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Submitted by Benjamin
(Apr 25, 2001)

Oh boy...that is all I can say...After reading FOTF I was speachless...It was breath taking, aggravating, and any other "ing's" out there...I have been a loyal reader from the beginning and I am still now...FOTF strayed away from the "hack and slash" Good vs Bad feel that had developed through the first five books, and moved to the development of the crucial characters "self vs self conflict". How can you hate an enemy that doesn't have a personality? Well now it does...Mr. Goodkind took us to the "heart" of the order and exposed it...Described indepth the passion and reason (or lack there of) of the Order. I found myself trying to argue with the book because of the reasons that the Order did things...(if pulling me into the book that much isn't great writing, then i don't know what is)...This wasn't supposed to be Richard vs the bad guy...He was on a quest to find himself...that was the plot of the book...How people can say that there wasn't enough action...i don't know? Maybe they skipped the chapters of full fledged battle between the order and the midlands...maybe they missed the death of Warren...(sorry any of you that haven't read the book)...This is the best work that Terry Goodkind has done and I eagerly await the arrival of book 7 "The Pillars Of Creation." GO TERRY!

The Sword of Truth is a breath of fresh air in the monotony of the formula fiction we have been exposed to in the past few years, but Faith of the Fallen, while masterfully written, has lost the spark the first five books have ignited. Each of the previous five books dealt with self discovery and a quest for righteousness, something Faith has lost. Goodkind abandoned character development and plot progression, and has traded in the soul we loved in his other books, for political commentary that is thinly veiled in the fantasy world he weaves. The passion driven urgency of the struggle between freedom and oppression has lost steam. While I believe that Goodkind will redeem himself in spades in the seventh volume, Faith has fallen short of the mark that Terry has set and exceeded for each of the previous five. I eagerly await my next immersion into the imagination and soul of Terry Goodkind.

I wish that I could unread this book. Up til now I was loving the series- of all the sf/fantasy novels I've read Terry Goodkind's have been the best. Now I feel that the series I liked so much is somehow tainted by this book. The book was too empty - it rambled on too much about Nicci and the Order. The way Nicci thinks and acts is sometimes hard to believe. How do I as a loyal fan deserve to receive this 500+ page lecture. It felt like one big lesson on politics, religion and humanity which seemed to me just like filler to expand the basically non-existant storyline. This book should have been a lot shorter. Somehow the characters I like so much have changed. I do like the fact that Richard and Kahlan make mistakes at times so they don't seem too goody-two-shoes, but the I love you and can't live without you is getting too much. I think their love should be a little more dynamic. Also, if Khalan loves and respects Richard so much shouldn't she stop doubting him and believe in him sooner, especially since he always turns out to be right. My only hope is that this is just a part of Goodkind's vision of his series overall that needed to be told. The fact that I was still eagerly turning the pages proves the kind of series Goodkind has developed. I am still awaiting the 7th book.

I have enjoyed Terry Goodkind's The Sword of Truth series more than any I have ever read before. I have read well over 1000 books in my time, and I have become spoiled on Terry's works. He writes with just enough detail to ensnare readers without boring them. It has often been said the he doesn't write as a normal author would: He writes as if it were prose, or poetry. One cannot help but be pulled into the character's lives and adventures. The series is action packed and full of plot twists and deep insights galore. Now, as for the Faith of the Fallen book, it varies slightly from his normal storyline. It is no less action packed, but the swords, battle descriptions, and physical challenges are missing from it. The action is more internal, focusing on growth, understanding, and the human emotions. The book lacked nothing in the way of action(for I was kept turning the pages long after I should have been asleep), but the one thing it does lack is the gigantic plot twist near the end of the book. Normally, he pulls a character or explanation from left field that leaves even the most experienced reader reeling with surprise and anticipation. This time he played out the story...not predictably...but rather with less flare. Overall it is a fabulous book and I can't wait to read the next in the series. I just hope Goodkind was using this book as a filler of sorts to help develop the overall plot of the series. I RECOMMEND TO ANYONE WHO HAS NOT READ THE SWORD OF TRUTH TO START WITH "THE WIZARD'S FIRST RULE" AND CONTINUE THE SERIES AS FAR AS TERRY TAKES IT!!!!!!!!

How do you react to a writer who you think is "dangerously good"? Good - because as usual, Goodkind mixes the right amount of heart-rendering terror and emotion with enough action and thought to keep you glued to the pages (though, as others have mentioned, the basic personal relationships of the characters are a bit repetitive). Dangerous, because his vision of the ultimate laissez-faire capitalism/ individualism works so wonderfully with a main cast of 'good people' - as would communism, as would a new Jerusalem, which he paints so dark. Get me right - I think many of the points he raises are valid. He asks the right questions - I'm just not so sure about his solutions. One thing puzzles me, though, and I'd appreciate an answer:Taken for granted that the Imperial Order stands for an odd blend of communism and blind-eye catholicism or any other totalitarian regime you care to name, how come it is them who allow art to show the ugly side of mankind, while our hero comes up with a cryptofascist Übermensch-representation to spread liberty? One mark of all totalitarian systems (including mainstream Hollywood) is that they celebrated a soulless ideal of beauty, whether we are talking nationalsocialist aesthetics or Stalinist art - Herr Hitler would have been right pleased with the archetypal giants Richard created. To depict the ugly, the suffering, the multi-facetted instead of the black-and-white, has up to now been one of the marks of democratic culture. I figured Mr. Goodkind knew his history books well enough for that. Not so? Read the book and enlighten me, please.