Rating: 
Summary: A Difficult Read . . .
Review: I've truly enjoyed reading all of the Sword of Truth novels, BUT this one definitely tried my patience.Mr. Goodkind is adept at developing a history to show his readers why the characters act as they do. But this book concerns itself so much with explaining the behavior of the Anderith people, that I found myself wanting to just move on to the next book. However, if you plan to go on the the next book, you still need to read this one to understand why Richard loses heart in his fight. This is not a bad book, but be prepared to read on, even when the story isn't keeping your interest.
Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely Amazing
Review: This book has got to be the most original book I've ever read. It is about the 3 Chimes of Death, Reechani, Vasi, and Sentrosi, which are... well its quite hard to desribe them. Bodiless, invisible creatures that can take control of... stuff. For instance, in Anderith (the main city in this book) there is a point where city soldiers were lining up by a bridge to jump off to their death. That was the work of the chimes. There is a point where one of the Mud People drowns in 6 inches of water. That is the work of the chimes. In the Mud People's village, the Bird Man points out the Chicken that is not a Chicken. Sounds odd, but it is a chicken possessed by the chimes, that killed a newborn child. In addition to all these strange instances, The Chimes slowly remove magic from the world (and Zedd explains how that would kill everyone in the Midlands really well so I won't bother explaining it again here). On top of the Chimes, the Imperial Order is invading the Midlands finally. So, here Richard, the Seeker of Truth, the Lord Rahl of D'Hara, has to stop it all. Much of the book focuses around him trying to make Anderith join D'Hara while the government of Anderith is trying to make the people want to join the Imperial Order. Of the books in the series up to this one, I've rated Wizard's First Rule, Temple of the Winds, and this one, Soul of the Fire, with 5 stars. If I were to place them in order of Best to worst (while still remaining 5 stars) it would be Temple of the Winds, Wizard's First Rule, Soul of the Fire. An amazing read, I recommend it to all (that have read the previous 4 books that is).
Rating:
Summary: One of his best
Review: I have read this series up to this novel at least three times. This in my opinion, is the best book of the series- aside from his next book... As for the other reviewers: if you read Mr. Goodkind's interviews you would know how he feels about people disliking his books- READ SOMETHING ELSE! LIFE IS TOO PRECIOUS TO BE GRIPING AND COMPLAINING ABOUT WHAT WE DON'T LIKE! Anyway, this book really pushes your imagination to the max. As his style desires us to do-and flawlessly succeeds. It is more on the political intrigue side compared as compared to the other books in the series. He is broadening new horizons in his writing- opening new doors if you will. As with his past endeavors, it contains everything valuable to the contents of a novel. Most of the reviewers seem to fawn over the main characters all the time. There are many authors out there who only stick to the same main characters. If you aren't satisfied, quit complaining about his beautiful style. They (other reviewers) complain that he kills off key characters after creating them so vividly. Again read his interviews- he has an absolute purpose for this. They complain that his endings are too short. I fail to understand what they see in that statement. But hey- everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Again, in referring to his interviews, he only writes for himself and Intelligent readers. If you're not in either classification, don't bother "wasting" your money on the book. Otherwords- Enjoy!! Hands down, one of his best.
Rating:
Summary: In a word, anti-climactic
Review: I would echo some of the other sentiments shared here. I only recently started reading the series, and it takes me a while to find the time to get through these large volumes (no complaint there). There were slow passages in the first 4 books, but it seemed like simply a change of pace and they were tolerable. In this 5th book, however, it would be more accurate to say that there are faster paced passages, while the overall pace was relatively slow. The ending just plain stank. I mean, there was a lot of build up, the pace quickened, I could see it all in my mind coming together. But by the time I got to the last several chapters, I could see there were still too many loose ends to come together and deliver a solid punch within this book. I don't know what I was expecting to happen before that (at least some kind of show-down, maybe?), but whatever it was didn't and there were still many loose ends! Take, for example, the "Fatal Grace." Mentioned several times through the course of the book, it supposedly had a key role in banishing the Chimes, but then there was no mention of it at all when Richard sent them after Ander. There were many other details that were either left in oblivion or quickly disposed of as the end of the book approached. Yeah, I guess as one reviewer here admonished us, we want more magic and action and entertainment. But I ask, what's wrong with that? You can certainly have character and story development AND action and magic in a 500 page book; don't make a sizable portion of your readership suffer just for the sake of plot development. Terry's shown that he can put it all together, but it's almost as if he took a vacation on this one. I'm happy to hear that "Faith" is coming back around to a better composition of all of these elements. I've just started reading it now and can't wait to again be staying up much later than is good for me.
Rating:
Summary: Honest Review
Review: I've read 6 of the SoT books. And I've enjoyed all of them, some more and some less, but Soul of the Fire had to be the worst out of all of them. It still goes at a fast pace, and it is bearable to read (though some would disagree) but compared to the rest of his series its pretty bad.
I agree with an earlier comment, that he leaves out all the characters we fell in love with in the past; like, Gratch, Verna, Warren, Nathan (my favorite), Scarlet, etc. He spends way too much time building up characters you end up hating and end up dying needless deaths that serve no purpose to the overall plot. Basically, if they weren't really in the story it wouldn't have changed it much. The story could have been told in 200 pages rather than his 500 pages. It just feels like Goodkind needed something to write, and to write fast and it just sort of all was sloppily put together. Certain scenes are funny though, like when Cara is around. But overall, you should read it if you want to continue the series. If you want an awesome book, I would suggest looking elsewhere. I'm a Goodkind fan, but what did Terry do with this book?!
Paul
Rating:
Summary: Comparative Modern Politics
Review: The author of this novel does an excellent job of creating a society taking modern problems we all face and showing the modern solutions with a few hundred years of policy and practice behind them. It is an excellent creation that does not fully fit the original storyline, but leaves those who have an interest in modern social arcitecture in awe and full of thought for months, well worth the time and money. Keep em coming Terry.
Rating:
Summary: GOOD BUT NOT UP TO PAR
Review: Definately a good read, just not on par with the other 6 books in the series but I would recomend this to all fantasy fans.
Rating: 
Summary: Bummer
Review: I am a major fan and this one was just horrible in my opinion. but it is necessary to understand the next ones. It is my least liked book in the series. somehow it was just boring, i would normally sit up all night to finish one of his books. not this one, it took me four days to read it.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but could have been much better
Review: This book is certainly the weakest of the series, but still an enjoyable read despite its shortcomings. While comparisons to other fantasy series are inevitable, I do not share other reviewers comments that Goodkind is simply copying other writers such as Robert Jordan. In reality, all writers copy each other a great deal. After all, the best artsits copy the masters. The only thing that really matters is how the material is presented. Goodkind does a fair job, but many aspects of the plot are not explained as well as in previous books, ie, the chimes, and the various plot lines do not flow as smoothly as they did in previous books. All in all, a worthy addition to the series, but it probably needed some more work before being released.
Rating:
Summary: Among the worst fantasy I've ever read...
Review: Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series started with more fire and imagination than it's continued with. Story lines are often rehashed varieties of the same ever increasingly dangerous plot, and Soul of Fire is no different. One eventually wonders how the author never thought to himself "wow, this is incredibly boring and repetitious, I should scrap it all and start over." The plot is so paper thin that the reader can easily guess how the story will end. I would recommend the book only if you're a desperate fantasy reader and have extensively read (and re-read) your current collection and need something else to read, regardless of how stultifying you might find it.
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