Rating: 
Summary: Immensely engrossing! The finest Fantasy tale ever published
Review: Having read all the reviews (on this website) until today of the four books in the 'Sword of Truth'-series (SOT) Terry Goodkind has published to date I fairly soon noticed something all of you seem to have missed entirely or just barely touched upon, but which adds significantly to the very special quality of this Fantasy series: I think Terry Goodkind writes with a rare mastery of suspense, in the way Hitchcock showed us all before in film. Many of his suspense scenes are intensely throat-gripping, not so much in the actual descriptions of the dangers at hand, but much more in the unnamed threats and almost physically felt dreads, like you are right there in the scenes yourself. When reading I found all four of his books very hard to put down, eager as I was to find out what would happen next to my two great heroes, Richard and Kahlan, and all of the characters surrounding their incredible tale. The sheer inventiveness Goodkind displays describing their fast-paced, thriller-like, compelling and extremely engrossing adventures hardly ever disappointed me. More and more I came to admire the caleidoscopic range and sometimes quite humorous encounters they had on their great journey covering Westland, the Midlands, D'Hara, and the Old World, in these four books now spanning slightly over a year. You almost automatically come to like the heroes and hate the villains he puts on the stage, which is no small feat to accomplish. On one occasion I even found myself becoming emotional, when one of the Mord-Sith died of the plague (as well as a lot of other people) as a result of the Andolian Legate Rishi's love of sustained drunkenness taking him a lot of time extra on his journey to arrive at Richard with 'a message from the winds', thus finally giving him a clue on how to conquer the plague's horrors (Book 4: Temple of the Winds). Goodkind does not shy away from being graphic and explicit in some of the scenes he describes, though they too are sometimes a bit hard to swallow. Right now I'm wondering whether it would have been be a great miss from the story-line if they wouldn't have been there. But then I also realize that there would be no Mord-Sith, and I would never have learned to love Denna the way Richard learned to do, thus finally giving him salvation of her dominance over him. Now that would have been a miss! So I conclude that these scenes are there to at least show some interesting character development, but also to show what people of all time (and Universes?) are probably capable of doing to eachother (think of the origin of Mord-Sith: them being created and trained to be this way by Darken Rahl, Richard's evil father). I also do think that Goodkind is not of a 'sick' mind in this, but quite realistic, if not soft. Don't be put off by it though, because that's what life in reality also is, even in Fantasy. In all of the four books, only two episodes I found to be somewhat disturbing or incomplete in the way they were depicted (Book 3: Blood of the Fold). First, when Kahlan and her Mud People protection officer Chandalen walked through a once-great city which had only just been wasted by their enemy, the army of the Imperial Order, finding bodies of men, women and children sprawled all over, the dead witnesses of the terrible atrocities the soldiers of this army had done to these people, they were talking at length on economics and politics. Well, I found this to be in no way fitting the shameful, painful and gruesome situation they were dealing with at that point in time. The next one (in the same book) was when Kahlan got a report from her soldiers of an older man and woman travelling their country, possibly threatening Kahlan's and her army's secret position to their enemy, the Imperial Order, for which she ordered them to be executed. Unknown to her, these two people travelled incognito, and were in fact Richard's grandfather, wizard Zedd, and his temporary companion, bone woman Adie, escaping their mutual enemy (at least, that's what I read, or thought to have read, between the lines in the story). I really found their imminent death to be a great loss in the story and mourned their ending this way, however strangely surreptitious it was (by the hand of Kahlan, who, at the same time, was so desperately seeking Zedd to save Richard!). However, much later in the book Zedd and Adie reappeared without so much as a scratch! But in no way Goodkind explained how this could have been, apparently having escaped the execution. So, that was a bit disappointing to me. All in all I have thoroughly enjoyed these four books and eagerly look forward to the next one in the series coming up shortly. After some 15 years of not seriously having read any book at all until, a few years back, I finally succumbed to the charms of Clive Barker's 'Imajica' (which I then thought to be the best book ever) I must now admit that even Raymond E. Feist's 'Magician'-series and his and Janny Wurts' 'Empire'-series (so much loved by the audience and quoted often next to Robert Jordan's 'Wheel of Time'-series), which I subsequently read, are well overpowered by the by Terry Goodkind's SOT. 'Imajica', 'Magician', 'Empire', and SOT are all very different from eachother, however, only SOT has the fast-paced suspence that I have not enjoyed so much in any of the others listed. I still like 'Imajica' very much because of its daring and ground-breaking survey in religion (none of which I found in SOT). I still like 'Empire' very much because of the fantastic survey in an alien civilization with strange customs and a Japan-like culture and a great heroin (hardly any magic there). Now I only still like Feist's first one ('Magician') and dislike to ever have read or tried to read its sequels (but gave up in the middle of his third), because the level of writing became worse and worse and the action was getting slower and slower. I've tried Robert Jordan, but don't like his writing style. Too much page-filler for me there, too little action. Yes, Goodkind develops the scenery and his characters exceptionally well, making them have all kinds of very recognizable human traits. They can be very smart and sometimes decidedly stupid in their actions, but I love them for it. In the past three months I have read the 4 books in the series all one time now and will probably reread them within a year (it's not my habit but for some very special books I have found to make exeptions for, e.g. 'Imajica'). Mr Goodkind, keep up the good work! And to all people choosing to be disrespectful with Mr Goodkind in their reviews I would say: grow up! You should first READ the book(s) before reviewing them!
Rating:
Summary: Hands-down best fantasy book I've ever read!!!!
Review: I've never before gotten so completely engrossed in a book like this one. You absolutely can't put it down, but be careful, you'll forget you're reading a book! Goodkind has definately pulled away from the pack, and far surpassed anything Jordan could even dream of writing! This book is mastery of plot, character development, and action. It is written truly the way any book in an epic series should be written.BUY THIS BOOK NOW OR YOU'LL REGRET IT!
Rating: 
Summary: A good series seems to have run out of steam
Review: Goodkind's Sword of Truth series began as an entertaining read with Wisard's First Rule, and hit its apex with the second novel, Stone of Tears. Blood of the Fold, the third in the series, was disappointing, but nowhere near as much so as this one, the downright awful Temple of the Winds. Goodkind has never been one for depth--his characters are wooden ripoffs of the Arthurian legend--simple,good-hearted hero [Richard/Arthur/Luke Skywalker]who is the bastard son of a powerful evil [Rahl/Uther Pendragon/Darth Vader] with a wizard mentor [Zedd/Merlin/Ben Kenobi and a cool sword that comes with its own set of rules [the sword of truth/Excaliber/the light saber]. But at least at the beginning what he lacked in writing ability he made up for with enthusiastic storytelling. Now his books are rendundant, he takes himself far too seriously, and his characters are still pathetically racing around like chickens with their heads cut off, spouting melodramatic dialog and, despite basically being king and queen of the world, never seem to be out of danger or able to keep from betraying each other for their own sakes. Yuck! Put this series to rest, Mr. Goodkind, and try something new. There wasn't that much to say in the first place.
Rating:
Summary: Best BOok
Review: this book is as great as stone of tears was ... bloody awesome
Rating:
Summary: Excessive violence against women-Avoid!!!!
Review: I liked his first books, but the excessive violence against women has got to stop. The fact that many readers find this acceptable is scary. I put it down unfinished. I think it is sadistic pornography. I would not let my adolescent daughter or son read this book. JR.Tolkein created high fantasy without S&M and graphic rapes. We readers must have some values for our world. I won't buy another of his books, and I will write to the publisher and even Mr. Goodkind. As a rape survivor, I want fantasy to take me good places not my nightmares.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent fantasy -
Review: I think this series is one of the best I have read, and is far above the Wheel of Time series. I would rank it close to the Eddings Belgariad series with the action and readability. Now to the book at hand - "Temple of Winds". I am current re-reading for the third time. I enjoy it so much. I think this is a good wrap up book of various loose ends, and develops many more questions and problems. The whole time you are left wondering if Richard and the Mother Confessor will ever wed. I love the way the problems keep popoing up in a controlled fashion and Richard is always reacting on instinct. He will make misteaks (The miswrith Queen was a big one), but he will always seek to correct those misteaks and learn from them. I can't wait for the next book.
Rating: 
Summary: good but. . .
Review: Terry Goodkind has created a well developed world with rich characters that are easy to care about. I read Wizard's First Rule in a single night and have re-read it a number of times since. In comparing Temple of the Winds to some of his previous works I found it lacking in a number of areas. The first bone of contention derives from his seemingly compulsive need to rely on the rape theme throughout the novels. I personally got the message after the first few, but for some reason they keep on popping up throughout the story. The second point comes from a couple of rather large plot holes that are found in Temple of the Winds. Not only are the holes, but they are there because it seems that the plot was given precedent over the basic personalities of the characters. Characterization has always been one of the strongest elements in the series and it was maddening to see it playing second-fiddle to the plot. In any event the book was still an entertaining read and I'm looking forward to the next one.
Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: Hey, This is series is just one level lower than the Tolkien trilogy. It is really awesome. Real characters, plots twists, magic and mayhem, this author has got it all going on!!!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: the best fantasy novel yet!!!
Review: I really liked the story because it involved a lot of characters, yet leaving the main characters to weave an interesting tale. All of the creatures that were involved had an interesting impact in the story. In fact it had more than any other story that I have read yet. It is fascinating how Goodkind thought up this tale of Richard and Kahlan, and to put them through so much (trouble) and yet in the end, all turns out right for them. Truly amazing story!!!
Rating:
Summary: Great! Wonderful! Interesting
Review: This book is a great example of Tolkien-like fantasy. I can't wait till the next book in the series, Soul of Fire, comes out in March '99. This book is the best so far because Richard and Kahlans dream comes true: They get married. It is one of the most romantic scences I have read yet. This is a MUST BUY BOOK if you love fantasy.
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