T McComas

As a strong fan of the Fantasy Genre, and an avid supporter of the Sword of Truth series, I found this book vastly disappointing. There are a great number of reasons not to read this book. A few of such are as follows-


1 - The Circus of Stupidity
The whole short book comes off as a carnival show meant to display how everyone in the whole world who isn't Richard's close friend is an absolute moron. Every character that they encounter is viciously, unforgivably unintelligent. But it doesn't stop there; even the characters that we have grown to love (Nathan, Zedd, etc) have lost their edge, wit, and depth. These characters have suddenly lost the ability to grasp complicated concepts, and it is just sad.

2 - The Televised Evangelist
I am among the few who actually enjoyed some of the heavy preaching in the SoT series, but this book takes it over the top with endless snippets of proselytism that somehow completely lack the substance to actually engage, amuse, or teach anything at all. It is as Terry Goodkind is trying to hammer us over the head with his philosophy, but doesn't seem to have the time or inclination to follow his preaching through to conclusion. It only serves to cause frustration.

3 - The Ink is Fading
The text of this book has no impact. It has none of Terry Goodkind's usual depth or tension, and feels as if it had been written by someone completely different. It doesn't pack a punch. There is no spark. The writing is repetitive. The dialogue is boring. The words fall flat. No matter how much I tried, I just couldn't get myself to care about anything that happened.