Rating: 
Summary: The last Sword of Truth Book I'll read
Review: I loved the first three books in this series, and found decreasing pleasure in the next three. Even though Goodkind is an astonishingly bad writer, his first books told captivating stories, developed a broad diversity of characters, and positively made me fall in love with his protagonists.But Naked Empire is awful. The old characters have melded into two: the good guy, and the bad guy. Aside from Nicholas, none of the new characters has an ounce of originality, and even Nicholas is just a rewrite of Jagang with a mix of Goodkind's stock degeneracy. And while his scenes in past books have been vivid, original, and fraught with tension, the scenes in this book have nothing-- no suspense, no unpredictable twists. Nothing. At points they go on for many, many pages with Goodkind's central point repeated over and over in speeches by Richard. The character of Jennson is created only to give Richard someone to bludgeon his point into, and has no integrity as a character. The ending is as flat and contrived as any I've read, and falls far short of the expectations built up throughout the book. In addition, the central mystery of the book is solved in a way that seems more of a political statement on current events than anything having to do with the narrative of the story, and it completely undermines the previous stories in this series, forgetting key details. The entire book is one long, simple sermon illustrated by flat characters, down to modern political buzzwords worked into the text, and, it has to be said, seems crafted only to support his political leanings. His scenes, his characters, his logical narrative consistency, all yield to this personal message of Goodkind's. Read the first three books of the story, and if you love the characters, read Temple of the Winds. My suggestion is when you have finished Temple, pull out a sheet of paper, and write the words "Richard and Kahlan lived happily ever after," and use that to replace the rest of the books of the series.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful reading
Review: I love all Terry Goodkind's books. I have read all of them. I hope there will be another book related to this series. I truely enjoy his writing style.
Rating: 
Summary: Another useless side trip on the way to ending the series!
Review: Once again Richard is forced to detour away from the end of the story (presumably the final battle with the Order). Most of this book is taken up with long explanations as to why we have to choose good over evil, freedom over slavery, etc. The new characters are completely uninteresting, the old characters are becoming more wooden. The stinking pet GOAT is mentioned (and reacted to by the characters) in nearly every paragraph! We know more about the goat than Tom who had some potential as an interesting character. The sister is a beautiful halfwit who needs EVERYTHING explained to her. Basically, don't waste your time with this book. Watch the reviews and when people start saying the series is moving along, you can safely 'get back in'.
Rating: 
Summary: Strong finish
Review: I was struggling through out the first 400 pages of this book. It was going on way too slow and Richard could not stop preaching. Near the end of the book the pace picked up to the regular pace of the earlier books. Overall it was worth it, but i wish the ending came sooner so i didnt have to struggle through the first bit.
Rating:
Summary: Great series but winding down
Review: I love terry goodkind sword of truth series. However, in this book it does not have the impact that the others gave me. I think it was in the way it was stated, not so much the content. But I am so looking forward to next one, etc, until he completes the story. Great series to read overall.
Rating:
Summary: naked truth
Review: you know whwat i love about mr. goodkind? his book series is long. some of you say thats bad and he should end it, but thats probably because you dont like his style. personally, i like his books, keep at it! but for those of you who dont like them and want him to stop, think about it! as long as he keeps adding books to the series, he will always have time to please you unhappy customers. so lets say you dont like naked empire ( i love it), as long as it isn't the last in the series, he can write another novel, in which mayber theres more magic and fighting. you would like that, right? right. so, terry, DONT END THIS SERIES ANYTIME SOON, FOR MY SAKE AND EVERYONE ELSE'S
Rating:
Summary: great story
Review: guys, i read this book because i like fantasy. not because im in to politics. if you have read the other reviews that gave this book one star and actually believed them for a second, even if you have read his previous books, then you wont like this story. this book is for true goodkind fans, and for those of you who know what to expect from goodkind, he delivers in this story. there is one awesome review that i would like to point out, by a reviewer named jennie. that review truly explains the greatness of terry goodkind's writing.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointment
Review: Terry Goodkind's ego is showing in this novel. Faithful readers of the SOT series have become accustomed to a single plot, upon which Goodkind adds a minor twist (time and time again). This allows him to slap a new title on it, sell it off and reap the rewards. Well, as a once faithful reader of SOT, I'm sick of it, and I'm done. Frankly, this series is beginning to reak of pop-culture commercialism. Wizard's First Rule was one of the most captivating novels I have ever read, but I feel Goodkind has not met the promise he demonstrated. When I started this series, I felt this would be an author who delved into the nature of good and evil, exploring the boundaries through plot development. Instead, Goodkind considers his reader too stupid to join his characters on the journey. Just as his protaganist, Richard, has seperated himself from the masses, so too does Goodkind think himself above the reader. I think Goodkind honestly wants to leave us with a deeper meaning, but seems unable to master the art of subtle theme crafting. Where other authors use plot development to make a point Goodkind delivers pages of propaganda. If propaganda isn't what you're in the mood for, don't waste your time. One last scathing remark: this series begins to look more and more like the prima facie case for what is wrong with the genre. If you want to know what bad high fantasy is all about (throw away novels that leave the reader with no deeper meaning/experience), then by all means read this novel. That said, I feel bad--because I think Goodkind really tried. He just simply isn't a master of the craft. Disappointing discovery in Book EIGHT. Seriously, talk to anyone who has read the series. Each book is worse than the one before.
Rating:
Summary: rush limbaugh?
Review: This book is pure and utter right wing propaganda. If I wanted to read about over zealous war mongering extremists I would simply watch President Bush's state of the union. (See earlier review about creating a people who deserve to be wiped out because of their "pacifist leanings." The book starts off promising, winged creatures flying overhead, Richard and Kahlan alone and the focal point of the story. If you don't want to wake up with an excruciating headache (from repeatedly banging your head against the wall in utter revulsion at the sophomoric attempts at political and ideological brow beatings) put the book down and walk away. The Sword of Truth series started off so promising but then Faith of the Fallen came out and Terry Goodkind thought he was the next Arthur Koestler (see Darkness at Noon) and would use Richard as a pedestal for his political and ideological musings. If you want to read a good fantasy series that steers clear of such fascist drivel then read books by George R.R. Martin, Robert Jordan or David Eddings. I can't believe I wasted so much time reading this crap.
Rating:
Summary: Utter Rubbish Alert! Buy books 1-6 instead.
Review: I think Mr Goodkind should apologise to all his readers about fraudulently getting them to pay for something that was not delivered. I purchased this book thinking that I was getting some more entertainment, which was a direct continuation of events that have been happening previously. What I didn't expect were his political ideologies thinly veiled around what can only be poorly described as characters from previous books. The lecturing and moralising were ill conceived and plain boring. And to make it worse, it is a direct slap in the face to anybody who did not support the war in Iraq (any doubts about this were dispelled when a bunch of innocents A.K.A human shields were chanting "NO WAR! STOP THE HATE! NO WAR!", they get killed by US Forces, oops sorry, I mean Richard). It is an insult to my intelligence to have to purchase a book and read this kind of half-baked philosophising against a race of people that have been made up to have indefensible positions. Don't like Jainism or Gandhi? Well frankly I don't care! Also the first 300 pages were taken up with summarising very boringly the events from the other books in the series! Aargh! Here's an idea, how about releasing an optional supplement to go with each new book that is an actual summary of the series so far. People who can't be bothered reading the earlier books can happily buy this and carry on. Just don't include it in the main book! What is the idea with Richard verbosely repeating central arguments every time he opens his mouth? Maybe you can put different rationalisations at the back of the book and refer to it as endnotes or something. The only book that I have read which tops this in terms of disappointment is the Eddings lemon "Redemption of Althalus", but it's a close call because at least they had the good sense not to use their characters as mouthpieces for drivel. I have an idea for his next book; maybe he can have a hero called "John Howard, the man of steel" who kicks refugees' heads (I'm sure you won't have a problem making up a race of people who deserve it). I sure as hell won't be reading any more of this tripe, and I also urge other people to bypass this one for the next.
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