Date: 14 April 2011, 06:45
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I have been reading Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series for some time now, and have enjoyed them a great deal. In my opinion, however, "Faith of the Fallen," Book 6 in the "Sword of Truth" series, is by far the best book to date. Each book expounds upon one of several rules of magic -- beginning with the "Wizard's First Rule," that people are stupid -- and we have had fun trying to figure out what each rule was before one of the characters, usually Zed, got around to announcing it. "Faith of the Fallen" is, like its flap copy states, a novel of ideas. In it, Richard Rahl is captured by a sorceress, Nicci, and taken to the heart of the Imperial Order, its crown city in the Old World. There, he sees and confronts the Order's effect on the lives of its citizens firsthand. The Old World in sway of the Imperial Order bears more than a superficial resemblance to the failed regime of Communism in the former USSR, although its lessons can also be applied when contemplating our own society's ongoing efforts towards greater equality and the continuing welfare debate. Goodkind is not the first writer to tackle the issue of socially engineered "equality" -- Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron" is another fine example of this genre -- but he does so in a way that is compelling and thought-provoking. It goes without saying that Richard will save the day, but this time we see a new side to the War Wizard, that of creator. Put simply, the Sword of Truth is not the only blade that Richard can wield with almost supernatural skill. Goodkind is very adept at description, and his passages about carving seem very realistic and vivid. He is also very good at characterization, and his most vividly drawn creations include several women -- Kahlan, Cara and Verna among them. The number of women in Goodkind's volumes is a refreshing change from what seems their mere token appearance in the work of some other male fantasy authors. For some reason, though, several of these women want to go to bed with, or marry, Richard, and Nicci is no exception. A fully realized character, full of conflict, who Nicci is and what she does in "Faith of the Fallen" are a direct result of her past experiences. Altogether, "Faith of the Fallen" is an excellent novel, enjoyable on many levels as rousing fantasy adventure and as the "novel of ideas" it is purported to be. I highly recommend "Faith of the Fallen" and the other volumes in the "Sword of Truth" series.
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