Terry Goodkind was born
and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, where he also attended art school, one of his
many interests on the way to becoming a writer. Besides a career in wildlife
art, he has been a cabinet maker, violin maker, and he has done restoration
work on rare and exotic artifacts from around the world -- each with its own
story to tell, he says. In 1983 Goodkind moved to the forested mountains he
loves. There, in the woods near the ocean, he built the house where he and
his wife, Jeri, live, and came at last to tell his own stories.
I got into Goodkind over the winter and
although I'm not a fan of the whole Fantasy/Quest genre, I got hooked.
He tends to repeat himself, well, with so many sequels, I guess its important
to fill in those who don't read books in order. His characters are super.
These books are a must read for anyone who likes a well-told tale.
It's the
story of Richard Cypher, a modest woodsman in a world achingly beautiful,
alive with the joys of nature: a world the reader comes to love as fiercely
as do Richard and those around him. Though a mere woodsman, he is the one
destined to battle the ultimate adversary - Darken Rahl, an evil mage who
bids to destroy all that Richard holds good and beautiful, dooming him and
the rest of the people of Westland to a living Hell of subjugation and degradation.
Richard and Kahlan must
face Rahl and the Keeper's terrible minions. But first, Richard must endure
the ministrations of the Sisters of Light, or die from the pain of magic
that is his birthright and his curse. While Richard undertakes the arduous
journey to the forbidden city of the Sisters, Kahlan must embark upon a long
and dangerous mission to Aydindril, citadel of the old wizards, where she
hopes to find Zedd and the help only he can lend to their desperate cause.
War, suffering, torture, and deceit lie in their paths, and nothing will
save them from a destiny of violent death, unless their courage and faith
are joined with luck and they find the elusive, Stone of Tears.
The Blood
of the Fold, a group of fanatical anti-magic zealots, have joined the forces
thwarted by Richard and Kahlan. They are the unwitting pawns of a sorcerous
evil from the Old World, a realm that has been magically sealed for thousands
of years. Richard, Kahlan, and their allies now face the combined might of
two worlds - the old and the new. This stunning confrontation threatens an
armageddon of unimaginable proportions unless Richard and Kahlan can believe
in the power of their love and their faith in the Truth.
Everything
Richard has learned thus far, all the wisdom, the magic, and the conviction
he holds, will be for naught as the power-mad Emperor Jagang returns with
his multitude of demonic underlings. For Richard must now challenge the impossible:
the magic that thwarts magic, the three-thousand-years-sealed-away fortress
of evil that has begun to infect the world with a terrible, sorcerous plague.
He must find the Temple of the Winds. But once the shadow of betrayal falls
across that mission, Richard must accept the Truth and find a way to undo
the damage...or his world will perish.
Their wedding
is the key that unlocks a spell sealed away long ago in a faraway country.
Now a deadly power pours forth that threatens to turn the world into a lifeless
waste.
Separated
from the Sword of Truth and stripped of their magic, Richard and Kahlan
must journey across the Midlands to discover a dark secret from the past
and a trap that could tear them apart forever. For their fate has become
inextricably entwined with that of the Midlands—and there's no place so dangerous
as a world without magic...
The latest
volume in "The Sword of Truth" series sees Richard Rahl, Seeker of Truth,
suddenly turn his back on the fight, leaving the people of the New World to
fend for themselves. Without Richard, there may be nothing for the people
except oppression under the Imperial Order of Jagang the Just.
Tormented
her entire life by inhuman voices, a young woman named Jennsen 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.
Jennsen
finds herself drawn into a struggle for conquest and revenge. Worse yet,
her will is seized by forces more abhorrent than anything she ever envisioned.
Only then does she realize that the voices were real.
After being
gravely injured in battle, Richard awakes to discover Kahlan missing. To his
disbelief, no one remembers the woman he is frantically trying to find. Worse,
no one believes that she really exists, or that he was ever married. Alone
as never before, he must find the woman he loves more than life itself....if
she is even still alive. If she was ever even real.
*
You can skip this one without missing a beat. Except for the last
few chapters, it mainly rehashes stuff that's already happened in the "Sword
of Truth" series. Truthfully, I was more than a little disapointed
with this book. It's not up to the author's usual
standard. The Wizard's Ninth Rule is pathetic.
*Phantom
On the day
she awoke remembering nothing but her name, Kahlan Amnell became the most
dangerous woman alive. For everyone else, that was the day that the world
began to end.
As
her husband, Richard, desperately searches for his beloved, whom only he
remembers, he knows that if she doesn't soon discover who she really is, she
will unwittingly become the instrument that will unleash annihilation. But
Kahlan learns that if she ever were to unlock the truth of her lost identity,
then evil itself would finally possess her, body and soul.
If
she is to survive in a murky world of deception and betrayal, where life
is not only cheap but fleeting, Kahlan must find out why she is such a central
figure in the war-torn world swirling around her. What she uncovers are secrets
darker than she could ever have imagined.
Okay, Terry's got it together once
again with this novel. The suspence had me unable to put the book down
until I had finished it.
*Confessor
Descending
into darkness, about to be overwhelmed by evil, those people still free
are powerless to stop the coming dawn of a savage new world, while Richard
faces the guilt of knowing that he must let it happen. Alone, he must bear
the weight of a sin he dare not confess to the one person he loves…and has
lost.
When
next the sun rises, the world will be forever changed.
Very satisfying conclusion.
About time too. Let's hope for something new. I'm just a tad
tired of this world.
A young
woman arrives at Aydindril to petition for the help of the First Wizard in
one of the many desperate conflicts in the war against D'Hara and the vicious
rule of Panis Rahl. Little does the First Wizard, much less the woman herself
know that the woman's Debt of Bones - a deal struck years before committing
the Wizard to action - will tie him to a course of action that will result
in cataclysmic duel of magic with Panis Rahl himself.
