Rating: 
Summary: Great book, but lacking in certain things
Review: Terry Goodkind is one of my favorite authors. His characters are interesting to follow and he makes you care what happens to them, but there are times when he takes his characters away from the direction they were headed in his previous books. In Faith of the Fallen, I think, Terry Goodkind has written a very long story with some areas that could have been completely left out. He spends most of the book on Richards wife, Kahlan, fighting a war against the Order that is doomed from the beginning. Just because Richard has a different idea about the war everyone thinks he's crazy, just like in the books before when something he understands completely misses everyone else. For instance, the "chicken that isn't a chicken" in one of his previous books. He KNEW it wasn't a chicken, but everyone thought he was crazy because they are just more stupid. The same thing happens in this book. He KNOWS that he can't fight in the war and everyone thinks he's a lunatic. While the Mother Confessor is off fighting a war that Richard told her not to do, good characters that weren't very developed that had good potential die off like flies. Instead of seeing the caring Kahlan that we're used to, we see this crazy women that has a bad case of blood lust, who goes off slicing her way through armies just to find out that Richard was right all along. Then she and Cara go off on a crazy mission to find Richard in the Old World just to tell him that he was right. Meanwhile, Richards story is very interesting and how he reacts against expectation in a situation that seems impossible underscores his great personality and perseverence. His talents for carving and sculpting come out near the end of the book as he is forced to carve evil art into the walls of the Emporers new city. The end of the book ends very quickly. It doesn't really slow down at all until the last 2 pages. I find it hard to believe that hundreds of thousands of people would almost instantly change their mind about their lives just by looking at big statue that Richard made, withought magic being involved, which Richard doesn't use. Overall the book is good and kept me reading to the very end, but there were times when it seemed he just added in some pages of text just to make the book longer. Some of the dialogue goes on forever, needlessly rehashing things that were already said, and when a decision is finally made, then the two opposing parties come away with their own ideals of what should be done, as if the conversation never happened. I would reccomend this book to people who have time to read it, because it is very long. It is a good instalment, but I hope his next book is better, not worse, like Robert Jordan's series is getting worse. Thanks,
Zim
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: This book is definitely my favorite of the series. I think Goodkind did an excellent job of showing the real consequences of abstract philosophical ideas. The premise of this book is that altruism is a philosophy that embraces death and individualism is a philosophy that embraces life. If you disagree with that, you probably won't enjoy the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Pointless Waste of Words
Review: After thoroughly enjoying the first few books of this series, I have been steadily disappointed as time has worn on. I debated whether or not to even buy this one, and unfortunately curiousity got the better of me. I read the first 200 pages, put the book down and have no desire to pick it up again. It's awful. The characters are predictable and annoying. The grace and wit of the writer is long gone. Too bad. Another good Fantasy series sunk by greed and burn out. That's it for me. I'll stick to reading Robin Hobb. At least she knows how to END a book.
Rating: 
Summary: Simply brilliant.
Review: Thankfully, after a most disappointing "Soul of the Fire", Terry Goodkind has truly outdone himself writing one of -if not the best- novels in the Sword of Truth series. This book simply has everything the first two had and more: a good story, great characters, less fantasy book cliches, action and a fair share of that special kind of graphicality Goodkind has made us come to morbidly love. Moreover, the book does not betray its predecessors: battles are still vibrant, there is still humour interspersed throughout and Richard and Kahlan's relationship is as sickeningly melose as ever.
Nicci is by far one of the richest characters ever to grace a SoT novel. It is also a treat to discover new traits to utterly underdeveloped main characters from the previous books, for example Jagang. The relationship between him and Nicci, albeit shortly depicted, is excellently done, bringing the reader forth to new levels of understanding of a character that had been portrayed until now rather unidimensionally.
My only complaints about this book are that it is far too biased towards the author's political views, namely, the shunning of socialism and its depiction as moral hell, being capitalism the only true source of freedom and goodness. The constant preaching ultimately detracts from the whole experience of the book. Also, I think that Richard has been dehumanised in this novel to the point of perfection. Goodkind maintains the ever lingering ... fascination with his main character, but this time it has gone a bit too far. I know this is fantasy, but too much is just too much. Kahlan, on the other side, is brilliant in here. Thankfully she has evolved from her mushiness in SoTF to become a fully fledged Joan of Arc of the Midlands. It's good to see that most of the characters are not becoming parodies of themselves (I refrain from saying this about Richard). Cara is still as cool as ever.
The narrative moves somewhat slower than in the other books, yet the time lapse of the story is longer than in any of the prequels. The language is well used and the descriptions are solid. Besides the endless preaching, the last few chapters are beautiful and will definitely make your heart raise a few beats.
"Faith of the Fallen" is an excellent read. I was glued to it for days and after finishing it I was left with the sour taste of wanting more, something that hadn't happened to me since "Blood of the Fold". Terry Goodkind has reivindicated his credibility as an excellent author. You will not be disappointed with this one!
Rating: 
Summary: Pity the characters!
Review: I consider myself to be a very loyal fan... and WFR had my devotion from the start! I fell in love with the book and waited eagerly for the sequel. I consider Richard, Kahlan and Zedd to be like old friends, and reread it almost monthly to keep in touch and still I get caught up every time! But recently my love and respect for the characters has turned to outright pity. Beginning with BoTF (in my opinion) the series began an upsetting downward spiral. The 5th book marked the absolute low with most of the attention given to new charaters that are impossible to identify with, not only because of their personalities (that Goodkind beats the reader over the head with), but also because they change from scene to scene os often vertigo doesn't begin to describe my reaction! The characters that made WFR such a hit are relegated to mere guest star roles and demonstrate almost none of the creativity, intelligence, skill, magic, or charisma that made them popular!
I debated even reading this 6th book when it came out because I was afraid to see what roles were in store for them. In a moment of optimism, I did read it and found it (although not as painful as it could have been) pedantic and sadistic. Can we stop with Richard always being kidnapped by semi-evil-but-not-quite-because-they're-just-deluded-and-need-him-to-set-them-straight women??? It's getting a little old.
Goodkind packs the sparse conversations with lengthy internal discussions and fills the dialogues with philosophical lecturing and then spices them both up with "sublteties" that get explained so often you wonder if the publishers didn't perhaps reprint entire sections on accident. My loyalties have long ago shifted from Goodkind to just WTF and SoT, and I prefer to pretend that the other books were some kind of hazy, disappointing nightmare. For new readers out there, I still say WTF is a must but for love of the characters, proceed with caution further into the series.
Rating:
Summary: Very Difficult to Put Down
Review: I have read the Sword of Truth series now for some time, and I think I can safely say that this addition to the series is maybe the best yet. The storyline is gripping from the beginning, and the plot is so engrossing you just have a very hard time putting this down. Part of what makes this series so wonderful is that the characters are written to be so believable that you seriously start to hate the villians in the story, and root for the heros. Add the system of magic this author has created, and the lore and fantasy of the world and the story is a winner. This book series is a FANTASTIC series for most science-fiction/fantasy lovers - however - I feel I should warn people that the "bad guys" in this series are VERY "bad guys", and I mean graphic depictions or references to things like rape, child molestation, murder in the worst possible ways, sexual abuse, torture and other very strong issues of evilness and wrongness. The "bad guys" (so far) always get what is coming to them, but you usually have to wait until near the end of a story, or even a few stories before you can see justice. If you have a weak stomach, or if you just cannot handle reading about these types of things, then I would recommend you try Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time Series, or L.E. Modesitt's Magic of Recluse Series. Both of those series are on the same par as this series, but the "bad guys" evil doing is either just assumed, or just toned down to assumptions. Over all I would rate this book, and the others in this series with 5 stars if you can handle the "bad guys," and with 2-3 stars if you cannot.
Rating:
Summary: It was life to the dying.
Review: I was probably one of the many waiting in line to give Terry Goodkind a (in my opinion) well deserved, swift kick in the pants after Soul of the Fire. It was so humiliating to stand up and proudly proclaim myself as a "Goodkind-ite" after it. Why? Because i just COULDNOT buy the whole whiney, Richard "Oh, they took a vote and didn't want me, I'm gonna go crawl in a whole and DIE." combined with the senseless beating Kahlan recieved AFTER the book was over made me throw my hands in the air and ask HIM what the hell HE was doing. I was so glad when FoTF came out and, at least, set the record straight on why Richard left. I prayed for Goodkind to redeem himself with the next book. Terry, man, you came through in spades, brother. FoTF is, if not my favorite of all time, right up there with them. As an aspiring author, the way he used the language in some areas, while they seem simple (the chapter that ends about not looking into Nicci's eyes, and the then the next that starts with "Look into my eyes, child.") were amazing. I really love the argument Richard and Nicci get into about self worth when he makes everything she held to be true seem like a lie. Although, I read the review for PoC and... I think I'm gonna be disapointed.
Rating:
Summary: I Love this Book
Review: I have read all of the Terry Goodkind series and I must say: "I love it." Goodkind's character development and interesting storylines keep me reading all night. This book was no exception. I would say this is the second best book of the series. Though this book doesn't advance the story greatly the interesting insights into the minds of the characters and the great ending make this a great book that I would certainly recommend as either a standalone reader or read with the whole series.
Rating:
Summary: It begins!
Review: Now begins the true quest of Richard and Kahlan! Their love holds true and may be the key to vanquishing the evil that threatens. They travel across the sands and cross paths with a being who walks the souls of men. Even if they survive this encounter, will they be unable to undo its evil?
Rating:
Summary: Best book yet!
Review: I absolutely love this series!!! I stayed up until 2:00AM to finish this book, and I wish I had the next one! This book is full of great story lines, a lot of adventure, characters to love and those to hate; Terry Goodkind presents a vivid view of the scenery and events. I guess I will just have to re-read the first 6 books again until the next is released!!
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