The Big Review Post - Confessor
Nov. 25th, 2007 10:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alliancesjrI've been meaning to do this for quite a few new things I've experienced in these last few weeks, but I never got around to it. So here, my friends, is a big review post.
The review will be sectioned out for those who don't care for the Sword of Truth series, or who doesn't want spoilers.
Confessor, the final Sword of Truth novel by Terry Goodkind.
I bought this apparently on release day, though I didn't realize it at the time. It was just piled up on the side of one of my local bookstore's floors, and since I had been looking for it, I bought one.
It started promisingly. A bit too expositional at the beginning, but that's hpw the series tends to be - a bunch of exposition, then a bunch of action, then some of each at the same time. The explanations of the Chainfire event and the chimes were more of a refresher for those who hadn't read a book for a while, plus some new theories and examples of how the spell worked. Added to that was a warning that Kahlan would be doomed if Richard told her he loved her; something he didn't know about since he was captured by Jagang's army and on his way to rescue Kahlan.
The suspense and mood of the novel kept building up to the ending, which was, I'm afraid to say, fairly anticlimactic. I had joked to a few of my friends that Richard Rahl (née Cypher) was an example of the author's self-indulgent attitude. The first few books, Richard goes from a simple woodsman to a wizard-in-training. Not just that, though, but he's a War Wizard, one who hasn't been seen for over three thousand years. Not even that, but he's the new Lord Rahl and thus controls a third of the New World. Then he conquers the rest and thus rules over all the New World. But wait - he's named in prophecy as the only one who can stop Jagang and his army! And he's the best swordsman ever! AND he can apparently carve the most beautiful statue in Jagang's hometown and get everyone to love him with his anti-communist attitude!
There really was nowhere else for him to go except become God. I joked that he had to do this in the final book, or else Goodkind wasn't trying hard enough.
AND THEN HE DID. He used a spell to make an alternate world and sent every evil person - and his sister, who would have destroyed magic just by existing and having children - to this new world. It was a not-so-subtle dig at our own world, since it's inferred that Richard creates OUR world out of the dregs of his own, saving all the magic and wonder and miraculous things for his own.
All in all, a disappointing and anticlimactic ending to a wonderful series. The first three quarters of the book is great, though, so don't let the last few pages ruin it for you if you're going to read it yourself.
The review will be sectioned out for those who don't care for the Sword of Truth series, or who doesn't want spoilers.
Confessor, the final Sword of Truth novel by Terry Goodkind.
I bought this apparently on release day, though I didn't realize it at the time. It was just piled up on the side of one of my local bookstore's floors, and since I had been looking for it, I bought one.
It started promisingly. A bit too expositional at the beginning, but that's hpw the series tends to be - a bunch of exposition, then a bunch of action, then some of each at the same time. The explanations of the Chainfire event and the chimes were more of a refresher for those who hadn't read a book for a while, plus some new theories and examples of how the spell worked. Added to that was a warning that Kahlan would be doomed if Richard told her he loved her; something he didn't know about since he was captured by Jagang's army and on his way to rescue Kahlan.
The suspense and mood of the novel kept building up to the ending, which was, I'm afraid to say, fairly anticlimactic. I had joked to a few of my friends that Richard Rahl (née Cypher) was an example of the author's self-indulgent attitude. The first few books, Richard goes from a simple woodsman to a wizard-in-training. Not just that, though, but he's a War Wizard, one who hasn't been seen for over three thousand years. Not even that, but he's the new Lord Rahl and thus controls a third of the New World. Then he conquers the rest and thus rules over all the New World. But wait - he's named in prophecy as the only one who can stop Jagang and his army! And he's the best swordsman ever! AND he can apparently carve the most beautiful statue in Jagang's hometown and get everyone to love him with his anti-communist attitude!
There really was nowhere else for him to go except become God. I joked that he had to do this in the final book, or else Goodkind wasn't trying hard enough.
AND THEN HE DID. He used a spell to make an alternate world and sent every evil person - and his sister, who would have destroyed magic just by existing and having children - to this new world. It was a not-so-subtle dig at our own world, since it's inferred that Richard creates OUR world out of the dregs of his own, saving all the magic and wonder and miraculous things for his own.
All in all, a disappointing and anticlimactic ending to a wonderful series. The first three quarters of the book is great, though, so don't let the last few pages ruin it for you if you're going to read it yourself.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-11-25 05:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-11-25 05:48 pm (UTC)