and themes. You could probably get by with skipping several of the medicore books in the series and still get a good coherent storyline. Here is my recomendation, read the series but skip #7, #8 and #10. Find a summary on wikipedia or something, I just saved you a bunch of grief and hours of your time better spent. If you are looking for consistently great fantasy without all the hang-ups inherent in this series I would recommend the Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. 119 of 141 people found the following review helpful: 1.0 out of 5 stars Kill me now., December 2, 2007 By  X. Zhang - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    Reading Terry Goodkind's massive final book is kind of like being a witness to a horrible car crash. It's gruesome and disturbing...but you just can't look away because you want to see how it all ends. Not to mention, if you've gotten this far, you've already thrown 10 books worth of time away so you feel compelled to finish it. There are only two reasons why a book is this bad. 1: Terry Goodkind has gone off the deep end and has lost all his talent as an author. This is unlikely considering how great his first four books were and how even in this horrible mess of diaper wipe there are still hints of his former greatness. (Namely the fact that he manages to incorporate familiar elements and old characters from his past books into the story.) 2. Drunk with power from his millions of dollars worth of sales and the unfounded encouragement from his rabid cult-like fans who are just as deluded as he is, Mr. Goodkind has interpreted all of that as worthy encouragement to go on hitting his audience over the head with his fanatical two-dimensional dogma. The latter is the most likely of the two conclusions. Mr. Goodkind, egged on by his perception of public love and acceptance, has it in his head that he is the bearer of truth-much like his Christ-like protagonist. Nevermind the fact that all his views are ridiculously one-sided, idealistic, and canned, almost to the point of being childish. Nevermind the fact that the world of this book is completely black and white. Or the fact that everything hinges on the fact that Richard, the main character, always manages to miraculously sway even the most toxic and vile murderers, pedophiles, and rapists to see his point of view. Let's for the sake of generosity set all these appalling issues aside. This still does not change the fact that this is just a poorly written piece of literature. While all his blinded followers who rate this book five stars will try to sway you with the importance of the 'message', let's all look at this rationally. Does a good book include HUNDREDS of pages (i'm not exaggerating) of repetitive preaching and monologue? You could honestly skip ahead ten pages at a time and not miss anything. And it wouldn't be so bad if the speeches weren't always on the SAME DAMN THINGS. Goodkind is either breaking down some obscure piece of magical theory down as if he were writing a scientific journal. OR it is one of the characters blabbering on about how life is beautiful, how your life is your own, how you choose how you live OK WE FREAKING GOT IT THE FIRST 10 BOOKS! Does a good book include flat one-sided characters that were cut out of cardboard? If you're an old fan of the series, you can predict what these characters will say even before they open their mouth. It's always about how they love Richard, and how the Order is evil, how life is beautiful, blah blah. The true crime of all this is that Mr. Goodkind tries to do too much with his work. Instead of trying to write a good fantasy book, which is what got him so famous, he tries to bash his audience over the head with over-bloated and purely derivative philosophy. (If any of you have seen his hilarious interviews he staunchly believes that what he is writing isn't fantasy, it's a message of truth.) There's a million other things I could list but I don't want to relive the horror. All I can say is thank God it's over. This was a series that started with promise and ended with a whimper. And I pity the poor sods who stick up for Goodkind. This book is utter garbage, and anyone with taste in literature can see that. Now excuse me while I drink half a bottle of whiskey and then shoot myself in the face with my hand gun. I just wasted about twelve hours of my life and I'll never get it back. I just hope that while I'm roasting in hell I'll one day see Mr. Goodkind down there with me for his betrayal of his fans and actually trying to pass this crap off as legitimate writing. 261 of 334 people found the following review helpful: 1.0 out of 5 stars I jump for joy as the series finally ends!, November 25, 2007 By  Brian Hawkinson (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    I was a huge fan of Goodkind through the first four books, then I began to dread a new book by him. It seemed that with each new book his writing became worse and worse. Knowing that this was the last book in the series I became hopeful that he would pull a rabbit out of a hat and finally write the way he did in the beginning and allow the reader to become invested in the plot again. It was this very hope that I allowed myself to feed off of that let me down and brought me back to the realization that Goodkind has fallen off his rocker. Goodkind's writing style can be summed up easily. First, he takes a monotone style of writing about characters and their dialogue and doesn't inject anything into the characters. You could be reading a line from Jagang, from Richard, Zedd, Six, Khalan, Rachel or any character and without the reference to the storyline you wouldn't be able to tell who was talking! There is no character development that distinguishes one from another. And his attempt at characterizations are childish. Take, for example, an interaction between Richard and a bunch of rough and tumble tough guys who are captives or soldiers. Richard is trying to explain why they need their faces painted and one of the men pipes up "Do me next, will you, Ruben?" then another says "Then me" and Richard says "One at a time". These supposed tough guys are acting like 3 year olds with their mother, and this is Goodkind's attempt at characterization? Then Goodkind needs filler, so he writes and writes about nothing. A typical conversation is actually a 2.5 page monologue without a break or a stop at all. They just keep talking. Or sometimes he will try to explain something over and over again in different ways. You know, to make you understand. That way if you understand you will know, just as sure as you were born. Right, and if I explain it to you four different ways back to back to back then maybe you might understand? Oh, and then the other person will start a monologue and the previous person will patiently stand aside. Or here is the most annoying. Goodkind explains how terrified Rachel is of Six and then Six asks a question and scared, timid Rachel pipes up and delivers a monologue explaining all the details of how she knew how to paint. Yeah, great job Goodkind, she is really afraid. Finally, it is the philosophic tirades and monologues that ultimately kill this book. These monologues go on for pages and you could honestly skip ahead three pages and you wouldn't have missed a single thing. Or this was the best. In the end Richard gives a 5 page monologue without a single break. The whole thing is him talking. Ridiculous. Where did Goodkind think that that is good writing? When did he think that a whole book should be one big long explanation after another? One redeeming value of the book was that we did see a hint of the old Goodkind after the last Ja'La match and I was finally able to read through it all without wincing at the horrid writing. Finally, the most redeeming value of the book is that it is finally over and Goodkind can quietly live his life on the millions he is probably making in quiet seclusion, hopefully never writing another book. I for one will never read another Goodkind book now that the series that I had already invested so much time into and therefore had to finish is over. .5 stars.		Ad feedback   Most Recent Customer Reviews 2.0 out of 5 stars So much promise.... but at the end, ultimately disappointing. I won't go into the indepth details that others have in their reviews of this book. I think those folks have, I'm sad to say, very accurately summed up the last of what once... Read more Published 8 days ago by J. Guyette 5.0 out of 5 stars Satisfying conclusion I was worried that Terry would write a bittersweet ending leaving me feeling a little hollow, something like the end of an excellent Sean Russell series, but my worries were not... Read more Published 25 days ago by C. Batchie 2.0 out of 5 stars Don't read fantasy with over 4 in the series It appears that ,despite wonderful beginnings...action, intense emotion, danger, etc..., fantasy written by Goodkind and Jordan (Wheel of Time) degenerates into mediocre and... Read more Published 25 days ago by Arafel Sedai 5.0 out of 5 stars Goodkind books Ordered for gift. Second book received arrived in perfect condition. Seller apolojized for delivered condition of 1st book. Would order form this seller again. Published 27 days ago by Bookworm 3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing I started reading these books as a freshman in high school five years ago. I was engrossd and in love with the first eight (Wizard's First Rule-Naked Empire), and the last few... Read more Published 1 month ago by Sean 4.0 out of 5 stars Worth Finishing I'll make this short. The series is worth finishing. Yes, Goodkind gets preachy, and I don't agree with many of his socio-political viewpoints. Read more Published 1 month ago by K. Willmert 5.0 out of 5 stars Great Series Love this series. I am on the third book now and can't put it down! Published 1 month ago by Hezmarie 1.0 out of 5 stars Will the real Goodkind please stand up The writing is so bad that it feels like someone else sat in to write this book for Mr. Goodkind that has no business even writing greeting cards. Read more Published 1 month ago by Turkish 4.0 out of 5 stars Check book upon purchase The only disappointmnet I had with this book was that it wasn't a complete copy. Pages 225 - 256 were repeated in the copy of the book I received and Pages 257 - 288 were... Read more Published 1 month ago by B. Harrigan 5.0 out of 5 stars Loved this book I loved this book. I have read all of this series and thought the entire series was great. While it may get bogged down in repeating some of the experiences from the previous... Read more Published 1 month ago by W. Hayes Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

---

Customer Discussions

This product's forum Discussion Replies Latest Post Other series? 1 17 days ago This is the final book in the series? 1 17 days ago AARRGGHHH!!!! 40 1 month ago Where is Nicci? 12 2 months ago Unanswered Nathan Rahl question 13 June 2009 the sword of truth 3 April 2009 › See all 11 discussions...   [Start the discussion] Start a new discussion Topic: First post: Receive e-mail when new posts are made Prompts for sign-in   Guidelines Active discussions in related forums Discussion Replies Latest Post fantasy Teen Books 5 21 minutes ago fantasy KTT9 Afterparty!!! 2775 2 hours ago epic fantasy Best of the Oldies 5 1 day ago epic fantasy Searching for a new (epic) fantasy series 100 2 days ago magic Magic or Magick.... 20 3 days ago magic Power to effect change 1 7 days ago Search Customer Discussions Only search this product's forum

The Sword Of Truth community Latest activity 8 days ago 447 customers have contributed 98 products, 23 lists & guides and more... › Explore the community The Epic Fantasy community Latest activity 3 hours ago 3,527 customers have contributed 1,981 products, 346 lists & guides and more... › Explore the community The Magic community Latest activity 2 hours ago 13,114 customers have contributed 9,349 products, 1,398 lists & guides and more... › Explore the community Related forums epic fantasy (8 discussions) fantasy (1023 discussions) magic (35 discussions) sword of truth (2 discussions) terry goodkind (1 discussion) Explore more › See all Customer Communities › Your communities

---

Listmania!

Sword of Truth: A list by T. B Burrus   The Best Fantasy Out There: A list by Ed Hoat "Vargo Hoat"   Best new epic fantasy series: A list by V. Barnes Create a Listmania! list

Search Listmania!

---

So You'd Like to...

best fantasy books you cant miss: A guide by K. Dufresne   Anytime-Time Reads & Great Food Books 2: A guide by Anna "Book-Nook"   Top Shelf Reading: A guide by A. Gaige Create a guide

Search Guides

---

Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)

Be the first person to add an article about this item at Amapedia.com.

› See featured Amapedia.com articles

---

Look for Similar Items by Category

• Books > Literature & Fiction
• Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > ( G ) > Goodkind, Terry
• Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Epic
• Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Magic & Wizards
• Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Series > Sword of Truth

---

Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:
Science Fiction And Fantasy
Fiction
Fiction - Fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy - Epic
Fiction / Fantasy / Epic
Rahl, Richard (Fictitious character)
Wizards


i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Ad feedback

 

Feedback If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? Is there any other feedback you would like to provide? Your comments can help make our site better for everyone. Please note that we are unable to respond directly to all feedback submitted via this form, but we'll ask you to sign in so we can contact you if needed.

Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

› View and edit your browsing history

Get to Know Us Careers Investor Relations Press Releases Amazon and Our Planet Make Money with Us Sell on Amazon Join Associates Self-publish with Us › See all Let Us Help You Shipping Rates & Policies Amazon Prime Returns Help

Canada | China | France | Germany | Japan | United Kingdom  And don't forget: Amazon Windowshop | AmazonWireless | Askville | Audible | DPReview | Endless | IMDb | Shopbop | SoundUnwound | Warehouse Deals by Amazon | Zappos Conditions of Use | Privacy Notice  © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates

Product Details

• Hardcover: 608 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (November 13, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765315238
• ISBN-13: 978-0765315236
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.7 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (305 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #29,015 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #18 in	Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Series > Sword of Truth
  #19 in	Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > ( G ) > Goodkind, Terry

• This is item 11 in The Sword of Truth Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

260 of 298 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars the end is nigh, December 1, 2007

By	Samuel N. Starkey (Lafayette, IN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Lets take a look back at the series so far:
1 Wizard's First Rule - great book, Richard meets Kahlan and defeats Darken Rahl.
2 Stone of Tears - even better, Richard captured by sisters of light, Kahlan leads a ragtag army to victory.
3. Blood of the Fold - good book, enter new villain Jagang, Gars vs. Mirswith.
4. Temple of the Winds - ok book, evil brother, cool plague, Kahlan uses chimes to save Richard. Why did he not know the consequences of this while in the Temple?
5. Soul of the Fire - another mediocre book, wedding, Anderith, Fitch gets killed.
6. Faith of the Fallen - back to a good book, but Richard is getting a little preachy, Nicci captures Richard (kind of like he was captured in books 1 and 2), carving the statue.
7. Pillars of Creation - I don't know how to rate this one, I admire an author of a series like this to take a big chance and set a whole book around a new character (Richard's sister) but she doesn't play much of a role in the next two books, so what was the point?
8. Naked Empire- The worst of the bunch, we were introduced to the idea of the supremely ungifted and their threat to magic in book 7. This book just reiterates that and contains some of the worst preaching by Richard.
9. Chainfire - Kahlan missing, only Richard remembers her. The sisters of the dark have used an incredibly complex spell with huge side effects to do something that Zedd did simply in the 2nd book. Richard goes to Shota then to Zedd looking for answers but they cannot help him. Ok now you know what happens in the first 564 pages. I would recommend skipping those first 564 pages other than a few good scenes that are recycled from earlier books. Richard's meeting with Shota plays out very similarly to the one in Wizard's First Rule including an attack by the Golem-like Samuel. Nicci rides into the Imperial Order Army to take out their wizard just like Kahlan did in Stone of Tears.
10. Phantom - Rachel is back, Richard keeps looking for a way to save Kahlan and gets captured in the process in a familar way in a familiar place.
11. Confessor - To the end, Nicci becomes Richard's mouthpiece for sermons, Kahlan looks deadly but does not get anywhere until Richard saves her. Richard is of course a great Ja'La player. Zedd does not do much, Rachael is more effective. Richard gives us a decent fight toward the end, but he is conveniently separated from his sword and other powers. Neither Richard or Kahlan ever live up to their potential powers. Shota becomes a deus ex machina showing up just in time to save several people including Richard. Some extraneous cameos by popular characters and quick uneventful deaths for others. The end comes with a twist but not much of a climax. Loose threads, questions? What about the disasterous baby born of a war wizard and confessor? Did the boxes of Orden fix not only chainfire, but also the chimes? With the chimes destroying magic, why did we need the pristinely ungifted to threaten magic as well? Did we really need 11 books to tell this story?????

Looking back over the more than a decade I spent with this series, I think it was the repetitions that killed it. Repetitions in plot, repetitions in dialog, repetitions in themes. Don't get me wrong I mostly agreed with the themes. I liked the plot and dialog, Goodkind can write a great scene. There was just too much repetition of similar scenes, dialog and themes.

You could probably get by with skipping several of the medicore books in the series and still get a good coherent storyline. Here is my recomendation, read the series but skip #7, #8 and #10. Find a summary on wikipedia or something, I just saved you a bunch of grief and hours of your time better spent.

If you are looking for consistently great fantasy without all the hang-ups inherent in this series I would recommend the Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin.

119 of 141 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Kill me now., December 2, 2007

By	X. Zhang - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Reading Terry Goodkind's massive final book is kind of like being a witness to a horrible car crash. It's gruesome and disturbing...but you just can't look away because you want to see how it all ends. Not to mention, if you've gotten this far, you've already thrown 10 books worth of time away so you feel compelled to finish it.

There are only two reasons why a book is this bad.

1: Terry Goodkind has gone off the deep end and has lost all his talent as an author. This is unlikely considering how great his first four books were and how even in this horrible mess of diaper wipe there are still hints of his former greatness. (Namely the fact that he manages to incorporate familiar elements and old characters from his past books into the story.)

2. Drunk with power from his millions of dollars worth of sales and the unfounded encouragement from his rabid cult-like fans who are just as deluded as he is, Mr. Goodkind has interpreted all of that as worthy encouragement to go on hitting his audience over the head with his fanatical two-dimensional dogma.

The latter is the most likely of the two conclusions. Mr. Goodkind, egged on by his perception of public love and acceptance, has it in his head that he is the bearer of truth-much like his Christ-like protagonist.

Nevermind the fact that all his views are ridiculously one-sided, idealistic, and canned, almost to the point of being childish. Nevermind the fact that the world of this book is completely black and white. Or the fact that everything hinges on the fact that Richard, the main character, always manages to miraculously sway even the most toxic and vile murderers, pedophiles, and rapists to see his point of view. Let's for the sake of generosity set all these appalling issues aside.

This still does not change the fact that this is just a poorly written piece of literature. While all his blinded followers who rate this book five stars will try to sway you with the importance of the 'message', let's all look at this rationally.

Does a good book include HUNDREDS of pages (i'm not exaggerating) of repetitive preaching and monologue? You could honestly skip ahead ten pages at a time and not miss anything. And it wouldn't be so bad if the speeches weren't always on the SAME DAMN THINGS. Goodkind is either breaking down some obscure piece of magical theory down as if he were writing a scientific journal. OR it is one of the characters blabbering on about how life is beautiful, how your life is your own, how you choose how you live OK WE FREAKING GOT IT THE FIRST 10 BOOKS!

Does a good book include flat one-sided characters that were cut out of cardboard? If you're an old fan of the series, you can predict what these characters will say even before they open their mouth. It's always about how they love Richard, and how the Order is evil, how life is beautiful, blah blah.

The true crime of all this is that Mr. Goodkind tries to do too much with his work. Instead of trying to write a good fantasy book, which is what got him so famous, he tries to bash his audience over the head with over-bloated and purely derivative philosophy. (If any of you have seen his hilarious interviews he staunchly believes that what he is writing isn't fantasy, it's a message of truth.)

There's a million other things I could list but I don't want to relive the horror. All I can say is thank God it's over. This was a series that started with promise and ended with a whimper. And I pity the poor sods who stick up for Goodkind. This book is utter garbage, and anyone with taste in literature can see that.

Now excuse me while I drink half a bottle of whiskey and then shoot myself in the face with my hand gun. I just wasted about twelve hours of my life and I'll never get it back. I just hope that while I'm roasting in hell I'll one day see Mr. Goodkind down there with me for his betrayal of his fans and actually trying to pass this crap off as legitimate writing.

261 of 334 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I jump for joy as the series finally ends!, November 25, 2007

By	Brian Hawkinson (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was a huge fan of Goodkind through the first four books, then I began to dread a new book by him. It seemed that with each new book his writing became worse and worse. Knowing that this was the last book in the series I became hopeful that he would pull a rabbit out of a hat and finally write the way he did in the beginning and allow the reader to become invested in the plot again. It was this very hope that I allowed myself to feed off of that let me down and brought me back to the realization that Goodkind has fallen off his rocker.

Goodkind's writing style can be summed up easily. First, he takes a monotone style of writing about characters and their dialogue and doesn't inject anything into the characters. You could be reading a line from Jagang, from Richard, Zedd, Six, Khalan, Rachel or any character and without the reference to the storyline you wouldn't be able to tell who was talking! There is no character development that distinguishes one from another. And his attempt at characterizations are childish. Take, for example, an interaction between Richard and a bunch of rough and tumble tough guys who are captives or soldiers. Richard is trying to explain why they need their faces painted and one of the men pipes up "Do me next, will you, Ruben?" then another says "Then me" and Richard says "One at a time". These supposed tough guys are acting like 3 year olds with their mother, and this is Goodkind's attempt at characterization?

Then Goodkind needs filler, so he writes and writes about nothing. A typical conversation is actually a 2.5 page monologue without a break or a stop at all. They just keep talking. Or sometimes he will try to explain something over and over again in different ways. You know, to make you understand. That way if you understand you will know, just as sure as you were born. Right, and if I explain it to you four different ways back to back to back then maybe you might understand? Oh, and then the other person will start a monologue and the previous person will patiently stand aside. Or here is the most annoying. Goodkind explains how terrified Rachel is of Six and then Six asks a question and scared, timid Rachel pipes up and delivers a monologue explaining all the details of how she knew how to paint. Yeah, great job Goodkind, she is really afraid.

Finally, it is the philosophic tirades and monologues that ultimately kill this book. These monologues go on for pages and you could honestly skip ahead three pages and you wouldn't have missed a single thing. Or this was the best. In the end Richard gives a 5 page monologue without a single break. The whole thing is him talking. Ridiculous. Where did Goodkind think that that is good writing? When did he think that a whole book should be one big long explanation after another?

One redeeming value of the book was that we did see a hint of the old Goodkind after the last Ja'La match and I was finally able to read through it all without wincing at the horrid writing.

Finally, the most redeeming value of the book is that it is finally over and Goodkind can quietly live his life on the millions he is probably making in quiet seclusion, hopefully never writing another book. I for one will never read another Goodkind book now that the series that I had already invested so much time into and therefore had to finish is over.

.5 stars.