*sigh*

...it'll all be over soon... just one more to go... ( )

Book 10 in the Sword of Truth series was one of the better books in the series in my mind. It begins to tie up the pieces of the puzzle and draws alot of the other books which were less ejoyable at the time together. Some of the seemingly meaningless and frankly boring books in the series now make a bit more sense. I really enjoyed this one and can't wait to read the final book to see how the whole thing wraps up. Good stuff here. ( )

In the preceding book "Chainfire", Richard Rahl is the only person who remembers Kahlan existed. He spent the whole book trying to find proof to convince everyone that he wasn't insane and that something was dreadfully wrong.

Phantom carries on this story. Richard, after having proved that Kahlan is not a figment of his imagination, that she is his wife and also the Mother Confessor, to certain of his friends and family, now has to figure out a way of getting her back. At the same time he has to find a way of dealing with the evil Sisters of the Dark, stopping The Imperial Order from sweeping through the Midlands and destroying civilization, learning how to finally use his magical powers as the only War Wizard to have been born in living memory, and finding a way to replace everyone's lost memories.

I had been waiting for this book after having read all of the previous 9 plus the prequel novella and enjoying them, some more than others. When I began to read I was so disappointed, where was the humour, the fast paced adventure, the wonderful characters that I remembered. The book rambled on with long passages of political invective, magical formulas and spell forms, even algebra was mentioned at one point.

Characters came and went and I found myself wondering why on earth the author had bothered to bring them back if they were not going to be allowed, at the very least, to show their personalities. I can only imagine that the memories lost to the people of the Midlands and D'Hara had also been lost to Mr Goodkind himself.

Then at the end of the book the story still isn't finished. Now we have to look forward to another whole book to finish off the things that quite possibly could have been brought to a satisfactory conclusion in this one.

I was not impressed at all. ( )

Kahlan who? continued. Goodkind’s preachy soliloquy’s are getting annoying. If he could just focus on the action, that would be wonderful. And interesting. ( )

Phantom by Terry Godkind is the second book in the Chainfire trilogy, but also the tenth book in the Sword of Truth saga. For people not familiar with Mr. Goodkind, it may sound odd that a book is part of a trilogy and a saga at the same time, but that is the case with this book. The Chainfire trilogy is merely the final three books in the saga. By all accounts, the final book in the Chainfire trilogy, will in fact be the last book in the Sword of Truth saga. The saga that was started back in 1994 with Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth, Book 1) is due to close with the next book. There have been a mix of gems and duds among the books, but over all it's proven to be a solid series.

The overall plot of this book is almost identical to the plot of the previous book, Chainfire: Chainfire Trilogy, Part 1 (Sword of Truth, Book 9). In that Richard is still searching for Kahlan. The only difference is that in Chainfire, Richard had convinced those closest to him (Zed, Cara, Nicci etc) that Kahlan does exists. Sadly, nothing much changes in terms of that plot line. It almost seems as though Mr. Goodkind wants to milk that piece of plot for all it's worth. There are a few other subplots sprinkled in for good measure as well. Such as the Boxes of Orden and just what they can do. I particularly like this subplot because it ties up events from book one and is obviously bringing things together. There is also, as with previous books, a great deal of discussion of prophecy. This subplot seems to make the book become sluggish and redundant due to the fact the characters seem as though they are constantly repeating themselves. There is also the additional subplot of the First Grand Wizard, Baraccus, and the events he started way back when. Certainly, an interesting addition to the story.

The characters are largely the same characters that were present in the previous book, and the entire saga. There is not much character development at all for the main heroes. In fact, the character that seems to develop the most is Emperor Jagang. Jagang's development mostly centers on readers just leaning more about him. There is no real growth for the characters. At times, this novel felt as though the characters were secondary and they were being dragged along by the story. This is the second book in a row where Mr. Goodkind has offered very little in the way of character development. I was disappointed, especially being that this is the second to last book in the entire series to have flat characters, after readers have invested so much time following the story. I sincerely hope, with the last book, Mr. Goodkind adds a great deal of character development.

I have a few criticisms about this novel.

One being that at times the dialog drags on, and on... and on. The characters say the same thing over and over again. It is almost as though Mr. Goodkind is saying to the reader "I want you to get this point." And then proceeds to beat the reader over the head with the point.

Secondly, there are several times in this novel where the characters are struggling when suddenly one of the characters has an `ah ha!' moment and suddenly figures out a very vexing problem and has all the answers. This is very frustrating as a reader to see things `given' to the characters so easily. This happens no less than three times in this story.

Also, as I talked about above, the simple lack of character development. Sure, the story as a whole is advanced, but in terms of character development there is very little to be found.

Overall this is a slightly disappointing book. As a reader, I don't feel like a whole lot was accomplished in the broad scope of things. Fans of the series will certainly need to read this book, after all there is only one more left to complete the tale. People considering reading this novel, without prior knowledge of the series, need to really go back and start from the beginning. There are events and characters in this book that are discussed, or mentioned that would make no sense without reading the previous books. I would most likely recommend this series as a whole to more adult fantasy readers, yet in the same breath I think there are better fantasy series out there right now with less philosophical discussion based on the author's views and beliefs. This is simply an average fantasy book at best. ( )