Rating: 
Summary: the worst book i have ever tried to read.
Review: i love the sword of truth series but this book was awfull i couldn't even finish it. i have owned this book for 2 years and i can't get even half way through it. it is boring and i cannot believe Terry Goodkind even wrote it. i suggest that you should buy some other book and not waste your money on this one.
Rating:
Summary: Improbable characters and tedious plot
Review: The only explanation for this book is that an alien snatched Terry Goodkind and replaced him with an illiterate life form. This is simply a dull, poorly crafted book. The dialogue is infantile and strained, and the plot develops only because the protagonist and antagonist, along with the rest of the characters, are all incredibly dull-witted. Completely without subtlety or craft, Goodkind's worst-ever effort.
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing happens.
Review: This is my first Sword of Truth book so my issue here is not that Richard and Kahlan hardly appear in this book. I don't really know/care who they are. My issue is that nothing really happens. All that happens is that Jennsen runs away from soldiers who don't really exist. And that's your book. The premise is good (seeing Lord Rahl from a different perspective, an entire book dedicated to an imaginary enemy) because of its potential for psychological tension. But a book based on pyschological tension and not action requires strong roots in depiction of character headspace. Jennsen and Sebastien have no character chemistry. It's like this for 500 pages:J: Oh, Sebastien, you're so brave! I'm so grateful you're here for me!
S: I love you and can't live without you! Jennsen never doubts her mission despite all the clues given to the reader that she's not doing the right thing, she never doubts Sebastien, Sebastien never doubts his own mission. The first 150 pages were extremely well written because there is psychological tension. Some extraordinary chapters are there: Oba becoming progressively angrier and Lathea becoming progressively more vulnerable when he encounters her (the descriptions of changes in body language and environment, like the bottles rolling off the table and smashing against the floor are awesome) or Jennsen fighting against the voice in the People's Palace during the devotional (you know Richard can't be evil if he lives in a shopping mall). Is there "action"? No, but the psychological tension is riveting, and while I was reading these chapters, I was like, "Wow, Terry Goodkind is GOD!" But I just ended up being disappointed with the second half of the novel.
Rating:
Summary: Overlong and frustrating
Review: While I am a fan of Terry Goodkind's series started with Wizards First Rule, I was disappointed with this installment in what is otherwise a fantastic series. Perhaps it was due to the long delay since I read Faith of the Fallen, but many of the references were obscure. Further, the adventures of Jennsen, while action packed, frustrated due to the obvious end of her plight. The story could have been half the length of this novel, told the same story, and been better for the thinning. Few new revelations appear in this novel, little interaction with old friends, and seemingly little impact on the overall plot arc. Perhaps the main character will play a greater role in future installments, we can only hope. As it stands this novel is a long, nearly dull aside that I worked to finish.
Rating: 
Summary: Good News: We can all be best selling authors!
Review: Sure was a pretty cover (thus the 2 star rating). Look, I read this stuff (Jordan, Brooks, et al)and I know the best writers on the planet aren't in this genre, but it can be fun to read about their amazingly detailed worlds and their struggles for survival. The writing can even be really good at times. BUT, I would be ashamed if any one of my literate friends picked this book up and read even one chapter. Can someone explain to me why our girl Jenny thought she could kill the most powerful man in her world when she and her boyfriend got beat-up by one of his female bodyguards? Richard, btw, is starting to remind me of Joe Millionaire with magical powers (when he can conjure them up. What is he The Incredible Hulk?). I don't know folks, this is pretty sad stuff. I am glad she got her goat back though. Hell, I'll probably read the next one too ('cause I think this guy is capable of one star material), but I will wrap it in a Peter Straub or King cover just to keep my social standing up.
Rating: 
Summary: The Sword of Truth is still going strong
Review: This book has taken a lot of criticism because the series' main characters are absent until the very end of the book, and while I can understand how that would upset people, I don't think it merits all the low ratings it's gotten on Amazon. Despite its departure from the characters we've all come to love, this is still a solid story. The book follows the story of Jennsen Rahl, Richard's half-sister, who has spent her whole life living in fear, on the run from Darken Rahl's assassins. Early in the book, she meets up with Sebastian, who is Jagang's strategist, so we get a bit of a closer look at the Imperial Order here, which is interesting. Also entering the fray is Oba, yet another of Darken Rahl's bastard children, one who succumbs to the voices he hears in his mind. That whole concept sheds a little light on the constant references to the voices that Drefan hears back in "Temple of the Winds." Jennsen searches for help fleeing Richard Rahl, which is slowly twisted into vengenace against Lord Rahl, and Oba seeks to claim the empire that he believes is rightfully his. We also see what happens when Jagang finally reaches Aydindril after the winter, and of course, the eventual meeting between Jennsen, Oba, and Richard. While certainly not my favorite book in the series (that honor goes to "Faith of the Fallen"), this is still quite good, and shows that Goodkind is still going strong, unlike what's happened to the Wheel of Time series. Jennsen is an interesting character who we can look forward to seeing more of as book 8 presumably returns to the main storyline. At least, I hope it will; I'm dying to find out what Richard and Kahlan have been up to down in the Old World...
Rating:
Summary: Some good moments floating in a sea of mediocrity
Review: Glaring typographic errors, repeated phrases, huge plot discontinuities ...Man, but this book needed some serious editing. I don't know how many times Goodkind repeated the same basic thoughts in this book. Over and over, we read how Jennsen plans to "plunge her sword into Richard Rahl's chest." This exact phrase, or something quite similar, must appear ten times in the last part of the book. The book comes off as superficial and amateurish. If JRR Tolkien or Gene Wolfe is a 10 in terms of fantasy prose, then Goodkind is about a 2. On the other hand, there were some compelling moments, and I found the whole People's Palace sequence gripping.
Rating:
Summary: Pillars of Bad Storytelling
Review: This has been, without a doubt, the worst book I have read in at least ten years. I agree that plot is Mr. Goodkind's forte, but in relative terms, that doesn't say very much for him. Absurd and unexplained coincidences (e.g. J and S coming across the woman and her sick child, Tom riding up with Betty out of nowhere), sickeningly stereotypical characters and development (e.g. big, beautiful, strong heroes, beautiful, voluptuous, and ultimately subordinate heroines; Jennsen's schitzophrenic mental condition (trembling one second, exuding supreme confidence the next), Jajang "the Just" (what the...? Better names needed please) - emperor and genius - not understanding simple descriptions of magic), exhausting descriptive narrative to the point of frustration and personal insult, distracting reliance on cliched language, as well as strange overuse of certain phrases (e.g. "the reassuring metallic click...")... I could go on. If this is the kind of writing fantasy readers expect, and apparently enjoy, it does not speak well of them. New and better writing is needed, urgently. Not only was it boring, it is insulting to the intelligence of the readership. Shame on you, Mr. Goodkind. And lose the ponytail. It's 2003, for God's sake.
Rating:
Summary: Save some time
Review: For those of you that have not read this book yet save yourself some money and just read the last 50 pages. This book had no business being apart of the Sword of Truth series. It should have come out as a stand alone like the Debt of Bones book. Or at least finish the series then write about the new characters. So this book has about 150 pages of good reading and the rest stinks. Terry you can do better than that and you should.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty good.......but not quite up to his usual standard
Review: I'd first like to start by saying that the Sword of Truth series is best if you start at the beginning..... The latest book in the Sword of Truth series is quite suspenseful. However, unlike the other books in the series, it centers on the Richard's half-sister named Jennnsen. I don't like to take anything away from it, but I think it spends too much time on Jennsen's struggles. You really don't see much of the mighty duo of Richard and Kahlan until the last 64 pages, and most of the good stuff is there. A nice addition to the book was another of Richard's many half-brothers, named Oba, but this character makes the book seemingly overviolent (and over graphic). I suppose Mr. Goodkind is trying to portray the evilness of Darken Rahl's offspring, but then how are only Richard and Jennsen untouched? All in all, I felt this was much better than the ghastly Faith of the Fallen. I also recommend the Wheel of Time series for avid fantasy readers.
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