Soul of the Fire (Sword of Truth, Book 5) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Terry Goodkind (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Soul of the Fire is the fifth book in Terry Goodkind's wildly popular Sword of Truth saga. The previous books are: Wizard's First Rule, Stone of Tears, Blood of the Fold, and Temple of the Winds.

When last we saw our heroes--Richard Cypher (Lord Rahl) and Kahlan Amnell--they each had made enormous sacrifices to save one another from certain doom. To save her beloved, Khalan, Mother Confessor of the Midlands, had spoken the three chimes, summoning these chaotic beings from the world beyond and unwittingly releasing incredibly destructive power. Now the chimes are stealing souls, and malevolent forces are reshaping the world itself. To save everything from almost certain doom, Richard, Kahlan, and the wizard Zedd must hunt the elusive chimes and reharness them before it's too late.

Although comparisons to Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series are inevitable, there's obviously enough room in the world for more than one blockbuster swords and sorcery series. With Soul of the Fire, fans of epic sagas will get their fill of adventure, magic, strange beings, and struggles for power as Goodkind delivers another thrilling episode of the Sword of Truth, with all the complexity and taut characterization we've come to expect from this master of fantasy. --Adam Fisher --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly
Seeker of Truth Richard Rahl and his wife, Mother Confessor Kahlan Amnell, survive another incredible series of obstacles in Goodkind's sequel to his acclaimed Temple of the Winds. Here, readers learn that when Kahlan used a spell to save Richard from death in the last book, she inadvertently released the Chimes, deadly ancient beings who threaten to destroy the world by absorbing all its magic. Richard's grandfather Zedd goes off to combat the Chimes while Richard and Kahlan, accompanied by Du Chaillu, a pregnant spirit woman who is bound to Richard by an ancient prophesy, travel to Anderith to find the journal of a wizard who defeated the Chimes in ages past. But in Anderith, the rivalry between the Ander and Haken peoples (somewhat heavily handled, with overtones of the author's pro-colonial opinions) threatens to divide the land just when it needs unity in order to defend itself against an invasion by Emperor Jagang's thuggish hordes. After many suspenseful moments, everything comes somewhat raggedly together in a happy ending. Notable for its engaging secondary characters, the novel also evinces flashes of sly wit, as when an evil Chime takes the form of a menacing chicken. Though the narrative sprawls all over the map and the tone can edge too far towards the didactic, Goodkind's ingenious world-building will keep readers captivated by the latest installment of his bestselling Sword of Truth series.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 800 pages
• Publisher: Tor Fantasy; 1st edition (March 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812551494
• ISBN-13: 978-0812551495
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (651 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #13,260 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 5 in The Sword of Truth Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 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

This review is from: Soul of the Fire (Sword of Truth, Book 5) (Hardcover)

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.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars In one word: shallow., November 11, 2001

By	Alexander Holmes (Durham, UK) - See all my reviews

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.

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as the others, but still great!, March 28, 2000

By	T. Young - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Soul of the Fire (Sword of Truth, Book 5) (Hardcover)

I'm surprised that The Sword of Truth books have not yet lost my interest. The first two books (Wizard's First Rule and Stone of Tears) are the best bye far, the third...well, not so good, the fourth was great, and Soul of the Fire is wonderful! Terry Goodkind has created a wonderfully compelling and intruiging story for each book! The character development is perfect, and the stories, for the most part, have a great pace. Maybe that's why these books are so wonderful!

Now, to this novel. Soul of the Fire is wonderful! The story is complex and intruiging. To those that have read the fourth book, Temple of the Winds, Soul of the Fire is about the chimes, which were brought into their world when Kahlan had spoken the names of the chimes when she was saving Richard from the plague. Along the way are the usual unsuspected surprises that Goodkind provides us with. The only thing that personally bothered me was the new characters from Anderith. They're fine, I was just bored with their entrance into the story. But once you get past the first couple chapters with them in it, they are fine. Great book! I hope Goodkind makes more....either he finishes up the Sword of Truth books, or he start a new series! Whatever he does, I can't wait! Enjoy!