Well, to say this book surprised me would be the understatement of the year. When I cracked the spine of this baby, I fully expected to pick up where the sixth book had left me. That would be with Richard and Kahlan in the Old World.

Instead I found myself with a girl named Jennsen, and later on with a brute called Oba, about whom the previous books didn't breathe a word and who, if I may be honest, didn't interest me one bit (in the beginning at least). But this doesn't mean that the book didn't provide a nice read. Goodkind somehow always manages to build such strong characters. I didn't give a damn about Jennsen and Oba at the beginning of the book, but nonetheless I was cheering and shouting for Jennsen to make the correct choice at the end of it all.

Nevertheless, I would have liked to have read more about Richard and Kahlan. And Cara too, of course. Which is a first for me. I find it quite a challenge to read book after book about the same characters. But somehow Goodkind always manages to drag me back into Richard and Kahlan's world.

Anyway, back to the missing trio... I was psyched when they finally showed up. In between the lines it was made clear that they had been on quite a moving journey themselves (there is even this sort of bantering between the 3 of them about something that didn't turn out well because Cara "touched it") but Goodkind never explains where they have been and what they have been up to. Maybe he'll include this in the next book? I do hope so. I'm curious!

In short: I liked the book, though it will probably never be my favourite book of the entire series. Goodkind managed to capture me with new characters (even though some of them were evil enough to make you want to strangle them... or at least make you recoil in disgust) but most importantly, he gave us a look at the war between Jagang and Richard from Jagang's perspective. I loved the chapter where quite a bit of Jagang's army was slaughtered by Zedd and Adie. And I loved Betty! You should definitely read the book, if only to meet the ever adorable Betty!

4 stars - English hardcover
Review follows.

Although I really love the interaction of the main characters, Richard, Kahlen, Cara and Zedd, I also love reading about others in this world that revolve around the main characters. This was an exceptional take on two different lives of Richards half siblings and how their up bringing affected their character and world view. Compared to the previous books, this was a relatively short story. It does not detract from the main story line what so ever. In fact, it ends up adding a new character for future books.

I love the psychological aspect of it all, after the last book which included the political aspect. I really love books that make you think. And, Terry Goodkind makes politics, philosophy and psychology easy for any reader to understand, if only they would think more deeply while reading this series.

The only thing I have noticed about Terry Goodkind;s writing style is that he tends to repeat events and thoughts that were from earlier in the same book. I could understand repeating reasonings and explaining certain things for someone picking up the series midway. But in the same book, it does get annoying sometimes.

2.5
Nie do końca podobało mi się, że Richard pojawił się dopiero...50 stron przed końcem książki :')

Ogólnie zamysł na ten tom był okej, ale nie za bardzo polubiłam się z bohaterami i tęskniłam za znanymi mi postaciami, więc już z góry wiadomo, że nie jestem fanką tej części.
Ale naprawdę fajnie było poczytać o tym, jaki Jagaang jest z drugiej strony barykady i jak tak naprawdę wygląda walka z Richardem.

I dug up an old review I wrote on Amazon for this in 2004, when I was 16 and had just finished reading it:

This book... had a very evil feel to it. The characters weren't as well-defined as in the other books, or perhaps just not as appealing. I thought Jennsen was quite determined to be stupid throughout her journeys, but her character was saved in the end. The scene with Oba and the Mord-sith is not one easily forgettable, it's enjoyable in the most sadistic of ways. You definitely could not read this book and get everything out of it if you hadn't read a few of the others preceeding it, so you had a feel of what was going on with the Order and Richard. I did find myself greedily awaiting appearances from Richard and Kahlan, because those two characters are the kind one can read about forever and identify with... Jennsen, I wanted to hurt; although that does say something about how brought alive the characters were. Still, definitely an evil feel to it. I love the terms "hole in the world" and "pillars of creation", such chilling thoughts. The kind that remind you of something, far off and long ago that you just can't place but it made you scared perhaps without cause. This is a book that will make you think and wonder and probably leave you more confused than you were at the beginning, and wanting to write a review about just how much you disliked it. The fact is, you will probably dislike it as you're reading it, and want to put it down but you will not be able to. You'll read it through till the end and then perhaps think it a waste of time, and you should have stopped reading when you felt like it... but of course you couldn't. This is a page-turner if I ever heard of one. Maybe you're better off not wasting hours on it but I still recommend it.

It was really cool to see the war between Richard and Jagang from another perspective and characters I liked following Jagang willingly. That alone gave me hints of the complexity and depth I was missing in the previous book. Jennsen and Sebastian (+Betty) were great characters to follows, so I didn't miss our usual cast.
Liking the concept and characters, I still have to admid the plot was underwhelming. The beginning, getting to know Jennsen and even Oba, was captivating, however after we've dealt with the sorceresses, everything felt a bit quick and easy. I just didn't feel like there was the appropriate weight for the points the author wanted to hit.

I'm trying hard not to judge Pillars of Creation too harshly, following as it does the powerhouse that is Faith of the Fallen. But here we go:

This book brings us a new perspective in the series: Jennsen, a young D'Haran woman who has spent her whole life hunted by Darken Rahl. Her and her mother have been so committed to hiding from Rahl that not only did she not know the Barriers had fallen, but she didn't know that Darken Rahl had died either.

Of course, it complicates matters that the person delivering all this news is a scout from the Imperial Order...

This kicks off what at times is a refreshing look at D'Hara through a lens outside of the usual Richard/Kahlan dynamic, but at other times feels like a comedy of errors. The reader knows that Jennsen has no reason to fear the house of Rahl any more, and it can kind of drag down on some of the tension in the story.

Added to that, I spent a lot of time hoping that Goodkind would leave Jennsen alone for even just a few chapters to go check in with Richard in Altur'Rang, and to see more of the revolution there against the socialist Order.

All in all, it's certainly a fine book; it just had very big shoes to fill after everything we've been through with Richard lately.

Goodkind continues his downward spiral with this disaster of a novel.

To start, this novel doesn't even focus on characters we've met. For some reason, Goodkind felt that it was necessary to introduce a completely new character: Richard's half-sister Jensen. Oh, and don't forget her pet goat that she takes literally everywhere even while she's running for her life. Jensen has nothing to do with the plot of the series up to this point, and she ends up being completely inconsequential in later novels, too. Really, Goodkind introduces a superfluous character and then writes an entire flipping book about her.

If you read this book, you'll be treated to very long and pointless journey by a completely pointless character. To make matters worse, Jensen is painfully stupid and ends up repeatedly making stupid decisions and trusting obviously suspicious and bad people over and over. The entire book is just a set-up for Richard to swoop in in the last few chapters to deliver preachy, moralizing lectures to show Jensen the error of her ways while also beating on those evil fundamentalist commies in the Imperial Order.

This book does set up the next novel, but that novel proves equally pointless in the grand scheme of the plot. Like I've said before, you can really just skip straight from Soul of the Fire to Chainfire and not miss a single thing since books 6, 7, and 8 are all just pointless authorial tracts on why Objectivism is the best philosophy ever.

Differs from the rest in that Richard Rahl is a decidedly secondary (and background) character, with Jennsen as main (and Oba as a dark parallel of what she might have been had she succumbed). In some ways it's the reverse of Richard's journey to the Old World as Sebastian seeks to infiltrate and fails to turn Jennsen to the Order's destructive collectivism. The war also advances, leaving a number of questions unanswered and readers wanting more; may the next book deliver like the rest.

Terry Goodkind is a superb author, and in my opinion, his "Sword of Truth" series is the best I have ever read. So good, in fact, that I have read the entire series three times in a row, back to back, non-stop. This series is *not* for children. The series covers many aspects of the dark side of humanity, in great detail, as the heroes try to overcome the evils in the world. Goodkind is not afraid to show his readers just what evil *really* is, that is, most often, people who perform acts of evil feel justified in their minds as to why they are doing so, if for illogical reasons, and will that those that oppose them are the evil ones. Goodkind shows his readers that the only way to overcome evil in ourselves and in the world is through use of Reason. The series is *not* light reading, but if one is not afraid to confront the reality of evil (even within ourselves), and how to really defeat evil, the one will find this series extremely rewarding.

This book focuses, not on Richard and Kahlan, but on Jennsen, one of Richard's half-siblings. Oba, another of Richard's half-siblings, is also followed, but in less detail than Jennsen and her adventures. Her first introduction to Sebastian, the death of her mother, the belief that two quads are after her, her rescue of Sebastian, her journey through Althea's swamp and learning her half-brother Drefan was killed by Richard confirmed her thoughts that Richard is the tyrant and wants to kill the other children fathered by Darken Rahl.

The focus of the book extends to include Friedrich, Althea's husband. He had a conversation with Nathan Rahl which covers the interplay between prophecy and free will. This is after Oba pays Althea a visit and Althea commits suicide - Oba was tricked by Clovis and so kills him leading to Oba's imprisonment in the People's Palace.

Oba discovers he has powers to control people and escapes from the People's Palace. Jennsen and Sebastian join up with the Imperial Order. Jagang, Jennsen and Sebastian lead cavalry into Aydendril - and find Brother Narev's head on a pike. They try to catch the Mother Confessor and the Lord Rahl,  but Richard and Kahlan are not in Aydendril - it is probably Zedd and Adie. Jennsen only knows Adie from the description given by Althea. Jennsen uses her "invincibility" to protect Jagang and Sebastian as the soldiers and Sisters of the Light are killed by traps and other pitfalls made by magic.

Sister Perdita bargains with Jennsen - Sebastian's life will be saved if Jennsen goes through a ceremony. At the ceremony, Jennsen bargains that once she kills Richard Rahl, then she will surrender.

Finale The finale reveals that Oba was being played by the Keeper and was disposable. Jennsen faced down Richard Rahl, saw a wagon coming in the distance with Tom, Betty, and two kids. Jennsen is confused when Betty is terrified-not just of Oba, but of her as well- and runs to Richard for reassurance with her kids.

I think the fact that Sebastian and Sister Perdita were pushing her to kill Richard when Jennsen was confused with Betty refusing to come to her made certain connections in her mind which helped inform her choice.

The fact was that her vengeance was fueled by the belief that Richard as the Lord Rahl had sent quads after her and had killed her mother. When she learned that Sebastian had set up the whole scenario, and that his men from the Imperial Order had killed her mother, it turned her against Sebastian, the Order, and helped her choose life. That choice thwarted the Keeper's plans.

The author sets up the next book by mentioning that the heroes are in a bind; and possibly Jennsen could help them or of it. Jennsen has lots of questions, some of which are answered here, others presumably as they traveled and not recorded.

When I first read the series, it seemed a large letdown to see things from Jennsen, Oba, Friedrich after the major takeover of Altur'Rang in the prior book. It went from major things happening to fugitives - so it's a shock to the system. On this read-through, I knew that there was a major shift in perspective, so after reading the prior book, I let weeks go by before coming back into this series. That made all the difference. Even though I knew in the back of my head that Richard was actually the hero and Jennsen was being deceived by half-truths and being fed information to see things only as Sebastian and the Order wanted, it now felt more adventurous and a story I could read without wondering where the excitement of a major turning point in society would come in - the internal struggle of a woman deceived and taken advantage of when she was vulnerable and her choice of who to believe.

1/2023 Still ok..


4/2009

Although Richard and Co doesn't show up until the end, it was still good writing, which had me reading until the wee hours of the morning.

3/2013...