A Richard and Kahlan Novel - The Omen Machine

Love the series ("Sword of Truth"), and this book was not the best out of the 14 total, but it definitely gave me enough of what I needed to continually be a fan! The writing is still great, same fabulous characters, if anything the plot was not as binding-breaking as the books of the past. Still great read for any Terry Goodkind fan.

I just finished the e-book version of the Omen Machine. At least I won't be wasting bookshelf space. I cannot believe the decline in quality of the writing and editing. In many places, very similar dialog and/or actions were repeated a page later. At first I thought my Kindle was doing funny things, but no. The same characters would say the same thing a page or two later with slightly different wording. Perhaps this was intended to be a rough draft, and we will all get the real version next month.

Most of the books are pretty awesome! Especially Wizard's First Rule, Faith of the Fallen, Temple of the Winds and Confessor. Omen Machine was so disappointing, it felt like half a book :( and ended when it was finally getting somewhere.

Picks up well from the Sword of Truth series. Not Terry Goodkind's best but still nice to revisit some of the best characters that I have ever read about. Missed this series a lot and will continue to follow. Good suspense in places but tends to beat the reader over the head with development. Eagerly anticipating the next book.

this book just stops, is there another one coming out? it seems to build up to a peak then .... after they get saved what happens to the villain? what about all the lands do they reunite? or did i only get half the story delivered to my kindle? a little disappointing really

The Omen Machine is about the level of Naked Empire or Soul of the Fire maybe. It's worth buying to enjoy the continuation of Richard and Kahlan's story, but it lacks the unique spark of many of its predecessors.

The dealbreaker is that the antagonists are not the equals of Darken Rahl, Jagang, Sisters of the Light, or Blood of the Fold. In the past, Goodkind took painstaking effort to show that the antagonists were in fact human. More than simply human - they believed they were just and their enemies were evil, making them all the more dangerous. In The Omen Machine, the antagonist seems underdeveloped as a human. In that way, the antagonist seems more like the chimes, but without the tension that life itself is being inexorably eroded away.

This one is fun to read; it starts with a bang and never let's down all the way through. As is his practice "The Omen Machine" takes up exactly where "Confessor" stops and continues the action in a new direction. I'm one of a smaller group of fans that enjoyed "The Law of Nines" but am truly pleased to be back with Richard and Kahlan in this novel.

The nature of this book is such that a background in the earlier "Sword of Truth" novels is not really necessary for one to enjoy this one. For the new fan it may well whet the appetite for more and fortunately there is much more available. The Sword of Truth series includes a novella, "Debt of Bones" and eleven novels to which this book adds the twelfth. In addition another novel which takes place much later and in a different world is called "The Law of Nines." It is based on actions Richard Rahl takes near the end of "Confessor" and involves descendents of Richard's sister, Jennsen and her husband, Tom, who adopts the last name of Rahl.

I am admittedly a science fiction fan and have never had all that much interest in fantasy until I discovered the "Sword of Truth" series. Now I am a fan of science fiction, the Sword of Truth series and a few other selected fantasy works. This book is readable and flows smoothly; it is also shorter than many of Goodkinds other books. "Chainfire" for example has 667 pages, "Phantom" has 587 pages, "Confessor" has 603 pages while this one has 525 pages. I also noticed the map of the Old World is missing from this one; it usually appears at the end of the book. The maps of The Old World show the Peoples Palace as the eastern most site whereas parts of the action in "The Omen Machine move off the map into a region northeast of the Peoples Palace.

If you're new to the Sword of Truth series I urge you to give it a try; you may discover a world of action, magic and entertainment that you didn't know existed, I know I did.

All and all not my favorite read in the series. However it continues a story I hold dear to my heart. A story that I have enjoyed more so than any other I have heard told. At times a little long winded but all and all grand.

I've read all of the previous Richard and Kahlan novels and enjoyed them. The stories were compelling and the writing well done. This book was more of that. It certainly continued the universe and advanced the store along. I'd say if you liked the previous novels, this one would be no different.

This book was a great start to a new series of books about Richard and Kahlan. We are introduced to the overall storyline that will be going on and there is a major plot point that is developed and resloved in this book. For people complainig about the story not being finished? I honestly do not think you read any of Terry's books. This is how he has always written. There is the overall arc of a series,then there is a story in the book that gets resolved by the end.

The characters were great to read about again. It was wonderful to see how the characters relationships develope when they are not separated or in the middle of a huge battle. The little touches of what it is like for the characters to be a couple and be around each other is well developed and great to see.

Yes the book was a but shorter then past novels, but that is not a bad thing. With shorter novels we may see books come out faster. People always complain that authors take too long to write a book. Well you can't have it both ways. You get a long book and wait for it, or you get a shorter book and you get them faster. The book being shorter does not affect the story or quality.

Sorry for no details about plot, but I hate reviews that spoil the book.

It was a great story and a great start to a new series.

Absolutely wonderful. I have read all the books related to this one and had been waiting on it a long time. Once I purchased the Kindle, it was a good choice to go on the kindle instead of waiting any longer for the paper back. I couldn't put it down. Truly a good book. If you have read the other books by Terry Goodkind that came before this one, then you need to read this one too.

Great book and continuation to the Sword Of Truth series. It did unfortunately feel a bit rushed at some points and there were some issues with the personality of the characters, however, that last bit is more of a personal peeve rather than an actual issue. Nonetheless, it is a great introduction to what's going to be coming in the next couple books.

As with all of Terry Goodkind's books, I couldn't put this one down until I finished it. I'm anxiously awaiting the sequel. The author definitely knows how to keep a reader on the edge and bring out every emotion.

I read all the Sword of Truth series in the past six months and was disappointed I had to wait for this release. I read all the books in eBook format and my eBook Reader was glued to my hands reading the series but I could not wait for the eBook release so I went back to a hard cover book just to get back to the Richard and Khalan adventures. I was not disappointed in the book at all but was disappointed it finished early. It left me looking for more pages but I have to accept that some stories have to be told in additional books and this must be one of them. We picked up where we left off in the last book and that was nice. I loved Cara but wanted to see more interaction between her and Richard. That interaction always made me laugh or smile. I look forward to the next book but I would like to see the eBook come out at the same time as the hard cover. There are far more eBook readers out there now and I would love to have it in eBook so that I can forever have the series with me at all times.

No series has excited me as much as Star Trek books but this one has also become my favorite and would love to see more from Terry Goodkind.

Goodkind hits another one out of the park! This newest story of the Rahl saga will leave you turning pages. Some reviews I've read for this book criticize Goodkind for having lost edge. I couldn't disagree more this story returns the characters that fans have been loving for years. If you haven't picked it up yet you're missing out.

Okay, so when I was reading the book, I was thinking about giving a review, and it wasn't going to be a 5. The problem with that is I was expecting the same power, feeling, and expanse as in Goodkinds previous novels. At the end of the book I had to take some time and think about what I read, and shamed myself for trying to lump it in with the Sword of Truth Series.

Once I got passed that hurdle I realized I loved the book. I liked the introduction of a new enemy threatening the long sought after peace that ended the war. I liked the introduction of new concepts, and magic that hadn't been mentioned in the SoT series.

The book wasnt as long as I was used too with Goodkind, and that is a blessing as I used to always lose my place in lengthy chapters and have to start that chapter over again.

I give this book a 5, it deserves it. It takes old characters and places them in a new set of events, new concepts, and a great big gaping unknown to explore. I look forward to future titles!

Just started reading this tonight. Been a fan since the first Sword of Truth book, but this is getting ridiculous. 158 pages so far on how the common peasants interpret/misinterpret prophecy, including endless examples. Page after page of endless prattle with sloooowwwww plot advancement/development. Really now?? 5-star ratings??

Finally finished the book. I have never not finished a book that I had started to read, but came damn close to putting this down.

It just seemed to be missing the heart and soul of Richard and Kahlan. The story was ok, but the part that makes you endear the characters just wasn't in it. Its like Goodkind was rushed to just get the story done and didn't get it developed quite right.

Thoroughly enjoyed reading about Richard and Kahlan again! However, I had the feeling that this book lacked the polish, so to speak, that the Sword of Truth series had. That said, I still couldn't put it down!

I have always been a big fan of The Sword of Truth series, so despite the several bad reviews I still had to get this one. I for one was not disappointed and wasted no time getting The Third Kingdom. Only downside is, now I have to wait for the next in the series.

I have read only 1st few chapters so-far.
Story starts where the Confessor books ended (THE LAW OF NINES was the previous book before this one).
I think on this one, the author does a lot better job of refreshing our memory of the story than in previous books in that he does not draw the back-story out too long as in some other series books before. This time it feels more condensed as to allow us to remember from years before while still allowing space for the current story to develop.
If you are a Goodkind fan, you will not be disappointed. the store, as usual, provided a great purchasing experience with low prices, great packaging and very fast delivery. Check Terry Goodkinds' website for more information on the books and which order is best to read them. The site is very good and will do a better job of describing the books than I ever could. As for the quality of the book itself, it is hardback, and same quality (good stitched binding, off-white/creamy paper of decent thickness as to not allow ink to show through on other side, dark back printing is clear and consistent) as the other hardbacks by TOR. Comes with the book jacket shown and under is a textured black paper cover with silver embossed spine.

I thought the story of Richard and Kahlan was at an end... I read every book Terry wrote in the Sword Of Truth series voraciously... And now they are back! It was as satisfying an experience as it ever was. A great read!! I can't wait for the next one!!

I haven't read it yet so I can't yet give it a 5 but Terry Goodkind wrote it so I know it's going to be great. He really makes his characters come to life in such a real way that you feel you're part of it all.

Excellent addition to the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind, his ability to engross his reader and develop characters is a marvel. I would recommend this e-book to anyone interested in a good Sci-fi read.

I was pretty excited when I head another SoT book was coming out. True to style, I found myself compelled to read and read and read until finishing this book. Richard and Kahlan are recovering from a state of constant warfare and "finding" themselves again. It's interesting to see this process occurring. The one complaint I have about the book is that I felt like it all led up to the end and then was over really quickly. After thinking about it, I think that was the only way for it to go though. It was not his greatest book ever, but it is so great to know what is happening with Richard and Kahlan again. I missed them.

This book took me my complete surprise! I didn't know Mr. Goodkind was continuing the story of Richard and Kahlan. I enjoyed catching up on old times with the unforgettable cast of characters with which I grew to identify so closely.

I enjoyed the general feel of the novel but was rather disappointed with the ending. The novel is much darker than The sword of Truth novels but I liked that. Although I do have to say that some of it did feel a bit contrived or corny, but in general it was good and I'm excited to read the next one...

Terry Goodkind brings you back into the world of Richard and Kahlan, and does a wonder job telling the story. As always, his storytelling is superb and the characters are deep and intellectual. I truely hope to see even more continuing stories of richard and Kahlan in the future.

I read the reviews about this book and was a little hesitant about buying it. I bought it for my Kindle Fire and read thru it in three days! I couldn't put it down. I loved it and can't wait till the sequel comes out. I can only hope there will be more in the future.

ive read all the sword of truth books and i felt that something was very missing with the writing style it fely like someone else hads written it.it was only the last chapter i felt was written by terry goodkind.please dont let this stop u reading it as it was a good book and i cant wait for the next one lets hope that terry goodkind continues on from the last chapter onwards

It only takes a few pages to conclude that Mr. Goodkind did not put a great deal of effort into this book. The dialogue between characters is at once forced, contrived, and shallow, meant for filling space more so than advancing the story. Richard, Kahlan, Zedd, Cara, Nicci, and all of the other characters deserve far better.

Terry Goodkind is my favorite author for many reasons, his characters have always been like my own friends that I actually care about this cast of characters. No other series has ever made me buy 12 books just to see what happends next. I have read Tolkien, Martin and Jordan and I have to say for me Mr. Goodkind is the best hands down! I don't see what all this talk of him being so preachy in his books is about; its probably because my views are just so similiar to his. "Life is yours so rise up and live it", who could argue with that? The omen machine is so one year ahead for us right now, because we live in similar times with 2012 quickly approaching we have our own omen to deal with. Some people make prophecy happen by chasing after prophecy. I on the other hand agree with Richard I don't believe in predestination and life is what we make it. I look forward to 2013 and the next installment of this great series as we all go forward into the future. Our lives are truely our own, we're just too afraid to face it.

I have loved the Sword of Truth series. Terry Goodkind has a wonderful talent and I'm am so pleased he is sharing it with the world. The Omen Machine (a Richard and Kahlen book) is terrific. I could not put it down. I read the entire thing in 3 evenings. I look forward to the deliver of the next two volumes in the series.

The book is a great book to add to the Sword of Truth series. However, the book lacks the description and witty remarks that was present in previous books. For that reason, I am giving the book 4 stars. I am assuming another book is coming to finish the story where this book left off. Hope the next book is better and more like the previous books.

I was only introduced to the "Sword of Truth" series in 2010 after watching the 2 seasons of "The Seeker of Truth" on television, which are based on the books. I bought the whole series and read them all at once, TWICE. I loved them especially Faith of the Fallen, and Confessor. I was very happy to learn that a new book will be published soon and bought it at once. I was rather disappointed by the book. There was nothing much happening. It was a 525-page long book of saying very little. By the end, I realized that it was a prelude to more books. This is its only virtue. I hope that the next book is out soon.

I was thrilled when this book was announced. I absolutely devoured all the previous books in this series. I don't normally buy books that are not released on kindle, but because of my past love affair with this series I made an exception. Boy was I disappointed.

The book throttles back on everything that made the series so successful. Gone are the thrilling action scenes that make you realize it's 2AM and you have been turning pages for 4 hours. Gone are the depth and feeling behind the characters you love. The adult darkness found in other novels has vanished, replaced by a flat and very young-adult type prose. The characters feel like they are 2D depictions in a 3D world.

There are not even any real challenges for the protagonists to overcome. They spend the majority of the book locked safely away in a palace and you are forced to listen to them drone on about the most uninteresting details that normally occupy very small percentages of a successful fantasy series. The story is completely unbelievable even when placed within the confines of a fantasy world. Even though Kahlan and Richard basically just saved the world, the world leaders inexplicably question their judgement on arcane and trivial issues.

Even Terry's basic writing style does not fit with earlier novels. Yes he did lay off some of the proselytizing found in earlier versions, but it's replaced by a complete flatness. His chapters often end and pick up only seconds away from where they were cut off, and the transition leaves you puzzled and unhooked.

And finally, the fact that this book says 400+ pages is extremely misleading. The font size is gigantic in the print version, and I finished this book in about 4 hours over the course of 2 days. I am an average reader and it normally took double this time to read his earlier versions.

In short, this book will leave any serious lover of the series wanting. I am saddened that my fond memories are now tarnished with this boring and pale imitation of the characters I used to love. Mr. Goodkind missed the mark on this one.

Goodkind, gets you back in Richard and Kahlan world from the 1st page. It is typical of his other books. Fun, easy read. Although this one didn't seem as "preachy" as some of the other SOT books. Lots of items are left unfinished in this book, so I'd expect 2-3 more adventures with Richard and Kahlan.

I finished this book up yesterday afternoon and signed in to write up something about it, but honestly I just felt drained and like I didn't have much to say, so I figured I'd give it time to process.

In that time, I decided to pick up the second novel in the SoT series, The Stone of Tears, open it to the approximate middle, find the beginning of a chapter, and give it 50 pages.

I learned two things from that experience:

1) My memory does not serve me incorrectly in assistance to my evaluation of this new detestable entry to the series that is The Omen Machine, because The Stone of Tears was considerably more engaging, entertaining, and well thought-out. The characters seem much more real, both in their speech and mannerisms, the environments are fleshed out with significantly better detail and reasoning, and the overall tone of the book is considerably different (in that The Stone of Tears is capable of drawing an emotion from the reader at all other than disgust in oneself for sacrificing the time necessary to read the book). And, with that...

2) These books appear to be written by completely different people. Honestly, they are so different that if selections from each were handed to me, and I were ignorant of anything to do with those selections, I would never believe they were from the same author. It's nearly the equivalent of Goodkind having suffered a stroke sometime in the last 10 years, deciding to keep it a secret, and struggle on with his writing career. The Omen Machine feels decidedly YA. Dialogue is amateur and rushed, without feeling like anything important is ever being said. The plot is not only ridiculous, it's horribly incomplete. It's very obvious that Goodkind (or whoever it is that wrote this thing) had an idea for a story. I'll even go so far as to assume it a complete idea, in that it had a set-up/build-up, a climax, and a resolution. Then, someone decided that it's going to need to be split into multiple books (likely for monetary purposes). Goodkind, unsure what to add to his complete idea, just bulked his book out to a certain word count with repeated dialogue in nearly every conversation, 3-4 chapters worth of a child character running through a swamp and describing the child's fear and the swamp itself over and over again (e.g., "As he pushed forward, the swamp became even foggier than the previous section, and the trees seemed to push down around him even more."), and then a little later in the book, another 3-4 chapters with a different character going through the exact same swamp... You get the idea. And then, at the end of this book, there is a climactic "battle" that takes up about 2 pages total, with the resolution to the "battle" being poorly explained for another 2-3 pages. Nearly all of the secondary characters (e.g. the villains, other characters working towards something, etc.) are never mentioned again after the battle, so it's just assumed they're still keeping on with whatever they were doing. Even the motivations for the villains' actions in the "battle" are never given.

All in all, the entirety of the plot in this book feels like a small portion of just one of the story threads Goodkind would have running in one of his previous entries to the series.

That said... am I glad I read it? I guess so, if only because that means I'm back at having read 100% of the series, and that means my opinion is well supported. Otherwise, it's really just depressing to see what this series has devolved into, especially after going back to The Stone of Tears and seeing how good things used to be. I am glad I read those 50 pages of The Stone of Tears, though, if only to remind myself that it wasn't terrible at the beginning, and my semi-loyalty is justified. I honestly couldn't recommend this book to anyone; I'm simply not that cold-hearted. If you absolutely MUST buy this book, wait a few days and pick it up for a few dollars at a used book store, I'm sure there will be plenty of copies.

This is another great read from a great author. While slightly different in style, it by no means is of a lessor quailty then Terry's previous novels. Yes it is shorter, but Terry makes up for this for the fast pace of the novel. If you've read Terry's other novels, reading The Omen Machine is like wrapping yourself in a warm blanket. Getting to read about these wonderful characters again is pure enjoyment. If you haven't read any of Terry's books before, I strongly suggest you give them a shot as they just go from strength to strength and its nice reading about real heros.

I don't know why people are bashing this book so badly. From the moment I picked up Wizard's First Rule, I've been a die-hard Goodkind fan. Yes, he can be a bit repetitive at times, but he still blows me away with his gift of words. Other reviewers have said this book lacks action, but I very much disagree. It doesn't have as much as previous ToS books, but if that's really all you look for in a book, that's a little disturbing. Plus, have you all forgotten what happened in Confessor? Richard brought peace to the world by throwing all the bad people into another dimension. So, when you think about it, there's not much of a threat anymore. So what did you all expect? I, for one, am not disappointed at all, and can't wait to read the next installment.

I have read every Sword of Truth book, and while the series started out wonderfully, it soon became a mostly downhill journey. The first three books were great epic fantasy -- five stars. The next three were not as good, around 3 to 3.5 stars. I would give books seven and eight 1.5 and one star, respectively. The three books prior to "The Omen Machine" slightly reversed the downward trend, and I would rate them in the 2.5 to 3.5 star range.

Unfortunately, "The Omen Machine" continues the downward trend. I would give it 1.5 stars if I could, since it is not quite as bad as "Naked Empire", but I will round 1.5 down to one star. There were numerous problems with this book, and I will briefly list some of them in this review.

The first thing I noticed about "The Omen Machine" is that it is much shorter than any of the first three volumes in the series. Even worse, it is wordy and repetitive. As others have noted, characters say the same thing over and over. And a certain passage that describes a boring journey in excruciating detail is repeated three times. The characters seem to be mere shadows of themselves, not behaving as intelligently as one would expect based on their past experiences, and only interacting with each other in superficial ways (see the comment to this review for spoiler examples of these problems).

The villains of the story may have had some potential, but they were terribly underdeveloped and end up being one dimensional. That is a great disappointment compared to the first three books in the series, where the antagonists were both frightening and fully developed. In this book, I had no idea what motivated the bad guys to behave as they did. They seemed little more than cartoon villains to be defeated in a video game.

The only good thing I can say about this book is that the blatant proselytizing that plagued the series from book five onward is largely absent here. Instead, this book dwells on the prophecy versus free-will question, and I find myself wondering whether the author is still preaching to us, but has done a better job disguising it than in past books. However, the writing style is so much different than Goodkind's best that I wondered whether this book might have been largely ghost-written. Or possibly Goodkind had enough ideas for one book, but it was decided to split it into three books and Goodkind had to insert a lot of drivel in order to meet a word count for this book.

In conclusion, "The Omen Machine" was a terrible disappointment. It ranks among the worst books in the Sword of Truth series, together with "Pillars of Creation" and "Naked Empire". I cannot recommend it to anyone but the most dedicated fans of the series who feel compelled to read every volume that is released from the formerly great Goodkind.

The book starts off with everything going well. Then some subtle hints appear that wind up being thrilling tasks for Richard and Kahlen. The book carries itself well from start to finish in the authors humorous way. The characters blend well and wreak all kinds of havoc till the happily ever after finish. I can't wait for the next book!!!

I love anything that comes out of this series. Terry Goodkind is a wonderful and descriptive storyteller. I am always able to place myself INSIDE the story. This last book was a bit too short, and left me wanting like all the others seem to. I enjoy the different perspectives of the characters. Perfect combination of surprises and foreshadowing. Terry always knows how to insert human nature along with seemingly Godlike wisdom. Don't read this if you haven't made your way through the series, though.

I liked this book and how vulnerable the main characters could be and that not everything always went their way. I want more of all of the characters. Terry Goodkind does an excellent job with these characters.

Most of the positives have been stated in many of the reviews already, so I won't waste time. It was very nice to be back in the world of Richard & Kahlan and I do like that there was a conclusion to the plot of the book (of course there is an overall arcing plot to at least span 2 more books). The pacing is similar to Law of Nines and there are even references in TOM to things introduced in LoN, mainly the whole bit about the mirrors. My one and only complaint for the TOM is it didn't feel to have the normal depth of the Sword of Truth novels. Other than that, it was a fun read.

It's on par with the rest of the series, so if you really like the series then I would recommend it. I tended to really like the first six books in the series and became less thrilled with the rest. It is a continuation with no real change ups, but still a decent read.

I had a copy of this book on my computer but it was hard on the eyes. I could not find the book in any book stores in my area so the store helped a lot in getting my book. The price was very good and the delivery was fast. I love Terry Goodkind books and this one is no appointment. I love the book and the service was very good.

I was skeptical as to whether this would be a worthy addition to the Sword of Truth series. Needless to say, it surpassed my expectations. I loved how it ended with closing a small story, but left a bigger one open. A thoroughly worth while read.

Terry Goodkind has done it again! "The Omen Machine" is another well written addition to all his previous works, which include his "Sword of Truth" series and his "Law of Nines." He has taken his beloved characters to a new level which goes beyond his SOT series amd he does it in a way that allows his readers to go right along with them. I loved the way the plot, action, characters, etc. moved along smoothly. I would highly recommend "The Omen Machine" to any one who enjoys stepping into Terry Goodkind's fantasy world. I feel it was well worth the wait and price I paid for it! I, thoroughly, enjoyed reading it and look forward to his next book!

Loved the book its like reading the 1st sword of truth novel again, this reboot brings great hope to a awesome book series, i would recommend this book to any sword of truth fan and is ready for another great series. beware it is a build up book lots of plot.

A Great new beginning to the tale of Richard Rahl. Mr. Goodkind delivers another fine book that has me wanting more.

4/5 rating because there were a few repetitive parts in the book that made it sluggish to read through at times. Other than that, well done and thank you!!!

The First Confessor (The Legend of Magda Searus)
Fantastic. I approve totally in differing formats, especially ebooks, however my aged mother and nanny don't use or trust electronic media.
I am going to have to work with them.
However the book was brilliant. Loved every second of it.
Keep on going Terry, you have a devotee in me and my ageing female relatives. Lol

Loved this book and series, loved Richard as a character and was left wanting more, both of him and more books. There was a little naughty and nice, you hate some characters and loved others, overall I would recommend this book to other fantasy lovers

Fantastic book, so creative and explains a lot from the other books but leaves some still for you to question, love the new characters, the hedge maid was a terrifying character great job terry your a master of your work

I was super excited that there was another book with Richard and Kahlan I couldn't wait to read it . Definitely did not compare to the sword of truth series and at the end I was disappointed it left me hanging with to many unanswered questions.

Why is everyone complaining that this book is to short? It's not... Its a fast read for sure. The font is not that big. And I am sorry to say that a 2point font difference in a book does not give a book an extra 200 pages, not even a 4pt fount.

Amazing! Simply amazing! I thought the series was long dead, but, low and behold, Terry goodkind delivers yet again, in the powers of fantasy. A new dawn approaches for the fans of Richard and Kahlan Rahl. Evreything is the same, but at the same time it is not. I thank terry for taking us down another road in the world of magic. The one I believe we have all been waiting for after the end of Confessor. Somtimes the greatest thing to fear, is the fear of the unknown. Terry is showing us this. He has never lead us down another path, and some are unwilling to embrace change. Change happens wether you want it to or not. The sun rises everyday-does it not? This book is simply amazing, left room to keep the story advancing into multiple books. For which I am eternaly grateful. Thankyou Terry Goodkind for introducing us into YOUR amazing world of BALANCE!

I have read reviews slamming this book but was still keen to read the latest installment of Richard & Kahlan. Yes it was different but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. I enjoyed them having their home base this time & the limited travel as compared to previous volumes. Two thumbs up for me & i'll be eagerly anticipating any further volumes.

This book takes a wonderful look on events that happen following caras wedding to benjamin! Just as in the other books all the favorite characters are there, and with the ending it leaves me wanting more! I cannot wait for the next book!!!

For those that fell in love with the Characters of Richard and Kahlan Goodkind did a great job creating a new problem for them to face once again. Continuing where they left off in the sword of truth series. I love it, great read.

I'm a major fan of Terry Goodkind's books, minus the law of nines, but this book was horrible. The plot was slow, the characters were more unidimensional than normal, and the book ended with unnerving quickness. I will not be purchasing any more of his books unless he begins a new series set. Even then, it seems as if he has begun to write for money, not for the joy and art of it, so maybe we will part ways here...

I bought this book as a birthday present for my son who devoured his other books. My son is very pleased that he has returned to his original characters and had a great read with this book. Great gift!

Not quite as good as the other books in the series, however with it being a start of a new era in the sword of truth series it is something different and new. If you are a terry goodkind fan I highly recommend getting this book. It is still true to the terry goodkind style of writing as well as to the characters

If your a Goodkind fan you should enjoy this book as much as all the rest. Don't let other reviewers and critics influence you. I give Terry 5 stars because I know this is simply the first book of the new series. I can't wait to read the next book. From the reviews ive read it seems many people were under the impression they were reading the next installment of the Sword of Truth series. Those people are misinformed (and shouldn't be writing a review at all). This is the first book if a new series. Enjoy it!

beautifully done sir, as always! I've been reading this series for years and still haven't lost interest and I very much plan on reading every other book he creates because his stories are consistent.

I have been a long time fan of the series, and was eager to pick this up (even preordered through the store). The price was right, it shipped in a timely matter, and came without flaws. The book doesnt stand up to the rest in the series, but then again, after the conclusion of Confessor, its quite an act to follow. Still well worth the money.

of the series! Mr. Goodkind's "The Omen Machine" continues to build upon how the past events of the great war left many unknown factors still thriving in the new world. To avoid any spoilers, I loved the book and look forward to what the future holds for the D'Haran empire.

Once again Terry Goodkind hit a home run. If you enjoyed his sword of truth series you will definately enjoy this book. Also, if you are looking for a new fantasy author to start reading, he is one of my favorites!

I have not yet read this book as I am still reading the series but wanted to ensure it was in my library. This series is great, was captivated after first chapter - first book- first rule.. And in each following book it has been just as captivating. Love the series and the author did a great job as continuing the story as if it was all in his head from the first page.

I preorder this book a few weeks ago, I could hardly wait to get it. I think its just as good as any other Terry Goodkind book out. I love the characters of the SoT series and they are back in His new Richard and Kahlan adventure. Tons of suspence with lots of humor and like always the love story that will last forever. With an all new bad guy to deal with will Richard be able to stop his maddness or will Richard die fighting. We will find out in this new series of the Richard and Kahlan story. Great Job Mr.Goodkind, a great read like all of the rest of his stories.

Ive been waiting a long time to finally get to read the next book in like. When I finally got it and started reading it I could NOT put it down. It was everything I was hoping for and more. Kept me entertained. Now I just want another one to come out! :)

I actually have a little OCD when it comes to the condition of my books and the store didn't disappoint! The book arrived in perfect condition. I was not disappointed. I've been waiting for this book since it was first announced. It was a little short and ended before I think it should of. It felt a little rushed towards the end like he suddenly felt the book had to end here. I still enjoyed it but it could have been a little better.

This book is just OK -- not nearly up to the level of the first few Sword of Truth novels. In addition, it just ends while resolving only a small portion of the plot -- a very small portion. Not sure if there was a deadline or what the case was.

Overall I enjoyed this book and I see it very similar to the way the last trio of books were written, separate books that link together to make one longer story. Can't wait for the next book to come out!

A FRIEND TURNED ME ON TO THE SWORD OF TRUTH SERIES..I GOBBLED THEM ALL UP AND I HOPE THEY NEVER END..MY FIRST INTRODUCTION INTO SCI-FI...(IF YOU DON'T COUNT THE GREAT DRESDEN)...I LOVED THEM, AND MISSED THEM WHEN I WAS DONE...THIS ADDS ON TO THEIR STORY..CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT ONE!!! YA!

I am a little bit surprised that Tor allowed this to be published. The book is woefully incomplete. Mr Goodkind would do well to re-read Wizard's First Rule and Faith of the Fallen and remember the man and woman that he used to write about. The book left a sour taste in my mouth because it was clearly only written to make money off the names "Richard and Kahlan" and it shows in this hastily cobbled together story. The plot takes one third of the book to get started and rushes to a ten page climax that doesn't even resolve anything. As someone who normally tells anyone who will listen about the beautiful Sword of Truth series which are among my favorite books that I have ever read, I am overwhelmingly disinterested in reading the sequel that is obviously coming to this unfinished book.

The story kept my attention from the start to the finish. It has left me now looking for the next one as there will surely be. Terry Goodkind writes and very coourful and a story full of tension. You can see the worlds troubles and the solutions through this series of stories. I wait with bated breath for the next installment.

Let me start by saying that I've read Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series multiple times in its entirety, I own every single book, and he was one of the first authors to inspire me to write my own stories.

That said, this book is terrible. I'd like to know what everyone else was reading, because I really can't understand how there are any 5 star reviews for this thing. Goodkind has apparently done away with the stirring prose and incredible descriptions that initially drew me into his work, and I could barely stand to read the first few chapters of "The Omen Machine." I cannot believe how boring his writing has become; what happened to the man who wrote "Wizard's First Rule?" I found myself skipping over entire passages as he described Kahlan talking about trade agreements with visiting dignitaries. Are you serious??? Why would anyone possibly care about that?

On top of everything, the characters lack the spark of life they had in "Wizard's First Rule" and "Faith of the Fallen" (my two favorite installments of the series), the story takes forever to get going and is unforgivably boring when it finally does, clearly reading as an attempt to make more money off of a series that he already finished! I think that's also borne out by the fact that this is labeled as a "Richard and Kahlan novel" instead of a "Sword of Truth novel." It's obvious when an author is bored with what he or she is writing, and I get the distinct sense that Goodkind is bored here, which just makes me bored with reading it.

To add insult to injury, this supposedly 500+ page long book is formatted in something like 24 pt font. It's so large that I can't read this comfortably from my normal reading distance; I have to hold it from further away. It was obviously made that large to make the book look longer than it really is. I sincerely regret buying this; I feel as though I could have better spent my money elsewhere.

Honestly, I wouldn't even waste the time to finish this book except as an exercise in identifying what NOT to do in my own writing. More than anything, though, I'm really sad that the story of Richard and Kahlan came to this underwhelming and disappointing end.

I am absolutely amazed that Mr. Goodkind would allow this book go to print with his name on it. The new characters are as flat as the pages and the book concludes with a magnificent belly flop. Altogether, this book reads like a cheap imitation by a secondhander trying to improve upon that which he has neither conceived nor created. Mr. Goodkind, I want my money back.

I have always loved Terry Goodkind's books. Each one never fails to excite my imagination. The Omen Machine is no different. It picks up right where I remembered leaving my favorite characters, and continues their amazing story. It makes me so happy that a new story about them was released, and gives me hope that there will be more to follow.

"Wizard's First Rule" was a wonderful book! I loved it! There were wizards and dragons and swords! There was drama and comedy and adventure and love. I quickly began reading successive books in the "Sword of Truth" series. Then, somewhere around "Soul of the Fire" (book 5) I realized that D'Hara just wasn't as much fun as it used to be. The dragons were gone. The comic relief was rare. The stories got preachy and bogged down in repetition. Still, I was invested in these people. They were my friends. I wasn't going to abandon them just because they weren't as fun to spend time with as they had once been. So I stuck with them all the way to the bitter end, to "Confessor," the final book in the series. By then, I was glad it was over. But then...years later I discovered that my old friends Richard, Kahlen and Zedd were back. With reluctance, anticipation and trepidation, I read The Omen Machine. It was good to see my old friends again, but they are no fun anymore. There is no joy left in D'Hara. Still, they are old friends and I will probably stick by them to the bitter end ... again.

Although he continues to milk Ayn Rand and borrow some of Robert Jordan's Core Storyline + Mythological Concepts, Goodkind has been progressively becoming his own author and crafting his own world with greater originality. Picking-up after the conclusion of the D'Haran Empire's War with The Old World this book launches the series in a new direction. Regula is an interesting and mysterious addition to the universe. One critique I have of Goodkind's world is that the Creator seems to have no rules and never intervenes or imposes limits directly so the characters as a result of either innate power or cleverness or their ability to "reason" are frequently able to break any/all rules and function in a quasi Godlike Capacity which becomes irritating and lowers the stakes. The idea that Richard could be The One to bring the phenomena of prophecy and recurring storylines and grand cycles to an end -- JUST LIKE Rand Al'Thor in 'Wheel of Time' -- is beyond preposterous. Additionally, Goodkind's vision-of and version of the underworld and afterlife is beyond depressing and deliberately doesn't deal with possibilities of partial or full reincarnation. Not a bad read, and there's real improvement, but Goodkind still has a lot to learn.

... eh?

First, the writing wasn't appealing to me at all. I was told everything the characters felt or thought, without room for them to show me through their actions. The writing itself was mediocre quality and I noticed several errors throughout that were more than just typos - not something I expect from a book that's been edited professionally and published.

I'll give the next book a shot just to see if this was a fluke. This felt like it had potential, but just wasn't executed well. I really liked the beginning of the Sword of Truth series, but felt like it slowly just got not very good. Maybe my reading tastes have changed, but whatever it is, this is the book I've been least impressed with so far. Here you have really built up powerful, independent characters that used to seem so rich... but in this, they just fell flat.

I was especially disappointed in Kahlan and her generally helpless attitude. But I was also frustrated by Richard and Zedd, who appear to have grown such thick skulls that they are completely unable to take anything seriously or make a decent decision throughout the entire story.

(POTENTIAL UPCOMING SPOILER ALERT - Following this, I mention in general how things do/don't get resolved at the end)

***

And then there's the end, which may bother me most of all. When Richard (oh, amazing, wonderful, manly man Richard) inexplicably has an "Aha!" moment and saves the day. And the damsel in distress (who I previously thought to be a perfectly capable, kick-ass female character). And then they all laugh about it and go home.

I mean, it was awful. I was able to wade about half way through it and finally had to stop reading, it was just so bad on so many levels.

I loved the Sword of Truth series. The characters were amazing, the backstory so well detailed and thought out, every bit of the tapestry he wove was just excellent. Granted, we had the pain of the Ayn Rand rant for two or three books in the middle there, but he finally got past that and started telling a story again instead of repeating the same thing over and over.

But this - I just can't believe it came from the same person who wrote the early Sword of Truth books. But after seeing what he did with "Legend of the Seeker" I probably shouldn't have been surprised.

Where to start - there's just so much WRONG here. First, there's the nonstop talking. And I mean that literally. They just talk, and talk, and talk. Half the book is just people standing around talking. Then, to make it even more unbearable, the talking is just repetitive, people who are supposedly smart asking the dumbest questions of the person talking, and refusing to see obvious things because that allows the author go into even MORE detailed explanations for what the character already explained quite clearly. But the whole time, the others in the book for some odd reason are just incapable of understanding anything. Reading the conversations between the "top wizards" in this realm is like listening to kindergarten kids argue about a rabbit. The characters are just horribly done, not at all like the characters in the earlier parts of the Sword of Truth series. It's like Terry Goodkind just kind of threw some random things together to try to collect a paycheck on a series that already had everything squeezed out that could possibly be extracted.

The original series was masterful when he was at his best, but this is nothing at all like that anymore. The characters seem to have been lobotomized, the dialog is overly simplistic, and again we're stuck hearing the same thing over and over and over. There's barely a story here, but he goes half the book to make it painfully obvious that there's barely a story here.

I'll be reading "The First Confessor" next, and see if maybe he can still tell a decent story when he's not rehashing the same characters again, because it's painfully obvious that the ones we know from the Sword of Truth have all jumped the shark...

It sort of pains me to write this as I generally love Goodkind's "Richard & Kahlan" stories, but this one suffered and I did too as I made my way through it.

I bought it the day it came out and was excited to continue the tale of characters I've come to love over the last several years. It is now about 2 years since the Omen Machine was released and I just finally turned the last page. I'm a slower reader...but not usually THAT slow.

First, it just didn't feel like a cohesive and compelling story. Sure there were interesting developments here and there, but it dragged getting us from one point to the next, and when I finally did reach a new big plot point, it was like..."Ooooookay. And?" The characters lacked the depth they have in previous volumes and felt more like caricatures of themselves. Also, we don't get enough face-time with Hannis Arc or the Hedge Maid, the main villains of the story, so we don't get much of a chance to invest much if any emotional energy when the climax arrives.

Second, the writing and language was a little...juvenile...embarrassing...exceptionally repetitive. I don't need to be reminded ten times the horse's leg might break. This was a problem especially at the end, where details showed up MANY times in the space of not many pages.

I'm planning on reading the next volume, "The Third Kingdom," when it comes out in August because I'm hoping "The Omen Machine" represents a misstep rather than a trend. We'll see.

I loved the sword of truth series. The last couple of books were not as strong but I accept that we can't always be 100% happy with the way a story ends. I enjoyed those books and was excited to see a "Richard and Kahlan" story. However, this book was just painful to read. The story was so generic/cookie cutter and while the other SoT books took me (at most) a week to read, this story literally took me months. The reason being that it failed to keep me interested. It tries to build up to this big conflict but it never really gets there and it's like Mr. Goodkind realizes it twenty pages before the end and just decides to stop trying, tacking on a very convenient resolution. The beginning was kind of interesting, we get to see what life is like for everyone after the war, Cara gets married (not a spoiler it's on the back cover) and you get to see the characters interact a bit. Then stuff happens and (like usual) everyone is against Richard and Kahlan, oh noes. I got bored. The conflict/climax Mr. Goodkind tries to create never really occurs. You get to the end and you're just like "really that was it"? "That was the big baddie that we were warned against?" Ugh. Simply put, this story lacks imagination and it lacks adventure. And according to the store, those are the genres this book is supposed to be in isn't it?

I read all of the SoT books and really enjoyed the series. I like many was really bored with the over the top pages long sermons on Objectivism, but I could skim over them. Probably my disillusionment started because while Zed Nathan etc. all said Richard was different because he was a War Wizard that his magic would be different every time he planned to do something the gang all piled up to berate him.
Then when The Sword of Truth, Debt of Bones came out what to me are cardinal sins for an author were committed. He changed what he said the first time. Who knew who when etc.

Now it is so much worse. I think this was an associate writer who remained anonymous. Kahlan is hoping? When she and Richard used so much dialogue to explain to people that hope was a waste of time? Richard who has leaps of logic can't figure out that the machine under the Garden of Life built for Rahls is responding to him? I really takes 13 or more pages to describe the last part of a boy's journey? How many lines devoted to he saw more candles in the walls of branches? Then describe them again when Kahlan takes the same route? Too many obvious page fillers, too many characters turned ineffectual, too many 180s from previous narrative.

I guess I am done. I am sure Terry doesn't need my 10 bucks or my goodwill and praise but I feel let down as someone who contributed to his lifestyle in exchange for engaging entertainment.

Our favorite Mord Sith gets married in Terry Goodkind's The Omen Machine but her wedding is anything but the peaceful, memorable occasion that every woman dreams of. Instead, it is filled with political tension and warnings of dark things to come. Suddenly, Richard and Kalhan are surrounded by people giving prophecies all around them, people who are not prophets. Richard discovers an ancient machine, buried beneath the Garden of Life, that provides further prophecy about coming darkness.

The Omen Machine was better than most of the middle series because it was not the intensely preachy books that the others became, but it was, still a little over the top. Richard's aversion to prophecy, though understandable, is still the agenda of the moment and comes up fairly frequently, but there is enough other mystery and intrigue happening that it doesn't feel as forced on the reader as the others books felt.

However, the book is still a little overly dramatic. I cannot even begin to count how many times it said that Kahlan couldn't bear Richard being sad. Kahlan is a strong, inspirational character, and being in love does not diminish that, but having a storyline that revolves so much around her husband does.

Perhaps most disappointing was that it was lacking in some of the other characters that make the series feel more well-rounded and complete. Now that Kahlan and Richard are living their happily ever after (though not the safe adventure-free kind that fairy tales indicate), their relationship lacks for drama and intrigue. I would like to see that others have a bigger role in the future of the series.

Unfortunately, Terry Goodkind started to loose me with this one.

I loved the last 3 books of the Sword of Truth. They were philosophical, really dug deep into Richard, both his character and AS a character. He's a free will kind of person and by god it showed.

The Omen Machine does not detract from this - however, it starts veering from a philosophical slant (taking place after the war detailed in the last books of the SoT) into a more theological. Prophecy practically becomes religion.

However, he once again engages the reader using a variety of unusual and intriguing plot twists and manipulates the story and its characters masterfully, as always. I'm intrigued as to what the "Omen Machine" will turn out to be - but I was not so engaged as to have to immediately run out and purchase the next book. I could easily see him trying to turn this into another epic saga, and after completing SoT, reading all of the books written in the Terre d'Ange world by Jaqueline Carey, and STILL not managing to complete the WoT books yet, I don't think I have it in me to become emotionally involved in yet another massive epic - especially if it's going the direction this book indicates.

Hardcore fans of Terry Goodkind will, of course, love it - and what's not to love? You have your old, cranky/cheeky wizard, the dark, brooding and (sometimes overly) powerful sorceress of questionable morality, the noble, charismatic and steadfast protagonist and his ever-lasting love of pure beauty and goodness, countered by antagonists that make you grit your teeth and, despite their being purely fictional, have it in them to inspire hatred in even the most grounded of readers.

However, digging past the surface of what makes Terry Goodkind such an engaging writer, there is definitely something lacking in The Omen Machine that was present in the preceding books - I just can't put my finger on what it is. It will, sadly, prevent me from continuing on.

Because I loved The Sword of Truth Series, the characters, and the world, I wanted to see how Terry Goodkind handled the world AFTER the death of tyranny. I was sorely disappointed.

While I could understand the possibility that someone new, who never read the previous 11 books, would pick this book up and read it with fresh eyes, I cannot understand the continued repetitiveness of describing who these characters are/were throughout the entire length of the book.

Goodkind's repetitive nature doesn't stop with just telling the reader who the characters are. He has a nasty habit of repeating a lot of the information in the story, sometimes paragraph after paragraph, sometimes weaving it in throughout the chapter, or chapters. After a few times the reader starts scratching their head and wondering if the author thinks the reader is dumb or forgets easily. The 525 page book could easily have been edited down to 300 pages just by removing the repeat offenders. Or, edited down to 300, then brought back up to 525 pages by finishing the story! (but I will go into that in a moment)

The feel of the writing was definitely not Goodkind feel. In my eyes and heart, I believe that either Goodkind forced this book to appease his fans, or he had a ghost writer. The characters I came to love were flat, nothing more than a sounding board. There was no growth. The characters had already fulfilled their growth in The Sword of Truth series. It ended. That should have been the last we heard of everyone. But for some reason, everyone wanted another Richard and Kahlan story. I certainly did not need this. Kahlan lacked her usual strong feminine appeal. Just because she was sick she didn't need to be so clingy. She never was in the previous books. Now that Jangang is gone, what? she suddenly turns all princess-y and becomes insecure and needy? I was not happy with her, or any of the other major minor characters that were so well-loved. In this book, they only provided a means for Richard to figure the puzzle out. They asked childish questions, obvious questions. Basically, it was like Richard was talking inside his head, but Goodkind slapped a face/name to the one asking the questions. They really weren't needed. Very disappointing.

The reader is left wondering who really is the antagonist in this book. Based on the synopsis, we would assume Hannis Arc is. But after reading it in total, we are left wondering. Really, is it the machine? Is it the Hedge Maid? Bishop Arc? Abbot Ludwig? Come on, make up our minds already! It took 500 pages to build up to the climax of the story. Richard talking to the machine. Prophecy running rampant throughout the lands. The discovery of a mysterious prophecy machine. The treason going on in the palace instigated by Abbot Ludwig for the sake of Bishop Arc. But really, Ludwig wants all the power. A slight detour showing us that Bishop Arc is guiding the Hedge Maid.

At 500 pages we are lead to believe that Bishop Arc is the true antagonist. We "guess" that he's controlling the Hedge Maid and The Omen Machine. He is controlling "prophecy" and that Richard will have to fight him in the end to stop all the nonsense. Yet, we are left with the "knight in shining armor come to save the beautiful princess from the horrible Hedge Maid", but the REAL evil is never addressed at the end. All the questions that surround the omen machine, Bishop Arc, and Abbot Ludwig are left unanswered. It was a poorly executed ending. More like, "OMG there's so much more story, but I have to hurry up and finish because I'm at 500 pages, and really it's only about Richard and Kahlan so I can end it there, right?!"

No, I'm sorry, I did not like this book. It was not in the nature of Goodkind. I feel cheated. I don't think this book is worthy of the rest of his books. The story is good, whenever/if ever he finishes it. But to leave it as is...I will not be recommending this to anyone. Richard and Kahlan, and all the rest of the characters from the Sword Of Truth world, should have ended with the final book in the series, Confessor.

I do hope his next book THE FIRST CONFESSOR will be much better. At least that will have new characters and a new plot to follow, grow, and hopefully fall in love with.

Oh.
My.
God.

Goodkind goes back to where he was at his very worse. Conversations go on for dozens of pages, and most of them consist of repeating the same information. I would not be surprised if *LITERALLY* half of the book is repeated information.

Over 100 pages in, and Richard is still conversing with some kid with circular logic. Kahlan is passed out, and there's no more plot going on.

Mr Goodkind. For the love of books. If you care about these things at all, if there's no way you can think of to advance the plot, STOP WRITING AND THINK HARDER. Jesus.

A fictitious conversation in the SoT-verse, if written by Goodkind

Person 1: "A circle is not a square"
Person 2: "Oh? Is a square a circle though?"
Person 1: "No, a circle is not a square"
Person 2: "Oh? Is a square a circle though?"
Person 1: "No, a circle is not a square"
Person 2: "Oh? Is a square a circle though?"
Person 1: "No, a circle is not a square"
Person 2: "Oh? Is a square a circle though?"
Person 1: "No, a circle is not a square"
Person 2: "Oh? Is a square a circle though?"
Person 1: "No, a circle is not a square"
Person 2: "Oh? Is a square a circle though?"
Person 1: "No, a circle is not a square"
Person 2: "Oh? Is a square a circle though?"
Person 1: "No, a circle is not a square"
Person 2: "Oh? Is a square a circle though?"
Person 1: "No, a circle is not a square"
Person 2: "Oh? Is a square a circle though?"
Person 1: "No, a circle is not a square"
Person 2: "Oh? Is a square a circle though?"
Person 1: "No, a circle is not a square"

I was able to pinch large sections of the book, turn several dozen pages, and still be at the same point in the conversation.

STOP, GOODKIND, STOP!

I don't know why I did this to myself, with how godaweful the last few books in the original ending were. Everything solved with convenient magic that Richard didn't even put into place. Despite Goodkind repeatedly saying how much better he was than other authors because he made his characters think about solutions.

Half of the original "end" book was spent playing football in a copy of The Longest Yard while a war was going on... Earlier in the series he started copying The Wheel of Times magic system, and in this new quadrilogy he is now copying song of ice and fire concepts, north wall, zombies, obsidian blades and all.

Goodkind also can't distinguish how peoples voices should sound. A 14 year old kid in a rural mideval setting should not sound like a 5000 year old prophet and be so narrative.

Seriously.

I have read all of the Sword of Truth novels, and have enjoyed every one. This final series, though, has been a drastic disappointment. The Omen Machine as a standalone is actually pretty good: introduces a new mystery and sets up what should have been an interesting series. But it is only part one out of four of this story arc, and unfortunately after you read it you must then proceed to the later books...and that is where the pain begins. The last two books are so bad, in fact, that I recommend you simply avoid this series altogether. The problem (in the later books) is pages and pages of gradeschool level exposition, to the point of being comical, followed up horrendous use of Deus Ex Machina that ends up reading like an old adventure cartoon from the 1980's. Please, stick with the previous SoT books, and pretend these never happened.

I gave this first book in the series an extra star because it was not that bad by itself. But the series as a whole is truly a waste of time, and ruins the SoT universe in my opinion.

In The Omen Machine, Mr. Goodkind continues the Sword of Truth series. You know, the one we thought he finished with Confessor. I read the reviews on the store saying that the book was horrible, so I have no one to blame but myself. I figured: a lot of people didn't like the end of the series, but I derived some enjoyment from it.

Why to buy this book: I can think of only one reason: you're a budding author, and you need an example of why over-explaining and telling when you should show is bad.

Why not to buy the book: The writing. The plot. Everything about the book.

Bottom Line: I'm a fan of the Sword of Truth. I like Richard and Kahlan. I recognize that the writing at the end of the series deteriorated, but I didn't care. Until now. This book is so bad that I will not continue the series. In fact, I plan on getting rid of my hardcopies of the first books because The Omen Machine left such a bad taste in my mouth that I doubt I'll ever want to reread any of them. A bestselling author who has some kind of talent foisting this total dreck on his audience should be a criminal act. 1 star.

First off, I am (was?) a huge SoT fan and like most everyone else, enjoyed the earlier books and tolerated the last few. I just finished The Omen Machine and quite frankly, I think I'm done with Richard and Kahlan (and TG as well). Don't get me wrong, I loved these characters early on, but with every installment, they get weaker and more one dimensional.

But even so, this one surprised me. A couple of the reviews already posted hit it on the head. ALL the characters are mere shadows of what they used to be. The dialogue is very weak, stunted and repetitive, and absolutely nothing exciting happens in the whole book. Seriously, not one thing.

What happened to the awesome power of Richard Rahl, when in a rage looses his power to blast through massive doors, blowing them from the hinges and reducing them to splinters skittering across the floor? What happened to 'calling the target' and 'dancing with death'? Now Richard just steps aside, "raking his fingers through his hair", wondering what to do. In this book, Richard's power and presence as a War Wizard and The Seeker of Truth is gone, and he comes off as just a guy with a cool sword.

The rest of the characters come across the same. Bewildered and ineffectual. It's a shame because there used to be so much depth to these individuals, but in this book they are just taking up space. They're just not the awesome characters we've come to love from 'Stone of Tears', 'Blood of The Fold' and 'Faith of the Fallen'. Those books are among the best Richard and Kahlan novels. I'm afraid this one falls far short.

The book is 512 pages long. It contains the word "prophecy" 429 times. It's not actually on almost every page, sometimes 3 or 4 pages go by without seeing it at all, but sometimes it appears on a page a dozen times.

If I were going to write a book report for "the omen machine" it would be summarized as "prophecy, prophecy, prophecy, prophecy..." and I'd probably be given a failing grade for plagiarizing the book.

Goodkind has completely given up on this series of books. The writing has degraded in maturity to the point it reads more like teen fiction than something intended for adults.

This is the first book I've read by Terry Goodkind - up until now I only knew the characters from the TV Show "Legend of the Seeker" - and I am disappointed.

The Omen Machine contains a lot of words that say little. To me it feels as if the book could have used a re-write and some thorough editing. Parts of the story are recapped over and over and over again, as if the author expects the reader to forget what happened ten pages ago.

The characters are there, albeit a bit flat, and the idea for the story is sound, but I expected it to be better written. Richard thought, Richard knew, and Richard said becomes repetitive after a couple of sentences.

I thought overall it was a decent story, but likely could have been conveyed in less than half of the pages. It felt very Soul of the Fireish (my least favorite SOT book) where half of the book is essentially stupid people being stupid and the only ones with an ounce of Sense are Richard and crew. One thing that bugged me as well was Richard. Richard always seemed to be the smartest person in the room and noticed things way before everybody else, but in this book he was rather slow on the uptake. Maybe Mr. Goodkind was also trying to scale back the "Superman" that Richard had become by the end of the Sword of Truth series and make him more vulnerable... but Richard also seemed rather weak and ineffective in this book as well. If you can get by some of those issues and lack of action in much of the book it still is a decent read and am anxious for the next one to come out.

Although maybe I'm crazy but I would rather get a Law of Nines sequel :).

I loved the original series, and while I will admit some of the books got a bit dull at times (oh, no... Richard's lost his power... again, or oh no, Kahlan has been captured... again), I was unprepared for the absolute dullness of this book. This series use to be FUN, full of interesting quests, meeting interesting people, giving us side characters who we could relate to (and thus, we would worry about when there was danger).

In this book, nothing happens but a lot of people saying that they want to be kept in the loop of what's going on (which, ya know... fair point. Throw your fellow trusted leaders a bone, m'kay?), and Richard going "NOPE--I can't bother with you... I must do important quest things!" Except... his main quest is, and I kid you not, mainly talking about reorganizing a library and learning to be a computer programmer. The bad guy is, of course, one dimensional bad guy who looks like a bad guy. There's absolutely no action, no adventure... the characters go NOWHERE except at the end where they go fight someone, and then come home.

Throughout the book, I wanted to scream at the main character for being such a self-righteous idiot jerk. You have a bunch of people scared out of their minds, and they're the leaders of various tribes. You speak a good game about democracy and freedom, yet you treat them like morons instead of saying "Look, we got this weird machine that's spitting out prophesies. They're not normal, as they don't function like what we're use to. We think something's wrong, and we're working to find answers. As a matter of fact, we think that the answer can be found by going to this place where the second half of this strange book is located. We've gotten through a lot of other stuff, we'll get through this." Instead, he keeps everything a secret, and we're supposed to see him as being "the good guy" who is smarter than everyone else for doing so.

I haven't read the books that come after The Omen Machine, but I have a feeling that Goodkind had an idea for a really interesting book, and his publisher said "eh, stretch it into three. More money that way." If they get better, then good for him. As for me... this is where I get off. Sorry. But thank you for the previous books.

Richard Rahl learns that many people are using false prophecies as decision making tools. He feels the morons are being taken for an inane ride while believing individuals should ignore self-fulfilling prophecy and do what they think is right based in hard information and a few hunches.

However, he is taken aback when individuals with no skills begin to have visions. Worse he and Khalan Amnell notice something off kilter at the Peoples Palace so they make inquiries. They and Zedd soon find two wordbook tomes (End Times and Regula) in the library managed by Berdine. Disturbed with what is going on, they investigate further but apparently a Hedge Maid hunts Richard who hides in the Garden of Life. There he finds The Omen Machine that apparently is responsible for the sudden pandemic growth in prophecy; while in Da'Hara a prophet demands total leadership through prophecy.

The return to the Sword of Truth fantasy world of Richard and Khalan with the start of a new arc is a fun treat for fans of the series. The story line is fast-paced from the moment Richard and Khalan begin to realize something is afoot in the empire and never slows until the confrontation. Although the villain's powerful paranormal skills go counter-intuitive to what has happened in previous entries, readers who let that ride will enjoy Terry Goodkind's latest adventures of R & K.

Harriet Klausner

I don't believe that Terry Goodkind actually wrote this book. Seriously. It's like some novice author, perhaps a high school student, was given a very brief overview of the characters from the Sword of Truth series, and then given a plot outline.

The characters are all wrong - very one dimensional and totally unlike they are in the other books. Everyone is clueless and frankly boring. Nothing exciting happens.

The other review do a really good job of explaining why you should stay far away from this book.

This book was poorly paced, and seemed more like it was about having the characters debate among themselves than actually telling the story. These are, mostly, characters that are already established and known to the majority of people who will read the book. Yet, it seems like they do not act as they once did in the face of threats and, even more so, discovering unknown objects and information.

As to the writing style - NEVER before have I seen the use of chapters be so wildly jarring, to the point that it was extremely distracting almost every time there was a chapter break. I listened to the audiobook version, and it is ludicrous to have over 80 chapters in a 15 hour reading. I know of books that are 40 hours in audio format, but with FAR less chapters. But don't get me wrong, it's not because of the number of them that I am complaining. The chapters seem to be trying to force moments of tension. Richard discovers XYZ! Chapter end. Kahlan stumbles upon ABC! Chapter end. And yet, in most cases, the story picks up at exactly that point with the next chapter. What was the purpose of the break? It doesn't improve tension, it just frustrated me so much more than the weak storytelling already had been doing on its own.

Sadly, this book was beyond dissatisfying - I nearly put it down over a dozen times, but decided to stick it through to see if the ending redeemed it. I do not think that it does. While I can clearly see that there are more books intended, this seems more like a cash grab by the author & publisher (hard to know which is more to blame, but I do know publishers can be pushy, just wanting to sell something) than a story that popped into Goodkind's head that he just knew he had to tell.

I'm sad to say, I cannot see myself ever giving Terry Goodkind's books another moment of consideration.

The Sword of Truth (SoT) was one of the first epic fantasy series that I read, consuming my teenage years and early twenties as I waited patiently and eagerly devoured each instalment in the twelve book series. While Goodkind copped a lot of flak for his "preachy" style of writing becoming more prevalent as the series progressed, book twelve did everything the final book of a series should do - it tied up every loose end that had been introduced over the course of the series and delivered a conclusion that was epic in scope and immensely satisfying. After everything Richard and Kahlan have been through, and given the magnitude of "evil" forces they defeated, it's hard for me to imagine how Goodkind could come up with a new Richard and Kahlan story that can compare to the SoT series and make sense.

Enter The Omen Machine, a machine hidden within the depths of The People's Palace whose one line prophecies have a habit of manifesting in the real world faster than Richard and Kahlan can react. Without knowing it, this is exactly what I was looking for, a credible threat with real consequences that Richard and the team can resolve over the course of a book. This is a story that should work, but while reading the book I couldn't shake the feeling that something just wasn't right. The world was built, the characters were established and yet Goodkind chose to play it safe, chose to challenge the characters physically but not metaphysically, and chose to resolve the main threat by means that were so poorly foreshadowed that I am going to call it Deus Ex Machina. There were so many opportunities for Goodkind to really make a splash with this story, and yet he steered clear of them, preferring to stay in his comfort zone and even returning to the preachy writing that caused so much derision during the middle books of SoT. The concept is great, it has been well woven into the SoT mythos, but overall The Omen Machine just smacks of lazy story telling. So much so that I started seeing these little mistakes that were inconsistent with the world and characters that had been established over the previous twelve books.

The lazy story telling also wormed it's way into the character development. All our favourite characters are back, and that seems to be enough for Goodkind in terms of developing protagonists. Richard and Kahlan are their usual selves, and despite the credibility of the threat, neither of them show any respect for it, and at no point do they gain respect for the threat during the story. The lack of even the most rudimentary character arc is concerning with Richard and Kahlan reaching the end of the story by being belligerent and stubborn, having learnt nothing along the way. Worse still are Zedd, Cara and the rest of the support cast. They have gone from being complex individuals with their own stories to tell to being nothing more than sound boards for Richard as he tries to decipher every riddle. It goes a little something like this - Richard says something profound, Zedd rephrases what Richard just said in layman's terms, Richard has another epiphany and says some more profound things, rinse/repeat. What happened to the enigmatic and arrogant Zedd, First Wizard of Aydindril who knows the answers to everything? What happened to the brutal yet caring Cara, Mord Sith and protector of the Lord Rahl? These characters are shells of their former selves, and add nothing to the story. Except for the introduction of a few mysterious antagonists who are more that what they seem, I am very disappointed with the way Goodkind treated the characters in this story.

One thing that hasn't waned is Goodkind's technical writing skills. His use of very short chapters were off putting at first, but looking back on it I think it was a very clever ploy as it kept me going "just one more chapter" every time I tried to put the book down. His pacing was consistent, his use of language was appropriate, the book was so easy to read that I had finished it before I even realised that I had so many issues with it. If Goodkind can fix the issues with his characters and just take a risk with his storytelling, he will be able to do his technical writing justice and get back to producing high quality works in a world that I love exploring.

I was quite excited when I first heard about The Omen Machine and the underlying concept. It made a lot of sense to me that the biggest threat to Richard and Kahlan is the rediscovery of ancient and powerful magic, and I would have gladly read a few stand alone stories aimed at dealing with these new threats. Unfortunately, The Omen Machine fails to cash in on this concept with Goodkind delivering a substandard product that has been lazily written and fails to engage with the reader. If you are a big fan of Goodkind and his works (like me) there is still plenty in The Omen Machine for you to enjoy, but I don't feel like there is enough in there to satisfy readers new to the world of Richard and Kahlan. While I will definitely be back to read the second book in this new series, I will be taking it on with far more trepidation and will be far less forgiving of a substandard performance.

The book is completely pointless, please tell me the author had a contract to fulfill or something and that's why he cranked out this piece of garbage.. that I'd be almost be able to forgive.
There's a wedding.There's an omen. There's a prophecy. There's a mysterious machine. Someone's after the leadership of D'hara. More prophecy. Kahlan gets taken. Richard saves her. No one learns a lesson, no one does much of anything of any real use or interest, and since the machine is wholly unexplained, it didn't even feel finished. Don't bother with this book, let the story just end at Confessor. Please.

I initially started to buy the book when it was released. I was hesitant because, as others have said, the series seemed to diminish in every way with each book. I opted to borrow from the library. Thanks goodness I did. This.Was. Excruciating. Talk about phoning it in! I admit, I could not finish it. I skimmed the pages trying to find some source of action, something interesting, some glimpse of romance between Richard and Kahlan aside from him pulling her tight, leaning against each other and, oh, her screaming not because she was being devoured but because she thought she might not see Richard again for like the 751st time in the series.

The characters were flat. As I read I envisioned actors who looked at their watches between lines because they had somewhere else to be. Or office workers having idle chat around the water cooler. Their was too much idle discussion, no complexity. And as someone else mentioned dark, darkness, prophecy...wow, get a thesaurus already, TG!

The entire storyline was pointless. And the ending.....I flipped back several times to see did I miss something that would warrant this ending. Was my copy missing pages? I am guessing this is to give way for another final book?

Am I the only one who thinks the final book should have ended with Kahlan getting pregnant and them going against Shota and her command that Kahlan not have a child with Richard? That had the potential for an interesting book.

I almost feel I should reread the early books to remember why I liked the chracters-why Cara was fierce, why Richard was a force to be reckoned with, why Zedd was a wizard of the First Order and Kahlan commanded respect. I did not recognize these cardboard cutouts. This was an unfitting end for SoT.

To start off this review, let me say that Terry Goodkind is one of my all time favorite authors, and the second I saw this I preordered it. When I received the book, the first thing I noticed was that the book was about 2/3 the size of the average Sword of Truth series book length. That's fine, but it was a bad sign to begin with. By the end of the very first chapter, I knew that this was not like the previous books. The writing was much more basic, and the story simplistic and stupid. It's very easy to tell that Goodkind had no inkling of this book's story when he finished the original Sword of Truth series. It just feels so tacked on. Furthermore, the story feels more like something from the TV series, it's just very goofy.

The new villains might be interesting, but all of the ones in this book have new barely explained rules for their magic powers. Without using any spoilers, lets just say the way Richard wins at the end of the book (that's not a spoiler, everyone knows no matter what happens him and Kahlan will be fine) is ridiculous and very dues ex machina. Also, the choices all of the characters (small and large) make don't make sense, and the only slight explanation is that they're all prophecy crazed. Then even that act relatively normal are still mere shadows of the depth their characters used to have. I was very disappointed by this book, and can only hope the next book might be better.

I am a fan of Terry Goodkind and of the Sword of Truth series and have read the previous 11 volumes in this series. This is just not up to par. I will read all three titles in the new trilogy--am on #13 now--because I am a fan. This book, though, left me feeling disappointed. I'm hoping the other books in this revisited old series are better and trust they will be. Take off a star if you are not a true fan of the original 11 books.

Well I for one have great reverence for Terry Goodkind and the SoT series because Wizards First Rule was the first book my true love ever bought me. And so of course when he presented me with this most recent installment of the SoT I was overjoyed....until I began to read it. It begins very slowly and takes atleast 300 pages to get into the real meat and potatoes of the plot, which is understandable but on the way there the road was very uneventful. i have had this book for quite a while and have fallen asleep in it numerous times! So odd because usually TG is such a riveting author, with each chapter full of magic and mystery. And am I mistaken or did you end this book with a brick wall that suddenly errected itself in the middle of nowhere, with out so much as a hint as to what became of the Richard and Kahlan after their perilous brush with death? The villain did not even get served his slice of justice pie in this book! Hello? Did I get the unfinished edition? Hannis Arc is not even mentioned in the end of the book! And he is supposed to be the next fearsome, prophecy loving leader of Dhara? TG I am disappointed! Tell me you have the rest of the book written and its hidden under your bed or something....and yes I agree with other reviewers...where was the wit? Is it that we already know what these characters are capable of and so you didnt bother to show us again? What about people who are new to the series? The first few books were amazing. Whoever kidnapped my fav author.....i want him back..i'm willing to pay the ransom!!!!!!!!!

This book fell a little flat for me. It was very repetitive and dragged on. I found myself skipping three and four pages at a time just to force myself to get through it. Some parts had me scratching my head: why it took so long for Richard to figure out how to read the symbols and how someone used magic on a Mord-Sith and it hurt her. Maybe it's been too long since I read the Sword of Truth series but I thought a Mord-Sith captured magic?? I probably won't finish the other books in this new series or at the very least I'm not itching to get my hands on them

I confess, I have a love/hate relationship with Terry Goodkind and The Sword Of Truth Series. My biggest gripe about the author is that he's horribly redundant. Example; A character will get captured and escape. Next chapter, Character retells everything you just spent 30 overly wordy pages reading. Next chapter, another character walks into a room.... and guess what, after a 20 page retelling of 30 pages, here comes another 15 pages of retelling. A hundred pages later, the story moves forward.

The Omen Machine sees a lack of redundancy. But this is not an improvement. While redundant repeats are still about, they now are half the effort. The problem is, there is no reward of more story for that effort. There is no story.

The entire book basically takes place in the people's palace. There is a machine buried underneath, it spits out prophecy. More like 3 word prophecies. The roof will fall in. Then a roof falls in. The characters are barely recognizable versions of the characters we loved. Or barely in the story at all. Nothing really happens. In a far off land is a villain using a hedge maid (a witch type character). The villain masterminding the entire threat appears in all of 2 chapters, and is never spoken of again. The story just ends... with no ending... and the villain never brought back. You'd almost thing this was the first part of a new trilogy or something, but it just ends. But it doesn't end. Well, it says 'end' on the last page.... which is when you throw your book against a wall.

Worse entry in the series. Totally uninspired. If not for the big print, this probably would not have been 200 pages in hard cover. I hope to see another book in the series.... but only if it's inspired. How about telling the story of Khalan and Richard having the forbidden baby.... would love to see a war with Shota.... or any of 100 other plot points thrown in over the series left to be forgotten.

This book was absolutely not written by Terry Goodkind. It took till chapter 8 to even have a snippet that sounded like the old writing of his. I LOVED the whole Sword of Truth story and found that story to be nicely wrapped up so I was confused when this was published. I am 99% sure that this was not written by him. Maybe he did an outline and put snippets of what he wanted to be in there, there were hints of him in there.

If you need more convincing, read this part pg 484 "Having grown up in a palace, Kahlan had never known much about following obscure trails. In her duties as a Confessor, she had always traveled the roads and well-used paths between population centers of the Midlands."

If you have read the whole series you will find MANY faults with these two sentences. Kahlan is a tracker, as trained by Richard, not as good as Richard of course, but still can track off trails. Khalan was named Mother Confessor then instantly went to find Richard, off trail so she would not be killed like the rest of them. For the last oh, what, 7 books?, she has been on a real road maybe in ONE little part. So for her to be worried about not being on a road or well used paths means that this is NOT Kahlan.

I suffered through the whole book, you don't have to. Take this review to heart and don't waste your money and your happy memories of this series.

Unfortunately I was vastly disappointed by this book for several reasons. The first being that this book had all the 'amateurism' of an unseasoned author, the second being that it wasn't half the book I expected it to be, and the third being that it seemed as though Goodkind had two books in mind when he wrote this one and got confused along the way.

It starts off as well as any regular Goodkind book and I was pleased and enjoyed the read. It had a great premise, good grounding and a really thought provoking beginning. However along the way it went from your regular Goodkind novel to some sort of horror book, it was ghoulish and smacked of B movie overtones. Utterly not what I was expecting nor desiring when reading this book.

It dragged on through some slow parts of the book and skipped over what seemed like important plot points rushing major ideas to get suddenly to the end of the book without warning.

Having read the Sword of Truth series so many times I've forgotten, fallen in love with the characters, laughed with them, cried with them and having raised the series to the all time favorites in my opinion, this book doesn't just fall short, it doesn't even leave the starting box.

I gave it a 2/5 purely for the first couple chapters and because I loved Goodkind to this point. A sad end to the Richard and Kahlan saga.

Like many others on here absolute fan of the SoT series.
This thing reeks of a contract book. (Given advance money from TOR to produce more RnK novels)..
But this is just sad, it's not just one thing it's the whole thing. No depth, no character development, the characters have reverted to 12yo versions of themselves and forgotten everything they've just been through.
To make it easy, the TV show was better written than this book.

I was so happy to hear that Terry was coming back with more of my all time favorite characters and story! This book did not disappoint me. Picking up right where Confessor left off with the world finally at peace, but that doesn't last long. A fantastic start to a new storyline not to be missed by fans of the series.

The war with Jagang has been over for several years and life is just getting back to normal . Trade relations are starting to sprout. Everyone wants in. Benjamin, a Dharan General, is getting married to Cara, a mired sith. This is something that never happens. Surrounding leaders are all here to attend the event. But danger is lurking in the shadows. A boy prophecies to Richard and Kahlan giving them both a nasty scratch on the hand. Two women kill their children to avoid prophecy. Baying black dogs represent a threat. Visitors in the castle feel they are being watched . Guests turn up dead and everyone wants Richard to follow prophecy.

Behind it all is a nasty necromantuc Hedge maid from the Dark Lands and a very mad bishop named Hannis Arc. Hannis Arc had his family killed off by Panis Rahl so he wants his revenge on the house of Rahl.

Deep I side the mountain of the people palace is the omen machine itself. It gives out prophecies on metal tabs and to people at random. Everyone is prophecizing with bad results . Kahlan gets pursued by a pack of vicious dogs and is held Captive by the hedgemaid. Rest assured there will be a follow up.

This is pretty typical of the series. Not exactly groundbreaking new material, but if Richard and Kahlan are old friends, it is nice to see them again. Even if they are pretty much up to their same old tricks.

The Omen Machine by Terry Goodkind
I have long been a fan of Terry Goodkind. I suspect I would still be a fan if I had waited until all the books were done and read them then. I started rereading after the 8th book and finally just gave up. This is a start to a new series with Richard, the reluctant truth wizard and Kahlan, the beautiful Mother Confessor.

The familiarity of the characters enticed me into the book. The interesting changes in how the Mord-Sith evolved was interesting. The plot has the intricate nature of a typical Goodkind book. Richard has become a little more certain in his self identity. I still love Cara's red leather and thought the TV show depicted that quite nicely. (Decidedly chauvinist opinion no doubt.)
Zedd didn't seem quite as bizarre as in past books but perhaps his personality was just an acquired taste.

This reads insipid and I guess that is how I felt about the book. I liked it but it didn't grab me like the first four of five Goodkind books did.

It is worth reading if you haven't gotten enough of Richard, Kahlan and company.

I was so excited when I saw that a new Richard and Kahlan novel had been released and I bought the audiobook right away. I am a big fan of the Sword of Truth series (have not read Law of Nines). I felt like this was a good solid book, but that it wasn't as good as it could have been and that it was missing something.

First off, I want to say that I really did enjoy this book. I love the characters, love the history that you learn about this world in every book, and I really enjoy the writing style. I was interested in the storyline from the start of this book...though just a word of warning...the synopsis of the book is very misleading and what it says doesn't happen in this book. Maybe it will happen in the "next" book, maybe not, but the whole idea of "an impossible demand" is no where to be seen in this book.

My biggest problem I think with the book is that it feels like it is just the first 1/3 of a book. Having read all of the books in the Sword of Truth series and having those as my basis for comparison, I feel like the book had just started to get going when it was over. Usually we have the characters face several trials/difficult situations with minor villains to defeat and then it all builds up to a big finale in the end. This book had no minor conflicts leading up to a big finale...there was just ONE minor villain with a hint at a bigger one who is never really developed and no big finale.

I have heard that this is the first book in a trilogy...so I have a feeling that the stuff I am missing will be in the next two books. As a whole, they will make a great story, but I hope there is not a big wait between books. This book just by itself is a good book, not great. I even would go so far as to say that even if the plot for this book were left as is, it could have been better if the story was fleshed out a bit more. There were a lot of characters acting a bit off in this book, or maybe it just felt that way because we really didn't have much indight into their thoughts or motivations, just them doing stuff.

As an audiobook, I really enjoyed listening to this book. The reader does a great job and has a pleasant voice. I am sure that I will be listening to it again in the future.

I can't wait for the story to continue!

As many have said before me, the 'original' SoT series was fantastic. It lost it's edge with the last 3 books, but overall it was really good. I read this series maybe 5 or so years ago and loved it.

The Omen Machine however, was SO bad. I was so very excited to read it when it was released, i bought it the first day it was out.

Not only did nothing of substance happen till the last few chapters, what actually did happen was utter crap.
I'm sick of Richard and Kahlan being seperated, it was cool the first few times.. But in the Omen Machine, it was just ridiculous.

The story line and characters lacked EVERYTHING SoT is about. Sure, magic and such things were in it - but it wasn't the same.
It didn't excite me or intrigue me. I didn't put this book down and think differently about the world, all i was left with was a bad taste in my mouth and the feeling of spending money regret.

However, for anyone looking for a pick-me up, read The First Confessor - i quite enjoyed it.

The Omen Machine is exactly what it claims un the subtitle: A New Richard and Kahlan novel.

WARNING: THERE WILL BE SOME PLOT SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW!

The story picks up immediatly after Cara's wedding, an affair for all of the Empire of D'Hara. This is a *new* D'Hara - the differences are quickly picked up on in the narrator. With Richard in charge, D'Hara is much more open to the people of the Empire and the People's Palace is filled to brimming with wedding guests and the small city that it has been portrayed as in the past is bustling. Everyone is fairly happy about the change.

And then things start to go wrong.

In reading the Sword of Truth series, I often have to wonder if Mr. Goodkind will *ever* allow Richard more than 24 hours of peace and tranquility to enjoy this life that he so dearly treasures. It is consistently repeated that Richard has a respect for life and freedom - as do all of his closest allies - and yet the poor leader of D'Hara just cannot seem to get a break. At all.

The Omen Machine is no exception to this rule.

The basic plot revolves around Prophecy and leads to Richard questioning how Prophecy can be avoided, circumvented, or used. D'Hara, in all her magnificence, is now faced with unprecedented freedom of choice - Richard had declared so at the end of [i]Chainfire[/i] - and the people are unsure of the future. In their insecurity, they have turned to Prophecy as a way of knowing where to go and what to do. Richard, of course, challenges this notion - pointing out that Prophecy can be interpreted in many ways and allowing it to direct your actions leads to an alteration that can just as easily bring about the end you were attempting to avoid as it can to avoiding disaster. Unfortunatly, his well reasoned arguement, and that of Kahlan, is ignored as there have been dark warnings from all of the D'Haran countries and the purpose of many of the important people at the wedding was to have the issue addressed by the Lord Rahl.

Essentially, the countries that joined the D'Haran empire are questioning whether or not Richard is a proper leader for the Empire, given that he ignores prophecy in his decision.

You know, the guy who, essentially, just saved them all from a a series of horrid, murdering, tyrants. You would think that would hold some kind of loyalty in these leaders.

I am a lot less than sympathetic here than Goodkind is in the narrative. He is careful to make sure that the leaders are portrayed accuratly, and, to his credit, makes sure that their reasons for wanting this proof are laid out in a decent, if occassionally heavy-handed, fashion. Cara, Kahlan, and Richard are all faced with the problem at different times and are given to hear the reasoning behind the desire of the varying countries to leave the Empire. There is a lot of truth and reasonability in their statements. Richard, being held to his bond in allowing people to "Live their lives as they choose" does not declare any kind of war against the countries that leave the Empire, instead wishing that they would see the error of their ways and return.

Which leads to the biggest flaw in the story.

The countries are going to join up with a place referred to as the "Dark Lands" informally and the Kharga Trace more specifically. There is a mysterious ruler there, Hannis Arc, who is leading the place and following prophecy and, it is hinted at, is controlling the 'prophets' of the other kingdoms somehow. These countries are referred to as "wild" and "savage" - so much so that D'Hara, even under the previous Rahl, feared to enter the area and seek to truely control or contest it. The people there are known to be fierce and have possibly powerful magic capable of making Mord-Sith vanish without a trace. Cara knows of the lands and serves as the primary instrument of information for the area from her time under Darken Rahl.

And, not once, in twelve previous novels, was this place referrenced. Given the despeation that D'Hara faced at the hands of the Order, no one thought to mention this place either as a threat or as a possible source of warriors or magics that could be used to fight back against Jagang? Not only that, but it is revealed in the course of the narrative that there is a new kind of magic user in the world called a "Hedge Maid" who uses underworld magic and is immune to both the Sword of Truth and the touch of a Confessor.

And, she is the agent of the 'true' villain in Hannis Arc - who is present for approximatly 5 pages of the book.

This is the most bothersome detail of the book. I never found the "Hedge Maiden" to be an interesting character. I like that it works Nicci in to the story in a believable way. She once was an Agent of the Keeper, which meant she had a great deal of exposure to the underworld which is where the Maiden draws her power from. It is a trifle convenient, but it works and is a good piece for Nicci, one of my more favored characters. The villains in this book are...there? Yes, I suppose 'there' is as good a descriptor as any.

The central problem of the book is the Titacular "Omen Machine" which is basically exposed at the beggining in the form of the indexing taking place of the People's palace. The machine itself is built into the palace and in to the spellforms of the place - it is hinted that those spellforms might even be meant to dampen the power of the machine. The machine appears to be the cause of the problem -as well as a sentient who is resisting being used. The machine is a mystery that only gets more mysterous as the pages turn.

There is almost NO resolution to any of the plot threads introduced with the exception of the Hedge Maiden. Most of the rest of the threads - Hannis Arc, the Omen Machine, the Mord-Sith who was not trained to follow Lord Rahl, the 'undead' of the Dark Lands - are pretty much ignored or placed in a clear intention to have the story continue in a sequel book.

(On a side note, given that Shota has stated she can see "time's river" why in the blazes did Richard not request an audience with the woman or seek her advice somehow? I know she threatened to kill him and all, but that's never stopped him before. On a *second* side note, early on in the novel, it is established that the "Owner's manual" (for lack of a better word) for the Omen Machine was taken to the Temple of the Winds - which Richard has returned to the World. Richard knows this and he also locked it so that "no one except himself" could open the Temple. And, despite mentioning that he knows where the manual is and that he could go there - he doesn't. Even assuming the Sliph doesn't go there...if my TV or Vacumn cleaner is on the fritz, I try to find the manual rather than run around randomly. It seems odd that Richard does not act on either of these tidbits).

It's just a *tad* frustrating.

However there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

This sucker moves FAST. This felt a lot closer to the first few books in the original Sword of Truth. The characters are quick and easy to identify - even if I was a new reader (though this book is not particularly new reader friendly), I would be able to identify and characterize everyone within a few chapters. The action picks up quickly and arcs well in swells. You get a series of actions or discoveries, followed by a chapter or so of rest and time to compute, before Goodkind hits the ground running again.

The description are excellent and Goodkind's humor does shine through in the personal observations of many of the characters - esepcially Cara, whom is developing quite a personality. Richard does not preach, Kahlan tries is logic trick, and the pair fail in believable fashion. They are still pretty darn unassailable and beautiful, but they are put against intelligent opposition and placement - even if that intelligent opposition is clearly not in favor with the main character they are interacting with. It gives Richard and Kahlan something to react to.

The action is quick, and readily available, which is good. The descriptions are still as florid and sweeping as ever, which is fantastic. This is clearly the beggining to a new series of novels - if I had to guess, I would say a Trilogy or Quadrilogy (is that even a word) for him to finish the threads introduced here.

If you like the Sword of Truth, "The Omen Machine" is a sure bet for a thrill and adventure in that universe.

As most of you here, I am a devoted fan of anything involving Richard and Kahlan. I was very excited that new material was coming out and couldn't wait to read it but Im afraid to say that it fall sort of its mark. The book wasn't bad but it was not the best either. It didn't feel like these people were the same for WFR. There were a lot of frustrating moments were I had to put the book down and count to 10; I don't know if it was intentional or not from Terry. Also a lot of repetitive and unnecessary talking. It seemed like on every chapter Richard had to repeat himself, over and over. You would think after what Richard has done, people would stop doubting him but its not the case, even Zedd was getting annoying; always questioning Richard so Richard had to explain for chapters on end. Like I said, unnecessary talk and a lot of repeating. Also, I HATE the fact the Kahlan comes out like the damsel in distress, she is not! She is a fighter, the Mother Confessor! I don't know why Terry would write her that way.

But aside for that, like I said, it wasn't too bad. Maybe it was just a rocky start by Terry Goodkind; going back to writing about Richard and Kahlan again must be hard. There were interesting moments like the Omen Machine itself but I only see this book like just the introduction. I'm hoping and preying at the next ones are much better and hopefully we could see our beloved character acting like themselves!

I also tried to like this book as a follow up to the sword of truth books. but it is in no way the same level of writing as the other 11 books. Each book brought something new to the table, not just the different plots, but also about the characters. It's more like the author has given up on originality in his work, and is merely tiring to cash in on the same characters. Please stop that and come up with something original!

I really, really wanted to like this book.
I came late to the "Sword of Truth" novels via the television programme "The Legend of the Seeker".
I liked the TV programme because I appreciated the characters, the world they lived in and the central theme of good overcoming evil. In fact I'm still hoping for a third series, but that's by the by.
But, this book, oh dear!
It reads like a hastily put together knock off of the TV series. Where the previous books were rich in characterisation, world building and plot, this book reads as if the author saw a lucrative opportunity to make some money off the back of the enormous international fandom of the television programme. And there's nothing wrong with that if only Mr Goodkind had used some of his talent to produce a good book.
But this is such a disappointment. For a start although the book has 608 pages, the font is so big that it probably is a much shorter book. This book would probably make a half decent novella or hour long television episode
The complexity and storytelling of the original novels is missing, all the characters are there though some for only brief cameo appearances.
And the writing is lazy and in many places anachronistic. I know that it is a fictional world and the characters can speak using whatever vocabulary the author wishes, but in a fantasy novel such as this there must be an effort made to not use modern idioms, because they just snap the reader back into the modern world whenever they appear and ruin the overall enjoyment of the story.Terms such as "I guess" "Game on" "Gotten" "Dead quiet" destroy the illusion, and would Kahlan really say " If you think I'm taking my clothes off, you have another think coming?" I think not.
And it would be a foolish man who would tell a Mord Sith not to get "snippy"!
Snippy?
A Mord Sith?
Honestly Mr Goodkind , what were you thinking when you wrote that line?
The book drags along until the last few pages then the ending is neatly tied up in a few pages, it almost as if the author got bored or was too close to a deadline, so he hastily wrote a nice and neat ending . While on the verge of death the hero remembers a cryptic message from much earlier in the book and suddenly understands what he has to do.
Talk about "With one bound he was free."
Ridiculous !

well, I am also an avid TG fan and have read all of his books many times, and even the ones that seem to drag on are no where near as shallow as this one. It likes the publisher said, "Terry, you have a huge fan base. Just give us some notes, we will have an editor fill in the blanks, and we can make some money." I hate to say it, but this was such a simple book. I liked to describe SoT series to ignorants as Harry Potter for adults, but this is worse than Harry Potter for Harry Potter Readers. There is no character depth. he does not reference and history from the previous book at all, except to mention a mysterious war that happened a few years ago.

Spoiler

somehow with the Rahls control over the millenia, they could not control the hedge maids? com'on. I would have rather had Darken Rahl come back.

spoiler:

this definitely leaves the door open for more Richard and Kahlan books. Two of the main protagonist are not even dealt with at the end of the book. So, it is a huge plot string left untended.

It's fun to return to characters you've spent so much time reading about. Goodkind gives us another book from his Sword of Truth world. The Omen Machine finds Richard and Kahlan ruling their new empire and a new menace gaining strength.

Of course this is going to be the first book of a new series for Goodkind. It seems he can't, or doesn't wish to, write about anything else. The book written before this one (The Law of Nines) was even connected to the Richard/Kahlan story.

While the land enjoys peace, there is unrest throughout the palace. People are gathered to enjoy a wedding when prophecies begin popping up where they shouldn't. People die and others assume they are fulfilling prophecy. When Richard and his gang won't reveal every detail of prophecy they discover, the royals get upset and start to think he isn't worthy to lead them.

Enter the new foe. Hannis Arc who lives in the Dark Lands and doesn't quite make the splash in this story. I'm assuming he's saving up for the next book.

You don't need to have read the entire Sword of Truth series before reading this book but it will help fill in some of the gaps.

This was a fun read. It was typical Goodkind - filled with gruesome violence and characters spending page after page repeating the same idea. Although, I thought the vain repetition was edited down some compared to other Goodkind books.

The fun characters return and if you enjoyed the last three Sword of Truth books, you'll probably enjoy The Omen Machine.

This book was BORING! I was super excited about this book because I was sad after I finished reading all the books on the series. I'm happy that I borrowed this book from the library because I would have wasted money. The book almost has no story line, all of them are just hanging out in the library talking. I was shocked to have read through most of book w/out anything interesting happening. I think the actual machine was corny and stupid, this book is completely out of the league of the books.

I've read everything in this series about the Sword of Truth, and the cast of characters. I struggled mightily through this book only because my son purchased it for me and I have been pleased with Goodkind in the past. Run don't walk past this book. I even went so far as to suggest the name Kahlan for my granddaughter when she was born and her name is Kaylen (spelled differently). I found the name in this series of books. Needles to say it will be a long time before I can go back to his books. Preachy, dog chasing his own tail, boring, and dumb are just a few words to describe this book. The whole prophecy plot was weak and the cast of characters just seemed to have lost their identities.

I've read all the books in the S.O.T series, and also the Law of Nines. When I heard this book was coming out, I thought- terrific! Perhaps this will redeem the storyline that ABC ruined with it's incredibly lame tv series, Legend Of The Seeker; with it's woos of a Richard, who looked more like a 25 year old pizza delivery guy than a towering muscled woodsman/guide/warrior/hero and a Zed that looked more like a homeless psych patient than the Gandalf's brother I had imagined.

I hung in there and read The Omen Machine and when I got to the last page, I was left feeling like this was a school assignment, based on The Sword Of Truth books and the goal was to fill lots of pages with lots of words.

The actual story could have been told in 200 pages and it would have been a tight, interesting new twist in the longer saga. Goodkind also did a clever turn in tying in The Law Of Nines theory, which tells me that one day, we may see a time jumping Richard and Kahlan book that could bring the contemporary characters together with the originals to correct some error in the world of magic. That would be cool.

I had a couple of issues with The Omen Machine. First, there were several times when the most basic question could have/should have been asked by Richard, and for some inexplicable reason, our hero, one we know to be wickedly intelligent, couldn't come up with the query and we're left reading a scene that feels more like this: "OK, if it's bigger than a bread box but smaller than a house can I safely assume that it's not female?" Yeah, I didn't get it either. Where did the wizard's ability to sense talent in others disappear to? Why would deadly and devoted body guards stand outside of a room when the previous threats had happened inside of seemingly safe and inspected rooms several times already? The Mord Sith we have come to know over the first 11,000 pages of writing, would have been sitting alert, agiel in hand, in a chair right next to the person they were guarding. Some of the situations were not plausible given the talents and personalities of characters we already know.

Second, there was a LOT of repetitive information. The information we read seemed to be repeated. More than one time we were told the very same information. See what I mean? One detail was surrounded by redundancy as Richard said something out loud and one paragraph later, Zedd wondered about the same thing and then two paragraphs after that Zedd said, out loud the same thing that Richard had said out loud moments before and then Zedd said, "So what you're saying is ..." repeating the same... ARRRGHHHHHHHH! I got it the first time! And the second and third and fourth...

Granted, this book did not repeat itself anywhere near as often as the HORRIFIC Jean Auel, The Land Of Painted Caves; a 768 page book whose entire "story" could have been told in 76 pages. Still, I actually started skipping over parts of The Omen Machine when I saw I was going to have to read the same information again.

SPOILER******There was such a build up of the dangerous and powerful female nemesis, and though she was creepy when we finally met her, her end was a two second finger flick. Danger managed!

The Omen Machine felt like a story scoth taped to the series and I want the next book to be welded to it with unbreakable metal. I hope the next book, aside from a very short recap at the beginning, will get on with telling the story without redundancy to fill pages. We can take it! We're intelligent and we can remember what you just told us.

I'll hang in there and read the next one only because I have come along for the whole ride thus far. I know Goodkind can lose the dead weight, tune the engine of this storyline and take it for a fast and memorable run instead of the Sunday drive wandering around neighborhood that I just finished reading. Vroom Vroom. Let's go Terry.

There is no character development, it wasn't very entertaining. As the series stands right now if I hadn't read it I would be out nothing. It adds nothing to the story. I could sense with book 11 Confessor, Terry Goodkind was done with the series. You could tell that he was wrapping things up in what seemed was a neat bow. Then with the lukewarm reception for The Law of Nines. What does a writer do? You go back to what you know and what sells. The problem is that he is no longer writing for the love of the story. He seems to be writing for the love of the $$$ or something else but what it is I can't say. I wanted to stop reading about 8-9 times. I pushed through anyway and now I wished I had not wasted my time. It was good while it lasted, you can stop at book 10 and that would be a good end to a great series. 11 and 12 are just ruining the memory of what came before. If you are a die hard fan you will read them anyway but you may wish you hadn't. I hope for a whole new series from Terry Goodkind he is a great writer. Where new rules apply and new people find a reason to fight and live. I hope his next book will be one where I can gladly say it was worth my time and money. This one was not.

Like the title says, I was hoping that most of these reviews were wrong. They weren't. It was just very boring. I expect action and adventure from this series by Terry Goodkind. I didn't expect a large portion of the book talking reading and catalogging books in a library. Reading a book about other people reading books isn't what I call entertainment. The author should go back and read the first two books in the Sword of Truth series, those were excellent. The only good thing about this is that it wasn't too preachy. Hopefully the sequel will be an improvement.

Having been capture by the story of Wizards First Rule and eager to read the series, I have to be brutally honest and say I gave up on SoT half way through a forgettable 4th book. Not to mention, having wasted time sitting through a poor sequel and third installment. Somehow, I thought surely this series can improve. Why must authors ruin the magic of the original with poor, substandard wantabies.

This series has generally made me skeptical of multi volume series (with the exception of kingkiller and Hyperion series).

So, having read the bio of this new book, i was thinking that we might see a new series from this author, but alas, not!

You fooled me once, shame on you.

You fooled me twice, thrice, shame on me.

I will no longer be fooled into wasting additional hard earned cash on this series.

Please let this series die the death it surely deserves.

I have been a fan of the series from the very first book, eagerly awaiting each new installment and regularly rereading the previous books. I introduced my mother to them, and she loved them, too.

I was never disappointed, until now. This book is incredibly poorly edited -- pointless repetition, inconsistencies with other books, and a complete lack of surprise. It's clear they didn't really have enough material to properly split the book into multiple parts so someone padded it...badly. I'm stuck wondering if Terry just "phoned in" this book, relying on the hype around it to ensure it sold despite being a lousy read, or if someone else (his publisher or a mediocre editor) took it upon themselves to pad the story without him, thereby ruining his otherwise good writing history. Only Terry and his people know which is the case. But either way, this book -- and I think the entire series -- suffers greatly from the lack of care and attention. Not only did I find the book so lackluster and badly written that I ultimately threw it out without reading the last couple of dozen pages, but I doubt I'll buy any future books in the series. Perhaps the people who rated the book highly were able to skim over or ignore its problems, but I couldn't do that and it colours my opinion of both the author and the entire series.

Another "filler" fantasy:
100 pages would have been more than enough to tell the first part of what I am sure will now be the the start of a new "series" of books. When are fantasy readers going to start to demand "stand alone" books ? I would like to read more stories about R and K but each "story" should be 1 or maybe 2 books max!

As I read The Omen Machine, there are 392 pages in the book. By page 350, I thought that it would be a little frustrating to have this book end in half way through it. Fortunately or unfortunately, it is a complete book. It seems like the last 50 pages were completely rushed, and ultimately the book was underwhelming compared to others in the series.

Maybe the problem with a stand alone shorter book is that detailed character development is not pursued. Richard and Kahlan are the focus (as they should be), but Nicci, Cara, and Zedd really just stand around and do nothing. Maybe it's time that this series be put to retirement???

Prior to the release of "The Omen Machine", I was like most of Terry Goodkind's fans. I was eagerly awaiting a new Richard and Kahlan story. I have read the entire Sword of Truth series, and it is arguably my favorite fantasy series. To be honest with you, "The Omen Machine" is kind of an anomaly to me. On one hand, it's always nice to see Goodkind's characters return to the page - but on the other hand, the book left me feeling like I was reading fan fiction rather than an actual Goodkind novel. I will try to explain what I mean . . .

The first thing Goodkind's readers will notice is that the structure of "The Omen Machine" is much different. First of all, the chapters are extremely short by Goodkind's standards. This is essentially not a big deal, but quite frankly it contributes to the eerie feeling that Goodkind didn't actually write this book. Another thing that is missing from "The Omen Machine" is any kind of emotional connection to the characters. Richard, Kahlan, Zedd, Nicci, Cara and Nathan seem to be going through the motions in this book. In past books, Goodkind gave us in-depth looks at his character's emotions. In "The Omen Machine", there is practically no emotionally-charged scenes. These scenes now seem to be glossed over.

Another problem I have with the book is its lack of scenery. Most of the book takes place in fairly closed quarters (The People's Palace, the Garden of Life and the lair of the antagonist, Hannis Arc). There is virtually no room for the characters to move around, and the reader feels their restriction. In previous movels, Goodkind had taken the time to build an immense fantasy world - and it's simply not used here.

My final problem is with the story itself. It is extremely slow moving, and most of the story takes place over the span of a just a few days. The reader will get 30% of the way through the book before anything even remotely interesting happens. It takes until halfway through the book before Goodkind finally begins putting some pieces together. Essentially, if you were reading "The Omen Machine" and someone were to ask you what it is about, you will be hard-pressed to answer this question unless you're at least halfway through the book.

That being said, it was very nice seeing some of my favorite fantasy characters in print once again. I just wish Goodkind has put them in a more in-depth, emotional and interesting situations and settings. Will I read the next "Richard and Kahlan" book? Yes! But I will do so with the sincere hope that Terry Goodkind somehow brings back his previous magic.

I'm kind of a newbie to the SoT series (within the past 6 months or so I've read all of them, back to back), but this one was SOOOO disappointing.

In a nutshell (SPOILER ALERT):
1. Nothing really happened. Now, I realize that the great war is over and so things are all simple and happy, but seriously? Nobody even left the palace until the last couple of (very short) chapters. The whole plot was based on the premise that mob mentality will make you completely stupid (which is true, but still).
2. Everyone was dumb, and the mysteries they "solved" were pretty stretched. I mean, I thought Zedd was supposed to be a wizard of the first order, and he's running around the palace like a stupid old man. And usually the problems are a little difficult to figure out, and in this book, they were impossible to figure out because they just didn't make sense.
3. The Omen Machine was literally a MACHINE? A civilization that hasn't mastered plumbing created a HUGE MACHINE that spits out omens and responds to questions? And this machine is THOUSANDS of years old? Gaaaaahhhhhhh...... talk about a disconnect.
4. The ending left you with nothing. Literally. The characters weren't even conscious at the end, and the problem of the Jagang-type character was left completely unresolved.
5. It was so short!

Ok, so I'm done complaining. I'll definitely read the next one, and I just hope it's more worth the wait.

Another Richard and Kahlan story which is essentially a continuation of the Sword of Truth series. A machine is discovered which foretells bad things about the future. Too long on description and too short on action. If you have to have it, buy it used. Hopefully not an omen of Terry's future books.

It's hard to believe this was written by the same author who wrote the SOT series.
The writing is overly simplistic, extremely basic, and bland.
Characters have no personality or depth. All they have are different names.
The plot is weak, and character development is atrocious.
After 20 chapters, I...seriously...looked through the beginning of the book to make sure this was actually written by Terry Goodkind, and that he didn't simply lend his name to the work.
I am left to wonder if perhaps Mr. Goodkind had a stroke.
Lacks in creativity, and appears to be simply a money-grab.

DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!

Use the library if you must read this book.

I'm going to be brief. Many others have done great thorough reviews, both positive and negative. I'm not trying to do that; only enlighten some of you as to how I interpret this latest installment from the great Terry Goodkind.

First let me say, I've read and RE-read the Sword of Truth series (quite recently actually), and I greatly enjoyed all the nuances of the characters, the plot, sub plots, and overall philosophical message Mr. Goodkind folded into the masterpiece we call the Sword of Truth series. I loved Every. Single. Book.

Except this one.

Why? Simply: It does not have ANY of the aforementioned qualities the previous books shared.

Characters were lackluster, flat and two-dimensional. Gone are the nuances of each character's personality, I.e. compare Zedd from Wizard's First Rule (or any other book in the series), to the Zedd of this book... and he now comes across as simply a secondary or even tertiary character!!!

The Plot seems rushed, yet is overall very 'slow' reading. We're given a villainous character that wants to take over Richard's rule. All this is built up over the course of a few hundred pages. There are a few sporadic action/fighting moments, with the bulk of chapters amounting to character dialogue about prophecy this, prophecy that. Which brings me to...

The actual book itself. The font is large. Much larger than it needs to be. This reminds me of a trick I used to do for college papers, where I would make the font type something like 14pt Verdana, when compared to 14pt Arial or Times New Roman, is very "large". So you end up extending your pages exponentially.

Not to mention the "ending" literally leaves you in mid action. Really Terry? Really?

Overall this book seems forced, the characters seem forced, the plot seems forced. It comes across as unpolished work.

Honestly for die-hard SoT fans, I would recommend you not stain your memory of Richard & Kahlan and the gang, and instead cherish (or re-read!) the other books before this.

As for new time readers.. PLEASE Go buy a copy or a dozen of Wizard's First Rule. Keep two for yourself, and give the rest to friends. It's THAT good. It changed my perspective on life at the time.

This is such a let down if you're a goodkind fan. The first 500 pages are pretty much an argument over what the definition of prophecy is. The last 16 pages are a jumbled mess of rushed bulls*** that are thrown together in an attempt to save the book. I'm disgusted. I'm disappointed. I'm aggravated and I'm praying to God that his next book involves some sort of redeeming literary quality. 1 star because that's the lowest it will let me go.

I am a big Sword of Truth fan and enjoyed all of the prior books. This one is a loser. Gone are the deep characters. Zed is reduced from a grand wizard with arcane knowledge to a bumbling fool that knows nothing and comes up with no pearls of wisdom. The book ends mid-story with only a partial resolution and way too many loose ends. I won't spoil it (although it is already "spoiled") and I understand setting up a sequel but this book does not stand on its own. And don't get me started on the narrator. Absolutely terrible. He reads as if he is reading to a kindergarden class - overly dramatic and emotive with every minor action point being an pitch and volume raising crescendo. A true disappontment.

First of all, I was shamed to look through some of the other and excessively negative reviews. Everybody is entitled to their opinions, but I was genuinly (and quite disturbingly) surprised to discover how different my experience with the book was, from those seemingly received by authors of the negative reviews..

I loved the book and I loved The Third Kingdom (next in the series) even more. Maybe there was a point to the negative reviews that I missed or forgot, but I have only nice things to say about the book and all the others by Terry Goodkind. I've read all with the exception of the Law of Nines.

I found the entire atmosphere of the book to be slightly darker than that of the earlier books, which I really loved. I liked the mysterious Omen Machine and while I was disappointed that the entire affair wasn't resolved in that one book, that only made me look forward to the next all the more. I found the development of Cara fascinating and felt priviledged to follow the continuation of not just Richard and Kahlan's journey, but hers, Zedd's, Nicci's and all the other lovely characters we have come to know over the past 12 books.
Obviously, the Omen Machine is part of a series. A bigger picture. You will likely be disappointed or left in the dark if you have not read the books that came before it.

5/5
/Kim Rehmeier

It has been said by others, but this Terry Goodkind created a book hoping he would lure us in from his past success.

This book is nothing like the previous in the series, there is not the excitement, the history, the power, the wonder, and the enthusiasm as his other Richard and Kahlan books.

In this book the main characters are emotionless and over think everything, the supporting characters are idiots, and the minor characters are little kids bickering over anything they can.

There is not much rising action, and the climax is roadkill on the freeway, there is no falling action, and no conclusion allowing another book in the series.

He needs to stop being intellectual, and make his characters interesting again. Maybe even start a new series with new characters instead of pounding the old ones to death with sequels.

I read a lot of the negative reviews and I noticed the common theme was that it just wasn't as good as the rest of the series. The difference, for me, is that I actually went into this book expecting it wouldn't be as good.

Confessor was a great ending and wrapped up the entire story very neatly. However, like many others, I went through some major Richard and Kahlan withdrawal. I tried the TV series (UTTER disaster - the show should be ashamed of itself for having any kind of association with the book series. Why didn't they go the Game of the Thrones route?!) and later on tried The Law of Nines. LoN was ok, but it was just not the same without the characters I grew to love in the SoT series.

So, The Omen Machine - not as good as the previous books (I expected it). However, I still very much enjoyed it. It was wonderful to be with these characters again! To me, this book was the introduction to a new "chapter" or "series" in the character's lives. And I suspect that Goodkind left a lot of clues throughout the book that foreshadowed things to come.

Overall, if you are a Sword of Truth fan, I would recommend this book. And I would also recommend going into it accepting that it's a not going to be the same as the previous books - and that's ok!

I feel like this is a dumbed down, children's version of the Sword of Truth. It almost felt like someone else took the characters from SOT and wrote their own story about them. As a huge fan of that series, I found this book disappointing. There was none of the complexity, dialouge, action, or wisdom that you got from SOT. It didn't make me think, there weren't any thoughtful insights.
The first major problem I had with the book were the characters. Richard and Kahlan were basically the only two characters who were somewhat true to what they were from SOT. The other characters had no personality, and apparently, no intelligence. The biggest disappointment was Zedd-there was none of his quirk, wit, or wisdom to be found. He just stood around, asking a lot of questions, and just like everyone except for Richard, not grasping the answers.
The second issue-there was no action. The entire book was everyone standing around, philosophizing about prophecy. The only real action came at the end of the book, and lasted for about 3 pages. There is hardly any sword play or wizardry-For someone who didn't read SOT, you wouldn't even know Richard was a wizard from this book.
The third issue I had was the simplicity. There are a good number of concepts that I still don't understand from SOT, even when I've read those books multiple times. I'm not the best analytical reader, so it takes me a while to really understand some of the deeper insights. In this book, I grasped the concepts right away-they seemed fairly obvious. We know our favorite characters from SOT to be intelligent, but not anymore apparently. With every new concept or question brought up, someone had to explain it in a least three different ways for everyone else to understand it.
Finally, the ending was abprupt, and the plot line far from concluded. It was a scene you are more likely to find near the climax of the book, not the ending.
That being said, I think that if Mr. Goodkind is going to continue with this story (which he should based on the lack of ending) he needs to put more of the time and effort into it that we saw with the SOT series. This was very below the work fans of SOT have come to expect from Mr. Goodkind.

I suppose I was unaware of how much I had missed Richard & Khalan until I started reading The Omen Machine (TOM). While I really liked The Law of Nines, it didn't have some of my favorite characters in all of fictional print, and it was nice to get back together with them.

I gotta admit, as I read some of the reviews here, I couldn't miss how some actually make the accusation that Terry Goodkind probably didn't write this at all or at the least, phoned it in, so-to-speak. Generally I shy away from commenting like this about other reviews simply because they differ from my opinion, but as I read further & further, I simply could not see how this was anything BUT a great story, written just like his other novels. Terry has a very unmistakable writing style and I felt as though it was immediately apparent that this book had his fingerprint all over it. Oh well, as I always say, Opinions Vary.

As I began the story, I found myself not reading it as quickly as I typically do in hopes of staying within the world of Terry's imagination a bit longer, mostly because its a place I really love to visit in order to get away from the pressures of real life. With that said, I couldn't finish it quickly enough, too. The story was just fun and quick--a little too quick, but that isn't a complaint about how good it is in the slightest. I found the inclusion of Zedd, Cara, Nathan, Nicci and so many others we've come to know over the course of the last 10 years or so with the previous books simply put a very clever tale. For those who've read The Law of Nines, you will notice a similarity pretty fast--but not re-hashing anything old, you'll just have to read it and find out.

The Omen Machine has easily one of my all-time favorite chapters dealing with Khalan and a crowd of dignitaries who are insisting that Lord Rahl is holding back Prophecy from the masses. She warns them ahead of time about what they are demanding and how she and Nicci solve the issue--albeit for only a short time--is simply brilliant storytelling IMO.

Honestly, there really wasn't anything I didn't like here with this (hopefully) new foray back into the world of the Sword of Truth. While I wouldn't put it on par with Goodkinds simply masterful original Wizards First Rule or Faith of the Fallen maybe, I certainly enjoyed it a lot more than Soul of the Fire and Pillars of Creation. Without spoiling any of the story, suffice it to say that nobody was looking forward to this more than me, and I just as anxiously await pretty much anything else from Mr. Goodkind.

***MINOR SPOILERS***

IF I were to have any kind of critical comment, it would simply revolve around how quickly the book just sort of ended abruptly. I recall being around 20 pages or so from the end wondering quite seriously how the novel could possibly wrap up such a storyline with so few pages left. Initially I checked thinking I may have purchased a copy missing some pages, but nope, that wasn't it. Then I began to wonder if this was obviously the first of a planned series and it would end on quite a huge cliffhanger...wrong again (although I'd bet that more books ARE on the way). It kind of left a bad taste in my mouth in that I REALLY loved the story on so many different levels, but the last 20 or so pages seemed downright RUSHED. One of the MAIN reasons I truly enjoy reading Goodkind is how much care he places in describing details (almost to a fault, actually), and yet Richards trek at the end of the story took literally one--maybe two pages tops...and this is a journey of many days, possibly weeks according to details set forth earlier in the novel. After arriving, Richard almost instantly resolves the problem almost out of thin-air and before we know it, the story is done. Some of the un-answered questions include: what happened to Hannis Arc? How did the Omen Machine come into being? How was it that Hannis managed to manipulate the Omen Machine, a device that seemingly nobody had EVER heard or read about so that he could attempt a hostile takeover? Early on Nicci cautions Richard on Hedge Maids, telling him they are almost impossible to defeat and certainly more powerful than him. And yet he manages to tip the scales almost effortlessly, not to mention conveniently in virtually no time at all. I guess it bothered me more than I wanted to admit.

***Spoilers Finished***

I personally believe that those who count themselves big fans (for the most part) of the previous books will find a lot to love with this latest novel...I suppose if you grew tired of his writing (and so-called Preaching) towards the end of the original series, well maybe this one will redeem him...? I guess that is up to you to decide--however for this reader, I simply loved every page. Thanks again, Terry.

I love the Sword of Truth series. Really, I do. Even the novels which so many said, "These are horrible! Too wordy! Make them go away!" I enjoyed for their innate value, even if not as part of the series which I felt they had derailed.

I enjoyed the "Law of Nines." In fact, I was looking forward to a future exploration of that series, of that world, of those characters.

But it was not to be. Apparently I was one of three people who liked that book, and the other two were related to the author.

And so, Goodkind returned to Richard and Kahlan.

Yeah, I had missed them, and was hoping I would be pulled back in to the world he had developed, filled with different many different types of people, each with their own mini worlds.

I liked the new concept. The machine. Spewing out phrophesies with a consistency of viewpoint (and Richard's making the most sense, of course).

Yet....

What it all boils down to is the forumula of

1. New threat
2. Richard or Kahlan is in a lot of trouble
3. The other one, with friends, old and new, have to ride in to the rescue
4. Putting them both and/or all at risk
5. Wait for the next book

Enough, already. Enough.

P.S. I wrote 3, 4, and 5 at about 94% of the book, correctly predicting what the next 6% would bring. I shouldn't be able to have done that. But I could, and did.

P.P.S. I'm still going to read the next one, and the next, and the next....

I grew up reading the Sword of Truth series, and I'm so glad that TG decided to write another Richard and Kahlan book. The Law of Nines was fine, but Richard and Kahlan are like old friends. I give the Omen Machine four stars because it was quite an enjoyable read, but it did not come close to the epic inspiration of Wizard's First Rule or Faith of the Fallen. Nor was it anywhere near as awful as, oh say, Naked Empire. The Omen Machine really is a good book!

When I first opened the book, I was really annoyed. As another reviewer has written, the font size is big enough to make reading uncomfortable at first. This book probably should have actually been 250-300 pages, not over 500 pages. But, as I read, I realized that TG left out all of his usual "preachy" rants. Those took up a ton of space in some of his previous books, so that's probably why the Omen Machine is so much shorter. I'll take a short, good book over a long, rant-filled book any day!

The Omen Machine also feels terribly incomplete. I suspect that the story arc will be made into at least a trilogy. I imagine that the Omen Machine feels how Wizard's First Rule would have felt, had it been a trilogy instead of a humongous complete story. This could also account for how short the Omen Machine seems. Hannis Arc isn't half as terrifying as Darken Rahl or Denna yet, but there is a ton of potential!

I really enjoyed the rest of the sword of truth series. I was excited when I saw a new one out. However this book is terrible. After twenty pages I was not sure if I could finish it. Throughout the entire book all the characters do is repeat themselves both in thoughts and conversation. As for zedd he offers absolutely nothing to the book, he just asks a ton of repetitive questions that seem obvious to the reader. He is not the wise first wizard he was known as. Hope Terry can do better in the future.

Rent this book at the library don't waste your money on it!

Let me start off by saying that I am a HUGE Terry Goodkind fan.

I was very excited to read this continuation of the Sword of Truth saga, but I quickly became extremely disppointed at how tedious the book is. A good underlying story was marred by constant repetition of story and background elements. Reading this book reminded me of having a grade school assignment to write a 5,000 word essay with only 1,000 words of actual content -- the only way to get there is to repeat, repeat, repeat. A shorter book without the repitition would have been a far more enjoyable read.

As a loyal fan, I will still buy the Mr. Goodkind's next book, but it may also be my last if the writing doesn't improve.

I had issues, like most readers, with some of the previous books but not with our friends, the protagonists.

First and least important issue: the font size; Why?

Second issue (maybe the most important): It really felt like all of the protagonists in this book had regressed - significantly. In the last several books all had increasingly come to realize that Richard's instincts were tempered by magic and that freely trusting in him with every fiber of their being was the only way to save their souls from the keeper. After 11 books of Richard being correct, on all counts, suddenly all of his friends couldn't try any harder to be the first to disbelieve him. "Oh Richard, you're just letting your imagination get the best of you." "Don't you think you're reading into this a bit too much?"

Third issue: The dialog of the main characters felt off - dumbed down.

Fourth issue: Repetitive conversation, phrases, backstory... "I think this is the thing we're looking for", "Is this what we're looking for?", "Yes, this is the thing we're looking for", "I agree with you that this might be the thing we're looking for" or "I understand symbols", "Understanding the nature of symbols, I can now translate these symbols", "These symbols look very symbolic and it is right that they do so because they're symbols."

**spoiler**

Fifth issue: Nathan, over a thousand years old?, Nicci hundreds of years old?, First Wizard Zedd, Mother Confessor Kahlan... and the most they've got on an entire population of people and a form of magic that is uncounterable is "The country is wild and I once overheard a whispered rumor from my cousin's wife's best friend... which mentioned a 'hedge maid". Come on... flimsy.

**super-spoiler**

Sixth issue: The ending. The entire book builds up to dealing with the problems caused by the hedge maid and though her magic is unstoppable... storming her castle and killing her off takes like 5 pages of giant words.

It boils down to... I don't think I'll buy another Richard and Kahlan book and that sucks.

It has been years since I read the Sword of Truth books. I read them all. This one was ok but I think I enjoyed it because I missed the characters. Don't think it would entertain the reader that is not familiar with this series. There are a lot of tedious conversations that go on and on saying very little. At times,it reads like a elementary literature book that has to overstate the obvious. I will keep on reading his books though. I love the characters.

As a strong fan of the Fantasy Genre, and an avid supporter of the Sword of Truth series, I found this book vastly disappointing. There are a great number of reasons not to read this book. A few of such are as follows-

1 - The Circus of Stupidity
The whole short book comes off as a carnival show meant to display how everyone in the whole world who isn't Richard's close friend is an absolute moron. Every character that they encounter is viciously, unforgivably unintelligent. But it doesn't stop there; even the characters that we have grown to love (Nathan, Zedd, etc) have lost their edge, wit, and depth. These characters have suddenly lost the ability to grasp complicated concepts, and it is just sad.

2 - The Televised Evangelist
I am among the few who actually enjoyed some of the heavy preaching in the SoT series, but this book takes it over the top with endless snippets of proselytism that somehow completely lack the substance to actually engage, amuse, or teach anything at all. It is as Terry Goodkind is trying to hammer us over the head with his philosophy, but doesn't seem to have the time or inclination to follow his preaching through to conclusion. It only serves to cause frustration.

3 - The Ink is Fading
The text of this book has no impact. It has none of Terry Goodkind's usual depth or tension, and feels as if it had been written by someone completely different. It doesn't pack a punch. There is no spark. The writing is repetitive. The dialogue is boring. The words fall flat. No matter how much I tried, I just couldn't get myself to care about anything that happened.

This book and the next two are now worth the paper they are printed on. I loved the SoT series, but these books ruined characters I loved. Unfortunately I can't unread them. If you liked the previous books at all, don't read this book or the following books! Words cannot describe how utterly disappointed/upset I am that TG ruined such amazing characters.

I just finished this book. To give a little background, I have read and thoroughly enjoyed all of the previous books. My favorites of the series up to this point are the initial three books, and the chainfire trilogy.

Now to the new book, The Omen Machine. Personally, I didn't enjoy this book nearly as much as any of the other installments. I even enjoyed the Law of Nines more than this novel.

Ok, what I did like. I liked that this book took place directly following the last SoT novel. I enjoyed that I could revisit the characters I grew to love and continue their story. I also liked that there was a loose connection to the Law of Nine's story-line. Unfortunately, I think that this is about all I really enjoyed from this book.

What I didn't like. First of all, this book was written primarily as a mystery. I often have problems with mysteries because they have slow builds, giving you very little to move the story forward at a time. I found this to be true in this case. I just didn't feel like anything was happening for most of the novel. And anytime something finally did, the characters just talked about it. The debates became tedious because again, no headway was ever made. It was as if they were talking about it in order to try to talk it out, but there was little success...ever. Where is the action and adventure that made the other books so much fun? Also, I honestly found that by the end, I didn't care about any of the characters that much. Even Richard and Kahlan were not thoroughly developed in this book. Characters were doing things, but there was just not enough development of their motivations. No one grew. No one changed. Nathan Rahl is a great example. Major character, there during all of the events...no contribution whatsoever. He was just there. He threw in a sentence now and again just to show presence. It felt almost unnatural. Characters were all there, just to be there. They didn't do anything though. Zedd, as first Wizard, simply questions everything, offering nothing in terms of knowledge or expertise.

Whatever. I'm rambling and nitpicking now. Basically in the end, this was just my least favorite of the entire Terry Goodkind collection so far. If this was the first book in the series, I would never have continued on to read the rest. This is obviousely the first part in a new series or trilogy, because things were also left un-reconciled. It would have been nice if this was advertised as such. I loved that they did that with the chainfire trilogy. It built an expectation that it was only part of a story in each book, whereas this one was not promoted to be that way. I don't know why there has to be so much secrecy though. The law of nines clearly was tied into the series, but was advertised to be a new side project that would be completely separate. Why?

Anyway, that is my two cents on this book. I look forward to the next in the series and hope that the next one brings the action and adventure needed to help balance all of the philosophy and endless discussion.

This book is crap. Huge font. Short chapters. Leaving the book unresolved with the easy defeat of one of the enemies. I dont get where everyone that has reviewed the book has to write an essay about it longer that the book itself. Foolish. Idiotic. Yes, YOU! Finally, the use of the word 'prophecy' in this book was just tedious. In just one chapter I counted twenty times it was used before I gave up counting in disgust. Terry Goodkind you suck and I want my $7 back you hack!

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!

I love Goodkinds work now just as much as when I was a kid. This one has everything you want more of from the sword of truth series. While decent on its own, you must know the characters from prior books to fully appreciate it.

Spoilers ahead.

I don't give it the full five stars because I feel that some supporting characters were underutilized . We are used to seeing a lot more action and shenanigans from Zedd and Nathan for example . Normally such cunning characters, they seemed often like mere sounding boards for Richards dialogue . Not that they were completely without contribution, but I expected to see some amazing things happen with so many powerful characters gathered together.

That said, the story was great and there is plenty more room for awesome in the following book.

It almost seems like The Omen Machine is half a book.

It starts off really well done, and really well paced, but then around the mid-point the pacing just evaporates entirely and it becomes a mad rush for the final page.

Right up until the roof fell in, the book was shaping up to be everything that I'd expected out of Goodkind for one of his Sword of Truth books, and even after that point the ideas introduced were top notch.

But the last half of the book was rushed, and the book feels like it should have covered the same ground in twice the length, with more of the creepy atmosphere which was so well done in the first half.

Unlike other reviewers, I think the relatively low action content of the book was just fine, especially for being set right after the end of a massive and destructive war from the conclusion of Confessor. I just wish Goodkind had treated the whole book with the same care and attention the first half received, and I hope the continuation of it will avoid that mad dash for the finish line.

Like many other reviewers, I loved the SoT books and thought Goodkind tied up the series well with the last trilogy of books. I had read the Law of Nines, which felt kind of rushed and the ending let me down a bit, but I liked the premise.
I was optimistic when I saw The Omen Machine. Again, like others, Richard and Kahlan were amazing characters that do seem very watered down here. I did like the general setting for the book being almost entirely within the People's Palace. That was somewhat different from the previous books roaming all over.
Unfortunately the plot was a letdown both in premise and execution. As others have said, it is not near as exciting or fast-paced as previous books.
The biggest letdown for me, however, was the writing itself. It was bland, immature and uninspired. In many places it was repetitive down to complete phrases being repeated within a paragraph of each other - sloppy! I honestly had the thought that Goodkind let someone else use his setting, world and characters to write the book - then he just put his name on it- the quality of writing was just so far beneath his previous books.
I enjoyed the Sword of Truth books for the most part, although there were a few lesser efforts there too (with 12 books you're bound to get a couple of duds!). I thought the end to that series was very well done in the way it hearkened back to some of the events of the first book - sort of a reward for those of us who made it all the way through.
But after The Omen Machine, I think perhaps Mr. Goodkind should have left well enough alone.

Let me start by stating that I am not a book critic, we all have our own opinions and they are exactly that, OUR opinions. If your opinion differs, keep your opinion, it is of course yours! I'm not going to go into detail about the book itself, if you have read this, chances are you've read all of Terry's other books as well, so you have an idea of what to expect.

Terry is one of my favorite authors, his character development and creativity are some of the reasons I fell in love with his books. Are some books better than others? Of course, but the whole WFR series as a whole is great! In fact I named my first child after one of the main characters! Cheezy? Depends on who you ask! Anyways to get back to the Omen Machine.

The Omen Machine in general lacks the soul, develoment and backbone of the original series, I just don't get the dark erie sense that came along with a lot of his other books! The best way to describe it? It's rather hollow. I remember reading some of the first books and recall my hair standing on end (all 32 of them), with the anticipation of things to happen which often times could be overwhelming. Not in this book, I found that I was keying in on the word "prophecy" more often than not being that it was used several hundred times. Prophecy this, prophecy that, my god! If prophecy was prophecy than prophecy must have significant prophecy with other prophecy it might not mean prophecy unless you're a qulified prophet! UGG, shoot me! Not my favorite book!

Is it worth reading? Yah sure, you will only need about 8 hours to burn through the child size print and the James Patterson like chapters. I'm being a little harsh, I know but it just wasn't what I expected. I love that Terry chose to bring Richard/Kahlan and all our other favorite characters back, but I just expected so much more. I as always look forward to the next book, and will wait with anticipation.

I have always very much enjoyed almost all of the SoT novels.

Naked Empire and Pillars of creation being my least favorite by far, and FotF being my favorite. I never had much of a problem with TG's philosophical ranting. Yes it got to be too much at times, but it was worth going through that to read the rest of the book.

First off the dislikes:

The Omen Machine felt very different. It was nice and fast paced, but there was too many character behaviours that just did not seem to make sense for that character. Richard not doing many obvious things, like placing a guard in Kahlans room and him not going to the TotW immediately after knowing the book was involved. It would have done him more good then staying at the palace. Other returning characters were just not themselves and lacked alot of the character building that happened throughout the series.

The book was not long enough, and perhaps not enough detail. Felt more like law of nines writing, rather than SoT, and there was just too many random things that were never mentioned ever before that he brings in to help make the story go on.

Also, i have always been fond of maps, even it is just a small not very detailed one. I feel without them TG can just pull a new land out of his arse, without having to actually thinking forward and plan in advance, which is what he did. I would have much preferred if he tied this new area together with known areas somehow, or perhaps a reference to a place from many books ago that was perhaps only mentioned.

With all the dissapointing stuff out, it is still an entertaining read and it is nice to read about Richard and Kahlan (even though they dont seem the same). The books near the end of series were great, but plagued with too much philosphical dribble, which is one shining star of TOM, TG stays away from long philosphical rants. Although, if you really want to get nitpicky you could say the whole free will over prophecy thing is some form of that, but it is not annoying or intollerable at times like the end novels of SoT.

Read it if you loved SoT, but do not expect an epic.

It had been a few years since I read a Terry Goodkind book, and while reading this one, I found myself wondering if my tastes had just matured since I read the SoT series, but by the number of criticisms reviewed here, I guess it isn't just me. I had just finished reading Neal Stephenson's Anathem, a book where every line of dialogue is important and building toward an understanding of the book's plot. When I picked up this one, most of the dialogue just seemed to endlessly repeat ideas and facts that I'd figured out on my own pages before, and got a bit tedious. Also, I agree with the reviewer's criticism that said everyone in the novel, except Richard's core circle, was made out to be a total moron. I would like to think that at least someone else out there would be logical, but all those except the dignified leaders are made out to be bumbling followers of the loudest voice. Parts of the story line were intriguing, and I will probably pick up the next book, with hopes that the author rediscovered the complexity and depth of earlier books. By the way, I am a fan of physical books, and am sad that as a non-ebook reader, I have no access to his new story about Magda Searus.

As a dedicated Sword of Truth fan, I, like many other SOT followers, am obligated to see this through. Goodkind deserves my respect and attention to this series based on his previous books. The Omen Machine is worth reading for any serious Goodkind fan. With that being said, this book is a weak addition to the series. The characters have lost charm and depth. The plot is thin and lacks motivation. I must point out that I am comparing this against his earlier SOT books which are worthy of the high praise they received. Goodkind remains a talented storyteller despite the disappointment of this book. Final Word: This is not Goodkind's finest work but any serious SOT fan will appreciate having a new novel in the series to read.

I am a long time reader of Goodkind's novels with mixed feelings now and in the past. Not sure what the plot was in this book. It seemed like most of it was spent debating the value of prophecy. Moreover, the ending seemed thrown together just to give the story some action and conclusion. This was after yet another round of "let's see how we can make Richard/Kahlan suffer".
Lastly, the novels are often inconsistent about the strengths and abilities of the characters. For being one of the most powerful wizards along with the Seeker, it seems like many of the novels go through periods where either Richard can't use his powers or his powers are ineffective and this story is no exception. There are previous novels where the powerful Mord Sith and soldiers get beaten badly as well. In this novel, the main characters know to watch Kahlan yet no one responds when she is attacked within her room (whether the attack was real or not), and the elite guards were supposed to be watching her...The characters rarely live up to their hype.

Overall, it's a decent enough read to fill time... I recommend checking it out from the library, though, since it's not really worth spending money.

I've reread this whole series so many times I've lost count!!! Terry Goodkind is an amazing author!!! I can't say enough about any of his books. I recommend them to people all the time!!! You will not be disappointed by any of these books and The Omen Machine is no exception!!!!!

Scanning through the other reviews, I find myself nodding and agreeing. I loved the first eleven books; Richard was powerful, a three-dimensional character I could relate to, sympathize with, and enjoy going with on his newest challenge. Kahlan was a powerful, independent woman who could stand up for herself and create great change in those around her. She was Richard's equal in every way, the feminine grace and wisdom to balance out his strength and temper.

And yet, in this installment, these things were lacking. Richard frittered around the People's Palace like a spoilt child, bemoaning the lack of faith the people had in him. He lost the loyalty of the people so easily, and drove himself into the ground worrying about their stupidity instead of doing his normal "so be it," thing and proving them all wrong. Kahlan wandered around in a daze and nauseated so much, I thought maybe she was pregnant, and hoped that maybe a story line about a child that rendered Shota's prophecy real would emerge and we could see what sort of character decisions face Richard, but no such luck. Kahlan just ran from phantoms, a terrified girl lacking logic.

There are so many holes in the story, I can't point them out here. But seriously, (SPOILER ALERT!) the Richard we all know and love wouldn't blithely try to turn on a potentially dangerous artifact without the whole of the instruction manual, especially if he knew exactly where it was! The Temple of the Winds is in the material world now, and within easy traveling distance if Richard used the Silph. If it's necessary to use BOTH halves of the manual, don't you think you should go find it before you start leaping to wild-ass conclusions?

Nothing happened in this book what-so-ever. What was in it would take up a tiny sliver of one of the other books. It's a simple fix that should have lead to a bigger challenge, and on up until Richard meets a new and sinister bad guy, not just the readers seeing the story unfolding.

This being said, the only character I found 'real' was the bad guy. So much more thought went into this new menace than into keeping Richard, Kahlan and company in character. And this new bad guy reminded me of Goodkind himself. Something about the tall, brooding, bald man with tattoos all over him speaks of a personal issue on the part of the author, at least in my opinion. He wants to bring down the Rahl house? Goodkind seems to want the same thing, with the way he wrote the characters and the hole-riddled plot.

Honestly, I feel that Goodkind's heart wasn't in this story, or The Law of Nines for that matter. There was so much potential in the story, and then he turned a complete one-eighty and threw out something that sounded cool but in the end fell far, far short of his previous successes.

I'm sorry, but I recommend that if you've read all the previous books, stop at Confessor, which is a perfectly natural ending. Imagine your own story spiraling out afterward, and leave Omen Machine alone. It'll just sour you.

And Terry, if you ever actually read this, I realize that sometimes you get bored with characters and lose interest in them. If that is the case, please just find a new set of characters that draws your interest. Leave Richard and Kahlan as they are, and their entire world. If your agent insists you write about them, punch him in the nose and then hand him a different manuscript. Because right now, your last two books felt... flat, passionless, and boring. Find something you enjoy writing about and go with it. I'm still rooting for you.

First I would like to say I'm a big fan of the series. I initially became interested in the books after stumbling upon the television series on Netflix. When I learned that the show was based on the books, I knew that the books had to be even better! I was right. I spent a good portion of last year reading every last book. For the first time in a long while I found myself reading fiction. When I heard that Mr. Goodkind was releasing another book, I anxiously awaited its' release.

I picked up a copy a day after the release date at my local Walmart and paid handsomly for it...I guess instant gratification will co$t you. Over the past week I haven't had a tremendous amount of time to sit and read the book, but whenever I did find a block of time in the evening I would read it. I just finished it this afternoon and here are my thoughts.

It's as captivating as any of his other books, but it doesn't seem to stand alone like his other books. In his other books, you've got an overall plot that is slowly progressing while you have the plot of the individual book. This book ends like a bad horror movie.
When I got towards the end of the book, I started thinking "wow, I guess this is going to end rather quickly". It became pretty evident that the book wasn't going to provide anyone with any sense of finality to the plot.

I enjoyed the book, but I only gave it three stars because of this. I know that there has to be another book in the works based on what was written in the Omen Machine. I only hope that if Mr. Goodkind has decided to turn this into another multi-series adventure of Richard and Kahlan that he can remember how he managed to write books that stand alone as a story while also moving a larger plot forward towards a finale.

One of the worst pieces of drivel I've ever read, and this coming from a (previously) Goodkind fan. I will not be pursuing his books after this. The other, numerous, 1-star reviews sum up the multitude of issues with this book, and please note the nearly universal brevity of all of the recent, and clearly fake, 5 star reviews. Terry is apparently desperate to prop up this piece of trash instead of taking constructive criticism from his fans and improving his craft.

Like other readers I fell in love with characters and that is the only reason I finished the series. The first couple of books were amazing, but the last few books thoroughly disappointed this one included! I had to force myself to finish the book because it just kept dragging on, and then to find out he plans to write more!! Let the characters live in peace or get back to the magic of the original books! I agree with other posters TG just wants to make money.

Pleasant surprise, after all the disappointments with "Law of Nine" and "Chainfire". The "Omen Machine" is not fully back to the non-stop action of the first books in the series, but it is an enjoyable read, with enough things happening to make me finish reading the book in a day. TG lost most of the "preachiness" of his latest works, which also helps; even though the repetitiveness of the anti-prophecy dialogues has gotten on my nerves at some point of time. The biggest drawback for me was the lack of any development/surprise in characters. True, we all know them for a decade; true, they all stopped to be unpredictable a long time ago; I still wish that Richard and Kahlan , as well as Zedd, Nathan and Mord-Siths would do something "out of character" and "out of the box"..

I've been a HUGE fan from book one. I've read most of the books two or three times apiece. With the final book 'Confessor' from the previous story arc, everything seemed to suddenly change, as if he couldn't end the series fast enough. I went into this book with high hopes. I'm now absolutely dumbfounded with what Terry Goodkind has become as an author and with the direction he's taken this epic story. The characters have become lame and clueless, there's no depth to anyone or anything, everything feels rushed as if it were being written as an episode to a cheesy television series. *cough cough*

'Confessor' felt rushed and was difficult for me to read. 'The Omen Machine' was just BAD. Spelling mistakes throughout. Huge font. Noticeable mistakes in the storyline. This book was written for TV. It's obvious Terry wants his television series back. This book screams it with every sentence and it seems that everything I loved about Terry's writing style is gone. What happened to the epic storytelling that was 'Wizard's First Rule'? 'Stone Of Tears'? 'Blood Of The Fold'? 'Temple Of The Winds'? It's a terrible and depressing shame. His books were an amazing escape for so many people. This one feels like a hard slap in the face. Sadly, I won't be buying the next one.

WAKE UP, TERRY... You were my favorite author.

I love Terry Goodkind's world and all the character's within. The depth (and the length) of The Sword of Truth series made it a favorite of mine and all the friends/family I pushed it on. The new book The Omen Machine falls flat compared to the previous books more many reasons:
1. Character depth is gone, everybody is a mere shell of their previous wonder
2. While the book is a set up for a new arc, it still doesn't stand alone like the previous books could have. The plot is repetitive and slow in places, and the end comes much to late while being far to fast.
3. The new villains have none of the depth either, mentioned on it's own because I love how unlike so many fantasy novel's villain Goodkind's had reason beneath reasons, Hannis Arc's revengeful obsession is hardly enough to make him interesting.
4. Length... or lack of it. I don't mind books being short as long as they don't try to look long. The Omen Machine is printed in a way that makes it look lengthy until you realize how big the print is.
5. Repetition.... gone is the beautiful word play o Faith of the Fallen, Goodkind needs to invest in a new thesaurus. The amount of times I read dark. prophecy, evil etc jarred me out of the story.
6. Goodkind seemed to forget some of the rules of his world regarding magic. Firstly despite the oft mention limitation on Non Rahl magic users Zedd and Nicci both use powerful destructive magic, second a magic that works in Mord Sith??? and finally his rules on prophecy ( this last I debate as it is a plot point)

Not everything is bad,
A. It is clearly setting up for more books
B. The title Omen Machine is interesting and mysterious
C. Abbot Dreier is a good character I look forward to getting to know (i.e. he seems to have depth)
D.I like the new magic user Hedge Maids, they open up a new branch of magic

The books is good, but only vaguely so and probaly because you want to like anything about the character you have come to love. I wanted a good addition to my collection, not a poorly made fan fiction that never captures what made the original good. I can only hope the next book is better and returns to the quality of the previous novels.

Sometimes I don't know why I torture myself reading Terry Goodkind's books since almost universally they're terrible. This latest book is no exception. The plot is extremely simplistic with no subtlety or surprises. There is no sense of mystery or discovery that one usually associates with fantasy books. Essentially, the plot boils down to some bad man doing something evil and Richard coming to the rescue despite all odds. However, I have to admit, I was surprised at the ending. Does Terry Goodkind believe Richard to be some insane genius who's able to get out of all dilemmas despite having no information at all about the situation? It stretches all imagination. In all honesty, Terry Goodkind needs to take a couple of writing classes before he writes another book. He would do himself and his readers a huge favor if he did this.

The Sword of Truth is a great series. However, the story in The Omen Machine was not as engaging as it was in the previous books, and also the ending is super rushed.

SPOILERS AHEAD:

What happened to Hannis Arc? Abbot Ludwig Dreier? Or even Vika? I hope he writes a sequel to this story.

Let me start by saying I am a huge fan of Terry Goodkind. The Sword of Truth series is the first complete series I have ever read. After I finished one book, I couldn't wait to read the next.

As the series went on, some of the books started to take an odd turn and I was becoming more and more disappointed.Still, I enjoyed the series as a whole.

Then I picked up the The Omen Machine. This is the worst book I have ever read. This book seemed forced and very lazy. I would say it seems like Terry was going through the motions but that is certainly not the case. It is like he had someone else write the book. It's like a cash grab.

Needless to say I hope the next book is better. If not, it will be the last Goodkind book I ever purchase!

I was excited to learn that there was another Richard and Khalan story and immediately got the audiobook, especially after Law of Nines hinted at further workings in their world. However, I have to say that had i gotten a physical book and not an audiobook, i would have probably put it aside in favor of other books in my pile waiting to be read.

TG may have been going for explanation and detail, but there is such a thing as beating a dead horse. Some scenes he described two and three times in only slightly different ways before deciding that even the dimmest of his readers would understand what he was saying.

Richard and Khalan come across flat and only a few times did they show the spark of what made them the characters that we grew to love throughout SoT. Khalan played the part of "weak woman" for the most part, with her Confessor strength showing only rarely. More often than not, she just wanted Richard to protect her. Richard was whiney and indecisive throughout. It's as if peace and leadership has weakened him.

I did think Hannis Arc was an interesting addition, a legacy from the Rahls of times past. On that point, I think TG did a good job of prolonging the mystery of this new villain, feeding us tidbits from time to time, building up who he is and what he can do. until he conspicuously disappears from the story in the last few chapters.

In general it was OK, but it won't be on my list of re-reads. I'd say it would be worth it for fans to check out the book from a library, but it's one that i don't feel bad about not having on my bookshelf. As an audiobook, it was fine to play in the car or on my mp3 player at work, and if i missed a few sentences here and there to take a call it honestly didn't matter.

I don't remember Terry' s books being so damn repetitive before. The First Confessor was loaded full of repetition. This one wasn't quite that bad, but I still found myself skimming. SNORE. When there was some action near the end, I felt more engaged. The leaders acted ridiculously in my option. Their actions were not in any way believable.

I'm not sure that I have anything to add to the mountains of horrible reviews, yet _The Omen Machine_ is so terrible that I feel compelled to write one anyway. To begin, I am a huge SoT fan. _Stone of Tears_ and _Faith of the Fallen_ are among my favorite books of all time. The SoT series died a slow, painful death when TG ended it with the "final trilogy". The best way to sum up the ending to _Confessor_ is to ask how you say "Deus ex machina" in High D'Haran. Yet despite the horrible loss of plot and the constant proselytizing, TG still managed to develop amazing characters. Richard, Kahlan, Nicci, Chase, Rachel, Zedd, Cara, Raina, and many more kept the series alive. Then came _The Omen Machine_.

Suddenly all the powerful, amazing, strong characters became whiny, indecisive hand-wringers. It is as if Stephanie Meyers is suddenly writing these books. Richard has turned into Bella. (spoiler alert) I was almost rooting for the hedge to swallow Richard up forever and put this series out of it's misery once and for all. But no, the book ended in a cliff-hanger which will induce the crazy, the gullible and the hopelessly optimistic to buy another book on the off-chance that the characters we love will somehow reappear. I don't know if I'm most upset with TG for writing this drivel, TOR for allowing it to be published, or myself for wasting time and brain cells reading it.

Anyone want to bet that the omen machine in the Garden of Life was left by aliens and the purpose that it needs to fulfill is getting back to it's mother ship? Seriously. The series has gotten ~that~ bad.

Ok, I am a huge SOT fan, I have ready the ENTIRE series 3 times, and for all of you fans, you know that is a ridiculous time commitment! However, this book falls so completely short, that I am done with Terry Goodkind, Richard, Kahlan, Nicci (oh so sad), and Cara forever. I have 35 pages left in this "short-story" and I am still waiting for something, anything to happen. From an author who painfully explains every detail, and emphasizes the strengths and weaknesses of each character, and who drones on in length about all wars, battles, etc... I have to ask, "Who really wrote this book"? There is nothing Goodkind on any of the pages...

All I can think is that TG was hurting for money and needed to throw a book together very quickly. This is a huge disappointment for those of us who would follow Richard and Kahlan anywhere....

An exciting page-turner. But those who are expecting the continuation of Richard and Kahlan's story to be as good as the first few books in the Sword of Truth series are going to be disappointed. On the plus side, this book did almost make me forget that "Law of Eights" nonsense that he wrote prior to this book. What surprised me most about The Omen Machine was seeing that Goodkind had toned down on the preachy and repetitive speeches. That was a welcome change. Although I enjoyed the book, I couldn't help but feel that the very predictable ending was just too rushed. Still, I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't looking forward to the next book in this series.

I enjoyed this book, but I kept flashing back to other books that were connected to it - The Law of Nines, the earlier Sword of Truth books, and The First Confessor... I'm not sure why that was so distracting, but it was... Ah well. Now I just have to wait for the next sequel. Because you know there's going to be more...

While, indeed as others have noted in other reviews, this latest book in the Sword of Truth series does lack a certain intensity, I would be so bold as to disagree that it lacks depth. Our brave heroes find themselves in a whole new world that requires a whole new set of skills. Kahlan takes the lead as the politically fueled world they now find themselves in is manipulated by unseen forces. An interesting examination of mob and fear mentality and political shadow games. While others may feel beat about the head by Goodkind's philosophy, I find it thought provoking and enjoy the social correlations to real world applications. It may be that too much information was given too early about the unseen forces to the reader that created a sense that it took forever for Kahlan and Richard to figure things out, but I found them to attack this new obstacle in true character.

Goodkind's SoT series sits next to Jordan's WoT in my bookshelf...love both series so much. We even named our firstborn after Kahlan because we felt such a deep connection to her character. This book is truly a shame. The writing is repititous and boring (I REALLY don't care how the library is organized!), the characters are uninspiring and disconnected, and nothing exciting happens until the last 50 pages. Then you get a cliffhanger ending...such an obvious device to sell more books.

I am actually hoping that we find out there was a ghost writer or fanfiction pseudo-writer that took a TG idea and ran with it because to admit that TG wrote this and was satisfied with the work he put out tells me he is no longer in love with these characters. I really wish I hadn't read it because it tarnished my image of R/K's happy ending with this poorly scripted "adventure". It's like a junior novelization, not a continuation of my beloved SoT.

Your fans deserve better, Terry!

Goodkind is a great storyteller, and the novels are often filled with suspense and twists in the plot.

I have read his entire "Sword of Truth" series, the first several books of which are some of the best fantasy books I have ever read. Near the end of the series, I felt it started to go downhill. This present book -- which is the first book of a new series but continues to story line where it left off from the "Sword of Truth" series -- didn't really ascend much out of the narrative valley where the "Sword of Truth" series left off.

I found some of the dialogue forced, and the plot line was often predictable. Also, I am a quite skeptical of where Goodkind is going with this machine of his.... It kind-of reminds me of one of the novels by Terry Brooks where the author seemed to have run out of bad people to fight, and so created a machine which had been sitting around for thousands of years to fight instead. Of course, Richard isn't really fighting this machine...not yet anyway... but still...

I will probably continue to buy and read the rest of the books, if only because every couple years, I need to stop reading more "serious" books, and read something that takes my mind elsewhere.

I am a huge fan of the Sword of Truth series and was thrilled to find TG had gone back to Richard and Kahlan's story. I think this book is pretty good. Yes, its no First Rule or Faith of the Fallen, but I felt it was true to the characters even if it was weak in spots. Anyone who truly loves these characters will enjoy this book. Can't wait for the next one!

I was always a big fan of the Sword of Truth series. (Temple of Winds and Chainfire were two of my favorites). I wasn't even as disappointed as some were with Confessor. It definitely wasn't Goodkind's strongest piece of work, but I would have given it a solid 3 out of 5. The Omen Machine however was almost as if someone else wrote it. Numerous spelling & grammatical errors. Large font and margins. About halfway through the book he starts a new chapter about every six pages (often in the middle of a scene). I couldn't help but feel that his publisher had demanded a 500 page book and TG was pulling out every college-aged term paper trick to get it up to 500 pages (finished around 520 in hardcover). Dialog was repetitive.. (again probably to bulk up the page count). The story itself had promise but was poorly executed with weak dialog, with the climax happening about 5 pages from the end where Richard just magically "figures it out".

I'm amazed at the number of 5 star reviews on here. Though I'm sure a good chunk of them are planted reviews from the publisher. A true TG fan though should be critical and call him out when he doesn't deliver to his standards.

Old authors never die, they just keep spewing rubbish (see Tom Clancy). Add Mr. Goodkind to that roll. I SO badly wanted him to recapture a modicum of his former ability. (I urge you to re-read "Wizard's First Rule," "Stone of Tears," or "Blood of the Fold" to appreciate what he once was able to accomplish.) But regrettably, TG has simply continued his downward spiral into obscurity and appalling storytelling! It really started with the final third of his SoT series, but I dismissed that as merely a series running out of steam. Then came "The Law of Nines," the single-worst novel I've ever read--EVER. I presumed LoN was an aberration--a throw away brain fart, of which all authors are allowed one. Then...I...read...thzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

I'm sorry, where was I. Oh yes, the prophecy book (the word prophecy appears over 1 billion times; I counted.) Yet another rambling, disjointed treatise from Mr. Goodkind on "free will, self-determination, independent thought, blah, blah, blah." I beg someone, anyone, with more time on their hands than I to read this novel and identify how many frustrating times he repeats filler. One (of hundreds) example:

Kahlan pg. 148: "Richard isn't here with us this afternoon. He is attending to these matters along with serious issues of prophecy. As a gifted wizard and the Lord Rahl it is his responsibility to see to these issues. We all know from everything that has happened in recent years that he is more than competent to handle such matters."

(The very next page!) Kahlan pg. 149: "That's to say nothing of Richard himself. Right now he is seeing to such matters, as is his duty and responsibility to all of you. I can assure you, he takes his responsibility very seriously."

AAAARRGGGHHHHH! Good thing you clarified that Terry, on the VERY NEXT PAGE, because I didn't get it the first several dozen times you wrote about it in the preceding pages! Seriously, this amateurish writing occurs abundantly throughout the entire book.

And then there is the "story," or lack thereof. (1st aside alert: Not that Mr. Goodkind cares, I'm sure he is set for life, but I will never read another of his feeble attempts to craft a story, I don't care if he pens the definitive unauthorized biography of me.) All of the main line people in this book have become so incredibly tiresome and one-dimensional that, as a reader, I have nothing invested in them, could absolutely care less if they perish, and that is the worst indictment you can give to a book. Nothing happens--except Richard and Kahlan mooning for each other, Richard pontificating, Kahlan imitating Richard pontificating, the various mord sith (2nd aside alert: you know a book sucks when you are constantly asking yourself is plural mord sith or mord siths and not paying any attention to the hypothetical plot) glowering and "following closely in their red leather," Nathan and Zed popping in and out with apparently nothing to add, exceedingly intricate albeit boring prose about what people are wearing and oh so exasperating text about architecture descriptions right down to what chairs look like, etc. I really, really, really, have no one to blame but myself. I should have stopped after reading from page 37 to page 53 about the friggin' library. Do you realize that was 16 PAGES of stupefyingly monotonous and repetitive discussion about library organization?!?! Like I said, the blame lies solely with me for slogging through this book to its hackneyed end. But you know, it's sort of like a bad car accident--you gotta slow down and you can't stop looking at it even though you know better.

However, as my Mom taught me, always end on a positive note, so here goes: the one unassailable fact that allowed me to give this book one star--I got it free from my brother.

I read The Omen Machine very quickly. I have always been a fan of Terry Goodkind, and I eat his books like candy! While I know his technical writing isn't completely perfect, Mr. Goodkind can form a plot and push character development like no one else. The Omen Machine was no exception. His technical writing was better than usual in this book. The plot was good, but not in depth enough for me. I am used to the more epic books of the Sword of Truth series. This was a bit different. It was fast paced, for one thing. It have laughable moments and moments where I literally got goosebumps because what was happening was so creepy! The characters we know and love were there in all their glory, and we also met new and interesting characters.

My only complaint, and the reason that I did not give it 5 stars, is that it ended at a strange part for me. I was left feeling like the end of the novel was missing. I know that there will be more books coming, and that they will answer some of the questions I still have, but I still felt as though the story just... stopped. It didn't end, it stopped. It was kind of like pressing pause on a DVD player, and then not getting to finish the DVD until an indeterminate date.

All in all, however, I love the book. And I loved getting back in with some of my favorite characters. I am interested to see how this plays out, knowing the history that we learned in Law of Nines.

I was very disappointed that I didn't get the cover image when I purchased this book for my Kindle. It felt like the publisher didn't felt the cover image was necessary since it's a digital copy of the book. The price was outragiously high for a 527 page book. This is the 6th book in the Sword of Truth series that didn't come with a cover image. My enjoyment of this book and the Kindle experience dramatically reduced without the cover.

First off, I am an avid follower of the Sword of Truth series. I have been captivated by the obstacles Richard has overcome and intrigued by the characters Goodkind has established. I found it hard to put each of the SOT books down and when I was forced to, I could not help but wonder what was going to happen next. When I found out the Omen Machine was being released I could not wait but what I found within the pages was disappointing. I found myself skipping pages due to monotonous plot lines and undeveloped characters. Come on Terry step your game up, I know you needed to bust out a quick book but make the next one a little more intriguing before you lose the interest of your followers. I still look forward to the next book because how the Omen Machine left off their has to be some closure. Lets hope Richard finally is able to fully understand his power as a War Wizard, like he knew in the Temple of Winds.

But when amazing magic slingers like Nicci, Nathan and Zedd take three pages to seemingly try to phathom a simple idea and ask the same question over and over...argh. The editing is poor, the text is beyond repetative. I'm halfway through the book and still waiting for some meat. I'm not a hard to please person who nitpicks a book to death, I'd rather just go for the ride. Feel like I'm sitting still though. I'll keep reading because it's characters I love, but there's nothing memorable going on here. Where's the writer who made me creeped out about chickens for a solid week? Or who made the simple phrase "thunder with no sound" give me goosebumps?

"The Omen Machine" revisits Richard and Kahlan shortly after the final book in "'The Sword of Truth"' series. The novel seems more a prelude of things to come for the unfortunate couple. In a sense, I wish the author would stick with his philosophy of living your own life and let the two of them live their lives and stop the sad writing. The environmental details are lacking, the non-existent political maneuvering provides no challenges, and the bland characters encounter minimal action.

At least the author has a style, one which focuses on the word "'that"' to an unending level. Many times there are 3 if not 4 "that" in a single sentence. "When all was good and done, THAT was the single thing THAT convinced Kahlan THAT Richard was right, THAT there was something more going on." or "I'm suspicious THAT THAT much power might have given you THAT headache while you slept." The prior examples are classic examples, yet the author receives writing awards. I believe the standard has been severely lowered if such is the case.

As the review title suggests, I'm reminded of Monty Python's Holy Hand Grenade on pulling the Holy Pin. The filler of repetitive, redundant, repeated, reiterated, phrases with or without questions. Richard explains self to a person, someone else asks a question related to topic, Richard explains self again worded differently, another person challenges the topic, Richard explains self again, etc. The tactic is done numerous times whether it is about living your own life or the dangers of prophecy. Also there is the plain writing with no energy and run on sentences. The beginning featured characters speak for paragraphs without any interaction, not raising an eyebrow, straightening their skirts, or passing gas. Just lecture where everyone sounds the same. Later are many "he wondered what" ... "he wondered if"..."he wondered what" or "he thought"..."he felt"..."he thought" on consecutive sentences or paragraphs.

The storyline has poor development. Kahlan has the nerve to tell a man he is to blame for his murdered wife when he was out chasing prophecy, yet it happened under Richard's roof with his guards throughout the palace. It is the responsibility of the host to provide a level of protection. Her remark sounds like a way to exclude Richard and Kahlan from having any responsibility, no reason a death should tarnish their perfect image. I can imagine readers really believing it's the man's fault for his wife death; no it was the fault of the attackers not the husband. Richard and Kahlan don't think a boy had anything more than a fevered dreams and didn't say so, but 3 sentences later tells the mother he thinks it's nothing more than a childhood fever. Why as a writer state the characters will not say so then have them express it? It appears indecisive as what the author wants the characters to do. In a palace of people, a sprawling city spending half a life crossing, a person can go missing without anyone seeing or hearing them run off. Similarly Richard finds something important or a person gone missing, instead of getting the guard or calling for help, the plot device is to have Richard run off on his own. A great example is when a person goes missing from a guarded room and Richard chases out the window without even shouting to the guards outside the room. Richard is a jerk to his grandfather Zedd and Nathan, both elite wizards with experience over a thousand years, because he knows all and plays guessing games by providing elusive explanations to put them on the defensive. Essentially placing Zedd and Nathan as useless ornaments in a thinning cast. Richard'll discount prophecy but quickly accepts a machine is communicating with him as a living creature.

Hannis Arc is a shallow villain, his motivation of attacking Richard is as cliché as it is pathetic. Richard's father killed Hannis' family. Wow, how clever. At one point Richard asks about Hedge Maids, Nicci tells him to stay away, end of discussion, but too little to late she decides to talk about their background and possible weaknesses.

A detailed map of the significant terrains and comprehensive appendix would have been useful.

I found the novel to have no real entertaining value. Libraries are wonderful places. I hoped the author would have produced a better novel but sadly was wrong. You wish to know what happens, read my 2-minute summary comment on the review. Each sentence is a summary of each chapter.

Thank you.

TG doesn't have the story anymore. He's just filling pages with tired rhetoric playing off the fact we all used to love his characters.... hell I still love his characters and wish he would go ahead and write a book about them. You know.. the witty ones that invoked reactions from me while I read the the books.. the ones that made my eyes water and my chest heave, the ones that made me literally throw back my head and laugh. The ommmminous knowledge of a mord-sith and that if there are magics like that in this world WHAT ELSE WILL MR GOODKING HAVE IN STORE FOR US! or OMG the mud people, I laughed so hard when Richard slugged one of them. Just so many great memories from the series.

Apparently he has crap in store for us though. I used to be a really big fan, I've recommended and got numerous friends to start/buy this series.. Then I read the last 3 books, and was terribly underwhelmed. But hey, I finished the series, I was mostly content, and had every intention of reading any book Mr. Goodkind put out. I'd enjoyed huge swaths of the SoT series and felt prepared to give him a chance in any universe. Seems fair? I thought so.

Anyway, one of the 5 star reviews hit it on the head. It's like TG has turned this into Harry Potter. Lamest War Wizard EVER. Richard never does anything even moderately interesting with his almighty powers. I don't want to read Harry Potter or anything remotely like it, I don't want things spelled out for me to the point a moderately intelligent 6 year old could puzzle it out..

AND SOME WIT? Can we have some wit? ...

I'd still recommend you checkout the series, the first half of it is amazing (And Faith of the Fallen was a real gem)... but I wouldn't bother reading anything after Chainfire. All it does is make me angry. </10cents>

The Sword of Truth series, which was awesome in the early going, and still reasonably strong til the end, did suffer from a rather sudden and anti-climactic ending. I heard Goodkind got into a dispute with TOR about deadlines and that was the result. (Edit: I fully concede this might not even be true. Just what I heard.) I still wasn't displeased with the work, except for maybe the last 20 pages.

But The Omen Machine...it's just plain *bad*. It feels as if Goodkind picked out some fanfic writer whose style he approved of and let the guy go to town. The story is unexplained, bland and disinteresting. The characters are flat, yet constantly reminding you of how awesome they were. Even the title is uninspiring. There's only just enough to the story to make me believe Terry Goodkind had anything to do with the book at all. Even then, it feels like a hyperbole, considering the whole story is about how Richard refuses to accept prophecy the way many other characters do. In the process, all the pro-prophecy people look like buffoons, and yet Richard consistently has egg on his face at the hands of a new big bad that we don't ever really get to learn about or confront.

The book I read was a bit over 500 pages. It wasn't until about page 450 that I felt the story was actually starting to genuinely go somewhere, and then the book just ends abruptly. There's no confrontation with the new big bad, or even with his lackey. There's virtually no explanation of the way the story ends, other than all the characters going "oh, ok, I guess that's what happened then" and laughing to each other about it and now Nicci is going to make everything all better. Because that's about the only time any of the secondary characters gets to do *anything*. Cara, Zedd, Nathan...yeah, they're all here abundantly. But they're just talking heads. And in reality, so are Richard and Kahlan, even though the narrative is being told through them. 3 pages at a time, because that's about how long the average chapter is. And in the end, all we're left with is questions...what exactly is the titular omen machine? Who is Hannis Arc, what is he capable of, and why is he so freaking irrational about current events? How does Richard know how to deal with the individual at the end of the book, beyond some obscure half-prophecy he receives that not even the Seeker should be able to make sense of?

No, I think I'm going to come back to my original assertion. This was a fanfic that Goodkind put his name on. Hell, maybe Goodkind was the fanfic author, but make no mistake: this is not an authoritative work. I'm just glad I borrowed it from the library, because this is not a book to own. (Sorry, the store.) The worst part is, considering the bad guys are still very much undealt with at the end of the book, it's obvious that this is meant to segue into another book later -- a book I will most assuredly not be reading. That's rather a shame, because I never give up on anyone, but I giving up on TG. And also consider, I'm not some grumpy curmudgeon who suffered through two books to get here; I read the entire Sword of Truth series and have them sitting on the bookcase behind me. I'm a fan. Or was one.

1. Purchase the Audio version of the book.

2. Invite over a roomful of friends.

3. Play the "Dark Darkness" Drinking Game.
Rules: Drink every time Goodkind uses the word "dark" or "darkness".
Caution: Do not use hard alcohol or your drinking game will be over far too quickly.

4. Play the "Prophecy is for Prophets, Not for Profit" Drinking Game.
Rules: Drink every time someone demands that only prophets (or only the gifted) should engage in prophecy.

5. Once you and your friends are good and drunk, have a rousing debate on whether Goodkind prefers:
A. Cara's blue eyes or Kahlan's green eyes.
B. Red leather outfits, brown leather outfits, or white leather outfits.

6. Pull out your poker chips and place bets on the total number of times each of the following will be stated, restated, reworded, and paraphrased:
A. We have no idea how the books in the library are currently organized.
B. The books in the library really ought to be organized.
C. I have decided that the books in the library will be organized.
D. This is how the books in the library will be organized.
E. A sheet of paper will represent each book in the library.
F. I'm not sure you should bother organizing the books in the library.

7. Cash in your poker chips and have a great night.

I've been a Terry Goodkind fan since I was a teenager. I remember reading Wizard's First Rule in the mid-90s, and it's still my favorite book to today. IT IS THE SOLE REASON I FELL IN LOVE WITH READING.
So, I've ridden the roller coaster with TG, and for the most part, the series was spectacular. So, when I heard there was a new series started (within the Sword of Truth world), I was extremely excited, so I bought this book asap and read it.

And you know what? It was so short, that I got through it in about one fifth the time I did with Dance with Dragons. And I noticed a few issues:

The writing style does not match up with previous books by TG. TG made some smart quip about this very issue in one of his Facebook posts. But in fact, the style is so different, that 'quick read' that he claims, does not even begin to explain it. The first 7 chapters are almost pure 'chat'. There is almost no level of detail in the entire book. He did away with descriptions and his characters no longer `reason' problems out.
The story is 'extremely' short and shows lack of depth.

In the past, we were used to characters acting in a logical manner, being an adult, worrying about things. But, this book reads like a Three Stooges episode with Richard being Moe, Kahlan being Larry, and rest of the cash being all the other characters who died. Just imagine each character being a 2d paper cut-out. There's no room for brains or love in a 2d paper cut-out, and it's that way here.

Do you remember the time when we used to feel for Richard's love of Kahlan? Do you remember wh en we used to imagine the brilliant mystery behind Zedd? How do you think we should feel to have these characters being loveless and thoughtless.

Richard has lost his brains

Kahlan has lost her majesty

Zedd has lost his mystery and awe

Nathan has become a buffoon.

I've noticed a huge number of posts the day this book was released (on the store), that have been giving rave reviews for this book. And I'm here to say that 99% of those reviews did not read this book. They may have "hoped" it was going to be as good as WFR, they may have hoped. But you will continue to hope while you ready this pile of slime. You will hope that it will end.

My final message:

Sorry Terry, but having your kids or friends write your books just because it will sell with your name printed on the cover is a sad Joke. Here, take this '$$$

Just finished THE OMEN MACHINE.

First some quick background: I love Terry Goodkind's work. I like all of the SOT books...I've read the first book three times, and the entire series twice. The only book I wasn't crazy about was PILLARS OF CREATION because Richard and Kahlan are not the featured main stars of that book. But I even loved the later books, the ones people complain about. I liked reading the philosophical "rants"... they made the books interesting to me. I don't agree with EVERYTHING presented, but I take what I do agree with, and move on. They are very entertaining. Overall, the philosophy of SOT makes these books much stronger than books that don't have defined viewpoints. They are always delivered with fervor and absolute belief. I have found much in the character of Richard that I look up to... he is definitely a hero to me, and I can strive to a better person because of him.

Finishing THE OMEN MACHINE, I think Terry took to heart the criticisms of his later books (which I didn't have a problem with). He severely tones down the philosophical presentations to a few sentences here and there. This book definitely has the tone and voice of the SOT books, but it is way more CONCISE. The chapters are often 3-4 pages long. Often the chapters feature one 'scene' and then end. It's a rapid-fire method of writing, and keeps the book moving fast. In some ways similar to his writing style on LAW OF NINES, but more-so... and taking a bit of the James Patterson-style of fast-moving plots.

OMEN MACHINE tells a good story, and it's refreshing to read new material with Richard and Kahlan. The book is a mystery of sorts, where the characters are trying to figure out exactly what the titular device is, and why it is causing the problems it is creating in the People's Palace. The theme of the book is PROPHECY, and the good/bad associated with it. A new villain arises, and the threat is dire. The book starts slow, and gradually builds up the suspense and sense of urgency. By the time you are at the end, you are reading madly... it is very much a page turner for the last 1/3.

I enjoyed the book, but two criticisms: First...I, too, wanted another 900 page tome. We got about half of that. It took me four days to read it... where usually his books take me about a week or week and a half. Secondly, I'll admit that I found myself pining for the missing philosophical musings... although I'm probably in the vast minority on that.

As the book's ending got closer and closer... I kept wondering... how is he going to wrap this up in the pages he has left? I found the ending was a good one, but I wanted more of a CODA. Rest assured this book has a definite beginning, middle, and definable end... and ending that will be satisfying... but there are still plotlines that need to be resolved. I feel good about that, though, because this means we probably have more Richard and Kahlan books coming... and that's definitely a GOOD thing.

This is a good starting point for new readers. Terry gives us enough backstory on established characters to create the landscape necessary for new folks to catch on. Rest assured, new readers... that there are some AWESOME books for you to read.... if you end up liking this. FAITH OF THE FALLEN is by far the best... and the first is a classic, of course. I like them all (even PILLARS.. to a lesser extent for obvious reasons), and you will, too. You do have to read them in order for maximum impact, because they build on each other.

There is a way that Terry Goodkind's writing has progressed over the last 15 years that I am not exceptionally fond of. I'm not talking about the soapbox ranting in Naked Empire (which has thankfully been done away with for this book), but the prose itself. It seems that the wonderfully entertaining descriptions and deep new characters are going to be in short supply from now on in Goodkind's writing. That said, this book did ok in the storytelling realm.

The Omen Machine has a good pace, and thoroughly perplexing mystery, the return of basically every character faithful readers would want to see, and the requisite chase to catch up with Kahlan before something awful happens. The prose, as I said earlier, is not Goodkind's best... at times it feels as though he's taking his favorite phrases from previous books and tossing them in because they fit better than fresh wording. The characters are made out to be clever and thoughtful, and there is surprisingly little action for a book of Goodkind's. Based on the (extremely) short and quick ending, this is probably a setup book for something huge. If this is the plan, then I am all eyes for whatever our author has planned, even if this book was only... ok.

Not Terry Goodkind's best work and not up to the early and mid "Sword of Truth" series of books. I would wait for this to come out in the discount stores for $6.00, then it might be worth the price.
The Kindle price is also infalted but all Kindle pricing is when you stop to consider that there are no printed pages, no book covers etc. Why is the digital version only $2.00 less?

The story itself wasn't all that terrible, but if he had just cut out all the unnecessary repeating between the characters and made a novella rather than a novel, it would have worked a lot better. But instead, we have characters that we love lacking all around and constantly repeating each other over and over. Sad :(