Rating: 
Summary: Master of plot, but not of style
Review: 5 stars is not exactly accurate, I'd probably give this book 8.5/10 to be fair. Goodkind's major weakness is his lack of style. A Leiber, Wolfe, Vance, or Shea is literature, Goodkind is pure plot-oriented adventure.I write this mostly because I was appalled at the carelessness of some of the previous reviewers, revealing plot secrets that didn't happen until the end of the book. Please be more responsible, and other readers - be careful reading these reviews, unless you want some of the book's biggest secrets carelessly revealed. I have to agree with some of the other reviewers that this book was pretty boring for the first 100-200 pages, but I was completely hooked after this, watching Goodkind tie his complex plot together. What bothers me is Goodkind's prose can be clumsy and awkward at times, but besides this bit of criticism, I find this book, overall, every bit as good as his early ones and it reached almost unbearable intensity levels. Dalton is a great character and it was nice to see Cara operate on her own to great effect. Unlike some others, I will be getting no. 6 in hardback as well.
Rating: 
Summary: If your following the series. I guess you'll have to read it
Review: I found that the build up of the characters in Anderith were sort-of pointless because they just died or just gave up hope. Though it was interesting to find about they're lives, it just lacked humour, action and deeper/sinister thought. That relates to the chimes aswell. The build up of the chimes being a horror etc, was dissapointing. The idea of Kahlan being pregnant will the chimes being existent could've been elaborated, but..... Overall, the book was interesting to read. But not as good as 'Wizard's first rule' or 'Stone of tears'
Rating:
Summary: A Let-Down
Review: Unfortunately, this book does not compare to the rest of this great series. After being blown away by the intensity of books 2-4, this seemed a bit pointless. The plot seemed to be thrown together from one line at the end of book four. I love the characters in this series...maybe in book six we'll get to see them again! Richard without his sword for the entire novel? PLEASE, I wish I had waited for the paperback. That being said, it's still a fine series and I will get book six.
Rating: 
Summary: very slow, ending was forced
Review: It was disappointing to read this mediocre book from such a great author. Please Mr.Goodkind, do not go the route of Robert Jordan, slow long books that really go nowhere. I enjoyed your previous books so much. Richard and Kahlan are great characters, however in Soul of the Fire they seemed almost brainless. I implore you not to drag this next book along so slow, and then hurry up and end it. Your action writing is great and i missed it terribly in this book. Your character description is great, Jagang is a terrifying presence, even in this book.
Rating:
Summary: An in-between book it appears..
Review: The Soul of the Fire is well written and very engaging I thought, but when I was finished all I could think of is that very little was accomplished with this book of the Sword of Truth series and NOW I have to wait another 6 months or so for the next one. Its obvious from the ending (which I found extremely quick after all the buildup) that Mr. Goodkind was under some deadline. Lets hope the next one (and I am sure there will be another) will be much better and have a real ending, which this book did not have. If you want to really keep the story line of the series then you need this book, but as a stand alone its a waste.
Rating: 
Summary: I thought it was worth reading
Review: While I was disappointed somewhat at this book, if you look into what Terry has to say about why he writes, you will have a clearer understanding of what this book is about and why he wrote it. He writes about emotions, not 'the good guy always wins'. He wants tragety and how the characters deal with it. If you read closely enough, you will notice a definite similarity between Anderith and another culture I could name, that would have done the _exact_ same thing that Anderith did. I applaud Terry for his insight, and for getting people to think, and if it causes controversy, I think he would say, so much the better. Overall, I liked this book. It wasn't what I wanted to read, but that is good too. I don't like books to be too predictable.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Disappointing.
Review: This book was a great disapointment. It certainly didn't live up to expectations. It was boring, boring, boring. I wanted to see an extension of the established characters, to see where the story could take them. Instead we got a new cast of characters that left a lot to be desired. Come on Mr. Goodkind, try again.
Rating:
Summary: Sorry folks, it's not worth it.
Review: "Soul of the Fire" was, by far, the crappiest book I have ever read. And my experience goes pretty far--even into the depths of the DragonLance novel. I don't really know where to start. I enjoyed this series for a long time; in fact, it was one of my favorites. When I heard SotF was coming out, I thought, YEAH! I was terribly disappointed. Within the first few pages of the book, it's clear what the book is going to be about: sex. That's fine in small doses, but IT IS NOT WHAT A FANTASY BOOK SHOULD BE ABOUT. The entire book seemed concerned with it in some way, especially the Anderith sections. Secondly, WHAT is UP with all the character building for people who apparently serve no purpose but to 1) get their brains splattered all over or 2) get skewered? Fitch was the clearest example. Sure, he was an oaf, and quite stupid. He beat a woman (sorry, she was so unimportant I forgot her name) on Dalton Campbell's order, just because "he wasn't Haken and couldn't do anything wrong." How realistic is that? After this book, I'm not going to read another installment, if it's on its way. I have doubts, since Richard says "I quit" and is apparently heading home. Thanks, I get plenty of fantasy from George R.R. Martin, Robin Hobb, Katherine Kerr, and I could even go buy the rest of Salvatore's Dark Elf Trilogy and have better reading. To buy this book was a waste of money.
Rating:
Summary: It must just be herd mentality
Review: The most frightening thing about Terry Goodkind books is not Jagang, or the Keeper, or anything that crawls beyond the boundary. It is the herd of arrested adolescents who will scream "You rule, man!" to anything Goodkind runs up the flagpole. Goodkind could blow his nose on a blank manuscript page, turn it in and have it typeset, and these rabid fans would swear it was gold, award him five stars, and scream for more. [In fact, I'm convinced this is exactly what happened with Soul of the Fire.] This book was pathetic, and a waste of money and time. Goodkind's once promising career has spiraled into an endless stream of words stretching what was once an idea into an ever-thinner thread that frayed and broke a long time ago. It's too bad his fans have the kind of money to toss away, making him richer, while the reading grows poorer by the book.
Rating:
Summary: Either ya' get caught up in it, or...
Review: ...or you come to the first chapter that doesn't focus on the series main characters and drop the book on it's nose without giving it half a chance. If you're one of the former, I applaud you. If you're one of the latter, go away. Goodkind's novels are not for you. The Sword of Truth series is more believable than many series because it is just so seemingly pointless at times, you wonder, "How the heck does this affect things one bit?!?" until you realize what happened. This is a realistic quality so many series utterly lack. I applaud Mr. Goodkind for these touches that add so much more to his books.
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