Two stars. and that's generous. The main characters don't show up until the last few chapters. The plot is laughable and the twist at the end is so transparent my seven month old daughter saw it coming.

(long fart noise)

This series as a whole is very good. I found that once I picked up the first book I flew through the whole series, stopping only when I read the last one out. I then continued reading as they came out. When I started reading them their was only five books, now that the series is complete we can set the whole thing into some perspective. I will be happy to see the TV show starting fall of 2008 and hope it is as good as the books.

On the less than benign side, the author does tend to stop telling the story and start preaching pretty often in the books. The books were written by a Moral Relativist in the style of Ann Rand and he tends to spend what seems to be about 20% of each book preaching this message of Objectivism. As someone solid in my faith and not very sensitive to other view points it did not affect me and I was able to continue reading, however I have met people who hated it based solely on the authors preaching and others who loved it for the same.

The Books bounce from Great to below average and back up to great again as you read through the series. I found Wizards First Rule, Blood of the Fold and Faith of the fallen were all five star books worth every minute spent reading them. While Stone of Tears, Soul of the Fire and Naked Empire were a waste of time all together. The rest of the series I would consider a three star series worth the time to read, but nothing special.

A strength of the Author is that he has the ability to articulate well and balances the need to describe a setting whether it be a city tavern or palace with enough detail for you to feel like you are there while not rambling on forever without focus. His ability to engage you in the emotion of the character at the time and create exciting scenes of both political and martial nature is impressive. I plan to read his other books as soon as I get a chance.

A weakness of the author is he seems to give the Protagonist powers and abilities just so he can think of a way to take them away. It also seems that all the other characters in the book only exist as contrast for the Protagonist (Richard). Also the scope of power available to the characters varies greatly by plot and this can be very frustrating if you keep track of stuff like that. Or if you are like me and try to solve the problem in you mind before seeing what the protagonist does.

My only technical peeve with these books was the inconsistent nature of the way Magic/Powers worked and how they interrelate, which also focused heavily on every new power introduce was a trump over every other power.

All in all though there are good and bad things in these books they are overall very good.

The book introduces new characters which was interesting and the "enemy" ideas are presented in a way that you could almost sympathize. But Goodkind seems to wander around a bit with the "facts of previous books" (Jagang the dreamwalker who knows all - should have known about what was happening in the old world) and Richard using his magic to destroy a thousand men???!! Why can't he then use it to destroy Jagangs entire army? Doesn't make sense. I anxiously read each book up to this point because I enjoyed the characters and even though there was way too much preaching kept reading - now I do not think I will go to the next book they seem to be loosing their continuity.

So far, I loved all Goodkind novels, but this one was a little fight. Though I like Jennsen as a character, her naiveté was unlimited. So, all in all, it took 50 pages for me to start getting bugged by her behaviour, and around 400 pages later I was completely bugged out and after the ordeal in Aydindril I was out of my mind and wanted nothing mor than to take this silly girlish girl by the shoulders and shake her.
Also, I disliked Sebastian. His motives were obvious right at the start, but he was a good actor.
Also, I hated Oba.
And loved Friedrich and Althea.

But this novel took us quite far away from our beloved friends Richard, Kahlan, Cara, Zedd and all the others, which had their scenes in this story, but those were only little. Maybe it was this which made me being buged out so much by Jennsen, a bit more Richard would have been nice here.

Also, the language was good for the story,but I found myself disappointed. It was... too easy sometimes. But this had something to do withh the plot and the characters the novel concentrated on, so I won't go into details here.

ALl in all it was still a novel I liked, but I found myself very disappointed!

Dnf.

I really didn't expect much from this book after reading the reviews on Goodreads and since it is an older book, I'm not going to get too indepth here. Basically, I liked Jensen's story. Oba's was ok, there was probably just too much animal abuse on this one, I typically skimmed over parts where he was torchering animals. I was happy Betty and Jennsen were reunited in the end. I thought Jensen was pretty stupid after the Raug Moss or whatever they're called. I called out Sebastian for sure after that. But even before that I thought he was a big liar and the fact that she is supposed to be pretty smart, she really was pretty stupid there.

Also, there at the end, when they needed Jennsen to help with something... what was it? Why didn't they tell me... ? Hopefully they clear that up in the next book, but I'm guessing they won't since they only briefly mention these people in follow up books...
Also - is Jagang ok or what happened there? I'm guessing he is, but clarification would of been nice.

I think this is the first book out of the series that I have more questions at the end then while reading it.

I thought the introduction of Jennsen was a nice break, and the way that this book is told from her PoV was refreshing. I also enjoyed the way Goodkind inserted little idiosyncrasies that linked her to Richard, even though they had never met. The way that she became strong, inside the manipulations, even questioning the false truth around her, endeared her to me. I liked this as Jennsen's story, even when Captain doesn't show up 'till Chapter 54 arrives, and you see him through her eyes, and she has to make her own decisions when faced with the truth of the situation.

Once again, though, there is graphic violence against women in vividly laid out detail. It isn't as prominent as the previous six books, but it is still there. Also, there is a questionable scene involving Jennsen's sexual autonomy, but I am relieved to see that Goodkind has decided to avoid (so far) to not punish her, as most authors/writers are wont to do when a woman makes a choice involving sex that isn't with her One And Only True Love (see: Kahlan and Temple of the Winds)

I tore through the book and was pretty encaptivated the whole time, but the ending fell short of what I wanted.

Now I will disclose spoilers as I discuss this book.

First of all I like how the whole Sebastian thing played out and how subtle it was. I can't pinpoint the first time I knew for sure he was a bad guy. Instead it was like I started out just slightly suspicious and somehow it just grew more and more intense until i was just SURE he was no good- even though he hadn't done anything yet to incriminate himself. By the middle of the book I was SCREAMING for her to get away from him... and disgusted when they hooked up. But even when I knew he was no good I could never pinpoint if he was completely using her and lying to her or if any part of their relationship was real. In the end, he really did think he was in love with her, so at least he wasn't completely falsifying his feelings to make her do what he wanted.

Now for Oba. Oh, Oba. I felt like overall he was completely pointless to the scope of this book besides grossing me out with his violent nature of skinning and torturing animals and people alive. He's literally the same person as Drefan. When it came to the end his role in the final climax was so minimal I was annoyed. He brought Kahlan to the desert pillars and then basically just stood behind a corner. Why wasn't he trying to kill someone- Jennsen, the Dark sister, Richard, Kahlan... The rest of them showed up and then he just stood in a corner ranting and doing nothing while the rest of them had a show down.

Jennsen - is a great character but so frustrating. I just wish she'd talk to someone else besides Sebastian in the whole book. Not her fault I guess. I've briefly started the next book in this series and she's really annoying so far, so quickly losing brownie points.

What I hated most about the ending was just... I don't know. The improbability of it. I hated how Tom just randomly showed up with the goat. In another COUNTRY. and oh, surprise, he's also randomly a secret spy. Like, that was just dumb and unnecessary. A happy ending doesn't mean all loose ends have to be tied up so tightly that it's completely improbably. I was also wanting her to be DEVASTATED when she found out about Sebastian but she seemed pretty unphased. Who finds out the love of their life has been lying to you and doesn't care. I feel like they all traveled to this Pillars place, Jennsen talked a lot, and then the Dark witch was defeated. Where was the big fight??? :-/ Ugh. The only thing I liked about it was Oba was left alive under a rock so I hope he comes back to bother them some more.

All in all I enjoyed taking a break from Richard and his nag wife Kahlan to visit some new characters.

SUMMARY: Sequel to the New York Times bestselling Faith of the Fallen New York Times bestselling author Terry Goodkind has created his most lavish adventure yet. Tormented her entire life by inhuman voices, a young woman named Lauren seeks to end her intolerable agony. She at last discovers a way to silence the voices. For everyone else, the torment is about to begin. With winter descending and the paralyzing dread of an army of annihilation occupying their homeland, Richard Rahl and his wife Kahlan must venture deep into a strange and desolate land. Their quest turns to terror when they find themselves the helpless prey of a tireless hunter. Meanwhile, Lauren finds herself drawn into the center of a struggle for conquest and revenge. Worse yet, she finds her will seized by forces more abhorrent than anything she ever envisioned. Only then does she come to realize that the voices were real. Staggered by loss and increasingly isolated, Richard and Kahlan must stop the relentless, unearthly threat which has come out of the darkest night of the human soul. To do so, Richard will be called upon to face the demons stalking among the Pillars of Creation. Discover breathtaking adventure and true nobility of spirit. Find out why millions of readers the world over have elevated Terry Goodkind to the ranks of legend.

I thought that this book was great! Better in fact than books 3-6 of the series. It was nice to get a relief form hearing about how much Richard and Kahlan love each other, yet can't be together for some off the wall reason. The Pillars of Creation introduced awesome characters in Jenssen and Oba, and I thought that the way the whole book was told through their perspectives was new and interesting.
I can't believe people are giving this book such horrible reviews, I mean, you can't tell me that this book wasn't fun to read. Plenty of action, lots of emotion, loveable/hateable characters, and new vivid scenery. The fight at the Confessor's Palace, where Zedd and Adie single-handedly took out nearly all of Jagang's army, was great. Oba's mad thought process was terifically amusing and the greusome details of his many murders was right up my alley. (I especially liked the shovel to his mother's head).
Anyway, I think that this was one of Goodkind's best yet, deserves fives stars all the way.

Finished reading " The Pillars of Creation ". The next in the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. I really enjoyed it. The series has been great thus far. Mr. Goodkind knows how to keep a story suspenseful and can keep a long novel interesting. I can't wait to continue on to the end of the series.
Jennsen is not an ordinary woman. She was the product of Darken Rahl and her own mother. Unfortunately for her she was born ungifted from magic. Prophecies say that the ungifted could cause the end of Magic. After learning of his ungifted children Darken Rahl had them hunted down. Jennsen has been living on the run for her whole life. One fateful day she comes across a dead soldier with a note with her name on it. She knows she must run again for her life. Along the way she learns that Darken Rahl was killed by the Seeker, Richard, and that Richard himself is a son of Darken Rahl...however Richard is not only gifted but gifted with two sides of magic...and now she believes that he is out to finish the job that Darken Rahl began. Her only hope is to join with the Imperial Legion and to kill her half-brother Richard. But not everything is as it seems....