Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth is, without a doubt, my single greatest literary influence. First, it makes up the vast majority of the fantasy books in my library. Second, and perhaps most importantly, it taught me at an early age why the traditional publishing model sucks.

I started reading the series in the eighth grade. I remember reading the first three books in the series just before the fourth was released. I proceeded to gobble up The Temple of the Winds, then something weird happened:

I had to wait for the fifth book…for two years.

I was hooked. I read and re-read the first four in anticipation of the fifth. But the anticipation didn’t last. Sure, I followed the series through to the end and I enjoyed (almost) all of them, but I lost that revenous fire.

That’s why I’m going the self publishing route. I don’t want people to come to like my work and then have to wait TWO YEARS for the next release. Even playing grab ass, as I’ve been known to do, I can produce faster than that. And you deserve faster than that.

So, my righteous rant out of the way, I thought I’d launch into a review of the series that shaped my personal view of the fantasy genre as a whole.

Wizard’s First Rule

People are stupid. They can be made to believe any lie because either they want to believe it’s true or because they’re afraid it’s true. – Wizard’s First Rule

Wizard’s First Rule was the first in the series and, in many ways, the best. The opening hook is great, the stakes are high, and the world is beautiful. Sure, it uses several of the biggest cliches in the fantasy genre, but just because something is cliched doesn’t mean it’s bad. Cliches become cliches for a reason.

If you’re looking for Game of Thrones style intrigue and character motivations, this ain’t it. But if you’re like me and enjoy straight up high fantasy then you should give this one a try.

The Stone Of Tears

The greatest harm can result from the best intentions. – Wizard’s Second Rule

This entry in the series really kicks up the whole chosen one/prophecy cliche, but it’s still a solid fantasy book. Epic battles, magic, and world wide stakes. What more could you ask for?

My personal favorite bits are the scenes where a tiny army of inexperienced troops harasses a MUCH larger force with guerilla tactics. THAT is fantasy battles done well.

Blood Of The Fold

Passion rules reason, for better or for worse. – Wizard’s Third Rule

This book is a lot of the same sword and sorcery fare that filled the first two books, but the stakes leave it a little flat in my mind. Honestly, this is the only book on this list that I had to look up a plot summary to remind myself what it was about. That means this one is, unfortunately, pretty forgettable…

Temple Of The Winds

There is magic in sincere forgiveness; in the forgiveness you give, but more so in the forgiveness you receive. – Wizard’s Fourth Rule

We’re back to world wide stakes, and this may be my favorite entry of the entire series. Richard is pretty much in control of his power, he’s amassed his forces for the big fight, and then things go all wonky when a magical plague is realeased into the world.

There’s plenty of fantastical magic, epic battles, and overhyped sex to make even die hard fantasy fanbois salivate.

Soul Of The Fire

Mind what people do, not only what they say, for deeds will betray a lie. – Wizard’s Fifth Rule

This book is nearly as forgettable as Blood of the Fold, nearly. At least I remember what happened in this one…

Soul Of The Fire introduces the country of Anderith and it’s political turmoil. If you like the intrigue in A Song of Ice and Fire then this will be the book for you.

Also, Anderith is protected by perhaps the coolest magical artifact I’ve ever seen in fantasy, the Domini Dirch. Stupid name, BEAUTIFUL effect. Give it a try.

Faith Of The Fallen

The only sovereign you can allow to rule you is reason. – Wizard’s Sixth Rule

First, some background: Terry Goodkind is an objectivist, a follower of the philosophy put forth by Ayn Rand. Among other things objectivism believes in completely unfettered capitalism. And that’s the basis of this book.

It’s basically 500 pages of “capitalism good, socialism bad.” The entire novel plays out like a soap box for the objectivist point of view, right down to lifting the ending straight out of Rand’s novel The Fountainhead.

The prose is up to the regular Goodkind standard, and the story is actually pretty well thought out, but if you don’t like being pounded with a thinly veiled political message you may want to avoid this one.

Pillars Of Creation

Life is the future, not the past. – Wizard’s Seventh Rule

Ok, this is the WTF?! moment of the entire series. I honestly don’t remember most of this book’s plot, and I don’t care enough to look it up. It was that bad.

First, seven books in Terry Goodkind decided to write an in-series book that includes NONE of the main characters from the previous books. Seriously. Richard and Kahlan show up for MAYBE the last 10% of the book. Given that those two are the reason I became hooked in the first place, this was an epic fail.

Second, when viewed as part of the entire series this book seems really, really shoehorned. In the world of The Sword Of Truth every living thing has some tiny touch of magic within them; the two new characters in this book are pristinely ungifted. They have no magic in them whatsoever, which also means that magic cannot effect them.

When seen as part of the series these ungifted people (though not necessarily these two characters, specifically) are extremely important. They play a major role in the rest of the series, especially the conclusion. BUT AT THIS POINT WE DON’T CARE!

Goodkind basically wrote an entire entry in the series to introduce a concept vital to his endgame, but the overall effect feels incredibly forced.

The best part? You can skip this book entirely and not miss a thing.

Naked Empire

Talga Vassternich. (Deserve Victory) – Wizard’s Eighth Rule

As The Sword Of Truth books go, Naked Empire is fairly meh. The plot is kind of small, as are the stakes. It feels really removed from the massive world war happening everywhere else.

It’s single redeeming quality? It introduces the same pristinely ungifted concept that The Pillars Of Creation introduced, only it doesn’t take AN ENTIRE FREAKING NOVEL to do it. AND it does it in a way that makes the story actually interesting.

Unless you’re a sticklar for completeness, substitute this one for The Pillars Of Creation. You’ll thank me.

Chainfire, Phantom, Confessor

A contradiction can not exist in reality. Not in part, nor in whole. – Wizard’s Ninth Rule

Willfully turning aside from the truth is treason to one’s self. – Wizard’s Tenth Rule

Seek the truth not through others, but through yourself. (Interpreted) – Wizard’s Eleventh Rule

All of the previous books in the series have been standalone novels, they are self contained stories with a beginning, middle, and end that fit into the larger narrative. These three novels are a true trilogy. They don’t have independent endings. So I fgure to be fair I have to consider them as a single book.

I gottta say, me likey.

Despite taking three books to tie up the series, these books are pretty tight. The action is strong, the stakes are high, and it actually FEELS as if this is the darkest day in the history of these characters.

I want to, in a very spoilerish way, describe the one thing I LOVE about this trilogy and the one thing I HATE. If you didn’t catch that, SPOILERS AHEAD.

First, what I hate: the ending. ALL of Goodkind’s endings feel a little rushed, from Wizard’s First Rule right up through Naked Empire. The ending of the overall series feels no different, it all takes place in the last 10% of the last book of this final trilogy. I think it could have been a little more drawn out and still maintained the effect.

Also, while not a true deus ex machina ending, it sure as hell FEELS like one. The ending essentially amounts to “I hereby undo everything that’s happened for the last couple of years.” Seriously…POOF and everything’s cool again. Not. Cool.

But there are some redeeming qualities within the trilogy. First, Richard has been called the most dangerous man alive all through the series and, for the first time, events make him feel like it.

He effortlessly kills a guy in the middle of a game (it works, trust me) and makes it look like part of the game.

He incites an entire rebellion within the enemy ranks completely by himself.

And then there are the two best fantasy battles I’ve ever read:

The first is an enemy general during the aforementioned rebellion. Richard is on a dead march through the chaos to rescue Kahlan when the general steps in front of him and starts a typical bad guy monologue. Richard beheads him while the guy is still giving a classic “we finally meet” speech. I LOVE IT.

The second is the death of Jagang himself at the end of Confessor. Jangang’s a narcissistic prick throughout the series. Where traditional fantasy would have him killed in some kind of epic boss battle, Richard has some no name soldiers throw him out of a high window where no one can see. He doesn’t want ANYONE to be even INTERESTED in his death. No rallying of the bad guys around a martyr, no cheering from the good guys in victory. Freaking brilliant.

Conclusion

I wholeheartedly recommend The Sword Of Truth to anyone that likes pure high fantasy, sword and sorcery epics. There’s a lot of cliches in these books, but a lot of times cliches work in favor of a book or series of books. This is one of those.

Goodkind is still writing in this world, though THIS story arc is officially wrapped up. If the interest is high enough (or I run out of post ideas ;-)) I’ll get reviews of the new books up as well.

Thanks for reading.