After a great start,this series sank fast; I just can't get past my utter contempt for the protagonist to continue. ( )

I enjoyed the exercise in world building that this book seems to represent. The author laid out the history of Anderith and then used that foundation to give us a story about political intrigue and domination.

I also enjoyed how things played out at the end, though I'm not sure it made much sense. The common people would be the ones to suffer the most, while the elites who manipulated them in the first place would likely escape retribution, like Dalton. So, could that really satisfy Richard's desire for vengeance? It does make his actions seem more juvenile. What he's doing at the end of the story is pretty juvenile too. "They don't like me so I'm going home!" Isn't this guy supposed to be Lord Rahl? Wouldn't his past experiences have hardened him up and made a man out of him by this point? Are his actions believable?

I feel like Goodkind spends a lot of time building new characters up and developing them in really creative ways, only to have them meet their ends in extremely anti-climactic situations that felt rushed and left me wondering what the point of learning about them was in the first place.

That rushed feeling permeates the last 60 pages or so of the book. One moment everything is fine, and then suddenly the enemy is there and everything quickly wraps up in catastrophe. It doesn't feel measured. It doesn't feel like good storytelling. It feels like the author put too much time into the build-up and then realized he only had 50 pages to find some sort of conclusion. The ending was choppy and unsatisfying. Goodkind also puts too much weight on weak storylines. The prime example is using Franka's situation at the end of the book to explain Dalton's change of heart, but for that to be believable Dalton's relationship with Franka should have been more deeply examined.

The story could have been better if Goodkind had spent less time detailing characters and a culture that were disposable and had spent more time developing the main characters instead. Throughout the story, all of the main characters fail to work together. The actions they take aren't believable given their situations. Kahlan doubting Richard and the mud people elder about the chicken is the most glaring example. Why would they lie about it, and if it had turned out to be untrue, so what? They'd have checked and maybe killed a few chickens and then they could have settled things. Instead, she gets portrayed as a doubting, whining bitch that slows down story progression, which isn't fair to her considering who she is supposed to be. Richard has his turn to be an idiot when he doesn't trust Kahlan's opinion later on in the story.

The story just feels like a wasted opportunity, or like filler material. ( )

I am putting this 5th book in the Sword of Truth series aside, perhaps permanently. I started it immediately after finishing the previous book, "Temple of the Winds", and then put it aside for the holidays when I was too busy to read. When I picked it back up, I was unhappy about the imminent rape scene about to be described and stopped again. A week later I tried again, starting several pages back; this time I was uncomfortable with the fictional culture of Anderith particularly in light of the events in the U.S. at this time.

Wikipedia describes this culture this way: "Both the Anders, black-haired people who govern the city, and the Hakens, red-haired people under the boot of Ander oppression, occupy Anderith. From an early age, Hakens are kept under control and disrespected by the Anders and are taught that this oppression is a necessity to protect the Hakens from their violent ancestral ways. Most Hakens have bought into this idea and willingly subject themselves to the oppression."

In the book, this oppression of the Hakens is clearly attributed to the idea that at some past point in their history, the Hakens had been the dominant race and their current situation was in retribution for their crimes towards the Anders at that time.

Whether Goodkind meant this parallel or not, it was too close to the way white supremists here view the U.S. - that whites are being (unjustly) oppressed by people of color in payment for historical injustices. I don't want to be reading anything right now that feels like justification for white supremists!

The story was not quite as good as book 4, but the narrator was very good and a distinct improvement. Richard and Kahlan remain separated for a significant part of the story, as do most of the main characters. The story follows activities of the different groups of people, but the weak point is that overall, this book doesn't advance the main story to any substantial degree. There is a good and satisfying ending, and the world is fleshed out and kept interesting. ( )

A good continuation of the series. I was a little disappointed with the beginning, but once it got going, the story moved quickly. ( )