Rating: 
Summary: Boring
Review: When I pick up a fantasy book, I really expect to read fantasy. This book had almost no magic or fantasy involved. If I wanted a political thiller, I would have picked up that type of book. In addition, it seemed that this book was completely independent of the first 4 and the 6th. I was extremely disappointed and regret the time I spent on it when I could have read something more suitable to the fantasy area.
Rating: 
Summary: Finally the end of an addiction.
Review: I used to be one of those people who are starting with a series and then have to finish it. Well, not this time though. Soul of the fire was my last exploration of the adventures of Richard Rahl. The reasons are manifold, but important ones are the fact that in the whole sword of truth-serie very much happens but nothing develops. Richard stays the same. Kahlan stays the same and every minor character seems to be chose out of five random kinds of people. That is seldom a problem, because most of them are killed anyway. Women are invariably raped before being killed. The story seems to be the same as all the others, and for a hero Richard is very irresponsible and keeps messing around. Only because he is the Seeker of Truth, this messing around is at the end of the book a good thing. Realism is not a good point either. I study history myself and the massive army of Jagang seems no big deal to me in real life. It is so big that it would travel very slow and the soldiers would have to eat themselves because of the logistic nightmare large armies pose. (30.000 is the maximum for a self-sufficient army with pre-modern logistics.) There is only one thing that saves the book. Goodkind writes very well and kept me reading despite of the fact that when I laid it down I felt very dissatisfied. People who only want a mindless killing of time will be very happy with this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Captivating Satire
Review: As a recent fan of Terry Goodkind, I was pleasantly surprised by the book. Although it is a little slow at the beginning, has little magic, and focuses on new characters, it is well worth reading. In fact, in my opinion, this book is not the standard fantasy novel, it is rather a cutting political satire. It tells of a corrupt leader who cannot control his sexual urges, his wife who uses him to gain her own power, and the people who blindly believe whatever he says, seeing his sexual indiscretions as symbolic of his true power. Whether you agree or not, it doesn't take much thought to figure out to whom he is referring. But rather than hurting the book, it ultimately serves to develop the main characters. Read it and weep!
Rating:
Summary: A page-turner, NOT!
Review: I had to remind myself to keep pressing through this book. I was not challenged at all by this book. It is words on paper. I like the series, but what was this? The whole book was invalidated by the next in the series. Goodkind spends an entire book building up a civilization and several new characters then abandons the whole group by the end of the story.What was the point? The book picks up at the end. I found this story bland, uneventful, and dissapointing.
Rating: 
Summary: Worst in the series but still good to read
Review: Every fan will want to buy it but most of them will probably be disappointed by the anti-climactic ending. And it seems the characters do something that seems to be out of character to me. Goodkind is getting worse but I am waiting for his next one anxiously.
Rating:
Summary: Almost Put it Down....
Review: ....but I persisted and it did get somewhat better. I agree with several reviewers - I loved to first 4 books. The divergence of this book tells me there is an editor out there telling Mr. Goodkind that he can squeeze more out of this story to make more $$. I already (reluctantly) bought the next in the series - although I don't know how many more. Like Robert Jordan's never-ending epic - too many authors are drawing stories out and we readers don't like years of suspense in between these drawn out plot twists....
Rating:
Summary: Better than the previous book...
Review: After a very good first book in "Wizard's FirstRule", I thought the series went steadily downhill after thatwith too many parallels to Robert Jordan and with the same thingrehashed over and over again. However, this book did not have theusual "Kahlan and Richard promise to love each other forever,then something happens to make them question their love to eachother." And, after appearing as a major part of Book 2 (I think),the fascinating Du Chaillu and her Baka Ban Mana are finally back inthe picture, though they are now the Baka Tau Mana or something likethat ... END
Rating:
Summary: good book
Review: the 5th book in Terry Goodkinds series is not bad, it is interesting but there was some parts I was a little tierd of like Richard not heeding the advise of his friends and doing what he thinks is best,when most of the people and friends he meets clearly have more experiance then him. Most of what he does he thinks is better but in the long run cause more problems for him and it doesn't work out the way he thinks and makes it worse. by the end of this book Richard's ideas and plans almost cost Kahlan her life. the one thing I did like was how he, Kahlan,and Cara handled things without thier magic. all in all not a bad book. I recommened this book and can't wait for the next one.
Rating:
Summary: unfairly disparaged
Review: This installment in the Wizard's First Rule series is taking a bit too much of a beating from some of the reviewers. It's true that the book diverges off the mainstream of the plot from the first four books, but it's a pretty interesting digression. In the fifth book, most of the action takes place in Ander, and the bulk of the book is only loosely tied to our main heroes, Richard and company. Nevertheless, the political machinations and the social structure of Ander were really compelling reading. If anything, I'd say book five returned to some original thinking (which was hugely in evidence in the first book, despite some opinions that it was derivative of Jordan's series). I think books three and four dragged badly, but Soul of Fire is a worthy installment in the series. If you're new to Goodkind, start with book 1 --Wizard's First Rule -- which is wonderful. Don't expect too much from the subsequent books, which are merely okay.
Rating:
Summary: What an awful pile of dung !
Review: I liked the first four books. They were definately gory at times and certainly frustrating but at least they held my attention. The new characters are completely unsympathetic and boring. I can't stand how the old characters never seem to learn from their mistakes. It's like a bad episode of Three's Company. You know the one about the misunderstanding ... TG spends three books convincing us that Kahlin is an intelligent, capable, strong woman who really has her sh-t together and then she is replaced with Lucy Ricardo. I almost crawled out of my skin with the whole Marlin business in the begining of book 4 and don't even get me started about the whole "Chicken that is not a chicken" bit. I actually put the book down (something I never do) and I may never finish it.
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