Chainfire
Book Nine in Sword of Truth; first book in a trilogy
Terry Goodkind
Voyager, a division of HarperCollins
Hardcover, 670 pages
Reviewed by Al du Pisani, 15 June 2005
Richard Rahl wakes up after he had been seriously wounded in an attack, to
find out that his wife is missing. More, everybody he knows tells him that he
never had a wife.
The prophet Nathan Rahl finds a tombstone with his name on it. Behind it,
a cache of prophetic books. With one small feature: A lot of the pages in the
books are blank. Yet he must get Richard to listen to him and complete the
prophecies.
The Emperor Jagang have put his newest toy into play: After practice by
creating the Slide, his people created an unstoppable monster, that
randomly change his attack, his appearance, and his methods every time. And
this monster have been placed on Richard's trail.
The Imperial Order are still continuing on the attack against the heartland
of D'Hara. But they have come to the conclusion that the direct attack over
the mountain passes will take too long. (And chew up too many people, but
that is a minor consideration.) So they are going into the deserts of the
south to find another path to D'Hara.
The Imperial Order can also not ignore the rebellion that Richard have
started in it's own heart land, and have sent a punitive force to destroy the
cities that have rebelled.
All of this Richard, Sister Nicci, his Mord'Sith bodyguard Cara, and all
of his friends must face. But Richard have another aim: Finding his missing
wife. He will do whatever it takes to find her.
And in a ruined city in the Deep Nothing, a young girl waits for Richard
Rahl to rise from the dead.
The Wizard's Ninth Rule is: Contradictions cannot exist.
Terry Goodkind have been unusually consistent in his writing: Actions
always have consequences. The solution you have found to the evil of the
previous book, often turned to be the problem you have to solve in the next
book. As there was always some small drawback to the solution that you found.
In this book, we are starting on a full circle journey: The evil of the first
book may have the solution to the problem of the current book.
I say may, because this is the first time Terry Goodkind did not write a
book that could stand on its own, but left things wide open for a sequel to
resolve the issues raised. The story that have started in this book is not
even close to finished, and will go to some strange places. As have the
action in this book.
In a recently published interview, Goodkind saidthat the
Sword of Truth is nearing completion. He may come
back to the world he have created, to tell further stories, but he is aiming
to close the circle.
And that is obvious from the book.
I still like his work, and he still throws ideas at me that make me look
in a different way at the world. Yet I am also glad that the story he started
telling a good decade ago is nearing completion.
Two reasons I cannot unreservedly recommend this book: Unless you have
read the previous books in the series, some of the background will slide past.
Not all of it, since Goodkind tries to bring to your attention the important
bits from previous books, but enough to matter. And this book is not
complete in itself, but are awaiting resolution, two books further on.
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