Rating: 
Summary: A good entry point for newcomers - without catching up first
Review: This is more of a sidetrip than "Soul of the Fire" was. I did not know that this was supposed to be a side story, like some other reviewers. With every new chapter I kept expecting to see some of the characters that we know and love to come into play, but I had to wait until about 70% in.However it was a nice change of pace and offers a wonderful starting point for someone to enter without first reading the other books to get an understanding of what is going on. As one familiar with the material it is at times frustrating to follow along with the obviously "different" world views of the main characters, but for someone without these prejudices this is an excellent book. It is a bit slow and doesn't SEEM to be moving anywhere until the final hundred or so pages and then you just have to hold on for the ride. From the ending it is obvious that this story was necessary for introducing the characters it does and that the future events will keep the pages turning faster and faster. Unfortunately, I am not satiated. However, I will definitely forego a book tour in exchange for more creative production. Thanks Terry.
Rating: 
Summary: Did Goodkind write this unsatisfying book himself?
Review: Another reviewer summed this book up: "It began in a long drawn out fashion and ended in a whirlwind of events that made little sense. Shame on you Terry Goodkind." That Kahlan and Richard are barely in the book is fine, although it's better to know that before reading it. What is not fine is that the first 400 pages are filler while the last part of the book needed 200 more pages to make any sense at all. The overall plot and narrative are embarrassingly weak. Bottom line: The quality of this effort is an insult to faithful readers. Will I read him again? Yes, but I'm in no hurry.
Rating: 
Summary: More torture?
Review: Terry Goodkind continues to tortured the fans of the Sword of Truth Series with another "good" book that does very little to move the plot of the series forward. He introduces a few new characters and almost doesn't mention the main characters of the series (Richard and Kahlan). I enjoyed the last few chapters of the book but it was a long read to get there. Based on the previous books in this series, I have high expectations for this author and he failed to meet those expectations with this book.
Rating:
Summary: A fresh look at Goodkind's world.
Review: I've read and enjoyed all the Sword of Truth books (some more than others), and I'd rate this one fairly high among them. I found the fresh perspective quite interesting. We are learning about this brave new world from the perspecitve of someone who knows nothing of it. Jennsen is a neophyte in the reign of Richard Rahl, and must come to her own conclusions about it. In that respect, I thought it was a fine, brave idea from Goodkind. It's quite a risk to add an installment into an established series where your main series characters do not physically enter the story until 50 pages from the end. The one criticism I do give:
It does end too soon. We could have done with 50-75 more pages to come to a more fully realized conclusion. This isn't the first time this has happened with Goodkind's books, and I fear it's a constraint put on him by an editor. It would be nice if Tor would give a little more latitude in that respect.
Rating: 
Summary: What was that?
Review: This was a huge disappointment. What is up with Goodkind and Jordan? I think they both read too many professional reviews, "Wow, they are like the best thing since Tolkein". Just not true anymore. This book was just bad.
Rating:
Summary: Not a BAD book... but not up to par.
Review: I look forward to Terry Goodkind's books with great excitement. He's a very good author and has a great story going that has me enthralled. Until this book. Not to say it's the worst book I ever read. However, it left me wanting. As others have mentioned the story does not center on Richard as the others have. This put me off a little, instantly. I flipped forward and skimmed to see if Richard came up at ALL... and was sorely disappointed to find he didn't (until the end). None the less, I chugged along and found it to be a very interesting story with lots of new characters and twists to the plots. Then I got to the end. What a disappointment. The ending was heavy handed and put together as if Terry ran out of things to say and just wanted the story to be done. The resolution is not even slightly satisfying. Nothing in the book truely led up the ending and the inclusion of a completely unbelievable romance left me wondering where Terry got the idea that fantasy novels call for a fairy tale ending. Overall, it's NOT a BAD book. The story itself is very good, despite the ending. It is my most sincere hope that this book was merely written as a setup for the next book and therefore isn't truely meant to stand alone.
Rating:
Summary: Does not pick up where Book 6 left off
Review: The description given directly from the book jacket is very misleading. It suggests that the book actually has something to do with Richard and Kahlan and continues from where book 6 left off. Not true. Richard doesn't enter the story until Chapter 54! (7 whole chapters to get in a story line involving richard and Kahlan.) The book jacket also states that "staggered by loss and incresingly isolated, Richard and Kahlan desperately struggle to survive." The book seems to have left out this struggle unless they are talking about the last 50 pages where Richard is actually in the story and saves Kahlan, once again. The book does introduce a few new characters, most of which get killed off, some like Oba you wish were killed of sooner. (How many rats does he have to bite the head off, or people he bludgeons to death complete with gory description, do we have to read about?) A good hundred pages of terrain description and Oba's madness could have been edited out. The editor should deleted quite a bit of gratuitous violence and pointless meanderings when it came to Jennsen and Oba.
I was looking forward to picking up where book 6 left off, including Nikki and moving to defend Dharra. Nikki is briefly mentioned once, but where is she? This book mentions a very few main characters from the series in a whirlwind chain of events that almost seem like an afterthought. The book is 600 pages just to get Richards Half sister into the family.
If you are not expecting a continuation from Faith of the fallen then you may like it. If you are expecting a continuation of the previous story line and an ending that makes sense, you will most likely be disappointed. If you really want to read Sword of Truth novels that are actually worth the read, you can safely skip this, and go straight to book 7 when it comes out. The cliff notes version on Jennsen will be enough.
Rating: 
Summary: So what if it goes on and on....
Review: Many people would disagree with me, but I don't care if Goodkind writes 2000000 books that just go on and on about ALL the people in SoT, because if I finished reading those books, I'd still want to know what would happen next! Heck, I've read books where the main characters die and go into the book's version of the underworld and wondered what would happen in the underworld, what would happen everywhere, so I wouldn't care if this book were the most boring in the world! But I personally love the drawn-out beginning and rushed end (Which I don't find at all confusing). It's a nice change from the Kahlan;Richard scene.
Rating:
Summary: Good but needs more
Review: Well it wasn't what I expected, but it was good. The one thing I didn't like was how it dragged on for most of the book and then the last 50 pages have all of the great action, with exception to the order battle against Adie and Zed. Those last 50 pages should have been told in more detail and used at least 200 pages. Another thing, I want to know what Richard and Kahlan were doing the whole time. Hopefully the next book will fill us in. The way I see it, the next book should be the last with the order trying to take the people's palace. If Goodkind tries to drag it out any longer than that, I will be very disappointed. I will be anxiously waiting for the last brilliant novel to bring it all together and then conclude it.
Rating:
Summary: And the great series continues...
Review: Terry Goodkind's latest installment might not be the best book in the SOT series, but it certainly doesn't deserve the criticism it's getting. Pillars is an interesting twist, focusing on new characters without losing sight of Richard compleatly. At first I demanded to know where Richard was, but I simply had to allow myself to get involved in the story of the "holes in the world". Goodkind uses Jennsen to make us even bigger fans of Richard, wishing the whole time she knew his true nature. While I will agree that the ending was a bit rushed, it came together well enough. Meanwhile Oba allowed us to experience the surfacing of evil in a seemingly (at first) normal man, and Sebastian let us hate a man who attempted to seem good. Who cares if the books are anti-communism? More power to them! It's good to get a little philosophy once and a while. Overall Pillars gave me my SOT fix for a while, with some new characters and an interesting turn from the typical. Now the only question is... How is Goodkind going to manage the series ending?
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