Book 5), Soul of the Fire (Sword of Truth

I can tell you that I was looking forward to the latest enstallement in the Sword of Truth series in the hopes that it would be better than the last two, but SoF actually turned out to be worse. The series itself has been on a downward spiral. The characters that were introduced were of no importance in the end, and the storyline itself had "manufactured" written all over it. If you truly like the series, you should read it, but I strongly recommend that you wait for the paperback.

Basically the only reason that this book got four stars is that part of it had something to do with what was before this a good series. This book isn't bad, but I have to agree that I DON"T CARE about Arindreth or however you spell it. The detail explaining life in that country is just a little overboard. But besides that, people who have brains and will sit and think anout the ending and other parts of the book and then perhaps re-read parts will get that this book did have a point.

I was really looking forward to THE SOUL OF THE FIRE, especially after TEMPLE OF THE WINDS. At least TEMPLE had some of the magic of the first books. Why would anyone write a book about wizards and sorcerers, then eliminate magic from its world? These last two books seem to have been written just for the money. It is disrespectful to readers to continue a very good series just for profit, and I've noticed so many doing so lately (e.g., Ann Rice, David Eddings, Terry Brooks).
SOUL lost my attention as soon as it began its political harangue in Anderith. The whole section was boring, although I might have missed something interesting while skimming this part. Writing Zedd out of the story so early was unfortunate as he is one of the best things in the series. Also, the timeline seemed strange -- was Richard a prisoner of Darken Rahl only seven months ago? I just didn't care about any of the new characters and had little interest in their stories.
The writing itself was not as good, either. I had to re-read some sentences just to be sure of their meaning. There was too much repetition, e.g., Kahlan pinching the bridge of her nose, ladies straightening the back of their skirt/dress before sitting down.
Why was it necessary to have Kahlan beaten almost to death? Only to lose her baby? Why have her get pregnant in the first place! How did Zedd's soul get into the raven?
The cleverest of the book was the deaths of Duncan, Teresa, Chanboor, and his wife. Duncan was, indeed, a very clever man and found a fitting revenge.
I hope that if there is another book in the series (which is inevitable since nothing was done about Jagang and his army in this one) Goodkind will return to what made the first books so good -- characters you can care about doing things that hold the reader's interest with large doses of Magic -- something lost literally and figuratively in SOUL OF THE FIRE.

Soul of the Fire the 5'th in a great series is a bit of a let down. The chracters have become too emotional. Richard would work better as a darker character with a bit more of a sence of humor instead, we get him crying all the time. Of course we don't put up with much of this because the main characters are hadly in the book. Instead we get chapter after boring chapter on new lifeless , dull characters who end up being irrelevent. I felt all most cheated by this book. It doesn't answer any of the questions we have from the last book and takes us into all these new people we'll never see again. It's only worth reading in hopes that the next one will be better and since the last one was so well done.

I give this book four stars because, as I wait for the next installments in Robert Jordan and George R. Martin, the Goodkind series has been welcome filler. And I must admit, the story is interesting, though I wish for dark things to happen to Kahlan so the dialogue that makes me feel like I've been dipped in Molasses will stop. And Richard is so goody-goody he's simply not believable; I wish for dark things to happen to him also. But above all, my jaw drops as each element is introduced, cribbed straight out of Jordan. To set forth the evidence would require more space than is allowed here, and I think you all know what I mean anyway. I know imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but Jordan hasn't even finished his series yet! Still, it's a decent read. Given the paucity of good fantasy on the market, I would even have to say that Goodkind is one of the best currently available. Worth reading, after you're caught up on Martin and Jordan.

I *really* liked the WoT series thus far. But it sure seemed like nothing much happened in The Path of Daggers. Barely a mention of Mat Cauthan(sp?)... and it didn't seem like much progress made. I am not an author, and have no idea what it is like to be an author, but it seemed to me like it *couldn't* have taken a year to write that book (daggers).
I *really* like Goodkind's books thus far as well. I also like broccoli, and carrots, but I wouldn't compare one to the other.

This book left me with some questions: -What is the "soul of the fire" ? -How did Joseph Ander catch the chimes and what is this total new magic he came up with?
The answer to the latter question should have been the crux of the book. However, Goodkind withholds it from us. Richard meets an ancient brilliant wizard who went beyond additive and substractive magic, but Richard and the reader gain no larger insight in magic. That really hurt.
I also thought Goodkind focussed too much on Anderian politics and culture. -Why was the Wizzard's fifth Rule so dopey? "look at actions not words." Come on Terry, you can do better than that!
Goodkind's obsession with rape also gets tedious. In SoT, the soldiers of the Imperial Order start raping even before they have won the battle. Do they only recrute rapists or what.
At the end of book four, Berdine meets the rest of the Mordsith. One of them says she really needs to have a word with Richard. Where was she in SoT?
I might have forgiven Goodkind all this but he dealt me one last blow: the ending of the book. Richard turns into a whining child because the Anders turned him down and he goes back to Westland. Without his leadership the Imperial Order will probably crush the Midlands. Why must Richard's allies pay for what the Anders did? Does he not care about all the innocents that will be killed, tortured and raped? I have given this book two stars because SoT offered some interesting concepts and because the previous books were good. "Faith of the Fallen" better be very good. However, I will make him eat the manuscript if learn that the Wizard's sixth rule is: "Do not cry if you bumb our knee"

I've been looking forward to tSotF, since I loved WFR and read the other 3 volumes that followed. The quality of the plots, character development, suspense and the emotional response the text elicited in me declined more or less steadily with each successive book in the series. I hoped that the new book, tSotF, would break that trend and become another Goodkind's masterpiece. Alas, that was not to be. I made a mistake of asking a friend to get me a copy for my birthday. A mistake because I felt obligated to finish the book, even though, as Mark Twain once put it, "Madam, if the egg they serve me for breakfast isn't fresh, I don't need to eat it all to know it". I've read Wizard's First Rule several years ago. Yet, if you ask me, I'd be able to talk for hours about the story plot, the characters, and the emotions I felt. But, even though I've read the Soul of the Fire only two weeks ago, 5 minutes would probably the most I could muster to talk about this 700+ page book. If you are new to the series, your time and money would be much better spent if you buy Wizard's First Rule. If you are a fan, just wait for the next one. Or email me, and I'll send you my copy [unless one of my friends wants to read it first]. If there is a next book, and if I'd come across it in the future, I'll spend a bit of time reading the first 15-20 pages. Definitely try it before you buy it.

I personally feel that yes, this book is a bit different from the others in that the focus is not on Richard and Kahlan alone. Yet, there is still the richness of plot and character. I liked that Goodkind was able to deviate from the usual flash and dazzle of magic. The people he introduced were ordinary everyday people who had a power of a weaker, corrupted sort. If all characters were able to wield magic at every turn, the result may likely be eventual disenchantment. The people ( the Anders and Hakens) tied into the story, for the point of Book #1 was to show that not all will believe in the good of magic based solely on word of mouth. More often than not, people tend to adhere to believing the negative of any person or situation. No matter what you try to prove, they will believe what they want because their fear and ignorance prevents them from placing their faith in something they do not fully understand. Finally, not everything will always be peachy for our favorite and beloved characters. The absence of the Sword of Truth, separation from their newfound family, the failing of the magic the Midlands' rely on: these are the circumstances in the story that will make a true fan of Goodkind appreciate the beauty of Richard and Kahlan's human ( or non-magical) sides. It makes the reader also appreciate the magic of Richard's ability to use his mind in an ordinary yet effective manner to solve matters that he cannot control; yet and still, the ability for the two mates to cope with their situation despite the agonizing lack of a deep, loving intimacy in their newfound union.
All in all, this story is a good read. The display of the characters' greed, plotting, and disappointing lack of faith in the imminent good of magic gives us a background to the people that shape the world that Kahlan, and now Richard, have to struggle to mold into one peaceful existence for the few who believe.

SOTF is a major disappointment. The book was well written but I felt increasing resentment at having to plod through seemingly endless pages on Anderith and a whole new set of characters that turned out to be insignificant anyway. Way too much time was spent on setting up the situation for a very minimal payoff. With so much time spent on developing these characters, I at least thought it was for a grand purpose, something truly climactic, but all of the characters were dismnissed casually and quickly, hardly signifying at all. I also resented the minimal participation of the main characters, Richard, Kahlan, et al. who had no new development, got nowhere in their quest for their own education in magic or their quest against the Imperial Order. It seems they were relegated to the sidleines in this story which to me is sad and angering. Part of the "magic" of the previous books is the chemistry and interaction between the characters; how they find themselves and learn about their place in the word as a result of their experiences together. We get to see very little of this in SOTF. My last bone to pick is the ending, which came very suddenly and I found exasperating. Confusing, too. Dalton Campbell's actions at the end were to me toatlly unbelievable and out of character.
All in all, I think I'll forget SOTF even exists and wait in hopes the next installment will return to the formulae of the past books. Even Blood of the Fold, which to me is the weakest in the series and mostly a "filler" book, was light years ahead of SOTF.

I have just finished reading all four Sword of Truth books for the second time in preperation for book number five. Any one who wants to be swept away into a world of magic should read these books. Terry Goodkind has lots of strong women in his books and shows that some times women can have courage in the face of evil. Can't wait till the end of the month to get his new book and sit down and spend the time to read another exciting chapter in the life of Richard and Kahlan.

I've just finished reading Soul of the Fire, and earlier this year, I finished reading The Path of Daggers. I am not comparing Jordan and Goodkind, the novels to me have very little commonality to them. <yes I know the collars seem very similar, the Blood of the Fold and the Children of the Light, but the Fold and the Children are both taken from the Crusades and religious persecution in our real world in the past> And both writers have different ways of "writing" or "storytelling" to me, and having read the 121 other reviews here <skiming the ones that hadn't even read this book yet> I find that the majority of people were disappointed with it. Some, I believe the more mature readers, found Terry's definite change in tone, pace and style in this book appealing, I find myself tending to agree more with the people that said, basically, "WHAT?!?!?!?! AM I BEING MISSING SOMETHING? WHERE DA BOOK BE? WHAT BE DIS STUFF? FITCH? WHO BE FITCH? OH LOOK, DERE BE FITCH WID HIS BRAINS ALL OVER DA GROUND OVER DERE. And seriously people, what's up with that ending? "Hi, my name is Richard, no one likes me, so I'm gonna go home, and the heck with all of you." And the Path of Daggers? WHA'DA HECK BE DAT? Hello, my name is Jordan, and I'm going to solve one plot twist, but create oh, I don't know, bout 20 more at the end of each book. Can you say 47 book series, at least. But you know the really funny thing. Here I am, like many, B*tching and complaining, but guess who has bought hardcovers of both authors last books, and knows for a fact that he will buy the hardcovers of each when they come out? Ya, you know it. You know why? because even thought the last book for Goodkind, and the last two for Jordan were not up to what I wanted, I still love the series, and will read them all, for the simple fact that I am simply one stubborn B*stard.

This book introduces a bunch of new characters with long stories which I enjoyed (but others might not) and the story still is progressing, though slowly.

If you've already read books 1 - 4 of the SOT series, and you really like them, you're stuck. The characters are lovable enough, and the story is interesting and fun enough that you're still in and you have to stay.

But, I warn that the series starts to decline after this book. If you're not totally enthralled by books 1-4, don't bother to read this one.

The Wizard's First Rule was a breath of fresh air when I read it. Through the subsequent books, Goodkind managed to maintain much of what made the first book so strong - characters, story, plot twists. I am not a great fan of the dialogue, but I feel that the other aspects make up for this.
Alas for The Soul of Fire. The things that have made the earlier books so refreshing are all but lost in this book. The characters and story elements that have been the spine of the books to date are almost irrelevant - there is no magic, there is no Sword of Truth, the Mord Sith are all but dispensed with, and the Seeker of Truth is present in name only.
But my greatest disappointment with the book is the writing style itself. The story is drawn out, stretched. There is no subtlety; every story element seems to be presented in such an "in your face" manner that it is almost insulting. And there is a focus on detail that only serves to detract from the story itself; I don't need to know every single time they dip a piece of tava bread into the roasted capsicums in a single meal. On occasion these touches work wonderfully, but in this book this device has been badly overused.
I feel like Terry Goodkind has fallen into the trap of becoming literary in a poor sense of the word -- the story has been overwritten.
This trend -- becoming more literary -- has developed during the course of this series, and I could embrace it; every artist will change, however subtlely, in the course of a body of work. In this case, though, the change has been so great that the work seems related to the earlier books in name only, and this book is much the poorer for it.
Terry Goodkind seems to be walking the same road in fantasy that Tom Clancy walked in the realm of the techno-thriller. "Hunt for Red October" was refresh, tight, sharp. His later works have become overwritten, over-complex, and almost gratuitous. Sigh.
I will almost certainly purchase the next book in the series, but I am not looking forward to it with the expectation that I once held. I am afraid that in "The Soul of Fire", the Chimes may well have succeeded in their task: it seems that the magic is gone.

Let me start off by saying that this was a great book. There were many interesting aspects which made this a difficult book to put down, especially in the second half. I believe that Terry Goodkind is one of the best fantasy authors of our age. That having been said, there were some things I found less than perfect with this book. First, this book seemed to focus a bit too much on politics. Granted, politics is and important part of any fantasy story, but it should not be the *focus* of a fantasy story. Second, Richard and Kahlan are our heroes. We need to keep the focus on them. Of course, side stories give us insight into other characters like the Prelate, but this whole Dalton Campbell thing got way out of control. Nearly half the book was told from his perspective! By the way, whatever happened to Sister Verna? She was a main character since Book Two, and in this book she was barely mentioned! Mr. Goodkind mentioned something about fans getting tired of reading just about Richard and Kahlan, and that's why this book was different. I'd love to know who these "fans" are, and why they would get tired of these characters. Third, not enough magic. I understand that the whole book was about the death of magic that the chimes were bringing about, but it might have been more interesting if we touched on some other ways magic was failing rather than just the main characters losing their power. Richard's casting at the end wasn't enough to make up for an entire book devoid of magic. Fourth, Du Chaillu's appearance was just a bit too convenient. She shows up just in time to make Richard remember that he had two wives before Kahlan. And any reader worth his salt would have remembered that she was, indeed his first wife. Are we expected to believe that he forgot about that? It didn't happen all that long ago for him... Plus, has anyone noticed a pattern with the endings of these books? Apparently, everything is against our heroes up until the last hundred pages or so, when they discover something remarkable just in the nick of time to save themselves (and sometimes the world) from complete oblivion. It might work out a little better if it weren't *always* in the nick of time. But we'll see. I can't wait for the big match up with Shota and/or Jagang! Many kudos to Terry Goodkind. Long live the Sword of Truth series!

Ok. I have read the other reviews and considering thier mindless bladdering i take the time to write this one so all sensible Goodkind fans get a trustworthy review.
The story is in fact not so much about the chimes as many seems considering the book dedicates only a small part to it. It is in fact a more political story than the earlier books. The book open ways for introducing more characters (Dalton, Beata, Fitch etc) whitch in fact play small part to overall serie but gets the reader more sides of the world then just the world through Khalan and Richards eyes. Here are some points way the book rock so much
1) The strange feeling that everything is going to straight to hell is a fantastic thing that gets the reader to wonder whos going to die and not.
2) Increased knowledge about the world
3) The end is juuuust great, it shows that our dear Richard got a more human side then just plain boring hero
4) it just rock!
some bad things accur in all books, this had one.
1) it IS a bit slow the first 200 pages.

The previous books in the series were visionary with a build up that kept me going hour after hour. This book seems to take a 'back seat' and ignore the flow of the other books to which I was spell bound. The mere anticipation of the battle with Jagang that had been brewing was put on hold. We were introduced to a character `Fitch', pages and pages of useless information went into this little world of his, and finally all of a sudden he dies. What's up with that? Fitch escapes out of Ander only to return back with the Sword of Truth and at the same time Cara is trekking all across the place hunting him down. After all that effort of creating a character just to get the sword of truth, Richard doesn't even use it. My point being that there could have been a lot less unimportant events and more focus on other more intricate plots and emotions that had been accumulating. The ending I am sad to say was all a bit sudden and quite an anti-climax, it was as if Terry reached the allotted pages he wished to write and simply retired to a dull ending when it could have ended in a spellbinding battle. Nevertheless I'm still a huge fan of Terry, and cant wait until the cauldron with Jagang starts to bubble over.

I've been hearing negative things about this book for the last year. So when I picked it up, I expected it to be slow, boring, overwritten, and completely pointless. It's none of those things.
I'm the first to admit Goodkind doesn't have a good command of the language. His writing is, at times, simplistic. But it doesn't really matter, because the man is a storyteller. He is deeply passionate about the stories and characters in his books, and it shows. This guy can keep me up all night reading his stuff, because I have a need to know what happens next.
Fact is, there are a great many people who have more words, and a greater command of English, than Goodkind. And most of those people couldn't tell a story if their lives depended on it. Goodkind has dyslexia, and the fact he's read so much, and is able to produce a novel annually, despite his disability, is astounding to me. How many people could write a 1 000 page novel in less than a year? How many could do it when the words they write appear nearly incomprehensible to them?
There are people who can use big words in fancy sentences, and there are people who can tell a damn good story. And there a rare few who can do both. Goodkind may not be the best crafter of the language in the world, but he can story-tell circles around most of his comptemporaries. Perhaps some of his detractors are bitter. Goodkind spends his time doing something he truly loves. Look at Jordan -- a far better writer, who has produced far weaker books, out of laziness and a lack of commitment to his work. That Goodkind puts so much of himself into his work is to be respected, I don't care who you are, how well you write, or what's up your bum.
Sometimes, I wish people would just lighten up and enjoy a good story. The world's too stuffy for me as it is.

first of all I'm not giving the book five stars I'm giving the author five stars. The depth he throws into his books is unparalleled in my mind and I've read some of the greats. Jordan, Feist, Anthony, McCaffrey, Tolkien, you name em I've read something by them and Goodkind takes the cake no contest. It's like a nonstop rollercoaster that you never want to end, so please stop nockin' my boy before i have to get medievil on your @$$ :) have a nice day

I only picked up on the Sword of Truth series recently, and was aware of all of the fan comments regarding similarity to, copying of, etc., the Wheel of Time series by Jordan.
And I did almost quit reading in the middle of the second book when the Rada Han collar was introduced, since there is a nearly identical plot device in the Wheel of Time. But I stuck with this series, and have been pleasantly surprised by the quality of the books, and my own emotional connection to the main characters.
After "Soul of the Fire," however, I don't think I'll read the next one. I certainly won't pay for it sight unseen in hardcover, as I did for "Soul."
My strong impression with this book is that Mr. Goodkind had very ambitious plans for it, but simply got tired of writing towards the end. How else do you explain the ridiculously telescoped series of events at the end--Zedd as Raven drops off the journey book and nobody questions why it happened; the Sword of Truth materializes wrapped in a towel and nobody questions why it happened; Cara appears, and nobody questions why it happened--I could go on and on.
If Mr. Goodkind is tired of this series, then he should move on...I would gladly buy into another book of his if he wants to start something new.

I have loved this series more than any other books I have ever read. The characters are developed so well, you feel like you know them personally. I would probably recognize Richard if he walked down the street! Also, the story is told so well as to make it an "epic of awesome proportions". The world Goodkind has created seems so bright and alive to me. Here is where the critique comes in. Soul of the Fire was a little too random for me. It's been months since I've read it, but as far as I can remember, there were times when I would think to myself, "where did this come from" (i.e. The whole subplot of Anderith). I don't know if Terry was running out of material, or what. And the ending really disappointed me. I stayed up all night long to finish it, because I was so excited about what was gonna happen. But after it finished, I kinda sat there and said, "huh?" My first thought was that Terry Goodkind had to turn the book in by 8 a.m. the next day, and sat up all night writing the last few chapters. All in all, though, I love this series, and I am gonna read book 6. I am crossing my fingers that some old characters are brought back (i.e. Chase) and that Kahlan uses her power to possess and control a one-eyed, axe-weilding bodyguard. Cheers Goodkind!

Firstly, I would like to say how much I admire Goodkind for writing a book that is vastly different - in terms of character action - from previous instalments of the Sword of Truth. Admitedly, characters which had endeared the reader to them in previous books are not present. How can the introduction of new (though short-lived) characters be a detrimental thing? Rather, they serve to show Goodkinds depth of understanding in terms of human emotion and cognizance. Whilst other writers are curtailed by acts of mindless violence, Goodkind has shown that he is not under any such restrictions.This book shifts away - to some extent - from what Goodkind previously wrote but is, for all of that, a masterpiece still, dealing with the most profound of subjects and exploring the diverse facets of humanity.

I like this book, but it did not compare to the others, I didn't like the fact that Richard didn't learn anymore of his magic than what he already new. The sword of truth also realy never came into the playing field. To me this was just a big lead into the next book, I hope it comes out soon and is as good as the first four books, and hopefully as long as the first two. Soul of the Fire was good, but it didn't compare to the first four books.

Funny how writers these days can write a bunch of fluff, or even out right rip off a best selling author like Robert Jordan and get by with it. The first book held promise "The Wizards First Rule", however, after this it was all down hill. I only read up to the fifth book, because books two through five and great books for how not to be a good writer. I was totally disappointed in Terry GoodKind. Still wondering if TOR just handed him Robert Jordan's outline and told him to try and make it original!
I only put one star becuase the store Made me!

I actually have read this book a couple of times, and most recently last year. I'm trying to post reviews for books I've read & enjoyed in the past.

Because of the tv shows, I decided I wanted to reread the series & catch up on the books I hadn't read yet. The first book in this series is still one of my all-time favorite books, ever. Fantasy & a big, fat, long book starting a series? This makes my heart beat a little faster :).

Anyways, this is one of those books that start slow. There's a lot of character development in the first half. I enjoy the whole history aspect of the book & how it ties together at the end. I love the Sisters. I'm sick of Kahlan whining uncharacteristically, and after rereading this book, I remembered that that was why I gave up on the series the first time. All in all, it's worth reading, but I probably won't read the rest of this series like I had planned.

I've been a huge fan of Goodkind since "Wizard's First Rule" was published, but the latest in his "Sword of Truth Series" felt rushed and was sparse on plot. I think it has something to do with the short story he wrote for an anthology of fantasy stories called "Legends." What also bothered me was that his characters seemed to behave in uncharacteristic ways throughout the book. Ah well... Goodkind is still my favorite author and I can't wait to see what else he has up his sleeve.
By the way -- where in the world is Gratch??

Soul of the Fire was a bit of a chore. The first half of the book kind of plods along like T.G. wasn't really sure what he wanted to write. However, the story really picks up in the second half. (It took me three weeks to get through the first half of the book and two days for the second.) By the end of the book I was a believer again...and then it abruptly ended, leaving me panting for the next book.
I am still trying to figure out what Goodkind has against Kahlan and Richard. After book four I sort of expected him to find new ways to advance the story, other than torturing the main characters AGAIN (and from the reviews I've read it doesn't improve in book six.)
I did catch some of the political references mentioned in the other reviews, but it didn't bother me all that much, a lot of writers do that (even good old Tolkien.)
If you've been following the series and liked it so far then you have to read it, just be prepared for a slow start.

but (there always is one, isn't there), there were a few things that bothered me...the disappointing lack of Sister Verna, Warren, General Reibisch, Berdine, and Nathan. These are some of the better characters in the series. I was disappointed with Zedd not meeting up with Richard in Anderith (but the Raven was a classic touch). And, How did Fitch get to Aydindril before Cara? And wasn't Berdine still in the Keep? Why didn't she help catch Fitch? I heard a lot of grumbling about the addition of all the new characters. But I really liked most of the new characters. Aside from the disappointments stated above, I enjoyed the book thouroughly...while not quite as good as the first two, it was about on par with the third, and far and away much better than the fourth. I look forward to the (hopeful) return to Westland. I've wanted the action to return there for quite some time now. Maybe then we'll get to see Chase or the Bone woman again (whose absence has disappointed me for the past several books), or more likely, at least Shota. And that's all I have to say about that.

This book is a vast improvement over the last two books of the series. Blood of the Fold was too superfluous; Temple of the Winds was lacking in suspense and pace. Soul of the Fire is far more engaging, and has a plot of complexity not seen since Stone of Tears.
The book is slow going at first, with the threat appearing rather lacking initially. The events of Chapter 11 were not convincing, but thankfully Goodkind does not drag it out for long. However, everything involving Anderith, from the calculating Minister and his aide, to the Dominie Dirtch, to the Haken characters, was a refreshing change of pace from Goodkind. The feast was well done, as was the Dominie Dirtch. Goodkind keeps the pulse going right up to the end. He seems to have hurried his climax, and pulled his punch again, but unlike TOTW, it manages to work this time. I still am not sure I understand how the Dominie Dirtch worked. I did actually cheer what happened at the end of Chapter 69. [I don't wish to reveal spoilers]
Yes, it is true Goodkind's command of language is not on Proust's level. Nitpicking him on that is unpleasant, given his dyslexia problem [which some exaggerate]. I doubt Mr. Goodkind wants any special treatment, however. To be fair, the writing has improved. Nonetheless, there were at least a dozen sentences that made me cringe. Overuse of similes and things "seeming" to be something are an odious abuse. [For what it's worth, I think Goodkind is a better writer than that puffed-up Jordan]. The typographical errors are not his fault, however. Whoever is proofreading at Tor ought to be fired. This is *not* an irrelevant issue. Poor writing can distract from what should be a great story; there is absolutely no excuse for typos.
Hopefully, Goodkind has a limit to these volumes. If this turns into another Wheel of Time, I will be greatly saddened. Goodkind seems to be getting back on his rhythm. It would be a loss if he spoiled it on quantity, and not quality. His own advice is pertinent: don't write to publish. However, the story makes this volume worth your while.

Before I purchased the Soul of the Fire. I read a lot of the reviews of the book here on the store.com. I was surprised to find that the majority of the reviews panned the book. I, like most of the other reviewers have read the previous books in the series and have been looking forward to this one. So when I finally picked up the book to read it, I knew that it was going to be entertaining....I wasn't disappointed, It was a exceptionally entertaining and well written...What I've come to expect from a Terry Goodkind Novel. The biggest complaint I saw in the negative reviews I read was that the other readers didn't like the fact that some of the old tried and true characters from previous novels weren't a major fixture in Soul of the Fire. The change of pace was refreshing though...not that I don't like some of the older characters..The new ones are fun. I was particularly taken by Dalton.....He is a character that a lot of us can Identify with but I won't give any of the story away. Read it yourself and I highly recommend it. Don't be discouraged by the negative reviews associated with this book. If you like Terry Goodkind..you won't be disappointed with The Soul of the Fire. For all you critics out there who panned the book.........I don't see any of your names on the bestsellers list because I'm SO SURE you could have done a better job writing it...Chill out and enjoy the book.

This book really disappointed me. After reading the first 4 books, I though that this one will top them all. But instead it turned out to be a book that didn't have that much to do with the first 4 books.
Most of the book tells about many useless characters, and it doesn't tell that much about 'Richard Rahl', 'Kahlan Amnell' or 'Zedd'. More then 300 pages of the book tell of completely another story, and it seems like Lord Rahl was just inserted in this NEW story. And there is not much about magic here (I guess magic was NOT suppose to be in THIS book), but I would have loved to see some magic here.
And the biggest disappointment (to me any way) was that some of the characters in the first 2 books didn't come back as I was hoping (the dragon, Chase and others). But still it is a book that has some of stuff to do with Lord Rahl and his new wife. And even if you think that the book is bad, you still have to read it JUST TO BE UPTO DATE FOR BOOK 6. Which I hope is going to top the 1st 4 (book 5 is an alien to the other 4 books).
Also this book seems to leave many things an told. And it also jumps through time, not really tells the full story, if you know what I mean.

Alright, this is directed to all of the people out there who hated this book for no other reason than saying Goodkind stole Jorden's material. I don't understand what you base all of your so-called informaiton on. Just because Richard starts with a "R" and so doesn't Rand, this is some-how ripping off Jordans work. If any of you had bothered to ask Goodkind himself you may have found out that he doesnt read fantacy books. Here is a little quote from a chat setion with Goodkind at barnesandnoble.com : A chatter asked what influence jordan had on his books and goodkind replied " Zero influence. I don't read other fantasy. That said, you must understand that these kinds of stories, in other words fantasy, involve some of the deepest, deepest myths of mankind that are common to all peoples throughout all time. So, just like the fear of the dark, there will be common elements with other writers who are also touching that deep inner myth." I don't know how people became so critical and judgemental. I can almost say with absolute certainty that most, if not all of you could not write anything half as good as Terry Goodkind. And if it agrivates you so much that some concepts sound the same, then don't read books anymore.

I don't see what the problem was... I liked it. I can't understand how a bunch of whiney people who haven't got an ounce of creativity would have cause to complain about it. You hate cliche, you say? Well... Richard was handed a crushing defeat. The good guy didn't win. Hate to see the good guys lose? Well, Richard banished the Chimes so in a way, he didn't totally lose. You hate people who churn out book after book about the same people? Call them "bad writers" and "hacks"? I liked the characters introduced in this one. They were devious, greedy, ignorant, innocent... they covered wide varity of character types. I loved that Goodkind revolved this book around the secondaries. This book was so far away from cliche that Mr. Goodkind couldn't have travel further down that path even with a gun to his head. Everyone lost in this book. Both sides were delivered defeat, and THAT is refreshing in itself. This book is so full of intricities that I feel it is worth a second read to see what I may have missed. I'm not one to think I could have done better and deserve a say in what Mr. Goodkind does with his vision. Good job, Terry.

Richard gave up. A whole book where Richard doesn't fight. We here about a bunch of people who die in the end for 350 pages of the 500 page book. But hey now that Kahlan lost her baby boy I guess they can have another child without fear of it being like that, even if it is a boy it's not the one shota had the bad dreams about.
I didn't like this one it was to much about stratigy. I liked it when there was action and now the only reason I put up with it is cause I want to know what happens to Richard and Kahlan. Richard GAVE UP. Does he even read his own books??? I read a review for the fourth book, I don't know if it was really him but it was here in the store and it said author review and in it he said something along the lines of people who didn't like his book being dumb, and that the temple was his best book. I disagree and so do most the people who reviewed it. Don't take offense like that just fix it!

I was prepared by the latter books for another tale of wonderous places, interesting characters, needlessly graphic descriptions of the rapes of innocent women, and the super evil badguy whose personal goal is to rape and torment Kahlen. If it isn't obvious, I find the rape storylines excessive, needless, disturbing, and cruel (especially to the reader).
Well in this book, Goodkind writes an expository on the power of the manipulation of the media, the gullibility of the common folk, the greed and ambition of politicians, anti-abortion, etc -- mostly without using the main characters. Was anyone else annoyed with the giveaway (Chanboor) and throwaway (Morley, Rowley) names?
On the plus side: compared to last book, there is only a fraction of the rapes, and Kahlen is only the target of a murderer, not a rapist.
I wanted a witty and clever book with interesting characters, like Richard and Kahlen in Wizards First Rule. I didn't get that. Parts of the book reminded me why I read this series. Much didn't. Kahlen was weak, Richard pulls the solution completely out of nowhere, and too much of the book is devoted to new characters -- most too awful to like or care about.
That said, I have hope for the next book. Some of the subplots were interesting. Goodkind is trying to be more cerebral. The graphic violence is being toned down (but not enough). And the ending of this book leaves open the possibility for a return to the tone of the first book.

This and the book Forrest Gump, please don't confuse it with the movie as it is not remotely similar are the single worst books I have ever read. I was shocked to see people rating this book highly not on it's own merits but based on the books that preceeded it, "What a great series!" I truly enjoyed Wizards First Rule and Stone of Tears. This however, was poorly written, half baked, and not remotely interesting. I bought this book in hardback when it came out, yes many years ago and still kick myself over the twenty eight dollars I will never see again. Nothing whatsoever happens in this book, if you are a fan of the series you can skip to later books without missing a beat. However, I have learned that they too are more stand alone than the original books and nothing ever really happens anymore. All plots after this one can be summed up as follows:

Richard gets kidnapped

Kahlan gets kidnapped

They finally get back together and then give long pendantic, preachy, speeches that are absolutely inane about the importance of being self actualized and independent. Honestly I stopped reading Goodkind for a long time after Soul of Fire, I've read a few since, when they're on the bargain rack, and the rest of them have been bad, flat out bad, but not at the level this book reached. This was the dumbest, most poorly written piece of literature that I've ever picked up. I suggest you avoid it like you would avoid a rabid doberman with the bubonic plague.

I hated a good portion of this book, though I understand (KIND OF) why Goodkind wrote it. I was completely devastated by one part, and even in continuing to read the series, still absolutely hate it. Still, read them all, Anderith sucks. The Chimes suck. Red heads are evil souless gits. Playing the stereotype, gotta love it.

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.

This book is somewhat different than the other books in the series, but that isn't a bad thing. The ending of this installment makes way for a very interesting sequel. I think the people that were unhappy with this book will be pleased with the next. This one had to be a little slow to make way for the next book, which is going to be entitled Faith of the Fallen. I would say give the next one a chance and hold your concerns until then. I have high hopes for it.

Firstly I thank Mr Goodkind for explaining his last book. At LEAST I now know why he did it! I got his first book as a hardbound and did too with his next two books. But I waited for the paperback (one and a half years!)on his 4th and this 5th novel as I noticed the quality of the books were decling. I of course also read and love Robert Jordan's TOW and have also started to noticed his (RJ) decline in quality. BUT the main difference in the two series' is that The Wheel of Time has a LEGITIMATE reason for continuing, the main plot of the book isn't finished yet! But with The Sword of Truth books I would have been happy if Mr. Goodkind ended his series when he should have (about two books ago) and started a new one. His series has now become sorta like a soap opera where people will read it only to find out what happens to the characters and not to any storyline, to be blunt about it, you could skip any of the last three books and NOT miss anything important in the series which wasn't mentioned (in a couple of sentences) in the following book! I will of course continue buying his books, but I am one of those readers who agree that if he had wanted to introduce totally new characters, then he should have done so in a different series, this is The Sword of Truth series and Richard Rahl IS the holder of the Sword so PLEASE write about him! I do hope Mr Goodkind will listen to the majority and improve on the next book. Or start a new one (series). I have no doubt that his next book will be an improvent as I don't don't a writer a good as Mr Goodkind can get any worse than this 5th book.

Alright, i retract my original opinion of the sword of truth, i reviewed the book "Wizards first Rule" as a wonderful book and an required read, well that was five books ago, and the plot,or anything at all, has changed from the original book, the sword of truth series "came in like a lion and out like a lamb" this lat book was so weak and tired, i havent finished it, i have simply put it onj my bookshelf, and hope that maybe a couple of months later i might have enough motivation to finish the damn thing, i got too bored of the series.

I had not read any books in this series previously, so I expected I was reading at my own risk, and could look up things I didn't understand in internet summaries. I didn't have to look a single thing up, and not because the book was particularly self-contained. Goodkind explained all the backstory in great detail-- which must have been excruciating for people who weren't new to the series.

None of the characters moved me. I was confused by Kahlan at first because she seemed to consider everything Richard said completely idiotic (even when he was obviously right,) and I wondered why she'd married him if she found him so pointless. I lost my slight sympathy for Richard, however, as the book wore on. It irritated me that he seemed to be the absolute best at everything, from fighting to magic; I realize there's some degree of wish-fulfillment for Goodkind there, but it makes the other characters pretty irrelevant, and Goodkind's personal fantasies are of limited interest to me.

I also found Richard's personal philosophy ambiguous at best, for all the time he spends harping on it. I couldn't help seeing irony in the fact that, much as he nattered on about individualism and free will, he was delivering hostile ultimatums to anyone who didn't go along with his agenda. What about THEIR free will? Or is individualism only for when people agree with you? If this inconsistency was an intentional flaw in the character I would actually welcome it as a change from Richard being portrayed as entirely perfect, but I didn't get the feeling it was on purpose or that the author recognized it as an imperfection.

I actually enjoy political stuff in novels (heck, I have a degree in a political science field,) but this novel grated. I found the Anderith sections heavy-handed and overdone. It was an obvious political allegory, and in my opinion a rather poor one. I wish he'd focused more on making his imagined culture believable than on trying to make a statement about his own views. The potential negative undertones about minorities made me very uncomfortable.

I was also pretty uncomfortable with how many times Goodkind described the culture of the Mud People as like the main characters' cultures, holding compatible views, having the same values, etc. and thus being worthy of Richard and Kahlan's presence. On the surface that seems positive, but the implication is that cultures must somehow justify themselves as being like the dominant culture in order to be worthy of mixing. Richard and Kahlan couldn't just stay with these people because they liked them? They couldn't just be friends without an agenda? The Mud People didn't have sufficient worth outside of their similarities to Richard and Kahlan? The political posturing seemed pretty demeaning to minority cultures and suspicious of diversity.

The reliance on sexual violence as a plot device also bothered me. Unfortunately rape is often part of war, and sometimes as an organized strategy, but people do also do other bad things to each other. Not everyone who commits harmful acts is automatically a rapist. I'm not saying sexual violence can't play a part in a story (heck, I LIKE George R. R. Martin) and it is realistic-- but the extent to which Goodkind takes it is much too extreme. It often seems to be played for thrills and shock value, and possibly misogynistic fantasy, not to be accurate in his portrayal of the horrors of war. The armies seem to be more interested in rape than in actually fighting, and the emotional impact of sexual assault is greatly reduced by making it seem commonplace. Whatever Goodkind's intentions, by the end I was starting to wonder what he had against women.

On a more personal-taste note, I was very irritated by the continued reliance on the plot device of easily solved problems being turned into complicated dilemmas because characters who supposedly liked and trusted each other suddenly deceiving, lying to each other, not talking about things, and hiding the truth. It made no logical sense-- why are these people even friends, lovers, etc. if they can't even be honest with each other?-- and it really lessened the impact of dramatic moments. During the ending, which I think was supposed to be emotional and tragic, though only peripherally related to the rest of the story, but I kept thinking, "You realize this wouldn't have happened if you'd just talked to each other like normal people, right?" Yes, real people do stupid things, but it seemed entirely contrived.

I did find the ending of the primary plot (if you could call it that) rather rushed, but since it's a continuing series, I assumed Goodkind had plans to elaborate more in the future-- though this particular installment would have been more satisfying if it had a more complete plot arc.

This book isn't unreadable, and I had moments of enjoying it, but overall it's not one I would recommend.

Final note, for those who suggested Goodkind shouldn't be criticized because writing a novel is hard: yes, it is. If a professional puts his or her craft in the public arena, though, that person subjects it to criticism, from ordinary people as well as from other professionals. Goodkind is a professional writer, and as such has opened himself up to both positive and negative reviews. Whether or not the writer of a review could produce a better novel is beside the point; I don't have to be a better baseball player to have a negative opinion on the pitch that lost a team the World Series, or be a better actor to criticize a wooden performance in a film. A professional writer has to be prepared to accept critiques, not just praise. Not only other authors are entitled to have opinions about what they read.

I just finished reading Soul of the Fire, after reading all the negative reviews people have posted here. All I can say is what are you people griping about. I found this novel thouroughly enjoyable. Zedd, Khalan, and Richard all had significant part, unlike what some people are saying. I loved how Goodkind described a whole new culture and the characters he added to make this culture real. While some of the characters from the previous novels were absent, they were not needed during this storyline. This novel helped advance the plot of the series in a very real, and imaginative way. The only thing I could wish more for is for Richard to start learning to use and control his magic, instead of the fly by the seat of his pants way he's been doing. But then again, this is the way Goodkind has decided to portray Richard, and has it's own positives in and of itself. This is definitly a Sword of Truth novel and does what it needs to do. A 'must read' if you're a fan of the Sword of Truth series.

While I very much enjoyed the first four books in this series (particularly books 1, 2, and 4), I was very disappointed in this one. The amount of regurgitation of previous material seems to be increasing in each book, and is getting ridiculous. I'm not sure why the author inserts 3 page synopses in random locations in the storyline -- if he feels the need to explain the previous 4 books, why doesn't he write a prologue for people who haven't read them?
The main flaw in this book is that it does virtually nothing to advance the overall storyline of the Sword of Truth Series. It takes far too long to deliver a rather obvious parable about a politically correct and morally corrupt America, where victimhood is used as a weapon. I'm not saying such an allegory is a bad idea, just that it shouldn't take hundreds of repetitive pages to set up, and ultimately lead nowhere. Basically most of this book is an unsatisfying sideline to the main thrust of this series. It lacks the pacing and tension of the earlier books, and one of the most interesting characters, Kahlan, seems to be gradually turning into a petulant child.
Overall, I'd say the Sword of Truth is showing alarming signs of degenerating into the kind of endless soap opera that Robert Jordan churns out. I hope I'll be proven wrong with the sixth book; I enjoyed the first four enough to forgive one disappointing entry in the series.

Do not listen to the negative reviews! Read it for yourself and find yourself anxiously awaiting the next. While the book is not quite up to the standards of the others in the series, it still holds you captive. Terry Goodkind is definitely on par with Jordan. I am really looking forward to the next in the series. Goodkind alludes to a return to the Westlands, where we hopefully will see Chase and Rachel once again. The author creates enchanting characters to love and hate, who, like all of us, must choose between a bad decision and a worse decision. Goodkind's characters never have good choices and have only to do the best they can. Those who have given bad reviews are going to kick themselves for not seeing this series through to the end. Should we have ended Donaldson's Unbeliever series just because the one tree was substandard to the series as a whole? Soul of Fire is a wonderful continuation of Goodkind's series and stands on its own. If you don't believe me, read it for yourself!!!

Some of these people griping are starting to piss me off! I loved this book, and i loved reading about the land of Anderith. The chimes creeped me out. I thought the ending was great. Sort of a cliffhanger but it makes me want the next installment in the series. Cant wait till the next book. I want Richard to get jagang so bad. I love Jagang as a bad guy. But his time is coming. HEHEHEHEH!!!! I cant wait for Richard to pull the sword of truth and kill Jagang. We will have to see what happens. Keep up the excellent work Mr. Goodkind.

In this amazing sequel to Terry Goodkind's "Temple of the Winds", he again immerses you in an amazing world where magic, monsters, and mayhem all seem to cave in on Richard Rahl's life. Goodkind writes with a style that makes you stay up to read the story. The phrase "couldn't put it down" is an appropriate description of what you would do while reading his books. I advise those of you who have not read any of his books yet to start with "Wizard's First Rule", the first book in the Sword of Truth saga. Goodkind doesn't bore the reader with petty details, but actually makes everything he writes interesting to the reader. Every chapter in the book supports the plot immensely and expands the comprehension the reader has of the book. He makes the characters seem as if they were real, as if you could relate to them or their situation. At times he dedicates an entire chapter to one character so you feel closer to and get to know the character better as the story progresses. The story doesn't seem too farfetched either. Goodkind tries to keep the story real as if he weren't writing a fantasy book. It's also easy to follow, as he doesn't have 20 things going on at once in the story and he doesn't jump around. Interesting, organized, and just plain fun. Buy it, borrow it, and read it, I promise you'll love it.

Well, I seriously just finished this book and was compelled to write a review. I've read through all the Goodkind books and I must say he kept pace with soul of fire. I admit that not seeing the beloved characters of the previous books was a bit of a dissapointment, the addition of the new villains was, to me, invigorating. I loved to hate the characters from anderith although you had to forive poor Dalton at the end. Poor Beata I'm excited to see what becomes of her. Who could't get excited about the Chimes? and I honestly found myself holding my breath as Richard was breathing his life breath into Kahlan. Not to mention the deep breath I took when He revealed the sword of truth at the very end " I kept wanting to tell them to go back to anderith and retrieve it. The book was great and kept me wake for a couple nights cracking through it. It leaves space to expand the story. Mr Goodkind if you ever come to the store.com to read your reviews I'd like to say you have an incredible talent keep up the good work, because Im sure many of us will be waiting paitintly for book 6. In my opinion Robert Jordan was left in the dust around chapter 3 of Wizards first Rule. Aloha a hui hou

This book started out with an interesting new cast of characters and culture that made me hopefull that Goodkind was going to change it up a little. Unfortunately there is way too much in depth analysis of what people are eating or wearing and a lack of substance to the story. All the new characters end up (after 600 pages of reading) being irrelevant and a basic waste of time. The main character Richard then pulls some unexplained magic trick out of his [...] and saves the day,just like every other book in the series so far. I hate to stop the series after this many volumes, but "tired" is about the best way I can describe this series.

I have almost finished this phenomenal piece of literature and I must say that it continues in the tradtion of quality in all of Goodkind's novels. To those of you who say that his books are no good, and that he takes his ideas from the Wheel of Time series, you a wrong. I am an avid fan of Jordan, and I fell that he and Goodkind are at a par. Once again SOTF is great, and I hope the 6th book is as good.

I have read all of the Sword of Truth books up to the new fifth one. Im am pre ordering it because Terry Goodkind is my favorite author and Im sure this book will be as great as the others. The discription Terry Goodkind uses pulls you into the book and you can't put it down! Reading his books are like watching movies in your mind. Good Luck to this book. May it be as good and successful as the others!

I have been a devoted fan of Goodkind's and love how he takes complex every day issues and makes them into intracate plots for his Sword of Truth Series...I think I read the whole thing in no more than 5 days! He still leaves yarns untied from the end of the 4th book, Temple of the Winds, but thats fine by me...leaves yet another outstanding tale yet to come...Hope it's out in less than two years though!

okay, buddy You BEST not include your name/email with that piece of crap.
Dude, I'm sorry but that has got to be the lamest ending to a post I have ever had the displeasure of reading.
Grow up. Wrestiling is fake. Panzy.
he ended his post about Goodkind ripping off Jordan with a totally ripped off line himself.
"And that's the bottom line--cause I said so."
*vomits*

This book could have been 100 pages. The problem is less about what is done and more with what is not done. The main characters enter into a new relationship that is not developed. The lack of magic provides opportunity for the characters to deepen as they discover how to operate without a magical crutch. This does not happen. A land and a people are given a good back story complete with contemporary characters that you actually find interesting...until they are casually killed off or rendered stupid.

Very little character development happens from the beginning of the book to the end. You can read an outline and get all the required information. It's almost as if Goodkind has developed his primary characters to a certain place and is now unsure of what to do with them. Add all the very predictable plot twists with boring results and you have a poor piece of work.

What's more, the portrayal of women and rape reaches new levels of horrible. Goodkind writes horses better (and treats them with more respect) then he does women. Rape is referred to as a minor crime. It is also implied (and stated directly in the next book) that bad women who are raped deserve it. Masculine language dominates with zero gender neutrality. Women are portrayed as willing or unwilling sex objects and can do little good apart from men. There is not an authentic female voice in this series. In writing women this way, men are devalued to the level of beasts with brains. Only a few male characters stand apart from this horrible portrayal of humanity.

I liked the first three books of this series. Temple of the Winds was ok but not good and this book was just a waste of time. I am reading Faith of the Fallen now and I hope that Goodkind redeems himself.

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 chapter several chapters, I could see there were still too many loose ends to come together and deliver a knock-out punch within this book. I don't know what I was expecting to happen, but whatever it was didn't and there were still 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.

I love Terry Goodkind's books. Each and every one. But like most of the people who commented, I'm not here to give my feelings on it, but to comment on the Jordan vs. Goodkind thing. I have read Goodkind's books more times than I can count. I began reading the 1st chapter of the 1st book in Jordans series, and all I remember is that I woke up. His books were so incredibly boring that I couldn't even get through the 1st chapter w/out falling asleep. I think Terry Goodkind has an amazing mind, an incredible intellect, and a vivid, stunning imagination. I don't have 1 piece of criticism for any of his writing. It is smooth and seamless. While it has a few flaws, that is really what makes it flawless. I applaud you Mr. Goodkind.

I'VE BEEN DUPED! THE COVER SAID "A SWORD OF TRUTH" NOVEL BUT, INSIDE I FIND THAT THE STORY FOCUSES ON CHARACTERS THAT AREN'T RELEVANT TO THE SERIES. THESE CHAPTERS FELT LIKE FILLER, NOW I HAVE TO WAIT ANOTHER TWO YEARS FOR THE NEXT ONE. IS IT JUST ME OR IS ANYONE ELSE READY TO SEE A CONFRONTATION BETWEEN RICHARD AND JAGANG. I HOPE THE NEXT ONE IS ACTUALLY ABOUT RICHARD AND CO.

Terry Goodkind is no doubt the GREATEST FANTASY AUTHOR OF ALL TIME!!! Comparing his books to Tolkiens and Jordan's books, his books are much better. The characters in the book are greatly portrayed and the storyline is great! The only other series that comes close to Terry Goodkind's the Sword of Truth series is George r.r. martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series and Robin Hobb's series.

Terry Goodkind is an extraordinary writer with a powerful style of writing. He adds interesting and unique elements to his story like interperting what the meanings if the prophicies are going to end up meaning and how Richard progresses with his powers as a war wizard and the seeker. THis is my FAVORITE book of all time and if you like fantasy this a definite must read. By Aaron Bell

The Wizard's first and only rule should be that fantasy fiction series cannot be longer than 5 books. The leaders of the "Fantasy Fiction Writers Guild" should pass a resolution to this effect. If you have read Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time mess, or just about any other writer including Goodkind that has tried to take his/her series beyond 5 books you know that it is like a train going off the end of a broken bridge into a deep gorge.

Goodkind has obviously run out of story, so he takes this book down a side road to the psychotic world of Anderith. A whole bunch of self-serving useless characters are introduced, examined in depth, and then killed off to add absolutely nothing to the story line.

At least Goodkind keeps to his theme of rape and torture of innocent women. I was beginning to think he might be loosing his touch, but the good leaders of Anderith have redeemed him.

A hard read at best.

I stumbled upon the other reviews while once again trying to find out when the next T. goodkind book will debut. I just have to say that "soul of fire" just doesn't fit. I read the complete series back to back about 2 years ago and while reading other's reviews all the characters and plots from all the books came rushing back to me...all except Soul. It was utterly "forgettable", mainly because it was just boring. Mr. Goodkind, you know your worth as a fantasy author, and your response to the poor reviews was essentially readers didn't grasp what you were trying to do. well, of course not because there was nothing to grasp. the book just did not fit. I don't pretend to understand the diificult task of writng an epic such as yours. I am sure in many ways you accomplished what you were attempting and by itself the book isn't that bad. But by the same sentiment Phantom Menace wasn't any worse of a movie than other Hollywood swiil that is produced. But when compared and linked to the Last supper of films it is blasphemy.
terry shouldn't release another book till he rewrites soul.

The fifth volume of the Sword of Truth series is so thin, I can't even see it. I have been able to ascertain no plot development, no action, and - strangest of all - no copying of the Wheel of Time series whatsoever. In fact, now that I think about it, I haven't even read it. I couldn't. It's not published yet, you see. Still, just like everyone else, I thought a review would be well appreciated.

Goodkind has quite an imagination if he can imagine something worse than this. Will these people never die? It's hard to find plots so obvious and characters so wooden in B movies, much less in a book of this length. Here we have a failed attempt to explain away all the inconsistencies of the earlier books, and again, the characters are conveniently either omnipotent or fragile. Make them go away.

Once agin Mr. Goodkind delivers. I have just finished reading this book and must say I was happy with it. I love these books because they put you there ,in the action. You are not just reading you are experiencing. The book has emotion and color. The one down fall was that the end came quick but leaves lots of loose ends to be tied in the next book. It left me wanting more.

I'VE BEEN READING TERRY GOODWIN FOR QUITE SOME TIME NOW. I LOVE HIS BOOKS, BUT I WAS A LITTLE DISAPOINTED IN THIS ONE. I WAS IN SUSPENCE THE WHOLE TIME WAITING FOR RICHARD TO HAVE HIS BIG FIGHT WITH SOMEONE. IT JUST DIDN'T HAPPEN THOUGH.THAT'S THE ONLY THING THAT I WAS LET DOWN ABOUT. THIS IS A REALLY GOOD SERIES AND I CAN'T WAIT UNTILL THE NEXT BOOK COMES OUT. WOULD ANYONE KNOW WHEN IT IS DUE? THANKS FOR HEARING MY VIEWS ON THINGS.

From the very beginning this book dragged. why did it take the first 200 pages of the book for Richard and Kahlan to figure out the Chimes were loose. The whole next 100 pages about the political activitites of Anderith were even more boring and to end it with so many un-answered questions was extremely Jordan style writting. I have come to know Goodkind is a much better writter than this. It is so obvious were this story line is going. I don't know what Jagang will do to Zedd but it will be extreme to get Richard to return from Westland to finally battle and triumph over him. Whatever was done to Cara while there was no magic will be Richards weekness. After such a long absence from Adyndril, the newly arrived Mordsith will seek him out in Westland to assist him in his battle with the Sisters of the Dark. Come on Terry you can do better than this.

I seem to be going against the flow here, but I thought that this was Goodkind's absolute BEST! I could not put the thing down, and read it in four days! The ending was amazing. And it is really rather uplifting to read about a hero who is ill-at-ease with his unique talent, yet seems to find the creative strength to do what needs to be done. And, while the story might divert from Richard and Kahlan, at least they are finally TOGETHER! I also feel that every little piece of information included concerning Anderith, from Dalton's devotion to wife and career, to the Minister's insatiable appetite for members of the opposite sex, and the political undercurrents between the Midlands and the Empire, are all vital to explain the conclusion.

After reading Terry Goodkind's first four books, I definitely believe that he is a writer of immense talent. Unfortunately, Terry seems to have made a book unworthy of the series. I thoroughly enjoyed the first four books and eagerly awaited the arrival of this new chapter to the series. I sat down and read every word of the first two chapters. Thoroughly encompassed in Terry Goodkind's magic world I read on. As time passed, I slowly came out of his world. When trying to go back to reading this book, I read more and more unoriginal chapters. The longer I read, the more the story echoed that of the previous books. Although the story was not entirely origial, it was not boring. With all faults considered, this book still managed to be mildly interesting. Even though it did not live up to the standards set up by the previous books, I ask you this question: What could?

I can remember when I read "Wizard's First Rule" I was impressed. Not only because it renewed my faith in the fantasy genre, but also because it was fun, hard to put down and -albeit a few cliches here and there- well written. I can remember forsaking many a night of going out just to stay in and reading about Richard, Kahlan and all of the other characters from this series that intrigued me so. The strongest point of the books was that: character development and the consistency these characters maintained throughout the story.
Unfortunately all that appears to have been lost in "Soul of the Fire". An avid reader of the series, I must say this last book was not up to par with the first four (although there has been a visible decadence since "Blood of the Fold"). Firstly, I was shocked to see that almost half of this book is dedicated not to the characters we know and love, but to Anderith and its people. I would be all well and good if they played a major role in what we are told is the story's epicentre (namely, the chimes), but unfortunately, they serve no higher good than providing constant anticlimaxes. Perhaps it is not just that, but rather that the characters are so badly created that no-one except for Fitch (and to an extent, Beata and Dalton) gets a reasonable development. Even so, Fitch is utterly inconsistent, sometimes showing incredible stupidity and sometimes the cold-heartedness of a mass murderer. When I started reading this book I thought Fitch would mimic characters such as Steerpike in "Gormenghast", slowly rising to power and corruption, perhaps not the freshest option but the most viable. He does not. Or rather, he half-does it. What is worse, he disappears for most of the second-half and comes back suddenly just to be cut off the story in a most casual fashion, again, something that shows another of the book's weaknesses.
It seems that the author tried to tell too many stories at a time, but couldn't finish them off properly (we know authors have deadlines too!). My hunch is that he had so many plotholes by the second half that he decided to write off many of the side stories (Beata, Fitch) to carry on with the main theme (the chimes). The last quarter of the book seems hurried and the conclusions are too abrupt for the reader to digest. Out of the blue, Richard comes up with the solution for beating the chimes, as abstract and underexplained as it is. The chimes, supposedly central to the story become just feeble reasons to innocuously explain the rest of the plots. The storytelling is shallow and incongruent, and after jumping from plot to plot, reading over unnecessarily dull chapters (most of them involving less than masterfully portrayed political scheming in Anderith) the reader becomes confused and frustrated.
There is some merit to this book, though. The simpering and almost sickeningly melose realtionship between Richard and Kahlan has been, fortunately, toned down. Furthermore, the book does off with much of the homoerotic porn novel eroticism that its predecessors contained, making it less "trashy" than before (reading about Richard's "manly chest" and "bulging, powerful arms" can get tiring after a while). Also, the narrative takes on a different style in "Soul of Fire", being concise and assertive rather than the more lyrical approach given to the other books. This neither enhances nor hinders the reading, but it does make the experience feel fresh.
I understand that authors cannot always write about the same things; clearly, in this book the author tried to stray from the traditional and create a different type of novel in his series. While I would not say that he has completely failed, it is far fom being a job well done. Moreover, this book has left me indifferent as to what may come next in the series. It feels like this was not a proper "Sword of Truth" book, but two books in one, one about Anderith and one about Richard and the chimes, both failing to converge in the end and leaving the novel it as it is: two unfinished, rushed parallel stories that hold little relation between one another.

The Edgar Rice Burroughs style is growing tiresome. The main characters being cut off from either one another or thier power is the plot line of each of these books after the first. I found myself skipping through this book in a way that reminded me of why I stopped reading Stephen King. Goodkind keeps making references to the first books and explaining them as if any of us would start reading a fantasy novel at the 5th book. I know my fantasy brothers well enough to know that it's book one or nothing.....anything else would leave you confused. Kahlan is starting to get so tetchy that I'm begining to wish she actually did get her head cut off.(see I know I don't have to explain that sentence, because if your reading this review I know you've probably already read the book I'm refering to) I'm giving book six a chance anyway and if I'm still dissapointed then I'm through with Goodkind...

EVEN THOUGH I LIKED THE BOOK I WAS A LITTLE DISAPPOINTED BUT FOR ALL THESE PEOPLE TO SAY THEY DID NOT LIKE IT IS SILLY FOR THEY GOT SO DETAILED IN WHAT THEY THOUGHT WAS WRONG WITH IT. ITS OBVIOUS THEY WHERE EXCITED BY THE BOOK OR THEY WOULD NOT HAVE REMEMBERED SO MUCH OF WHAT THEY CALLED TRIVIAL.I MYSELF CANT WAIT FOR #6 THANKS TERRY FOR ELEVATING MY IMAGINATION.

Terry Goodkind's latest novel i admit i anticipated being one of his most brilliant to come yet. I was slightly disappointed when it did not necessarily follow off where it left in the previous book. This one was not as fast paced, nor as humerous as others of his books. However, I am currently in the process of reading books by another Fantasy author, Robert Jordan. His books, albeit similar to Goodkind's, are not nearly as thrilling for me as The Sword of Truth series is. Goodkind's characters are believable, with no internal conflicts amongst them, and the story, for the most part, is thrilling in its complexity. You almost can't wait to finish his books in order to read the next one! Although I stated that i was mildly disappointed, the fact that this book was slightly different only serves as a catalyst. I cannot stand waiting anymore for the 6th book to come out. It can only get better from here!

I am an avid Terry Goodkind fan and have loved all of his previous works. I really enjoyed this book. It did deviate from the general plot line quite a bit, but that's okay. The story lines were all interesting and kept me entertained. I didn't like the fact that there was no magic in most of the book. I keep waiting for Richard to learn how to use his magic, but this book didn't deal with the topic at all!! Looks like I'll have to wait for the next book... Also, I agree that the ending was very rushed. Suddenly Richard just knows how to banish the Chimes. It was all very confusing and didn't make a lot of sense to me. Goodkind doesn't explain how any of it came to be. Suddenly the book just ends. Personally, I feel like Goodkind should start a new series, with all new characters and a new story line. I love his writing, but this story line is becoming a little stale.

This is by far the best book of the series. What I still can't believe is how Richard could turn on Kahlan like that. Yet Goodkind weaves a wonderful story, and Soul of the Fire manages to create new areas of imgination for loyal sword of truth readers to explore. Let's just hope that Richard can find the same love in his new flame that he did with Kahlan.

Despite the obvious "ripoff" nature of this series I enjoyed reading the first four books. But this book was TERRIBLE. Goodkind totally lost his focus when he wrote this book. Somehow the characters have changed completely and we are suppose to accept it. I have no idea who the RICHARD or KAHLAN are in this book. They lack all that made them interesting and fun to read about.
I gave this book every chance possible, but I couldn't even finish it. After about 400 pages I was so tired of trying to like the book that stopped reading it completely. It is clear that this series has hit a dead end. If I could give this book a rating of 0 stars I would have. I feel sorry for all those faithful Goodkind readers out there that ponied up the dough for the hardcover.
P.s. I didn't find the "tongue in cheek" humor in this book at all! If anything the book is RIDICULOUS!

I thoroughly enjoyed the first four books of the Sword of Truth series, but I did not care for this one as much, mostly because of the ending. It was not foreshadowed and how Richard defeated this wizard really didn't make sense. Plus, it seems that Richard has given up on the people who need him and is going off to sulk at the end... although I've heard that I'll learn differently in book six...

I've checked back on the store.com to check out SOTF, and I have also read some of the customer reviews. The book isn't even out yet and people are already giving it 5 stars, and they haven't even read it yet. I love the Sword of Truth series, but all the pre-release hype of this book is getting ridiculous. Wait until it comes out first, then write a review.

As always a thrilling and exciting adventure.For me Terry Goodkind has captured the good and a little of the bad aspects of fantasy writing.At times the story-line was a bit drawn out and focased more on background and past series info,instead of the characters(pity),but im sure book 6 will prove an even more level-headed book.thanks for everything Terry,an enjoyable series.

I am only 13 but I have read many books. Fantasy is my favorite subject. I can only say without a doubt that this series is the best I have have ever read. After I read the first one I then went and read the rest in a matter of weeks. For all those who think fantasy is not for you, you must read Terry Goodkind's "The Sword of Truth" series.

I have to admit that ever since I happened to pick up Stone of Tears in an airport I've hungered for these books. I could hardly contain myself as publication day drew near for Soul of the Fire. I was in for a disappointment however. Half of the book is spent on characters that were anything but sympathetic and as far as I can tell just served to illustrate the impact of ignorance and power mongering. There wasn't nearly enough of the casual interaction among characters that I so loved in the other books. Soul of the Fire lacked the same sense of urgency that the other stories had and this instalment seemed to do very little to advance the overall storyline of the series. I guess I'll just have to wait a year or so for the next book and hope for the best (which is what I've come to expect from Mr. Goodkind).

Mr. Goodkind's Sword of Truth series is by far one of the best series I have read. It is highly detailed and creates pictures in your mind so vivid that you see them when you sleep. It is good to have an author that puts the reader into the story. I hope that this book will be as good as the others have been. Anyone who has not read these needs to.

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.

TG's first WFR was great and he had a strong sequal with Stone of Tears as well. Blood of the fold was kind of iffy. TotW was a good read because of high tention and betrayal. Unfortunately where all his previous books actually drove the plot forward Soul of the Fire merely succeded in holding the plot together. The tention that would have been caused by Richard's loss of his sword was squelched by the fact that he never came it to any situations where he REALLY needed it. Also, the book tended to linger on Fitch, who was strong in character but tended to not really make much of a difference in the greater scheme of things. The book wasnt a total loss Terry did a great job writing and the chimes were as bad a foe as Richard has faced. All in all with a little more of the main plot woven into the story it could have been prefect... maybe next time.

Even though I have not yet read this book, I thoroughly enjoyed all of his other books. I have read them several times and enjoy them everytime. I am very much looking forward to any new books that he comes out with. I wish there were more writes with as much talent as Mr. Goodkind has. If it were possible to give higher than 5 stars I would

This is in response to another reviewer--if I am looking for a fantasy that does social commentary as well, I look to the other Terry--Terry Pratchett. Pratchett's books do the social commentary thing right and left--but it's with a light touch, and very funny, even when it's making tough comments (I have a favorite ironic moment in Small Gods where the small god's only believer is a young boy--not, as one might expect, the woman who beats him into believing that the god exists and must be rigorously worshipped). So fantasy and social commentary can definitely work.
Terry *Goodkind's* writing--his storytelling--is great. But I feel in this book that he's losing sight of the light, and part of this is his very negative view of the way things are going in this world. Hey, we're a world that rewards and loves you and your message, Terry. How can things be so dark?

I loved the first four novels. I could not put them down. However with this fifth installement, you have 300 pages of the lives of anderith people. They're not important and they disappear in the 6th novel. There was no need to write so much of their story while the only peopple we care about are nathan, richard, kahlan, zedd, anne, verna and all the magical creatures we met through the first novels. The chimes were a great idea but there was not enough magic in this book.
One advice you can fastword on all the chapters concerning Anderith. They add no value to the book. If you do that, you will definitely enjoy the book.

I agree with a lot of the reviews for this book: The Haken/Ander subplot is boring as hell. I can't stand politics, and this book is all about politics. But I love the first few chapters of the book. They were as hilarious as they were terrifying. And boy was I happy when Fitch died, that annoying little bastard.

Terry Goodkind has brought to us a mythical land that can take even the most unbeliever of fantasy into the lives of Richard Rahl and Kahlen Amnell. I have all the collection of this series and am eagerly awaiting SOF, This series is the only one that has ever come close to the Death Gate Series by Margaret Weis and Tracey Hickman, The first time I got the oppurunity to read the Sword of Truth I knew this was going to be a great series, I have never been captured in a world as real as this, for all you unbelievers of fantasy read this book, and it will surely make a believer out of you. This is the second best Series I have ever read. Only the Death Gate Cycle was better.

Goodkind has always lived up to my expectations. This book, I have no doubt, will be one of the top sellers in the world. People say that him and Jordan have a similarity between them, but I don't notice anything except a passing resemblance: after all, the top books of the world usually have a similarity of thought and plot to them.

I can't say much about Terry Goodkind, cause he is beyond words. I have read all his books in an average of at least 4 times. I love them all. All of his books leave me breathless. I love the wizards rules, and the characters. I'll always sugest Goodkind to whomever asks for a good book. Well thats all, but please red these books.

This book was the slowest for me to read of the series thus far. I just couldn't truly get into the characters of the subplot in Anderith. It was just tough when you are hoping to find out more about the main story lines and get back to the characters you care about. If you are working your way through the series, you won't have any trouble continuing obviously, but this one was the least interesting and least fun to me.

This book, I think, is less than stellar for Goodkind in terms of plot, but the writing is fabulous. I read this with a notebook in hand, taking notes on Goodkind's style. I think he is improving as a writer with every book, but his plots and characters are getitng dry. In this book, he seems to begin to lose steam and go off on some political ramblings. I can't ever bash a Goodkind, though. The man is a genius, and this book is worth reading.
Word Ninja

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.

I just love Terry Goodkind and his Sword of Truth series, what started as a simple reading has changed my very life... The depth and involement I get from these books, parrallel those of my own life. I feel for Kahlan & Richard and all the troubles they go through. Terry has a unique writing ability and I can't wait for book 5

The only thing that I can say about this book is that I hope it doesn't completely stink like Stone of Tears-Temple of the Winds. Those books...well, don't get me started. Hopefully Mr.Goodkind can rekindle the flame that burned in him when he wrote Wizard's First Rule:the only book that saved this one from getting a single star.

Haven anxiously awaited the fifth book in this series, I got this book just last week, and, after devouring it in about a day, I just have one question I wanna ask.
What the HELL happened?
This book was bad. Realllllyy bad. I'll go over the salient points.
1. Where the heck are all the characters we actually care about? Berdine, Scarlet, Chase, Rachel, Verna, Warren, Nathan, Gratch, and any I've missed, all these guys are missing, some with plot points left open.
2. Heck, to be even more precise, the main characters, Richard and Kahlan, and the semi-major characters, Cara, Zedd and Ann, are barely in this book, and when they are, they're either a) pointless or b) out of character. Kahlan's turned into a whiny little girl in this one, and Richard has apparently forgotten the fact that he's the hero of the story. Ya don't just 'give up' 'cause some backwater country voted not to join you!
3. Instead, we get what almost seems to be a Tom Clancy-esc 'political thriller'. It almost seems that Goodkind was writing a different book, and someone told him to force it into the SoT series. With this, we get pointless, pointless characters (Fitct, Beata) and Goodkind's obvious political views. And the bit with the chimes seemed pointless and the solution came outta left field. Which I find funny, 'cause the back blurb to the book was about the chimes. Note to Terry-NO ONE CARES IN A FANTASY NOVEL!
I'll admit, there was one saving grace: Dalton. I must admit, I liked him, and his trump card at the end when he'd realized he'd lost was totally unexpected. He's the only reason this book didn't get one star.
Hopefully, Goodkind will remember what 'fantasy' is in time for the inevitable 6th book. And, hopefully, we won't have to wait as long to get it.

Terry Goodkind is my favorite author. I can't tell you how many nights I've lost sleep because I couldn't stop reading. The stories are inspiring and engrossing. I'd recommend reading all of his work. If you like fantasy novels, then look no further...there are plenty to keep you entertained for a good long while. I don't read too many books more than once, but I've read every one of Terry Goodkind's novels at least three times. Highly recommended!

First and foremost I think that Terry Goodkind is a marvelous write.....but c'mon I think waiting roughly 570 pages for the plot to get a movin was a bit long. The characher development was done well but...this book was lacking. I'll give him one thing atleast he kept the main chrachters together... O and another thing 3 books to get them married, and after that they stand around waitin for people to die. Terry Goodkind needs to let the series mature without jamiing another ::cough:: lacking book down his readers throats. I still love the books and I know i will read faith ofteh fallen but TG needs to let the thing breath alittle. oh and temple of the winds took a long while to get goin too.. email if u wanna chat bout thsis stuff [email protected]

Here is a thought. I am a Sword of truth fan and have all the books but I think reviewing the book b/4 u read it is.. how do i put it? STUPID!!!
Walk with me thru this logic sequence. Pre-order book. April 13- Get book. April 13 to 16-Read book fervently. Think about book. Review book on the store.com
Anyone took a look at the Path of Daggers review page b/4 the book was out?? At least 70 reviews all gibbering about how great the book is or is supposed to be. Pre-hype anyone?? Let's wait and see if Terry keeps it real like he should. Anyone think it is about bloody time Richard learnt to control his gift?? just a thot.

Aside from the last sixty or so pages of the book I wasn't even sure that I was reading a Goodkind novel. It was not so much that the story line changed so, THAT I thought could be interesting but turned out to go no where. It was more that the book was very very flat. The characters seemed wooden, dull, the dialog boring. I almost gave up on the book, but the last part did make for enjoyable reading.
Books 1,2 & 4 are excellent. This one I could have done with out. But I will read 6 if there is one. Terry did set the stage for what could be an interesting story and a new departure... .

Hello people, this is not the best book in the series...this book ranks fifth. I consider wizards first rule and stone two of my favorite all time books. However this one was not up to par. Anybody that disagrees go back and read the 1st. You can't say it enough....."chicken monster"???????????? come on, really!

I have been hungrily devouring Goodkind's novels since they came out (and am even rereading them for the third time) He manages to capture a depth of emotion and character that is rarely found in other books of the genre. I can hardly wait to see how Soul of the Fire holds out, and am expecting it to be better than the rest!

This was the worst fantasy book I've ever read. I mean, itwould have been more at home in a meeting of Congress. Sure thepolitical polices of a land in the Midlands was interesting, but come on, where were Richard and Kahlan. Fitch, a boring little milk-slop, seemed to be the main character. I could care less about this little would be seeker. Where were Gratch, Berdine, the inroduction of Richard to the rest of the Mord-Sith. This book had little forward action, and for the life of me, I can't remember the ending! I read the book 4 days ago.
One thing I do remember is Richard heading back to the Westland. Just read the the parts about Richard and Kahlan. Unless you like politics of course. END

I saw so many bad reviews of this book that I felt I had to defend it. I really enjoyed this book. The world and characters Goodkind has created fascinates me. I think Richard and Kahlan are believable characters. They each have their faults and each help the other overcome those faults.
However, I was disappointed that Goodkind tended to focus more on the new characters than on the main characters. This change in focus did not make the book bad, but did make it a less enjoyable read for me. The ending was a little of a let down, which I beleive was intended. I beleive that it will be resolved in the next book and was only left a cliffhanger in order for Goodkind to have a segue into the 6th book.
Overall, it was a good book: excellently written and wonderfully imaginative. I can't wait for the next one.

I have been hearing from many sources that this volume in the Sword of Truth series was difficult to get into. I did not have that problem. I agree that this book seems to stand out from the other 4 in the series so far, but to me it stands out for a different reason. Terry Goodkind is a skilled author when it comes to evoking emotions from the readers. Soul of the Fire makes the reader feel something as they read it. Well I can't speak for everyone but it made me feel something. It has added to the series immensely because of how it built up the current crisis created by the villians. Soul of the Fire creates a great hatred for the villians and I'm looking forward to the next volume, Faith of the Fallen, to see how things turn out.

It was a big step from Wizard's First Rule to Soul of the Fire. In his first book Goodkind wrote tighter than now, still SotF kept me reading to the end. Maybe there are some points to citizise him, for example the first half of the book, where few things of importance happen in comparison to the amount of pages. But I can't help myself, I read other authors, Jordan, Feist, and many more, and Terry Goodkind has by far the best characters of them all. He writes every scene interresting enough to keep you glued to it, no other author did this to me. In SotF there may be weak points in the storyline but the characters even this out and therefore this book is an excelent piece of writing that I can only recommend to everyone who likes fantasy.

WOw!! Belive me when I tell you this is about the best series you could ever read. Even my mom got hold of "Wizards First Rule" one time, and has become a Goodkind junkie along with me!! She's read all four books about three times. I've read them about a dozen times. These books are captivating and will leave you with bloody stumps where your fingernails used to be. You'll absolutely fall in love with all good guys, and come to curse the bad ones in your prayers. If you have ti read a book for school or something, pick "Wizard's First Rule". All the pages will impresss your techer, and you'll be done with it in under a week! Guaranteed! I can't wait until book five comes out. I'm gonna read it 7 times in a week!

Soul of the Fire by Terry Goodkind continues the saga of the most unfortunate couple since Orpheus and Urydice. Yet again Richard and Kahlen are thrown into adventure, albeit together this time, to save the world from magic, or rather the lack of it. The Chimes are lose and threaten to eliminate magic from the world. Not such a big problem until Goodkind explains that a knock-on effect would destroy the world. A little contrived at times and somewhat similar to the earlier books Soul of the Fire is none the less an enjoyable read. Very well written characters draw sympathy from the reader and invoke a feeling of familiarity that is lacking in many fantasy books. The book is certainly less intense than the previous four but Goodkinds style impresses and begs not to be put down.

I am not saying "don't buy the book" especially if you like romance (not me!) but he is getting way to mushy with this series... I mean c'mon...the whole thing with the Mother Confessor and Richard being married is getting very very old. I think he references the fact they are married like 90 times in the first 3 chapters! And what's with the Mord Sith? He is humanizing them and giving them humorous characteristics! They are supposed to be cold and ruthless...he does show the determination of Cara at the end. The ending was very very boring...it was like Goodkind painted himself into a corner with the story and then took the easy way out. I loved the previous novels of this series...but this one was pretty dissapointing....I have moved to Robert Jordan as my Fantasy Author of choice...but Terry has another chance...hope the next one is more exciting, fast paced, and filled with Magic. I don't think Richard used magic once in this novel! VERY Dissapointing...The major mistake with this book was the plot. He took away almost everyones ability to perform magic..and those that still could, didn't perform any at all. That's what these stories are supposed to be about. C'mon Terry, you can do better than this!

I loved the first four books of this series. Absolutely amazing work that I would recommend to anyone, but stop there and enjoy the series. This book was a scattershot plot that ended with a completely bizarre jump to a conclusion that had nothing to do with logic. When Richard figured out how to beat the chimes, I went back and reread the entire book to see what I had missed to explain how he realized how to do it. It is not there anywhere.
I never read another book in the series again, I was so disgusted.

Goodkind is a great writer. Even though this book hasn't come out yet when it does I'll give it another rating most probaly five stars. I have read a good number of fantasy books and this is one of the top picks. I can't put into words how good Goodkind is, but I think he is one of the greatest authors of all time.

Terry Goodkind posess obvious talent in terms of his prose. The scenes in all of the Sword of Truth books are vivid, descriptive, and well written. This book is an entertaining read. However, Goodkind seems to have neither the ability nor inclination to write a true epic fantasy series, and he would be better suited to write shorter more adventure styled novels. The Sword of Truth series lacks a main thread. Secondary characters and plotlines are picked up and discarded at will (Nathan Rahl, Chase, the Keeper, the dragon, among countless others). There is no unifying history throughout the stories and magic seems at times ubiquitous and at times pathetic. If you want a book to read on the beach, take Soul of the Fire. If you want high quality epic fantasy that makes you think, read Tad Williams or George R. R. Martin, authors to which Goodkind cannot compare.

.Great writers throughout history have taken on the task of writing multi-volume tales, whether it was about noble Knights on the crusades, or Bilbo Baggins....The good authors know when to end a tale.....Goodkind is a terrible writer.
When Wizards first rule came out I was stunned. Here is a tale that makes "magic" at least somewhat realistic, gritty. I prayed that Goodkind would have the sense not to be another Robert Jordan, continuing until the story is so deluded as to be ridiculous. Alas G. did exactly that, and it is very sad. What was once a good series is now just grade a cheese.
G. is so greedy for money that he is writing volumes in this set, not to follow a coherent story line from a set beginning to end, instead he is just going anywhere his mind tells him to, veering madly from story line to story line, never Getting any closer to the end. Not only is G. greedy, but he is just a terrible writer. We have "all powerful chickens" in the latest book, and absolutely laughable dialogue from our hero when he finds a dead comrade..."NO you were just alive you can't be dead!" This dialogue could be written by a monkey, and based on Goodkind's interviews, I'd say it was written by a greedy pretentious ape....If you want to read Fantasy for adults read the phenomenal Guy Gavriel Kay

Wizard's first rule was amazing. I stayed up all night reading it because the characters were dear to me, and the plot was simply exciting. However, the sequels that have followed have not had the same edge that the orginal had.
But if you fell in love with the characters in the first book, like me, you have HAD to read the sequels to know what happened to those poor souls fighting to save the land from certain destruction. So, you are forced to read this book, as I was, out of curiosity.
The good news: I felt this book was quite a lot better than the other sequels. Less twisted violence, and honest plot development. Its not a completle waste of time. But don't buy it in hardback.

This book, while well written and fairly solid, has a little bit of a strange story line to it. The three chimes are funky to say the least, but if nothing else, at least we know the author has a good imagination and can come up with some whacky things to keep a story building, growing, and expanding.

In response to all the people asking about reviewing a book that hasn't even been released yet, it has kinda turned into a "Praise Goodkind" kinda thing. Now that I think about it, that IS kinda dumb. I mean, people going on line to praise Goodkind in a review of his 5th book, is kinda like a missionary trying to convert the converted. A person looking for a new series isn't going to go to the store and randomly pick the fifth book in a series. so, guys, i'm sorry. If i could delete my previous review, I would. People don't need to write how great the Sword of Truth series in the review of SOF, those who come to look for it already know. besides, if you want to do that, go to a discussion board.
Thanks.

First of, let me say that I picked up the first book Wizard's First Rule because I was looking for more good fantasy by new writers. Goodkind has a different style from most fantasy writers in the detail he goes into over violence, torture and sexual situations. I initially thought the first book to be a decent venture into the realm of fantasy albeit a little rough in the style of writing. With theprogression of the series to the current book however, I can no longer ignore the fact that this series is definitely not written on the level of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.
Terry Goodkind is the type of writer who doesn't seem to have yet grasped the skill of building an epic tale. From this latest novel, and in fact through the series, I got the impression that he had little of the patience needed and instead preferred concentrating on all the little details involved inthe violence or sexual situations in his books. Sort of the difference between an epic movie and a B-grade one that concentrates on the sex and violence to draw fans with short attention spans. Interesting to find such an attempt in the novel writing market.
It seems from this novel by Goodkind, that he is feeling a little pressure in being compared, quite inevitably to Robert jordan and his Wheel of Time series. I'm wondering if anyone else noticed the petty references against Jordan's series, beginning with the review against Jordan's series as you open the cover of the book and continuing with the ridicule of the name 'Lurk' which is used in Jordan's series. Very petty.
I have thus far read Goodkind's Sword of Truth series hoping he would improve, but I believe this is the last of his books that I will pick up.

A good book in the series. I don't mind the departure from the supporting cast as much as other seem to. The way the story was written, including a more diverse cast of "mundane" charecters, was fine with me, these charecters were intresting and varied. I got the feeling that in his next book we will be seeing a return of the supporting cast. My only annoyance was one I see in every Goodkind novel. The formula seems to be several charecters go on long journey meeting intresting people and having intresting side-quests (400 pages) and then when they finally reach their destination, resolve the story in 50 pages. Not terrible because Goodkind keeps it fresh but not awesome either. Final thought: Not an epic like Wizard's First Rule but a darn good book.

Hands down, Soul of the Fire is the most disappointing book in the Sword of Truth series. The storyline features the land of Anderith. The Chimes have come back into the world and are now sapping all magic from the land. It's up to Richard and Kahlan to put and end to this.
Terry Goodkind branches the story of in many directions, but most fail to have a real meaning. Those that do have a purpose could have been trimmed a lot.
The new side characters make up half the story. That means you have to trudge through these boring side stories to get to the parts featuring the protagonists.
Less time could have been spent in the land of Anderith and been spent following Richard, Kahlan, Zedd, Cara, ect. There were some interesting parts in the plot towards the end though.

Soul of the Fire takes much longer to get into than the rest of the Sword of Truth series. The plot is more in depth, and the extensive background information on newly introduced characters is overwhelming at times, especially when considering the outcome. The book does pick up near the end, although I couldn't help but feel that the climax was rather rushed after the lengthy build up. Overall, it was an enjoyable enough read, and I would recommend it to anyone who is familiar with the series. To those who haven't read previous novels in the series, start at the beginning (Wizard's First Rule) before picking up this book.

I'm a huge Jordan fan, but I must say that Terry Goodkind's style is a refreshing change from Jordan's. I can't wait to read Soul of the Fire. Temple of the Winds was nothing short of amazing. I like how Goodkind doesn't leave you hanging by your fingernails at the end of the book. (As Jordan did at the end of "A Crown of Swords") P.S. - I love the cover art on most of Goodkind's books. The Soul of the Fire cover looks a little like the Stone of Tears cover (one of my favorites) ..the only covers I didn't really like were Wizard's First Rule and Blood of the Fold, but both of those are twice as good as any Wheel of Time cover I've ever seen.

This return to the Sword of Truth saga captivates the reader as it's predecessors did so wonderfully. This book was written differently than the other volumes, but it gave the reader insight into the characters and explored the world which encompassed them. This volume provided the portion which completed the submersion of the reader into the world of Richard and Kahlan.
Some readers may miss the continuous excitement of Blood of the Flood and Stone of Tears, but Soul of the Fire was a necessary and wonderful installment which made the Sword of Truth become more realistic than fantasy.
I can not wait for the next installment, and in the meantime, I have enjoyed re-discovering the previous volumes.

Another great one in the series! I love this series. Some readers complained that this particular book was boring, didnt deal enough with Richard and Kahlans newlywed time, but that is the point. They are fighting to save the world, so stopping to have a honeymoon isn't exactly practical. Loved this book just as much as the others

If you like fanatasy, you will love the Sword of Truth series. All of the books follow 3 consistent characters,(2 main, 1 supportting) throughout multiple adventures that lead one off of the other. These are definitely worth picking up and spending a week with. I can't wait for Soul of Fire to come out.

This had to be the worst book I've read since Ann Rice's Feast of All Saints. The new characters we're introduced to are dislikeable from the beginning and godown hill from there. So glad they all die, though a description of Jagang putting the new Sovereign to death in book 6 would have been welcomed. I liked the ending though (partially because the pain of reading this bad book would soon be over), and partially because I like Dalton's revenge. My advice if you must read this drivel, read the last 100 pages, it will still make sense and you won't have suffered through the rest of the book.

look I don't care whether it's a "copy" or not....this series is excellent....the whole set travel down various routes and you never know where the next book will take you....I found total enjoyment in all of them...in fact I definietly couldn't put the books down....they held me spellbound *laughs*....The depth of the characters works....unlike other series I have read ....you can read the middle book without feeling like you've come in half way through the movie.....which is great if you only want to read one book.....but I think once you have read one you will be hooked....and become a avid "goodkind fan" Can't wait for the next one to get here....please let the saga continue..

I am a big fan of the series, and like many reviewers, have been thinking it couldn't go on like this forever. But this book really was a breath of new life into the series. There was a Killer Chicken (Did you say a killer chicken?? Yes. I did.) in the beginning, and that was actually one of the scarier images I have read in a while...Kahlan trapped in the dark, with the demon chicken whispering "Mother Confessor", wondering where the attack would come from. Ooh, it gave me chills. But the best part of the tale was the political intrigue in Anderith. The characters were so well fleshed out, and the lavish society was incredibly creative and eerily familiar without being the least bit preachy. I LOVED the karma that came around at the end for them all. And I actually liked how, Richard, unlike his other adventures, could not save the people by making them see the danger of their ways. That is the worst thing about the next 2 stories, how by making a couple speeches, he can change whole civilizations. The whole story was very suspenseful and full of page turning plotlines. I really recommend it.

Alrighty..I love the way Goodkind writes, I love the first books in the series, but for the love of God, will he get back to writing about important parts of the storyline? The thing that made me the most upset about the book was that with 10 pages left I was still wondering what was going to happen and if everyone was going to die! COME ON! Its called "Wrap it up". He spent I don't know how many hundreds of pages talking about Fitch and Baeta and all the stupid Anders and less than 2 pages about actually getting rid of the chimes! 2 pages! GEEZ! I hate that I have to buy the next book to feel fullfilled when I know it will just tear me apart like this one did. GET WITH IT TERRY!

after reading all the other SOT books I found this one the most disapointing after the second one wich was utterly boring. It was a good read but not the best.
The thing that disturbs me the most is that Mr. Goodkind creates characters and then seems to forget all about them. I keep expecting some of them to turn up again in the next book but they never do. Where is Gratch, Adie (comes back I think in book 6), Scarlett, berdine, Richard's friend who also lives in his forrest in his homeland, rachel,... Mr. Goodkind leaves all options open, leaving us expacting more but when will it all fall together? I guess he knows what he's doing and knows exactly where he wants to go with his story.
I'll keep on reading anyway because I wanna know what is going to happen and it almost seems like Richard, Kahlan and Cara really are friends f me now.

I came into reading Mr. Goodkind's first novel, Wizard's First Rule, by chance. I happened to walk pass a bookstore and decided that I should get the thickest fantasy book there. I could not stop reading this book until I finished the entire book. I went out to get the rest of the books in the series immediately. I was then persuaded to read Jordan's Wheel of Time. I read the first volume. Well, it is good, but not as addicting as Goodkind's. Please stop accussing him of copying Jordan's books.

Let me start off with a question to Mr. Goodkind. Why does every woman in your novels have to be raped and beaten? Robert Jordan is to dress descriptions as Terry Goodkind is to? Yes, that's right, rape. That's only the beginning, however. There is the Mord-Sith and the everpresent feeling of being in a strange club in Amsterdam. I know authors show their psyche in their writing, but there is such a thing called restraint. The pun was intended, by the way. Think of all the awkward, love starved teenagers who come to these book for Richard and Kahlan only to have there young minds assualted with leather and whips. And speaking of the couple, I really think that, at this point, it wouldn't be a bad idea for them just to follow Romeo and Juliet's example. Every book they're almost torn apart forever, the drama has to be getting to them at this point. Also, this book actually contains an evil chicken. Nuff said.

Terry Goodkind is a derivative of Jordan who is derivative of Tolkein, Herbert, and a thousand others. Please, dear readers, stop here and never look back. That is unless you want to endure Goodkind pretending to be Ayn Rand for the next several books. This paradign shift from pure fantasy novel to fantasy novel with overtones of Anthem is just too much for me. If I want to debate political systems, I'll go find a jaded political science major, not a fantasy novelist.

It is the same plot rehashed once more. Except this time we get more right-wing, get-them-reds, prattling. Oh,and, lest I forget, a poultry of dark intent.

A well written book that does not add depth to the main characters. You can skip this book if you want to find out what Richard, Kahlan, Zed, Cara and the rest have been up to. If you just want to read Terry Goodkind, then you will enjoy it, but you will feel empty once you have finished. I may or may not buy the next book, I feel that I just paid for a sidebar in a great series. I and all the rest who enjoyed the first four parts were not given a continuaton of a great saga, just a book to fulfill a contractual obligation. After finishing, I re-read the first four to make sure I had not deluded myself into thinking that Terry Goodkind was a great writer. I only hope that, along with Robert Jordan, he doesn't extend this stroyline beyond its natural conclusion just to keep the series going.

Am I the only one who noticed the commentary on conditions in the US by the events and people of Anderith? Bertrand Chinboor and his wife seemed to me to be characters much like Mr and Mrs Clinton. The whole idea throughout the book of not being able to trust a liar, of the manipulation of the population of Anderith for selfish gain, the sanctity of life as we watched Kahlan struggle with whether to keep her baby, and the efforts of many in Anderith, along with the hordes of the Emperor Jagang to destroy magic seemed to me a fascinating and refreshing story, putting things and people in position for what is to come, but also making a statement. I was enthralled with the book.

If you can ignore the 300 to 400 middle pages, this book is OK. I felt the beginning and the ending were fair and served to illustrate the struggle Richard is going to have convincing people his cause is just. Cool. The extensive descriptions: detail of the city and the characters in it was a complete waste of time and space. I do not need to know the eating habits of characters who I will not see again, or would care to if I could. I could justify it as trying to give the reader a detailed look at a "average" city, but it was waaaayyyy too long. The advice I gave my friend who read this book, "read it if you really want to keep up with some story plot, but skim or skip as much of the city detail as possible and don't expect too much."

Goodkind does it again. This book picks up where we left off and takes us along for a wonderful ride. However, our heros disappear for a great portion of this book. We learn a lot about some new characters. So much so, that at times you find yourself asking, "Where are Richard and Kahlan?" (Not to mention...Zedd, Ann, Nathan, etc.) True to form, Goodkind wraps up some loose ends but leaves others dangling in time. Leaving his reader wondering if this is the final book, or will he come back with a sequel to finish all aspects of the series. Overall, it is an entertaining piece.

I love fantasy. I have read The Wheel of time 5 times. I have also read the sword of truth twice. Goodkind was refreshing with his new style of magic, but still followed basic guidelines. Yes, he expanded on the old guidelines, but didn't stray far. Jordan had a completely new style of Magic that I personally have never seen the equal of before or since. I enjoy reading both authors, consider them both at the top of the list of great authors. But please. Don't put either one down while praising the other. if you have any respect for fantasy fiction, you will know that with THESE authors, it would be almost impossible to place one above the other.

I really like the previous four books, so when this one came out I was really excited. Then I started it. This was the first of the books that I had to struggle to finish. It was completly boring. Iread this a while ago so I don't remember all the details, but I remember as I was reading it being completely fed up with hearing about the Chimes. I DIDN'T CARE what they were doing because he didn't make it interesting. I would recomened the other four books to anyone who likes fantasy but unless you really want to I'd SKIP this book. I just got the sixth one and hopefully that will be better...if it has a lot to do with this one I take back the thing about not reading it but...

Amazing that the store Sales rank of Book V (which we are all waiting for) is 135, and Book VIII of Jordan is 435???
Certainly, the pre-sales of this book must be unbeleiveable!
Not much longer now (then I can write a real review rather than an author comparison)

I love this series, but I was somewhat disappointed by this latest installment. I am eager for the next in the series and will buy it immediately upon release. Terry left the climax to almost the very last few pages, and seemed to summarily wrap it up. I had to re-read the last part of the book several times to truely understand what was implied for resolution. I find most of Terry's work very gratifying in the detail of atonement, this ending was rushed. I still give it a 4 star due to the rest of the series, but alone this book would not merit this rating. I do actively recommend the series, and can't wait for the next book.

I've loved Terry's books from day one and was looking forward to this one for some time, unfortunately, he let us down. Unlike his other books which only took a few chapters to set up the rest of the adventure, it seemed like the first 350 pages of this one were for that purpose. The Goodkind imagery and detail was there but that was lost to facets we didn't care about, not the action and suspense we've come to enjoy. The last 100 pages or so were of course filled with plots changes and action, but it seemed as if he was in a rush to tidy up all the loose ends. Hoping the next book has the "grip" the first 4 did. Its worth reading, just to continue the journey, but don't look for Magic.

Though I agree with ,what seems the majority of, the readers that this was kind of a disapointment I read it eagerly, wondering how all of it would come into play in the next book. I have impatiently awaited each book after the third, when I caught up to Terry Goodkind. I'm sure I will enjoy the upcoming book and remain an immence fan of his books and the characters in them. Terry Goodkind is very skilled at getting his readers involved in his writinhg. Never before have I laughed, cried, and literally sat on the edge of my seat, while reading a series! I strongly recommend the Sword of Truth series to all fantasie readers.

Gods, you people who love Goodkind have got to find better writers. People like him, Brooks, Feist and McKiernan have ruined modern fantasy.
Thank the gods for Robin Hobb, George RR Martin, Guy Gavriel Kay and Glen Cook.
And forget Jordan, the overrated windbag that he is.

I read all of his books and still wasn't dissapointed. He is the only fantasy arthor that I look forward to reading and I have tried some of the others arthor and they were big fantasy arthors and I couldn't into there books. I hope he kepts the series going or keep on writing more fantasies I really do enjoy reading his stories.

Goodkind still keeps up his amazing story, with his impossible-odds ideas, which all fall together. I read the book in 3 days (I tried to slow down, but it was too good), and I am going to be one of the first to get his next book, if he (hopefully) writes another.

I started out really enjoying the world that Terry Goodkind was setting before me. I enjoyed the first 4 books of the series, forgiving some of the plot and writing.
Goodkind spends too much time developing characters that you wind up not caring about. The political intrigue is nice, but the book is very slow moving. The ending is anti-climatic. The Kahlan and Richard theme is still there and quite frankly is getting overdone. How many times will they have to sacrifice their love and life for the world? The end story is always the same with promise of more of the same to come.
The focus is too narrow and the characters are lacking in scope and depth (aside from Richard and Kahlan, Zedd is borderline). The story is very linear and Goodkind borrows heavily from other novels. It is starting to feel like I read this before and that is a bad sign.
The book was ok, but was a tough read. I can't bring myself to read the next in the series after asking several of my friends the basic plot and hearing the same thing.

In the beginning the introduction of new characters seemed refreshing but as the story line dragged on I became less and less interested in the characters and there seemingly useless contributions to the storyline. Really, most of the whole Ander/Haken storyline seemed monotonous and unnecessarily. Unless this somehow seriously contributes significantly to the next book I really will be disappointed. For the first time I found myself skimming and skipping to keep from falling asleep.

this bk was better than the temple of the wind which was completely stupid but i think Mr Goodkind can do better. The book has no style and Kahlan gets so annoying at first, i mean i understand that this is when the get married and stuff but stil... and most of the characters just vanished i.e. Nathan, Gratch, Chase etc. And the sword of truth just does nothing in this book, what is the truth he seeks of, magic is not truth whatever u think. Anyway its not as bad as all that but it is a real let down from wizard's first rule. Anyone who was going to buy it don't bother but its still alright

After reading a few reviews a few months ago I wasnt quite sure I wanted to get the book when it did come out in paperback. But, I did and despite what some of the more shall we say pessimistic reviews said, I enjoyed the story immensely. Fitch's story was a good little side story but Im not quite sure why it was there. And Dalton Campbell's situation at the end was put together quite nicely and I probably would have done the same for the most part if I were in the same situation, with the exception of the Mother Confessor. That would have been different. Anyway I cant wait until Faith of the Fallen comes out.

...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.

Terry Goodkind really does well in continueing his series with the kind of storytelling that had me always looking forward to reading in any of my spare time that I had. I was only disapointed by one thing though, where is Adie, did she disappear or what?

This book almost make you want to reach in to the story and slap some people silly. I have been Very disappointed in the way this series is going. What happened to Richards conviction to having a free land? You mean to tell me that through all of his struggles that one land makes him want to give up. And for grimy sakes why is it that this story has to beat down the main characters all the time. It seems that Terry Goodkind likes to just let the main characters just scrape by.

I have the complete series and am not going to read Faith of the Fallen for several months. I need to get this book out of my system. If I can.

Sorry Terry, But there is a light at the end of the tunnel and most people do reach it

I found this book the worst of the lot. The first books were incredible, but they are deteriorating at an alarming rate. Its really time that the story starts advancing, I am sick of reading explanations for people who have skipped books. The Books as you all know are finished off far to fast. I always say to myself "there is no way he can finish off all this plot with 100 pages" and the story is VERY idle. I am still anxious for the next book because I am full of hope that his story line will get better, The potential for this series is great and I know for a fact that Terry can make it a memorable series.
Until then, Have a nice rest...I mean read.

Dear Mr. Goodkind and others, I wanted to write you an email, but I don't know your adress so, I hope that you read this. I wrote a review for this sight before this book came out, and I have returned to find all these negative comments, and what I found even more sad was the fact that you are changing your story because of 2 or three peoples opinions. Personelly, I have never known the meaning of a good book before reading your series, now because of your spectacular talent, I read all sorts of Science Fiction and Fantasy. And Richard Rahl is perfect, he has a good heart to fight a bad situation, well, thanks for your time, a good fan.

After reading SotF, I was left with a feeling of longing. A longing to keep on reading. I'm sorry, but after reading WFR, SoT, BotF, and TotW, Terry left a lot out of his fith instalment of the Sowrd of Truth series. I was expecting mabey a confrentation with Jangang, or that mabey he would learn a little about how to use his magic. Or terry would write about the old wizards and tell more about the wars between the old and new worlds. But all in all, it was still Goodkind and I liked it to a certain extent. It had the flare and action and depth like the rest of the books to make it good enough to be called a Sowrd of Truth novel.

This book can be summed up by it's one break-out character: the chicken that was not a chicken but evil incarnate. I put the book down after reading that nonsense. For all of you people so in love with the SOT series, Terry Goodkind thinks you're a bunch of idiots. Why else would he write such nonsense and expect his readers to believe it? Talk about a lack of creativity. For any of you yearning for really good fantasy, head on over to George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. Really good writing, totally gripping story and George actually respects his readers' intelligence. Honestly, Goodkind sucks compared to Martin. And for all you comparing Goodkind to the great writers of the fantasy genre such as Tolkien and Martin, you obviously don't know good writing from bad.

As for the copying goes, if you were to take any fantasy book that deals with magic you can only come up with so many different variations of that magic and the abilities given to those that weild that power. But I have to say that Jordan has begun to loose me in his series, the last book that was written was by far not up to the standards I have begun to expect from him. But as for the Goodkind series I've begun to expect a lot and don't think that I'll be dissapointed. Now for those of you that are reading this and like Jordan I'mnot saying that it is a bad book, it is good in it's own way, but Goodkind has him beaten by far !!!!!! Keep it going Terry.

I disagree with other reviewers who had negative comments. I would have liked to have seen more of the main characters from the first books, however, the new characters were interesting and kept me turning the pages. The story picked up right where the last left off, and there was NOT alot of boring rehashing. I hope to see more of the original characters in the next book, but I am anxious also to see Richard go "home", per the preview of the next book. I can wait as long as the story stays as imaginative, cohesive, and exciting as this one was. I loved it!

I don't know why i haven't as yet lost interest in this series. I mean it really is all the same to me. But i can't get enough of Richard and Kahlans struggle. Their is no part in the books where you are not either amazed, angered or dare i say it heart broken. But somehow it all works out. Maybe that is the main reason I am still interested. Something different for reality.

This book is fairly different from the previous ones in this series. It takes Goodkind more than half of the book just to set everything up. But once he sets the stage, the book really gets going! This is a tale about political intrigue and the workings of a hate-filled society as much as it is about Richard and Kahlan trying to save the world. It is an interesting and different approach then the previous books, but I think it pays off. Not the best book in the series (that would probably be the Stone of Tears, IMHO), but it's a good book.

The concept for this book is one of those that probably looked great when he was outlining it. But hundreds of pages about some fledging kingdom did not interest me considering the previous four SOT novels. But I soldiered through hoping for some payoff in the end. What I got was robbed,ripped off and cheated.

If you are hoping this kingdom plays a future role in the fate of the D'Haran Empire? Don't :(

If you are hoping Richard finds some clever way to defeat or dispel the Chimes. Don't :(

If you are hoping Richard has some awesome battle with a powerful wizard. Don't :(

The ending was such a paste-on that I'm left wondering who really wrote it.

At the end of the day, you can skip this book and miss very little in plot advancement. That's the real tragedy of it all.

Okay so basicly the chimes are loosed by Kahlan in saving Richard's life and he must banish them in order to restore magic. Cara is sent to recieve Richard's sword and finds two kids, Fitch and Morley, stealing it. And Zedd is turned into a raven after his soul is stripped from his body by Reechani the queen of the fire.
This novelwas appealing to me because it had a lot of suspense in it and that kept me reading ever onward. Also some other reasons are that the characters were portrayed as real people and reacted in ways that you would expect them too...except maybe Richard, Zedd, and Fitch. Also the fact that it is book five in a series that I've grown too love and have read all along didn't hurt it at all.
This book is mainly for the sci-fi audience I believe. It is also for you if you are deep into swords and magic.

I love Goodkind. I love his books, I love that he still writes them, I love just about anything about him. I hope this book will be as awesome as all the other ones. And when my wife and I have children I'll have them read these books also

this is a very good SOT novel. If you read this book you will enjoy the whole thing. Though i must say the ending was not as strong as it could have been but it is still a very good book. If you have never read one of these books i urge you to start from the begining or you will be lost. All in all a very good book

I have read all of the Sword of Truth series, and eagerly awaited the 5th book. Now I wish I hadn't read it at all. If you take the first two chapters, the last two chapters, and summarize the rest into a paragraph, you'd have a short but decent book. Goodkind totally ignores pressing situations from the last 4 books, and spins off on a wild, and boring tangent about flat, and unimaginative subplots which never tie together in the end. I loved the first four books, but I wish I had skipped number five and went straight to six!

Not enough magic in this one. Good story, but mostly politics and little about our main heroes. And it doesn't wrap up well, it leaves you hanging as to what happened to those characters, no real closure. Not my favorite, but worth the read. Just don't expect the magic that we usually get.

Outstanding book and storyline, but definately a different flavor than the other four. The bad reviews are from the same people who complain when their favorite musical group "changes" (Such a nasty word). What could have brought on the coveted 5-star? Epic battles, Goodkind has a way of making you feel like your in the middle of them. The emperor has been hovering on the backburner for too long. These two armies need to scrap a little more often. Repeatedly stealing the prize before he shows up just isn't the same. So bring on number six and quickly please.

This book was a slight deviation form the other ones and it introduces a few new characters that stay for this book only. I think that this book is as good as all the others except for the stone of tears.....but I haven't actually read wizard's first rule yet....so I could be wrong...... I found the plot to be great, and the twists to be excellent. I also liked the character building of the Dalton character, and I liked how the story had a more real feel as oppose to...." these are the good guys and these are the bad guys", almost every character has bad parts and good parts in them.....

Terry Goodkind takes a major detour into the realms of parochial politics and loses his way. In 'Soul of Fire', Goodkind attempts to recreate something of the charm of earlier instalments, but fails because he does not have a story to tell. The plot evaporates about half way through and he spends most of the second half desperately seeking an end, which unfortunately does not come soon enough. I was left bewildered by the sudden conclusion. Is it really so necessary to link this story to the sequel in such an obvious and clumsy manner? Does this book carry the taint of 'contractual obligation'?

I Think that any author who spends his/her time writing a book(s) should get all the credit they deserve........sometimes people forget how hard an author works to create something from thier imagination and put it all on paper......I am sure it is not an easy job......really they must not be trying to impress all of the critics out there......they are mearly trying to write an entertaining story.........if you don't like the story...keep your mouths closed.....I bet you couldn't do half as well... WAY TO GO TERRY!

I looked over a few reviews and was satisfied with most of your remarks, however those of you determined to down play this book becouse it did not fit your standards should crawl back into your petty little holes. I happen to agree that i was a little disapointed myself but truth be told i took the time to look at the big picture. Mr. Goodkind has given me many hours of "on the edge of my seat entertainment" and the few things i have learned is he is unpredictable and never without purpose. Quote me when i say that in the future you will find this book was a necisary edition and you will not be able to take back your ill thought remarks.

I have not read the book yet, since it is not out in Holland yet. But I have read some of the above reviews and I am getting tired of all the people who want to hear more about gratch and rachel..They are still on the same world as Richard and will turn up again in time. But I do not think it is necessary that they are present all the time. They have a life off their own you know!Either in the woods (grath) or in westland (chase and rachel). The story(s) is mainly about Richard and Kahlan and about their feelings and emotions. That is what makes TG books different than those of for example R.Jordan. I hope TG writes 10 books! I only think that the next book should be about getting rid of Jagang.

do not get me wrong, i thought goodkinds books were good.... but he totally ripped off robert jordan. seeing as how robert jordan was published first, terry goodkind took the same idea and watered it down. take the names for example...richard, and rand? hello. these books scream rip off. no one can beat robert jordan. his books are by far superior. TERRY GOODKIND IS A RIP OFF!!!! HE STOLE HIS MATERIAL!! if you want to e0mail me and discuss this further, please do- i would like to see a good defense set up for terry the cheat goodkind. [email protected]

I believe that this book is slow, but I agree with some of the other reviewers. This book is a stepping stone into the next. yes, it was slow in some areas, but his style is still "Terry". His next book should by enlighting. I don't agree with most of the reviewers, he is still one of the best authors i have ever read, and I have quite the library, all of which is fantasy. I say, "keep the faith", he is not done with Richard,Kahlan,Cara,etc. Mr.Goodkind, if you read this, may I ask one favor? please include Zedd more. I miss his humor.

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.

Where were was all my favorite characters? The series seems to be declining as I read each new book in the series. I had to work to finish this book and the only reason I didn't put it aside was because I am to stubborn to stop reading something I started. He spent a number of pages introducing new characters for us readers to relate to and then went nowhere with it. I felt like I wasted time trying to get to know these people. I'm giving the series a break and moving on to something better. The series has dried up for me.

The sword of truth started out great (book 1 was awesome). But unfortunately it has all been downhill from here... I couldn't even froce myself to finish this book. Martin has become too obsessed with pointless sexual violence and has strayed too far away from the plot. Read Wizard's 1st Rule. Stop there.

the fourth book was amazing, and soul of the fire is a real disappointment after that breath-taking book.
It is simply boring, also some elements&events in the book were rather silly, like the enemy "chicken".

And I totally agree with folks who could not keep up with the Haken&anderith story, I dont really get why Goodkind processed those characters deeply! It was hard to concentrate the Anderith side.

THE FIRST TWO BOOKS HOOKED ME BUT THE LAST THREE ARE LIKE A SWORD THRUST IN THE BACK. GOODKIND IS A GIFTED WRITER BUT I DONT THINK EVEN HE KNOWS WERE THIS SERIES IS GOING. SOUL OF THE FIRE LEFT ME FEELING BETRAYED FOR A THIRD TIME. GOODKIND SHOULD DO US AND HIMSELF A FAVOR AND NOT PUBLISH HIS NEXT BOOK UNTIL GETS HIS PLOT STRAIGHTENED OUT. ALSO I AM GETTING TIRED OF RICHARD GOING FROM SUPREME MASTER TO WHIPPING BOY. IF HE CANT DO MAJIC THAN TEACH HIM. QUIT FLIP FLOPING HIM FROM MASTER TO NOVICE. I HAVE DECIDED TO GIVE FAITH OF THE FALLEN A CHANCE WHEN IT IS PUBLISHED, I HOPE GOODKIND REGAINS HIS FORM OR I WILL BE ONE OF THE FALLEN.

The book is well written, as Goodkind's books always are, but I missed the main characters. We have to wait so long between books that I get excited to meet up with the main players again, but this book doesn't use them much. Only at the very end do we get to see everyone again. Good new characters, though.

....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....

This book, even with the progressively worse 3rd and 4th books, was very disapointing. The plot diverts early in the book, and at the end it seems like Richard is exactly where he was at the beginning. I was looking forward to events hinted at in Temple of the Winds, and they didn't happen. Also, I feel the events have disapointing effects on future books about the Midlands. If you have to read it,(book 6 is really good), get it from a library, don't waste money on it.

Soul of the Fire is definately the weakest of the five books in the series. It did not advance the story or characters as far as its 500+ pages should have. Although well wordsmithed and vivid, this leg of the journey seemed a mere side trek. I became interested in the the secondary characters only to have their stories rendered fairly meaningless and the climax of the book wrapped hurriedly and neatly in the last 25 pages. The first 450 pages were 4 star material, the last 58 were 1-2 star cliff's notes. We needed about another 100 pages. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come. Mr. Goodkind is one of my favorites.

I really enjoy this series. That said, I was a little let down by this book. The writing was great as always, but the story was just not as good as I had hoped. Character progression and story progression was not that great. It was hard getting into this book because of the mass quantity on new character build up, and new location buildup.
Than said, I still really enjoyed Terry's writing.

goodkind cotinued the sword of truth series with a book exceeded the greatness of temple of the winds, which came before it. it is the best fantasy series currently out, and will undoubtedly become a classic.

Terry goodkind is the best author I have ever read, and I think the only reason people are ragging on him so they can "be different". He is very skilled, and this is just another masterpeice from the sword of truth series. Keep up the good work!

I was disappointed with this book. I LOVE the first 4 books of the series but this was was very different. It delved into characters for a majority of the book that i didn't care about. I want to read about richard and kahlan not the life stories of other characters that only drive the plot of this book.

I love Goodkind and he's easily my favorite author, but this book didn't have the magic of the first 4. It was boring the first time I read it though liked it the second time. For those of you thinking of reading this book, or the whole series if you haven't already done so, bear with this book. The first 4 are wonderful and the sixth book is my favorite book of all time. And the seventh book is good too, even though it's quite different. My advice is to read this book even if it does seem rather boring. It's worth the read.

What can I say it is FABULOUS. I know some of you readers think that your books are better than these books, well your WRONG. Goodkind is the BEST. No one else comes close. Keep up the awesome work Terry.

I liked the book. It was excellently written, with an imaginative plot that was complex and well thought out. But where on my favorite characters, Richard and Kahland and Zedd and everyone else. I waited a whole year to read about them, but instead I got a book about Dalton Campbell and Tess Campbell and Fitch and Chanboor. Not that I didn't like them. All of them we very good bad guys, but more than half the book was spent on them, and I didn't wait a year to read about them. I waited a year to read about Richard and co.

Terry Goodkind is the best writer I have ever read. I have enjoyed every book I have read by him. It is my opinion that people who give his books a bad review, either haven't read his books all the way through, or can't grasp the concept of an on-going saga. I haven't read the latest book but, I have read the others over again while I wait. I could only dream of writing a book that was half as good as Terry's books. All I have to say is hats off to Terry and keep up the GREAT work, I enjoy it. Just watch how many times titles are used. Other than that I can't get enough!

Ok, this is definitly Goodkind's worst book. But still better than most I have read. While he does use most (maybe all) of the ideas Jordan created, he puts a new spin on them. All in all, its not too bad.

Let me say this is one great series and T Goodkind is a terrific writer,but this episode dragged too much on side characters for me. I want Richard and Kahlan to dominate book and they didn't. Also i found dialog between Richard and Kahlan a little sophmoric at times. Jeez he is the Seeker of Truth so why ever doubt the guy. It was a nice read, but I expected a little more action . Also Zedd should be around more, hes so cool and funny. Hope next ones a bit better.

I found this book ok, there was a lot of explaning and it just wasn't all that interesting. There forth book, Temple of Winds was excellent. I think that should have been the end of The Sword of Truth series and Mr. Terry Goodkind should start a new series of novel. I mean, the Soul of the fire was just so, plain. It didn't really draw you into the novel like the other four before it. It was indeed not one of his best work, he's a great author and all but the ending of the soul of fire, it was like he was in a rush to finsh it or something.

While I throughly enjoyed the first 4 books this one started out on a disappointing note. I felt like the endless pages of the life of newly introduced characters took away some of the appeal as you were left wondering what do they have to do with anything? But as said before once you are past the first 200 or so pages (which I recommend skimming to just get the gist of what is happening) the story picks up and brings Kahlan and Richard back into the scene. I do wish they had spent more time on the resolution to this part of the story but the ending does leave you wanting to find out how the saga continues.

The start was good; scary and funny at the same time,influencing my dream/nightmares that night( replacing chicken monsters with wolves). But by the end I was left a bit bemused and slightly disapointed,the book lacking some of the magic of the prequels.The series itself is going on a bit too far because it feels like its never going to come to a conclusion, that Richard is doomed to a constant life of hardship. Despite this, it was still an enjoyable read and I must confess that like with all his books I found it hard to put the book down.

Somebody throws him a shovel. A really heavy-duty one. I always finish my series. Always. I read Wizard's First Rule and I thought it was pretty good, despite the blatant copying of Robert Jordan. The second book was mediocre, but I always excuse the second book in a series... after all, Star Wars was good, The Empire Strikes Back was not as good, but Return of the Jedi was fantastic.
Terry, quit while you can still get a profit. I will never read another one of your books because they are so disgusting. Frankly, age-old "commies-are-bad" rhetoric died with the Cold War.
Soul of the Fire was the most poorly written, pornographic, disgusting and idiotic piece of literature that I have ever read. A five-year old could write better. In the words of the Simpsons, I could puke in a fountain pen and mail it to the monkey house and get better writing.
Hope this constructive criticism helps, Mr. G. ;)

The story of Richard and Kahlan continues... The battle is on a far greater scale and the future of humanity is at stake. How strong is the bond that ties Lord Rahl and the Mother Confessor? What new perils must they overcome? Goodkind's series is enthralling! Once you've read the first book, you'll have to get the others.

I have enjoyed all of Terry Goodkinds books - from start to "Soul of Fire". Let's be realistic in order for any author to create a story line there will always be some slow books or some better than others. I am sure he is just setting up the fans to be blown away with his next title. As long as Richard and Kahlan lives in this creator - I'll be reading.

The first book of the Sword of truth series was very good, but lately there seems to be a repition in the theme. But a good series never the less but Goodkind might want to vary the theme a bit to make it more interesting.

I really liked this book. I liked the sudden twist of magic failing, leading to other things in future books as well. I was amazed by the twist at the end where it actually was something as simple as the travel book they were reading said. I have to give this a five star, because I'd have to say this was one of my favorite books in the Sword of Truth series. Terry Goodkind's imagination is great at thinking up perils for the main characters, and somehow getting them out of it later on. It's a very interesting book, and I'd suggest any fan of the SOT saga read it.