Terry Goodkind

The Sword Of Truth Series

3.5/5*

Stars: 3/5 Overall (Each book/arc I would rate differently)

Age: Adult (This has very adult themes, language and scenarios. I read these when I was 15 and they were quite heavy going)

Ideal for: Game of Thrones Fans, High Fantasy Lovers and anyone who enjoys a “serious” and intense Fantasy series.

Avoid if: you’re not a fan of big series. This series has many arcs and novels within said arcs. Its a long slog.

Genre: High Fantasy

Books: At least 16 now…

The general plot; (Note: this is for the first book, I do not want to spoil anything so have been very careful!) Richard lives in a peaceful village until one day his father is murdered thus, he investigates. During this, he finds and saves a mysterious woman, Kahlan, from four men trying to kill her. She  reveals her home world has been invaded by Darken Rahl and she needs the help of a Wizard and the Seeker of Truth.
The world is divided into three sections; the Westlands, The Midlands and D’Hara. The Westlands (current location) is magic free. Richard realises this wizard must be his friend Zedd. Kahlan and Zedd then proclaim Richard to be the seeker of truth and bestow a sword upon him. The trio then set off to save the world. It is revealed that this world is controlled by the Three Boxes of Orden. Darken Rahl has activated the magic of these boxes which will in short mean eternal damnation.
However, he does not have the third box, thus sparking a race against time to find this box before he does.

Okay, so I think it would be best to explain these novels in their Arcs. I don’t want to say much as these books are MASSIVE and so much happens in them… and I don’t want to spoil anything! So At this stage, if you want to read these books step out now, if you’re still curios, plow on.

Arc One: Darken Rahl 4/5*

1. Wizards First Rule
2. Stone of Tears

   Arc Two: Imperial Order 4/5*

3. Blood of the Fold
4. Temple of the Winds
5. Soul of the Fire
6. Faith of the Fallen

   Arc Three: Pristine Ungifted 3/5*

7. The Pillars of Creation
8. Naked Empire

   Arc Four: Chainfire 2/5*

9. Chainfire
10. Phantom
11. Confessor

    Arc Five: The Darklands 2/5*

12. The Omen Machine
13. The First Confessor
14. The Third Kingsom
15. Severed Souls
16. War Heart

Arc One, deals with the introduction to the world. Here Richard learns of magic and all its weird and wonderful creatures. This is also where he must deal with the first villain, Darken Rahl.

Arc Two, at this point, we are very much immersed in this world, but the arrival of the Imperial Order and their Genghis Khan-esque leader threatens the peace that Richard has established.

Arc Three, with the two biggest forces of evil overcome, Richard now must deal with magics greatest enemy; the pristinely ungifted. these are people who are immune to magic and posses none in turn. This is a much darker Muggles vs Pure Blood style powerplay.

Arc Four, A chainfire curse is set off on the Mother Confessor, erasing her from history. Richard must break the curse in order to restore the peace keeper of Kings and Queens.

Arc Five, with the wars of the past put to rest, only one enemy remains; magic itself. Magic is both light and dark, good and evil, but when one dominates, the balance is affected. Richard once again has to maintain the precious balance of light and dark to magic.

In all honesty, I gave up at Phantom but picked the series up again at the Omen Machine, partly due to spoilers and partly due to the fact the series does plummet at this point and becomes profoundly useless. However, each Arc functions as its own “series” so one can read an arc and finish it satisfied.

I personally loved books 1-6, they were phenomenal. Incredibly gripping, a plethora of characters and high stakes, I was gripped.

The most fantastic part of these novels is the various characters.

Firstly, the Mother Confessor. The Confessors are women a little like witches who have the ability to make a victim confess and become their slave. with one touch they can make their victim forget everything but wanting to please them. There is a hierarchy of confessors with the Mother being their leader. The Mother wears white whilst those below her wear black. In addition to this, the Mother Confessor is higher than Monarchs.

She is the emperor. And as such, only she is allowed to have the longest hair.

Everyone else must cut their hair per the station whilst the MC never ever cuts hers. As a result of their power, they are kept separate from society. Feared by the public, envied by Queens and witches, the confessors live a solitary life. A final crux to their existence is that because of their power, they can never have a full romantic relationship as during the “heat of the moment” they could lose control and kill their partner. One of the most memorable moments is when one Mother Confessors discovers the man she loves has been killed so she slips into a “Con-Dar”, a blood rage, where she essentially kills the men around her and writes symbols on her body in their blood, but not before she makes them confess their crimes, castrate themselves and eat said member. Its intense.

Secondly, The Sisters of Light. These are a group of Nun like women that live “beyond” the boundary in another part of the world, known as The Old World, in the Palace of Prophets. At the Palace, time moves slowly. So a number of weeks there is almost years int he rest of the world. They serve the creator by training Wizards to use their gifts. However, when a wizard begins to show signs of magic, he experiences lethal migraines. The only way in which these migraines can be cured is by wearing a collar called a “Rada’Han” this collar absorbs their pain and allows them to channel their magic, and for their partnered Sister, to control them.

Due to the fact they are all locked in this palace for decades together slowly training, it just turns into a massive sub/dom orgy.

Their are also the Sisters of the Dark, who basically serve the devil instead of the creator and frequently have orgies with the devils minions to gain power… Its all quite mental but fantastic.

Thirdly, the Mord Sith. Not quite affiliated with the Sith Lords in Star Wars, but they do have red weapon. The Mord Sith are the Lord Rahls personal group of assassins and bodyguards,

but are essentially dominatrix’.

Renown for their cruelty, their vindictive nature and narcissism, they torture and break any who their Lord commands. They’re a bit like the Bolton’s in GoT only worse as they make their victims wear a collar and essentially keep them as pets. The Mord Sith are renown for wearing skin tight leather in brown for when they are “free” and blood red for when they have a “pet”. They are all armed with an “agiel” a slim leather rod which inflicts pain. Its kind of a wand that constantly tasers/ cruciates victims.

Finally, the Wizards. The Magic in this book is almost a science. It has a positive and Negative balance, some wizards can only do one or another. E.g. they can make something appear but cannot take it away.

This series is a huge exploration of magic, racism, prejudice, and power play. It is immensely entertaining and will make Game of Thrones seem like a walk in the park. Sadly, the TV adaptation that came out a few years ago does not do it justice and is borderline appalling to behold! As intense as the books are, there is something in their for everyone… fantastic, strong, iconic women who lead armies and fight in battles and become Queens… resilient, powerful and complex men who surprise you at every turn…

Villains who are so evil they make Voldemort seem like a misunderstood teenager.

There is romance, there are battles, there are battles for the throne, there is crime and mystery and above all, High Fantasy.

This is truly a fantastic series, although it seems daunting, it is well worth giving it a go!

 

Have you read this series already? Let me know in the comments as SoT lovers are far and few between!

 

Love,

 

HRH xox