Rating: 
Summary: Please remember that your a writer, not a preacher
Review: Terry Goodkind is an excellent writer, but his latest book had me screaming for something to happen. He goes on for pages preaching his sociology views and such. Thats all good and everything, but not for pages on end.
Some things that I did like about the book are: He got back to the story of Richard and Khalan and didn't get himself distracted with secondary characters that don't really play an important role. He also had a well planned and specific plot for this book, unlike his last book where it seemed like he was just throwing in things randomly to fill in his half formed thoughts.
If your a die hard Goodkind fan then go ahead and get this in paperback, not hardback. For people that have never read his series before... you'll probably put this book down really fast because of a lack of loyaltyhappy reading
Rating:
Summary: Downhill
Review: This series seems to be following the pattern of the Wheel of Time. It started off fantasticly, with storyline and charcters that grab and hold you. But as the books go on.....and on..... it just starts to get worse and worse.
Rating: 
Summary: Preaching to 5 year olds
Review: This book is without a doubt the worst of the series. The author not only regurgitates many of the events contained in previous books, he fills the pages with the same monotonous drivil over and over again until one just wants to put the book down never to pick it up again. In addition, not much new material in the entire book. Most of it is spent walking on the same trail day after day until the reader is left wishing it would just end.
Rating:
Summary: What, you mean evil doesn't go away if you close your eyes?
Review: Shocking. Whether this is an analogy to U.S. politics these days or just a not-so-new revelation, this concept is pounded into the reader's head until pounding one's head against a wall to drown it out sounds like a good thing. Or an easier alternative is to just stop reading. Unfortunately, I couldn't as I always read his books to the end. There were some good things in this story, but the one thing this book revealed to me is that Terry Goodkind has taken a page from Robert Jordan -- the new trend seems to be that series no longer have a distinct beginning and an end anymore. You can write about a set of characters for years with no end in sight, and make lots of money doing so. Maybe we shouldn't expect an end, but that's why we read -- a story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. If we wanted a never-ending story, we'd just pay attention to real life.
Rating:
Summary: Is the series headed downhill?...
Review: Unfortunately, this book was mediocre. The first 5 books were great ... but then Faith of the Fallen, Pillars of Creation, and now Naked Empire are here. I don't know what happened, but it appears that Goodkind has become more interested in writing about philosophy and sociology, and has forgotten to write a good story. I didn't say HOW TO write a good story.... I just said he's leaving it out. At least I hope.... Naked Empire, although some cool stuff happens, is lacking in good writing, and full of explainations about how, as cincibookworm puts it, dogma on how bad collectivisim is. This is what I was saying to myself: Ok. I get it ... collectivism can be bad. Ok. I get it. No really. I get it. Ohhh ... I see. No, but really, I had it about 400 pages ago. Honestly, if you're into the series, go ahead and pick up a copy, or borrow one, as I did. Read it. Skim it. Get the gist. And pray for the 9th book... :-/
Rating:
Summary: More Political Ranting
Review: Mr. Goodkind speaks a lot in this book of moral clarity, but he does so in such maddeningly simplistic terms that he may as well be a speechwriter for George W. Bush. He once said in an interview that he believes fantasy for fantasy's sake is invalid. Well, sadly for us, he's once again using his beloved Sword of Truth series to push an ultra-conservative, pro-war, might-is-right, anti-social, anti-democracy message that is not only startlingly clear from the outset, but that is beat into the reader's head over and over again by 700 pages of speech after intolerable speech. How other reviewers can claim that understanding this book has anything to do with intelligence is beyond me. It's the intellectual equivalent of having an iron spike driven straight through your head - an infant could grasp the message with little effort. Now is there anything particularly egregious about an author pushing his social and political views in one of his novels? Certainly not. Mr. Goodkind obviously feels passionately about the issue, it is after all his novel, and he has every right to say whatever he wishes. I guess the reason I feel so betrayed is that the first 4 books of this series - when I actually became interested in the characters, the stories, and the outcome - where not right-wing diatribes and, frankly, they were better books. Somewhere around Book 5, when Mr. Goodkind by his own admission gave the sex-crazed villain and his nefarious wife the same initials and Bill and Hillary Clinton, his motives became all too obvious. I had hoped that it was simply an intense personal dislike of the Clintons playing out, but 3 full books later Mr. Goodkind shows little sign of letting up. Had I known he planned on highjacking his own series in a ranting Republican tribute to Ayn Rand, I never would have started reading it in the first place. Anyway, enough on Mr. Goodkind's motivation, I'll actually get to the story now which, sorry to say, simply isn't any good. It's not just that what Mr. Goodkind is espousing is so obviously flawed, it's that he does it in such a dishonest way that it's incredibly frustrating to read. On one side you have the Imperial Order which is clearly evil, on the other side you have Richard with his impeccably simple logic who is clearly good, and in the middle you have a people in need of salvation who are so unbelievably stupid that they do not recognize the evil inherent in the men of the Order no matter what crimes they perpetuate. There is rape, torture, murder, and even little children having their fingers pulled off. Regardless, nothing sways these people because they have been born and raised throughout the centuries to abhor violence. Now understanding the beliefs that drive Mr. Goodkind's writing and knowing by his own words that he doesn't look at his works as simple fantasy bur rather as serving some higher purpose, it is all too easy to recognize the blatant pot shots taken at everything from the peace movement, to those against capital punishment, to any other number of liberal social institutions. The problem is that of course Richard's speeches sound ingenious in the face of such overwhelming idiocy that represents "the other side". There is not a society on earth, or indeed throughout human history, that would act as naively or as foolishly as these people do. In the real world, which Mr. Goodkind is obviously commenting on, things are never that crystal-clear, things are never that black and white. It's simply a disingenuous comparison, a political rant poorly disguised as high fantasy. Needless to say Richard rescues these people - people, remember, who are not swayed by the mutilation of their own children - by making a few comparatively short-winded speeches on individualism and tossing in some lame radish-picking metaphors. It's utterly ridiculous. You could almost believe that after a lifetime of indoctrination, these people are too filled with lies and distortions to ever recognize the necessity of defending themselves, but the sudden about-face that they do because of Richard's rather uninspiring words is laughable. It's equivalent to telling a Muslim extremist, raised from birth to hate the West, that killing in the name of God is wrong and to have him suddenly see the light and don an "I Love New York" tee shirt. P-u-l-e-e-z-e!!! Show your audience at least a modicum of respect. Not to mention the fact that it's not just those in need of salvation who come across as mindless sheep, it's the other main characters like Jennsen and tragically Kahlan as well. They seem to exist for the simple purpose of asking Richard one setup question after another so that he has some way of launching into a variation on the "your life is your own" speech that he apparently perfected 3 books ago since he offers nothing new here. I often wonder when Mr. Goodkind will realize how hypocritical these speeches sound coming from a man who still makes his subjects back in D'Hara spend 4 hours everyday with their faces to the ground chanting a devotion that ends with "we live only to serve, our lives are yours"? And Richard himself has practically been elevated to the level of an infallible deity - something that is only highlighted by the copout at the end. The man should be dead but if ever you need a more glaring example of "Deus Ex Machina" then look no further than right here my friends. However, despite all this, the fact remains that Mr. Goodkind is a good writer. The action scenes are well done, the stuff with Zed is interesting, and my hope remains that one day Mr. Goodkind will spend his formidable talents formulating a decent conclusion to what started as a promising series rather than pushing a shallow political agenda - either that, or at the very least he'll learn to use some subtlety.
Rating:
Summary: FABULOUSLY FORGETTABLE
Review: One thought kept running through my mind as I read NAKED EMPIRE, At least I didn't spend my own money on this tripe! NAKED EMPIRE is another monument to that unfortunately expanding society of authors that never seemed to learn the third important part to any story, the ending. I mean lets get real here! Yes I absolutely loved WIZARD'S FIRST RULE and many of the volumes following, but there comes a time where its all been said and there's nothing new left to do with a story. Unfortunately for Sword of Truth that was about three books ago. You want a short synopsis of this volume? Ok, Richard gets poisoned and must free some pitiful wimps to get an antidote; the emperor gins up a new magical creature (the worst yet!); zed gets captured and the Keep is taken; Kahlan is captured; Zed is freed; Kahlan is freed; Richard saves himself and the magical creature is done away with. Yeah! Now fluff that up to about a thousand pages, nine hundred of them being incredibly boring lectures about the evils of collectivism and how magic works and you have NAKED EMPIRE. I suppose I am a bit bitter but I resent the fact that a story I really liked, and I really liked WIZARD'S FIRST RULE, has been turned into some hacks, word-spill, fluff piece. I also resent having this volume palmed off as something new when it really isn't. I suppose if the point was to make the author money without him having to come up with anything original than it worked, but I don't have to like it. This book is NOT RECOMMENDED.
Rating: 
Summary: The Mind is Mighter Than the Sword
Review: Naked Empire is the eighth novel in the Sword of Truth series, following The Pillars of Creation. In the preceding volume, agents of the Emperor Jagang have convinced two other children of Darken Rahl, Oba and Jennsen, that Richard is trying to kill them and smuggles them out of D'Hara to the Old World. During an assasination attempt by Oba, Richard discovers that his half-brother has no magic of his own and is not directly effected by magic. Jennsen is likewise without magic and indifferent to its direct effects. In this novel, Richard and his party are leaving the Pillars of Creation, a geological feature deep in the desert, after foiling the assassination plot. They are followed by giant birds, black-tipped races, and Richard is convinced that someone is using the birds to follow them. During the journey, Richard discovers signs of a magic barrier stretching through the desert and they eventually come to a pass with a giant statue and a message. Richard has found mention of the Pillars of Creation in an ancient book and learned that the term is used therein to designate people like Oba and Jennsen. All are descendants of the Lords Rahl and apparently there were once many of them in D'Hara, but these people were banished to the Old World, never to be heard from again. Richard thinks that he has found them. Since the Pillars of Creation can neither use nor be effected by magic, they have difficulties believing in it. In ancient times, these people created a religion that states that all is illusion, thus encouraging peace and tranquility while discouraging competition and strive as well as material progress. These survivors to the original exiles have continued and expanded this religion. Then the Imperial Order discovers their location and the Empire knows what to do with pacifists. In the meantime, Zedd has a nasty surprise when the Wizard's Keep is invaded by men who are invisible to, and uneffected by, his magic. The Imperial Order captures the Keep, but can they retain it and him. A few of Zedd's comrades decide to take a hand in his release. This novel is a story of internal turmoil because of opposing beliefs within Richard, an external struggle with the Pillars and the Empire, and a fight against a deadly poison added to Richard's drink by a careless supplicant. It is more philosophical than active, but Richard never hesitates to act as necessary. Highly recommended for Goodkind fans and anyone else who enjoys sword, sorcery, and philosophy in the same tale.
Rating: 
Summary: Not the best, or worst, of the series
Review: This installment of the Sword of Truth series is much more enjoyable, to me, then the previous book (Pillars of Creation), though it is still beanth what I feel is the best of his work, Faith of the Fallen. Honestly the biggest flaw in this book would be the resolution, a little too "Deux ex Machine" for my taste. If you read the last book, and aren't scared to come back to the series, I would recommend reading this book. Maybe not buying it, but definately worth dusting off the old library card.
Rating:
Summary: How Ironic
Review: Just a note to scottyboy down there - if you're going to take pot shots at other reviewers for not being intelligent, you might want to check your spelling and grammar first. "You're" is the correct way to conjoin "you are". "Your" is possessive and just makes you look stupid when used in that context. And by the way, this book absolutely sucks so far (500 pages in). I'll have more when I actually finish it. Cheers.
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