| Title | : | Temple of the Winds (Sword of Truth, #4) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Audio CD |
| Number of Pages | : | 822 |
| Publication | : | First published October 1, 1998 |
The dangerous, fanatical Imperial Order, under the leadership of the power-mad Emperor Jagang and his multitude of demonic underlings, unleashes a deadly plague. To find a cure Richard Cypher and his beloved Kahlan Amnell must seek out the legendary Temple of the Winds, a fortress of evil sealed away for three thousand years. But the path of the Seeker of Truth is never an easy one—even if he can reach the Temple at all, there is no guarantee he'll ever return.
Temple of the Winds (Sword of Truth, #4) Reviews
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Definitely the worst of these books yet. I almost one-starred it, but the main thing that was making me angry was semi-addressed by the end, so I don’t think this series has quite reached the point of untenable badness just yet. (And I want to save the one star, because I’m pretty sure there is much worse to come.)
So, seriously, this book was very, very bad.
It’s pretty rare that I say a book is “bad.” Most books have redeeming qualities, or maybe just aren’t my thing. Actually, there are a lot of books that people have loved that I hate. But just because I hate them, doesn’t mean they’re bad. One does not necessarily follow the other. It drives me absolute BONKERS when I see reviewers say books are BAD when really what’s going on is that they just don’t like them. There’s a difference between quality and preference. I feel like it’s a really subjective difference, but it is there. The Temple of the Winds has SO MANY THINGS wrong with it that I don’t feel uncomfortable at all just straight up saying it was bad. And yet, it was entertaining for the most part. But even that redeeming quality was mostly outweighed for me by the juvenile writing, terrrible dialogue, the blatant sexism, the lazy plotting, and awful character work.
The only part of this book I have no complaints with is the fantasy setting. I mean, it’s generic, but some of it is genuinely cool and/or interesting when separated from that other stuff. Like, I love the idea of the Confessors. And the way Goodkind handles prophecy in general is interesting in a way I’ve never seen another fantasy novel handle it. (Prophecy can only be interpreted by other prophets because the prophecy isn’t just the written words, but images and feelings that come with it that normal people can’t interpret, or even perceive.) I say “in general,” because there is a scene I’m going to talk about below involving prophecy that made me want to throw this damn book across the room.
So, let’s break it down. Spoilers all up in here:
Drefan Rahl and the “Mysterious” Prostitute Murderer
There’s a lot of stuff going on in this book. It’s 800 something pages. Drefan Rahl is one of those things, and since he connects in a major way to three storylines, I’m starting with him. So famous Richard Rahl, Lord of D’Hara and lover of Kahlan, at the end of the last book declared himself ruler of the known world or whatever, you know, for people’s safety. This involved forcing all the provinces and countries that used to make up the Midlands (a confederacy, ruled by the Mother Confessor, who is Kahlan) to declare loyalty to Richard and join the D’Haran Empire, giving up their sovereignty in exchange for protection. If they don’t do this, Richard will consider them an enemy, aligned with the anti-magic Emperor who is coming to kill them all. Richard has assumed that he was an only child until now, but it seems his father Darken Rahl, the old Lord Rahl, had lots of bastard children, most of whom he had killed, but one survived. That one is Drefan, who shows up in the middle of all these provinces and countries declaring themselves for Richard. He also happens to show up right when Emperor Jagang makes a new move by sending his agents into the city to cause chaos, by starting a plague outbreak with magic.
You as a discerning reader will pretty much know right away that Drefan is trouble. He pretends to be the leader of a group of healers, a “nice guy” who is out to protect people and live down his awful father’s reputation. And then the first thing he actually does completely wipes that from your head. Cara, one of Richard’s Mord-Sith bodyguards, is attacked by Jagang, who is possessing this guy Marlin’s body (sigh), and Marlin escapes their custody, harming Cara in the process. Drefan just happens to show up right at that moment and “heals her”. I mean, he does heal her, but he gets up to some sketchy as hell rapey shit while doing it. During the healing, he gropes her naked breasts, and then puts his hands down her pants and up her lady business. He says he’s doing this to check JUST IN CASE the bad guy put her in a state of continuous orgasm. You know, because that is a thing he thinks LIKELY. Either this world is way more fucked up than we thought, or this guy is an asshole. Even Kahlan balks at his behavior. She dwells on it for the rest of the novel, but is horribly passive about it. She never tells anyone about her misgivings, even though Richard is trying to decide whether or not to trust his newfound brother, and that would have been helpful information. She is a doormat. (Sidenote: It was at this point that I just started writing “WTF” all over the book every time something like this happened. And it happened a lot. I should count the WTFs.)
So while all the city is going to hell with the plague, a rash of extremely violent prostitute murders start happening. We get to witness the first one via the “anonymous” POV of a new male character, who is the murderer. I knew immediately this murderer was Drefan. It was blindingly obvious. And yet, Goodkind wastes time trying to trick us into thinking it’s this other red herring guy. And I don’t know if Goodkind hates prostitutes or not (my guess is yes based on reading this book), but Drefan certainly does. His mother was a prostitute, so he thinks all of them are drunks and degenerates and generally horrible people. He murders them to cleanse the city. It’s predictable, and disgusting. He also continually, stupidly, and without proof, blames the spreading of the plague on the prostitutes, even though none of the victims we meet have ever even met a prostitute.
We also get this gem from him to Richard:“Kahlan is beautiful. You are a fortunate man to have a woman of such substance and noble character. A woman like that only comes along once in a lifetime, and then only if the good spirits smile on you.”
Yeah, the rest of us are crap. (But really, to Drefan, we are.)
And then after all this awfulness, we have to deal with Drefan and Kahlan being a key part of the prophecy that is set to save everyone. But more on that later.
The Plague
Seguing into the plague, seriously, fucking Drefan is OBSESSED with blaming the spreading of the plague on prostitutes. This is how he introduces himself:“I’m Drefan Rahl, High Priest of the Raug’Moss community of healers. I’ve had some experience with the plague. I suggest that you confine yourself to your room and avoid contact with strangers. Especially prostitutes.”
I mean, WHAT!?????
Here’s him again, referring to Richard:“You’d think he’d be worried about the plague, if not getting caught. The plague is running wild among the prostitutes, more so than among the populace at large.”
Drefan. Learn science. Then punch yourself in the face.
Also, like everything to do with the plague, this is just lazy writing. I knew going into this book that the plague would be the main threat, but it’s honestly barely in this, aside from a scene near the middle where we see several children die from the plague. After that, we only get periodic updates from random characters telling us things like “more people are dying” and “oh that plague thing is still happening.” But we never SEE it. Particularly since I just read a plague book that was great (Doomsday Book), this felt extra bad to me. The plague never feels like a real threat by itself, only ever in the actions of Richard and Kahlan, who do some truly melodramatic things as a result. Only ONE character that we care about actually gets sick, so of course she is also the only one to die. She also happens to be a lesbian, who literally dies with a chipmunk eating from her hand. I’m telling you, I can’t make this up.
It also annoys me that this plague is the same as ours. This part may be just my personal preference, but I feel like it’s lazy writing. This is a made up world. That plague could be anything, and he went with something that is from our world (which also seems unlikely).
(P.S. TO DREFAN: THE PLAGUE STARTED WITH A CHILDREN’S GAME, AND ITS FIRST VICTIMS WERE ALL KIDS, SO HOW EXACTLY IS IT SO PROMINENT WITH PROSTITUTES AGAIN? OH WAIT IT’S NOT SHUT UP I HATE YOU.)
The Hot Mess of Nadine
Guys, Nadine. Just GUYS. NADINE. Nadine is the reason I started to think that Drefan wasn’t the only man who has a problem with women.
So Nadine is a young woman from Richard’s hometown who randomly shows up at the palace, declaring she’s, well. This is what she says:“I’m on my way to my love. He’s been gone since last autumn. We’re to be wed, and I’m on my way to him.”
Stellar in every way, those sentences. It turns out her “love” is Richard Rahl, nee Cypher, and Shota the witch woman has told her she’s going to marry Richard. Nadine crosses a HUGE country to marry Richard, who she has not seen in years, and even before that, they barely spoke because of something awful Nadine did, just because this rando told her to. They weren’t even dating before that awful thing happened! (I promise I’ll tell you about it in a sec.) So for this completely moron to travel all that way on the word of someone she doesn’t even know, who tells her she’s going to marry Richard, for that to translate to, Oh I’m going to marry Richard, he must love me and I must love him and we’re going to be married despite literally everything telling me that’s not going to happen! you just know she has to be incredibly stupid.
Upon finding Richard and a bunch of people she doesn’t know, she:
•Continually tells them, including Richard, that they are going to be married, even after Richard tells her they’re not, he doesn’t love her, treats her like he doesn’t even LIKE her, introduces her to Kahlan, and tells her that he loves Kahlan NOT HER and he is marrying Kahlan NOT HER.
•Accuses Richard of tricking everyone in the room into thinking he’s a Lord and tells everyone in the room that obviously Richard can’t be Lord Rahl, because “Richard is a nobody.” This is an excellent way to woo a man. Especially one with a huge ego! Nadine, you complete idiot.
•Insists on inserting herself into everything, even though everyone keeps telling her to go away.
•Alters her dress overnight so that it’s tighter, so as to entice Richard, and then prances around in it.
She also continually says things like this to Kahlan:Nadine looked Kahlan in the eye. “And you’re so beautiful. It doesn’t seem fair. You even have beautiful green eyes; I just have dumb brown eyes. You must have had men lined up around the palace your whole life, wanting you. You must have had more suitors than most women can even dream of. You have everything. You could have your pick of any man in the Midlands . . . and you pick a man from my home.”
And this:“Any other woman in your place would’ve had me shaved bald and sent me out of town in the back of a manure wagon.”
NO, THEY WOULDN’T!!
Look, aside from Nadine being the worst, the fact that Goodkind thinks this is what happens between two women who want the same man says a lot about him. Men like Richard are SO DREAMY so we all must lose our minds at the possibility of being with him, ignoring any and all common sense, and behaving like cats fighting in an alleyway over whatever it is cats fight over. (My cat ate her own vomit this morning.)
And this is Kahlan’s reaction to Nadine:“She wanted this tempting, dangerous, beautiful young woman away from Richard.”
Just, no. Why would an intelligent woman like Kahlan, who is supposedly marrying a man she trusts and loves, give two shits about Nadine? I mean, maybe be annoyed with her and wish she would leave, but treat her like a legitimate threat? No effing way. Kahlan isn’t stupid enough, or petty enough, for that. Or, she shouldn’t be, if Goodkind knew how to write his own character.
The pinnacle of the Hot Mess of Nadine comes when Nadine details to Kahlan why Richard and she never got together, and it turns out Nadine’s version of getting a man is just as bad and stupid as she is. She tries to snag Richard by seducing his brother, and planning for Richard to catch them. You should really read this whole page in its full glory to get the whole effect:
[link
HERE if you can't read the smaller copy]
At least Goodkind takes the opportunity at this point to have Kahlan say this:“Nadine, as the good spirits are my witness, you have got to be just about the stupidest woman I have ever met.”
All the Nonsense With Richard and Kahlan
Maybe this next thing has always been an issue and I just didn’t realize it. I did watch the TV show in between reading the last book and this one, and that show has none of the problems the book series does, particularly the sexism and characterization problems. So maybe the contrast between the TV versions of Richard and Kahlan–who are awesome–and the versions found here is what really brought this to my attention. Or this book just really really sucks, even more than the last three, at being good to these characters. It’s probably both.
Anyway, this book assassinates both of its lead characters. Kahlan becomes a doormat who dissolves into weeping fits at every provocation, instead of being the strong badass that she was. Richard is rude to everyone, even cruel, tries to control people in the name of keeping them safe, and loses his temper every five seconds. I guess the lesson here is that we women turn into emotional basket cases as soon as we fall in love, and men turn into controlling bags of dicks when given power over something, and the best part, that’s the way it SHOULD BE! That’s the IDEAL!
For example, here’s our hero seeing Nadine for the first time in years:This wasn’t a deadly rage that gripped his eyes, or a lethal commitment. This was somehow worse. The depth of that disinterest, in that empty smile, in his eyes, was frightening.
The only way Kahlan could imagine it being worse would be if such a gaze were directed her way. That look, so devoid of fervor, if directed at her, would have broken her heart.
THIS is the guy?? This is the guy we’re supposed to see as a the rightful ruler? As the paragon of goodness? Richard is a good name for him, because he sure is a Dick. (I almost feel bad about writing that, because my little Italian grandfather’s name was Dick, and he was adorable.)
Richard enters Dick Mode frequently in this book, including to Kahlan, the supposed love of his life. He is a huge dick to Nadine as previously discussed. He and Kahlan have a confrontation after the stupid prophecy is revealed, and Kahlan starts crying, of course, OH RICHARD I WOULD NEVER BETRAY YOU (the prophecy says that she will betray him), and Richard just gets mad at her for going after the guy who brought the plague to the city, but really he’s not mad that she went, but that she DISOBEYED him. UGH IT MAKES ME MAD. Here’s the thing. Kahlan is a queen, a LITERAL queen. She is a warrior and has been for her whole life. Richard has been whatever he is for less than two years. Kahlan is also the Mother Confessor. Why are his wishes the only ones that are important? And how does he possibly think that he can keep her safe? Or that he even needs to? Kahlan defies Richard again when she goes to find Shota the witch woman and figure out WTF is up with Nadine. Of course, she feels bad for doing so, and takes the time to (literally) cry over her wedding dress before she goes.
In any other story, Richard is the bad guy.
As mentioned previously, Kahlan suddenly turns into the weeping willow and there’s the doormat thing, but there’s also a new and unpleasant development where she decides to suddenly turn into Regina George. While talking to Richard, Kahlan calls Nadine “a whore,” and then later, after Nadine expresses a particularly vile opinion, she says again, “Out of the mouths of whores.” WTF. First of all, that is an insult to actual whores. Second, since when is Kahlan so vile? And that moment, we’re meant to empathize with her. It’s so out of the blue and awful, I actually sided with Nadine for a second. And that’s saying something, because as I already told you, she’s the worst.
THAT SCENE
The absolute worst part of this book is the end, when the prophecy finally shows up. “The Winds” tell Kahlan that in order for Richard to find the Temple of Winds (the magical McGuffin where Richard will supposedly find the cure to the plague), she will have to marry Drefan and Richard will have to marry Nadine. This plot development is so moronic and contrived and pointless, I’m not even going to waste any more time on explaining why it is all of those things. What I AM going to waste time on is what happens next.
They go to the top of a stupid hill, and then they stupid get married to the wrong stupid people for no stupid reason. THEN the Temple tells them the Temple will only open once they consummate their marriages. Why? I don’t know. Maybe the temple is sentient. Maybe it’s a voyeur. Maybe getting people to stupid marry each other and then watch them have sex is like the Temple’s porn. BUT IT GETS EVEN BETTER! Kahlan basically gets suicidal because the Temple will know if the marriage is false, meaning they can’t just get married to get into the Temple. It has to stick (because of course it does). Meaning she can never be with Richard . . . not until they’re both dead. Then if you start thinking, oh yeah, she can’t have sex with Drefan! Her Confessor powers will take over! Nope. The Winds take away her power so she can have sex with him no prob. And. AND! For the cherry on top of the perverted sundae, he writes it so that Kahlan is on her period, and makes sure to mention it (this also fulfills a part of the prophecy, that she will betray him in her blood . . . sigh). Oh, and they can’t talk OR ELSE. Then she has sex with Drefan. In the complete dark. She doesn’t enjoy it. Nothing happens. She figures the Temple wants her to enjoy it. She decides to enjoy it the second time, because what the hell.
But SURPRISE! The guy she had sex with was Richard! And he’s pissed that she enjoyed herself while thinking it was Drefan! And he storms off and abandons her!
I hated it so much. This book does not understand love or jealousy or betrayal. This book thinks it can have it both ways. It thinks it can be a book with two soulmates who love each other and know each other truly. And it thinks it can have those same characters do things that are in direct opposition. It betrays its own characters just for drama, and it manufactures conflict out of nothing. Richard believes so little that Kahlan loves him that he has a hissy fit over something he knew she had to do. And then be blamed her for making the best of it.
The only reason I’m not giving this book one star out of complete disgust is that Richard apologizes and makes it clear that Goodkind is not completely oblivious. He tells Kahlan:“I have come to beg your forgiveness. I am the one who was wrong. I am the one who caused the true pain. I am the one who betrayed our hearts, not you. It is the worst sin I could commit, and I alone am guilty of it.”
Fucking finally.
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I only have about 250 characters left in the Goodreads review space, so you can
click through to the full review for some miscellaneous notes I made as well.
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And that's all I got folks, until next time.
[1.5 stars] -
Terry Goodkind is a superb author, and in my opinion, his "Sword of Truth" series is the best I have ever read. So good, in fact, that I have read the entire series three times in a row, back to back, non-stop. This series is *not* for children. The series covers many aspects of the dark side of humanity, in great detail, as the heroes try to overcome the evils in the world. Goodkind is not afraid to show his readers just what evil *really* is, that is, most often, people who perform acts of evil feel justified in their minds as to why they are doing so, if for illogical reasons, and will that those that oppose them are the evil ones. Goodkind shows his readers that the only way to overcome evil in ourselves and in the world is through use of Reason. The series is *not* light reading, but if one is not afraid to confront the reality of evil (even within ourselves), and how to really defeat evil, the one will find this series extremely rewarding.
-
It is always curious to see fantasy authors who don't consider themselves to be fantasy authors. Case-in-point: Terry Goodkind. The former landscape painter has told us how he isn't a fantasy author in every interview he's ever given:
"The books I write are first of all novels, not fantasy, and that is deliberate; I'm really writing books about human beings."
(1)
"To define me as a fantasy writer is to misunderstand the context of my books by misidentifying their fundamentals."
(2)
"The stories I'm telling are not fantasy-driven, they're character-driven, and the characters I want to write about could be set in any world. I'd like to address a broader audience."
(3)
""What I have done with my work has irrevocably changed the face of fantasy. In so doing I've raised the standards. I have not only injected thought into a tired empty genre, but, more importantly, I've transcended it showing what more it can be . . ."
Then the interview usually devolves into a discussion of Ayn Rand and 'the meaning of art', just in case you missed the pretension of declaring fantasy books 'not fantasy!'
The guy certainly has a chip on his shoulder, but it makes me wonder whether he has actually read any fantasy. He doesn't seem to realize that the things he claims separate him from fantasy are fundamental parts of how modern fantasy works. A novel that's fundamentally about character interactions with a magical setting? How droll. Goodkind doesn't reinventing the novel; he doesn't even reinvent the fantasy novel, he just twists the knobs to get a little more steam out of it.
Michael Moorcock
critiqued Tolkien as a false romantic, which is rather apt considering that his love story takes place almost entirely in absentia (prompting Peter Jackson to infuse some extra loving with a hot, elven, psychic dream sequence). Most fantasy authors rectify this by having the girl come along for the journey. Goodkind likes to keep the separation for much of the story as our hero tries to seek her out across a continent (though she is often just in the next room! Oh! What a tragic coincidence!)
Actually, after the first time it's just an annoying and painfully artificial way to try to hold off the conclusion for another hundred pages. It's a good thing Terry doesn't have to rely on magical or artificial means to keep his stories fresh!
The rest of the time, the hero finds the girl and lovingly transfixes her on his mighty sword. No, really. I'm not sure why these authors always end up feeling as if they have to dump their sex fetish issues at this particular juncture: "Huh, I dig BDSM. Maybe I should confide my fantasies in a book for mass publication".
I cannot think of a single female character in the entire series who isn't either raped or threatened with rape. If you want to give me an example of one, remember: I'm counting magical psychic blowjob rape as rape. I wish I never had the opportunity to qualify a statement with 'don't forget the psychic blowjob rape'.
I don't mind actual BDSM literature, but I'd rather have my own reaction to it than be told "isn't it totally dirty and wrong!? (but still super sexy, right?)" Porn for porn's sake is fine, but remember, Goodkind isn't some escapist fantasy author, these are 'real stories about real people' so he has to act like his magic porn is somehow a reflection of real life.
Goodkind's books are cookie-cutter genre fantasy, but the first few aren't that badly done, and if you like people narrowly missing one another, bondage, masochism, rape, and dragons, it might work for you, but the series dies on arrival part-way through, so prepare for disappointment.
If you are enjoying the series, you should probably avoid reading any of his interviews, as he rarely misses an opportunity to claim that he is superior to all other fantasy authors, and never compare him to Robert Jordan, because
"If you notice a similarity, then you probably aren't old enough to read my books."
(4)
Goodkind truly lives in his own fantasy world if he thinks his mediocre genre re-hash is 'original' or 'deep'.
Then again, I've never met an adherent of Ayn Rand who didn't consider themselves a brilliant and unique snowflake trapped in a world of people who 'just don't understand'. The
Randian philosophies are also laid on pretty thickly in his books, but at least he found a substitute grandmother figure to help him justify his
Gorean sex-romp as 'high art'.
All in all, he's just another guy who likes to hear himself talk. Despite what he says, nothing separates his work from the average modern fantasy author, and like them, his greatest failing is the complete lack of self-awareness that overwhelms his themes, plots, and characters.
My Fantasy Book Suggestions -
An Opinionated Look At:
Terry Goodkind's Temple of the Winds
By Eric Allen
Thinking back on the series, I never really remember much about this book. It wasn't one of the ones that I read multiple times because of how good it was. When I was choosing a book from this series to read, I'd always pick others. I remember liking it back in the day, but at the same time, I don't remember liking it as much as the first three books, or some of those that came later in the series, like Faith of the Fallen, and the Chainfire trilogy. (Yes, I do remember enjoying the Chainfire storyline. We'll see if it still holds up when I get to it.) However, coming back to Temple of the Winds, I started to see why I didn't remember enjoying this book as much as others almost immediately. All of the criticisms I've had about Terry Goodkind's later books are present in this one, if not quite as bad as they are in the Richard and Kahlan series. Lazy and repetitious writing, generally likeable protagonists turned into utter douche canoes, a silly, inconsequential new villain, and so on. All of these things are here in this book. Temple of the Winds seems a herald of the bland, repetitious, soulless mediocrity to come. In my review of The Omen Machine, I made a joke about there being two Goodkinds. The one that writes well and tells good stories, and the sell out. This book was written by the sell out.
You can see something wrong in the way that this book is written right from the very first paragraph. Kahlan and Cara are talking about something as though it is important without bothering to let us, the readers, in on it. This is what I like to call False Tension. False tension is when the author doesn't really know how to introduce dramatic tension to a situation and either a.) tells you outright that it's tense, or b.) withholds information from the readers that the characters clearly already have. In this case the latter. And let me add in right here about that: The characters are a surrogate in the story for the readers. It is through the characters that the readers experience what is happening. When the characters know something, and continuously talk about "IT" without saying what "IT" is, it makes it impossible for a reader to project themselves into the story. The author is actively working to keep the reader on the outside. AND THAT IS A VERY STUPID THING TO DO WHILE WRITING A STORY!!!
Anyway, a Wizard from the Imperial Order walked right into the audience chamber of the Confessor's Palace as a petitioner, claiming to be an assassin sent by Jagang to kill Richard. BUT, we do not learn of this until MUCH later. The entire first chapter is basically a waste of space. Why? Because we don't know what's happening, but the characters do. They keep talking about it, and talking about it, and talking about it, without ever actually saying what "it" is, and it's completely meaningless, because we, the readers, have no idea WHAT THE HELL THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT!!! This isn't tense. This isn't dramatic. It's boring and pointless instead. The entire thing could have easily been fixed with a single paragraph added in at the very beginning.
Something like:
"Mother Confessor," Captain So-n-so of the D'haran forces reported. "We've captured a man claiming to be an assassin from the Imperial Order sent to assassinate Lord Rahl amongst the day's petitioners. Would you care to question him now, or would you like us to soften him up first?"
Add that in as the very first paragraph of this book, and suddenly, all of that false tension transforms magically into ACTUAL TENSION!!! Why? Because the readers know what's at stake, and WHY the characters are on edge right from the beginning, instead of trying to piece together what's happening from purposely vague dialog. Good GOD! Whatever editor worked on this book needs a good kick in the ass for letting that one slide past.
Uhg, I just ranted for four entire paragraphs about what is wrong with the first paragraph of this book... this is going to be a long one, I can tell already. *sigh*
So, once we finally get let in on what's happening... ACTION SCENE!!! Which is actually a pretty cool action scene as Kahlan and soldiers chase the Wizard down through the sewers. But I do have to point out the clumsy transition from false tension to chase this guy and kill him before he can do anything worse.
ANYWAY, with that utterly unimportant to the plot beginning out of the way, we finally get on with the main plot of the book. Richard's half brother Drefan Rahl, the leader of an order of healers, shows up at the exact moment that Nadine, a woman Richard was once semi-romantically involved with, claiming that Shota sent her to marry Richard, does. These two new characters are both horribly contrived. They're clearly just here to be points of contention and NOTHING MORE. And Goodkind isn't even trying to hide it either. Richard and Kahlan both repeatedly say "well this is just a little too convenient." Yeah, Goodkind, quit winking at me, will ya? I get it already. Nadine especially is one of the most contrived non-characters I've ever had the displeasure to read about. Everything about her is just so fake and forced. Nothing she does makes any sense, because, Terry Goodkind, apparently, has never actually met a real woman before. You think I'm exaggerating? Wait until you read the chapter where Nadine explains why Richard doesn't love her anymore. Seriously. Read that chapter and tell me Goodkind has ever actually met a woman before in his life. It's not just women that get the treatment here, though they get it the worst. Has he ever met another human being at all before? Is his real name Valentine Michael Smith? What planet is he from? Because it sure as hell isn't Earth if he thinks this is something that ANYONE, much less any woman, would do.
(I direct you to my rant about how women are people too in my previous review of this series.)
And then conveniently enough just as Richard's completely sane and totally not evil half-brother the healer shows up, the black death, and yes, Goodkind literally calls it the black death, shows up in town. What a coincidence... It sure is lucky that this completely sane and totally not evil healer happened to arrive exactly when he was needed. (And YES, I know that he hears voices in his head that are actually real that told him to come here, but you don't find that out until book 7. And I'm pretty sure that Goodkind hadn't actually come up with the explanation when he wrote this character.)
Okay, here's the problem with this plague. First of all, it's too contrived. As a plot device it feels really forced in, and not natural to the world of the Sword of Truth. It's the same as the Black Death from medieval times. That complete lack of originality took me out of the story somewhat. It really feels like Goodkind crowbarred this side plot in because the plot said so, and not for any other real reason. Which brings me to my next point. It never really becomes the malevolent driving force behind the story that Goodkind obviously believes it to be. Why? Because we never actually see it at work. It's never really present in the story. The plot says there's a plague, so there's a plague. But how much of it do we really see? So little that it might as well not even be there. There's one chapter where Richard and pals go around visiting children stricken with the plague, and one single character that we've seen before dies of it. However, that's it. That's all we see of it. Every now and then a character will lean into the room and say something like "Hey, remember that plague thing? Yeah, that's still going on. Just thought you'd like to know." It's a really lazy way of creating drama, because we're TOLD that the drama is happening, rather than being SHOWN that it's happening. It's basically the first rule of fiction. Show, don't tell. How am I supposed to care, when all I hear about the people who are dying is how many of them are dying? I don't know these characters. They're nameless, faceless people that I've never been shown, and don't care about. When you don't care about characters that are experiencing horrors, there's no dramatic tension. And when there's no dramatic tension, it's boring and pointless to read about. Look at Stephen King's The Stand. A new plague spreads across the world, killing more than 99% of the population. Not only is it not an already existing disease in our world, but it's so frightening because it looks like nothing more than a common cold at first, something that most people don't even bother going to a doctor for. We see the plague at work through the eyes of about a dozen different characters. We see them watch helplessly as their friends and loved ones die. We see them trying to make sense of all of the death. We see people looting and rioting. We see hospitals filling up. We see military men burning bodies because there's so freaking many of them. We see scientists trying to find a cure. The plague, in that book, is almost like an actual character in the story. It has a personality. It's very present, and very integrated into the lives of the characters who survive it. Temple of the Winds has NONE of that. And so, the plague fails as a driving force for the story.
Oh yes, and somewhere in there a nameless serial killer, who is totally not Drefan because he's completely sane and totally not evil, is brutally murdering prostitutes because reasons. Literally, because reasons. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever for these chapters to exist in the story, ESPECIALLY when you don't learn that it actually is Drefan who, surprise surprise, is completely insane and totally evil, until later in the story. (Not that it was hard to guess who it was almost immediately, which makes these chapters even more stupid and pointless.) Being told who the killer is early on would have made all of Richard's interactions with Drefan so much more tense and meaningful to the story. Instead, we get a point of view character that doesn't even have a name. Here's a little object lesson to anyone looking to write a good story on exactly why you don't do something this stupid in a story. If you tell part of a story from a character's point of view, that character better have a name. You do yourself and your story no favors by keeping the identity of a viewpoint character secret. And in the end, you pretty much end up looking like a hack amateur for it. Case in point. Terry Goodkind looks like a hack amateur in this book.
Anyway, so the plot finally plods along to the point where some sort of resolution is supposed to happen, thank god, and it's revealed that Richard must marry Nadine, and Kahlan must marry Drefan to end the plague, because reasons. Literally, because reasons. No reason is given. It just happens because reasons. I guess Goodkind had to go out and kick that love that can never be dead horse one last freaking time.
Hilarity ensues, and yes, the end of this book is freaking hilarious in how absolutely inept it is, and the book FINALLY ends with Richard and Kahlan kissing and making up.
Oh yeah, and Nathan is running around doing really sexist things, while Zedd and Anne are off doing silly things, none of which are really all that important to the plot... if you can even call it a plot.
The Good? There were a couple good action scenes in the book. And when you look at it as an unintentional comedy, a parody of the Sword of Truth as we've known it before this book, it is actually quite funny. But the other side of that coin is that this book is an absolute joke.
The Bad? Anything having to do with Drefan or Nadine is just plain ridiculous and terrible. These two characters are just so fake and forced into the story. AND THEY ARE NEVER MENTIONED AGAIN, EVEN ONCE, IN THE ENTIRE REST OF THE SERIES. Nadine is probably the most insultingly sexist piece of garbage character I've ever read. The sheer stupidity and ignorance that Goodkind displays with writing her is monumental. And Drefan is far too much like a cartoon villain who is evil because the plot says so, and doesn't really have much in the way of character or motivation. He's just there to be over the top silly, and evil because the story needs someone to be over the top silly, and evil.
The Ugly? The more of Goodkind's earlier books I read these days, the more I find myself convinced that Goodkind may have heard about these people called women, but has never actually met one in person. So, I got to thinking to myself, at about halfway through this book, that I couldn't think of any times that it actually passed the Bechdel Test. For those of you who are unaware of the test, it's very simple. You take a work of fiction and you ask three questions. Does it have more than one woman in it? Do they talk to each other? About something other than a man? If you can't say yes to all three questions, it fails the test. And you would be surprised how few works of fiction, even those written by women, actually pass this test. So I got to thinking, well, hey, there's like a good dozen or so female characters in this book, and they've all had speaking parts, but I can't remember any of them talking to each other about anything other than Richard, or some other man, or with the subtext of a man somewhere in the conversation. So I flipped back through the book, looking for any single conversation between two female characters that would pass the Bechdel Test, and I couldn't find any. Oh, they talk to each other plenty. But they're always talking to each other about men. I found one instance where Kahlan and Cara talk about Nadine, but in the context of protecting Richard from her, so it's the next best thing to them talking about a man, and doesn't count in my opinion. And there is a part where Nadine gives Kahlan a forced apology, but it's an apology forced by Richard, a man, and so I'm not counting that either. You'd think that a book that has 30% more female characters than male characters with speaking parts in it would easily pass the Bechdel Test by the halfway point, but it doesn't even come close. Furthermore, throughout the rest of the book, there is still not a single conversation between two women that doesn't at least have an unspoken subtext in it about men.
This book is a pretty good illustration of what many, many men think of women. Well, news flash, women can occasionally say more than two words to one another without mentioning a man. It does happen. I've seen it. I'm sitting right next to a lovely lady named Kaye at this very moment who has been talking for the last straight hour on her phone with one of her friends, and the one thing she said about a man was "hold on for a sec while I kick Eric, he's being obnoxious." The lives of women don't revolve around men. Seriously. Don't believe me? There's a good three and a half billion of them out there. They're not exactly rare, unknowable creatures. Having trouble writing believable conversations between women? All you have to do is ask one. "Hey, um, so I'm writing this story. You think you could give me a hand with these two characters? I'm not really sure what they should have in common and talk about with each other. Maybe you can help." Or, "Hey, can you read this and tell me how I'm doing with my female characters? I'm trying to make them realistic and all, but I could really use your input on how well I'm doing." I've learned throughout my life that a pretty good motto to live by is "When in doubt, ask a woman. When not in doubt, ask one anyway." No one knows how women think, act, and what they talk about with each other better than a woman, and in my experience, many of them are more than happy to give you advice on the subject when asked.
And that isn't even bringing up Nathan's absolutely sexist storyline either, where he saves a woman who is honored--YES, I SAID HONORED!!!--to be thought pretty enough to be a sex slave. Who needs a man to tell her that she's worth anything. And then spends the entire rest of the book fucking him and telling him how much better he is than her because he's a great and powerful man, and she's just a lowly woman. God, this book makes my head hurt.
Oh, and I never really thought of Richard as the kind of guy that would throw a defenseless village girl against a wall with his hand around her throat and scream threats at her. Guess I just sort of blocked that out of my memory of this book. One of the things that a protagonist can do that really pisses me off is if he abuses a woman. Yes, she said some very hurtful things to Kahlan. Yes, she's trying to break them up for her own gain. Yes, she hurt him in the past. But any man who resorts to violence against her for that should be required to return his man card immediately, along with his tiny little dick. It's so small, he probably won't even miss it.
All in all, this book is absolutely terrible. It's long. It's boring. It's absolutely nonsensical. It's views on women would be hilarious if they weren't so damned offensive. Pretty much the only thing of note that actually happens in the book, happens in the final chapter. As characters are where they need to be for the next part of the story, and certain things happen that should have happened far sooner in the series, but Goodkind just had to go out and kick that love that can never be dead horse one last time. Honestly, you can pretty much skip the entire book except the last chapter and be all the better for it. It is utterly ridiculous and the only enjoyment I can see anyone possibly getting from it is by looking at it as a comedic parody of itself, rather than the next great book in an awesome fantasy series. It gets two stars because I know that it is far from the worst of the series. At least I can laugh at this one. And yet, this book is rated HIGHER on Goodreads than Blood of the Fold, which was a MUCH better, and far less offensive book.
And the worst thing is... the next book is even worse, if I remember correctly. I'll probably take another 6 months to work up the resolve to plod my way through it again. Especially since I discovered
Big Finish Who take the actors who have played previous incarnations of the Doctor from Doctor Who, and make full cast audio dramas to continue their adventures. Their 50th anniversary story with Doctors 4-8 with old recordings of the actors who played 1-3 added in, was SO MUCH BETTER than the actual, official BBC 50th anniversary. Gawd, I love old school Doctor Who. The new stuff just cannot compare. If you're a fan, check it out, because all of the new stuff with older Doctors I've listened to so far have been just incredibly good. Especially Colin Baker's run. His stories in the old series were often not all that great due to circumstances far beyond his control, but his Big Finish series is sooooo good. They even did an actual regeneration story for him.
...I am such a nerd... *sigh*
Check out my other reviews. -
My 2019 reread of the Sword of Truth series has been a big success so far. I've blasted through the first four books in the series in just over two weeks and have been sucked right back into Goodkind's SoT world! It might have its flaws but I'm finding the SoT series to be an engaging and fun epic fantasy with a classic 1990s feel to it. We get a mix of action, adventure, romance, triumph, and tragedy that makes the story a compelling read. It also helps that I find Goodkind's, admittedly weird, writing style to be quite engaging and I like the crazy plots, fun characters, cool magic, and weird fantasy creatures that are found in this world.
SoT is a little dark compared to the other classic 90s fantasy epics in the genre but I always feel it has dark moments rather than being a book that has a dark tone. Which is to say I think Goodkind gets the balance spot on in the series. There is dark moments and evil villains but that is balanced out by the fact that the overall tone of the series is a positive and mostly uplifting one.
The story in this 4th instalment of the series was as enjoyable as ever. Richard and Kahlan continued to try and unite the lands of the Midlands under the rule of the D'Haran Empire in order to be able to offer unified opposition to the growing threat of the Imperial Order. Jagang continued his forays into the Midlands by sending both a wizard assassin and by invoking a dangerous prophecy that catches both Rchard and Kahlan in its clutches. On top of that Richard has to deal with his half brother, Drefan Rahl, and his ex-girlfriend, Nadine, showing up in Aydindril. It all ended up being quite engaging!
The reason I felt like Temple of the Winds was not quite as good as the previous three books in the series is because I felt like both Richard and Kahlan were at their annoying worst at times. Nadine really brought out the worst in both of them! Goodkind's own disturbing views on women were also at their worst in this instalment.
From my first read I remembered the Temple of the Winds marriage scene as being a memorably bad moment for the series. It was still pretty awful this second time around but not so bad as I remembered. I think that was because I knew what to expect this time!
I felt like Nathan, Verna, Zedd, and Ann all had fun side story arcs in this story. This was also a good book for Cara and Berdine. Both got plenty of chances to shine in this one and I felt like they deepened their relationships with both Richard and Kahlan over the course of the story which I enjoyed. If I had a tiny complaint it was that Cara ended up a damsel in distress just a tiny bit too often!
All in all I still really enjoyed Temple of the Winds. Roll on book 5 in the series!
Rating 4.5 stars. I'm rounding down to 4 stars for the rating as while this was still an excellent instalment in the SoT series it was not quite as good as the three previous books in the series. I'm sure I felt the same in my teen years so this still satisfies the nostalgia rating as well as the current one!
Audio Note 1: This 4th book in the SoT series introduces the series 4th new audio narrator that the listener needs to get used to. In all my years of listening to audio I do not think I've came across as publisher who shits on its listeners as badly as Brilliance Audio does with the Sword of Truth audios. The utter contempt they treat the listener with is absolutely disgusting. Even if all four audio narrators were fantastic, which they most definitely are not, it would still be a problem as consistency of character voice and interpretation is a crucially important part of the audio experience. Narrator number four is Dick Hill. Hill is not so monotonous as Jim Bond but his female character voices are dreadful and the fact that he went with a totally different pronunciation of Kahlan's name to every single other narrator drove me nuts. Everyone else pronounced it Kay-Lin like they do in the SoT TV show. Hill thought it would be fun to pronounce it as Collin. Occasionally he got bored with Collin and threw in something like Call-in or Karin! Worse still was the fact that his pronunciation of Cara was similar to his Collin so it was tough to tell which name he was saying half the time. It was especially irksome and bothersome as Cara and Kahlan spent a lot of time together in this one!
Audio Note 2: For this 2019 reread I'm listening to the Nick Sullivan narrated version of the SoT series that was published for the NLB. Sullivan's performance is excellent. Why they never put this version of the series on sale commercially is beyond me. -
First reread in over a decade and while this book does get weird, I still had a good time with it. We get ye fantasy Jack the Ripper, a magical plague, Kahlan being a badass (as usual) and Richard being dumb and then having to figure things out and apologize (also as usual). Things can get brutal at times, but I love these characters, and the found family with all the Mordsith makes me happy. In general the characters and the over the top, tropey stories are what keep me coming back and enjoying the series.
There are a lot of intensely negative reviews of this book and I get why this might not be everyone's thing. You might not like the campy melodrama, the fairly predictable plots, or the over the top violence. Or you might really enjoy those things. I don't think this book is trying to take itself that seriously, which for me alleviates what might otherwise be fodder for a lot of criticism. And despite all the claims that this book is rampantly misogynist, I personally disagree. Yes, there is a lot of violence against women (though in general the series is pretty equal opportunity for violence and sexual violence regardless of gender).
This one may be particularly disturbing because it's clearly drawing on Jack the Ripper who did commit very disturbing serial murders against prostitutes. But ultimately, I think this book is trying to contrast our villain who despises women (particularly "whores") with Richard who is coming to understand that everyone is deserving of respect regardless of their occupation or place in life. That it's not okay to exploit sex workers, and that women sometimes make difficult choices out of desperation. And while I don't want to spoil things, he also has a major realization at the end of the book that pushes back on the norm of male jealousy and possessiveness. We consistently have things like Kahlan saving other people rather than needing to be saved herself. It points out the absurdity of virginity as a construct and the kinds of technicalities that surround it. I could go on, but I actually feel like the intent of this series is surprisingly feminist. Now, you may just not like reading sexual violence on page period, and that's fair, but I just don't agree that it's an inherently misogynist text, even if some of the characters display misogyny.
Content Warnings include sexual assault, murder, sexual violence, torture, death, loss of a loved one, blood -
This is the one that made me stop reading the series. In fact, I set the book down without even finishing it. Goodkind just keeps rehashing the same old stuff over and over and it's not fresh any more. He's also downright fixated on sex and I just felt too disgusted to continue. I don't have a problem with reading about sex (I read the Kushiel series by Jacqueline Carey, for crying out loud!) - it's not the sex, it's the intent that creeped me out. I haven't picked up another Goodkind book since putting this one down.
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currently reading this, and compared to book 3, this one is rubbish.
i do not like kahlan how she keeps crying
richards character is quite boring and two faced, he is trying to be mr perfect...his acceptance as the ruler was just to sudden, i felt there was no good flow between woods guide and ruler.
the story line is concentrated in that damn confessors castle
there is to much about fighting some plague and not enough action trying to find a solution.
very slow story line, and every time the romance comes up, i just skim thru the text until its finished cause it makes me want to burn the book.
from the first 4 books, this is by far the worst one.
i have almost finished it, but i have to say that im struggling to maintain any intrest in it.
i am taking a break from terry goodkinds books and going to read something else.
i will one day come back when i have nothing else to read.
edit: i have decided to stop reading this book as i just couldnt handle anymore of the crap. after reading some of the reviews here looks like i am making the right choice.
i am going to move onto George R R Martin's books as his series got some crazy reviews! -
That's my exit. That was incredibly bad.
I loved the first book and was disappointed when I read the second one.
When I read the third one I thought the second book was not so bad after all.
After I finished this one, I promised myself I had wasted enough time on this author.
This series is like so many TV shows : strong beginning, you really want to like the rest of it, but you keep getting disappointed...
The plot was terribly predictable, Goodkind characters grow backwards from other characters: the more you read about them, the less you like them.
There's a difference between a dark story -even a spooky disturbing story- and a story that makes you wish you were dead.
No thrill. No surprise. No wit. Just a thick urge to puke. -
2.5 stars. Big drop off from the first three books but still a decent, if underwhelming, novel. The scope of the threat posed by the Imperial Order continues to increase.
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My OCD is forcing me to wade through this series. I've resorted to Audiobooks now, the equivalent of putting a Dunce cap on this pile of crap. It's not that Goodkind is a terrible writer, I venture to say he is competent enough and even has his moments now and then. But the distastefulness of the author himself permeates his writing and it's making this a huge ordeal for me. If I hadn't read Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series I would have perhaps not even noticed that he was unequivocally plagiarizing that series. And no, I don't mean his Sword of Truth series is "influenced" by the Wheel of Time, I don't mean it is a "tribute" or a "riff" of WoT, or that it is in the "tradition" of the genre. He literally takes the mythology and stories that are very specific to the Wheel of Time, and lazily changes the names and dynamics just enough so he doesn't get sued. Strike number one.
Next, the misogyny. What. The. Fuck. To say that the violence is lopsided towards women is a gigantic understatement. If your a man in a Goodkind book, you're lucky, nobody even takes a swing at you most of the time. If you're a woman, oh boy, you'll get ten to a hundred detailed and agonizing pages of how you are tortured and raped over and over again, and then maybe you get to die. And there's no message behind it! There's no "hey, I'm writing this to help fight violence against women yada yada". He just constantly hurts women as a plot device to provoke the reader and/or titillate him. And the icing on the crap cake? That is his only goto when he wants to increase the tension. And I mean this literally so I'll write it again, that is the *only* plot device that he uses to create tension. Strike number two.
And finally, strike number three. The guy is a jerk. Read about him, read the interviews. He is a colossal douchebag. Enough said. -
The first time I read this book was in 2011 after I had plowed through the first three books in the series and I LOVED IT. The plot was so riveting, and obviously I adore the characters, I just could not get over how amazing it was.
This time, I reread it after having stopped reading the next book because of reasons. I wanted to reread this so I could just jump into book 5 with the love I remembered from book 4. Naturally I was nervous that I wouldn't enjoy it as much or I wouldn't devour it like the first time...THANK GOD FOR SLAYTHATSERIES YALL. Sara and Chami asked me to be a Twitter host and I reluctantly said yes because I'm AWFUL at readathons. They're so annoying to me because I never make any progress on anything and I usually feel like a failure. This time I gave myself a hefty TBR (books 4 and 5 of SOT) hoping that I would make some kind of progress in this reread and maybe rekindle my love for Richard and Kahlan. PRAISE BLESS IT HAPPENED AND I READ THE LAST 520 PAGES THIS WEEK. I haven't read this much in this short of a time in I don't know how long and it just BLEW MY MIND.
THIS BOOK WAS JUST AS AWESOME THE SECOND TIME AS IT WAS THE FIRST TIME. I don't think I've ever reread a truly adult fantasy book (mainly mass market paperbacks because gross) and for some reason this was just a breeze. I will admit that coming at it again five years later was a bit different than the first time because I was anticipating a lot, but by midway through I was still going "HOW THE HELL DOES THIS RESOLVE" so my memory must not be improving at all. I will admit that by the end of this I was reading a few SOT comments about sexual violence and rape (which are hella prevalent in the books), but I think we all know that that's awful and stupid and unacceptable...although I will admit, Terry Goodkind has a way with torture. (I would not want him to become a serial killer because yikes)
I'm not going to say this book is unproblematic because it isn't, but I am choosing to look past those major flaws because of my own personal entertainment and because of the unbelievably rich characters. Even though George R R Martin does have some kick ass ladies in his books, I have always appreciated Goodkind's characters more because they feel...I guess nicer, but I think they have much better values than Martin's. Kahlan and Richard are so...pure? I mean not innocent, but they seem so inherently GOOD that it gives me hope. And then there's all the amazing women from Kahlan to Shota to Ann to Verna to CARA to Raina and Berdine to Denna and Clarissa...they're all so strong and amazing in their own ways and I love them all so much.
This series started out as the TV show for me when I was a sophomore in high school, and to this day I cannot get these characters out of my head. I know this isn't the best series ever, and it isn't necessarily my favorite fantasy world ever, but the story is so rich and the characters are so meaningful (not to mention the joy ride that is a Terry Goodkind book) that I can't get over it. And I love ASOIAF, don't get me wrong, but personally I think Goodkind's writing is not only easier to read, but also more enjoyable and more fun. Whenever I read a SOT book I know there's hope. Even when things are most dire (THE CLIMAX OF THIS BOOK OH MY FREAKING GOODNESS), I know good things will come. Whereas ASOIAF could literally end in the entire cast dying and I would not be surprised.
I don't think this series is for everyone (STILL VERY MATURE), but I'm amazed that I came out of this reread still enthralled with this book, this series, and these characters. Even though the series now extends to fifteen gloriously long books, I'm going to spend the rest of my life working towards reading everything I can about Richard and Kahlan. OTP FOR LIFE MAN. -
Um, Terry, I think it is time we went our separate ways. You have your good qualities as a writer, but I spent this entire book cringing, keeping down my food, wanting to fight and murder your vile characters, even wanting to kill you for putting me through this. I suffered the horrible psychological pain as Kahlen, Richard, Warren, those children, their mothers, as Berdine, as Cara...you are one sick man.
I went through all the torment of the dis-chord, and kept going hoping that at any moment you would let a resolve chord ring. To release me from the tension and horror. I waited and waited. You kept piling it on, and I felt more and more ill. By page 500, I hated everything. I wanted to go back before you were born and punch your mother in the stomach.
I read some of the other reviews on here for this book and people are actually appreciative of your dark exploration of evil. Sir, it is not an exploration, and I am not religious...you embody the most hateful things ever put on paper. To have read them has poisoned me somehow. The reviews say, keep going, the other books are better. I have to take a serious, long break from you before I could even consider such an idea. -
Once again, a story line that would be inconsequentual if the main characters would only talk to one another instead of rushing of headlong into danger (to cause more problems). I stopped reading the series after this book.
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This book was the nail in the coffin for my interest in reading this series. While the first offering was an alright read, the events that occured in the following books got more ludicrous. Add in a cheesy romance story that's so over-the-top and this rubbish became almost unbearable to finish. I don't know how so many people can recommend this series. I feel that it is utter garbage. If I could give less than one star (read: zero) I would.
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This book was both a struggle and hard to put down. I found it hard to get into for the first few pages after picking it up back up, but then some tendril of the story would grab me, and I would keep reading. The action seemed to stop and start during the book, and it was quite difficult to figure out where certain characters loyalties lie. The climax was protracted and rather delicious, and while the resolution was a little shorter than I would have liked, it will do.
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What a 5 star gut retching mind fuck.
Thank you Terry. I hope you don't mind I have decided to call you by your first name since you will most likely never see this and well when someone affects me and my emotional health this much I just don't see why we should be sticking to formalities.
There were no battles in the traditional sense in this book and compared to the previous 3 it was the most different so far. It kept a completely different pace and was more focused on the aftermath and consequences of what went down in the past books. And I appreciate that.
Instead of writing a few lines to tell us what happened which many authors do when they don't know how to get their story from one point to the other I enjoyed having this book to break things down and make me feel what destruction is.
Death is very strong here and hit me very hard. I want to curse you for adding chipmunks to the story and doing what you did with the Mord Sith but I can't help but praise you for it.
I mean can we talk about how AMAZING the Mord Sith are????
I was sad with a particular new character because it would have been really cool for Richard but I understand. Also this character pointed out to me that one of J.R. Martins torture scenes is completely stolen from here and I feel a bit more enlightened. Disgusted but enlightened.
The only thing that destroyed me was the peak of that prophesy. I mean ouch. That was just terrible. What a sick dilemma to put the characters and us, the readers through? I mean how do you come up with this stuff?
This book in addition to all the other things was basically an ode to how much Richards loves Kahlan.
I feel I'm getting repetitive but must again I must ask WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO NATHAN??????
I love him so so so much as a character and I can't wait to get more of him. Of course the same goes for Zedd who gets captured and instead of being concerned for his well being, sulks instead because his captors forgot to feed him breakfast - my man
Overall this series remains 5 star for me and I continue to wonder how people of my generation missed it. I did some digging and it was pretty popular back when I came out and it's just so superior to all the copy pasted "fantasy" books out there.
For once I already have the next and I am super excited to start it!!! -
The only part of this book that truly aggravated me was the end. Once again (and I can say this without spoiling it, because I won't reveal any details), Richard manages to avoid the consequences of the tragedy introduced during the rising action. Maybe I'm just sick. Maybe it's wrong of me to want characters to suffer. But this guy's luck is incredible.
The redeeming aspect of the end is that there are sort of consequences (the chimes), but they won't make an appearance until the next book. I guess that's okay. But this reveals Goodkind's heavyhanded writing style that mars the previous books.
I must say that from a philosophical standpoint, the books are actually getting easier to stomach, not worse. Almost everything I read about them told me to expect the opposite. Instead, the amount of exposition is now tolerable. Maybe it's because Richard's character has evolved to the point that the philosophical arguments Goodkind is trying to espouse actually make sense from Richard's perspective. He has the whole "burdened hero" motif. Or perhaps I'm just too naive (or maybe too jaded) to actually pay attention enough to pick out the philosophy Goodkind is apparently attempting to impress upon his readers.
Compared to the last book, however, this book is rather slow. It reminds me of The Stone of Tears, although I'll admit that this one has more action in it.
Goodkind struggles with portraying all of his characters and putting them in interesting situations. Some authors pull this off well (i.e.,
George R.R. Martin). Others, like Goodkind, are very good at creating a lot of characters and giving them important roles in certain parts of the story, but then later they fade into the background. This is also noticeable in the next book when it comes to Verna and Warren. This is a shame, because many of those characters are interesting. Some of them get less page time than the villains. The books are already rather long, but maybe a different editing approach would have allowed our favourite recurring characters some more time to shine. -
I was disappointed, I think that's a fair assessment of "Temple of the Winds." Let's start with the plot summary.
There is now a state of war between the Imperial Order and the D'Haran Empire. While Richard tries to score points with his troops, Emperor Jagang's already on the move to vanquish his enemies once and for all. How? Easy, he's sent an ex-Sister of the Dark to steal a very powerful and deadly magic from the fabled Temple of the Winds. Soon a plague ravages the land, threatening to bring a swift end to the world of man. Richard must once again save the world, but the price this time might be more than he's willing to pay.
Okay, now that's over and done with, let's discuss some of the major issues I had with this book. Most of it has our main protagonists, Richard and Kahlan, just sitting around waiting for "the message" that will reveal to them how to find the Temple of the Winds. In all fairness, Richard and Berdine are still going at it with Kolo's journal and Richard himself braves the Wizard's Keep once more to find some record on the men responsible for hiding the temple. This is about the only action there is for a long time and I don't particularly mind that much.
However, the story gets bogged down by the constant and unrelenting references to Richard and Kahlan's love for each other. I don't think a single chapter went by without the subject being brought up again, and again, and again. Whereas I loved their bonding in "Wizard's First Rule," in "Temple of the Winds" there's just an absurd amount of it. You know how people say, "you can't get too much of a good thing"? Those people never read this book. It seemed like every decision they made was weighted against protecting their other half, thus leading to a plethora of mistakes, regrets and drama.
To top it all, Book 4 introduces Richard's half-brother who, naturally, can't be anything less than a beautiful, seductive, scheming and sadistic psychopath who has the hots for Kahlan and meanwhile quenches his pleasure by murdering prostitutes. This particular theme is getting a little old and it's somewhat disturbing to see the author has no qualms about torturing women again and again. It seems as if villains can't be villainous enough unless they, and their entourage, find new and creative ways to commit heinous act of rape and torture. It sickens and angers me at the same time.
Of course, Richard couldn't be the "Seeker of Truth" unless he welcomed his half-brother with open arms, proving yet again he simply stumbles on the truth on occasion rather than actually seek it or, rather, he seeks the truth only when it's convenient for the author. Kahlan isn't far behind on the character-underdevelopment front, weeping and lusting for Richard in equal measure, showing not an ounce of strength and wit that I had come to expect from the Mother Confessor. This becomes patently obvious when she acquiesces a thoroughly annoying character's wish to visit a dangerous prisoner fully knowing it was a stupid and unjustified risk to take.
That character is Nadine, a woman from Richard's past who should have stayed in Richard's path for the readers' sake. Apparently, Shota, a character I'm liking more and more, had a vision of Richard getting married to someone other than the Mother Confessor and intervened to pick Nadine as his bride-to-be in order to spare him some measure of suffering (you won't believe how incredibly whiny Richard and Kahlan are about being separated even for a moment). Basically, she acts like the crazy ex-girlfriend, following Richard everywhere and keeping tabs on him every waking hour, which is strange considering they were never a couple (except, perhaps, in her mind).
Another problem I'm seeing with the direction the book series is taking is that every story hinges on some prophecy or vision and the characters, like the willing slaves they are, take it on faith that they must abide by their ruling. The TV series took the more refreshing approach of questioning prophecies and making them seem somewhat more obscure and volatile. While the books certainly take lengths to explain the nature of prophecies and how they're very difficult to figure out, it shows pretty much otherwise. For instance, let's make a checklist of Nathan's latest vision.
Nathan's prophecy - A checklist
- A Sister will do a stupid thing: Check. Verna decides to go and save her friends from the clutches of the evil Emperor Jagang in the dumbest endeavour ever.
- Richard will die: Check. He travels to the Underworld and "dies" in the dumbest (and most foreseeable) plot twist ever.
- Ann and Zedd must protect a treaure: I'm not sure if that was part of the vision or Nathan simply wanted them off his back. In any event, they follow suit... I think. To be honest, I don't know what the Ann-Zedd storyline was all about.
I think that about covers it.
As usual, the plot resolves itself at the eleventh hour and a new, fourth, Wizard Rule is introduced as if in afterthought. These "rules" seem to be getting less and less exposition with every new instalment.
Ultimately, "Temple of the Winds" is an okay read despite the characters acting like morons. If they had been acting like morons AND the story had been depressing as hell, which it can be at times, I would've probably sent this book to the underworld myself with the likes of "Royal Assassin." The Mord'Sith are probably the only redeeeming part, learning how to be both Mord'Sith and a person at the same time. The chipmunks were nice.
A few tips for the next book:
1) Richard is a wizard. For God's sake, train him already.
2) Richard is the Seeker of Truth. Have him seek the truth.
3) Kahlan is the Mother Confessor. Have her act as such.
4) Jagang is an idiot. Kill him already.
5) Pace yourself with the Richard-Kahlan love story. Too much of a good thing, you know?
Oh, and by the way, why did it never occur to any of the characters that Richard and Kahlan can have a child so long as Kahlan loses her Confessor powers, if only temporarily? Food for thought. -
This is a fourth book dissolves into the pool that is generic fantasy right from the beginning. Farmerboy's father is not his real father. Turns out the big baddie is the father and of course he cannot leave it alone. Obviously he is the One in the Prophecies and he discovers he is also a wizard. Fortunately for him he now has a large house called a palace and a lot of nice ladies around him which means much of this "epic fantasy" dissolves into softcore soap opera.
Our protagonist farmerboy is now a king-warwizard and needs another antagonist or two, bigger and badder than ever. For this we have Emperor Jagang who can walk in dreams. And also couple of relatives agan called Rahl.
Terry Goodkind likes to write every little detail their characters are experiencing and pondering. There are no time leaps, just an extensive narrative that half of the time winds down to boredom and insignificance. An important lesson for a writer, not to waste paper and save some trees. Do the readers really care about the corner of the room, about the material of the dress, about the funny thing he remembered that time when ...
Also our characters are on a continuous quest after a quest. There is really not much build up, the reader is not expected to guess at anything. Keep your hands and thoughts inside the vehicle. Most of the time the explanation happens in real time while we're in the middle of the action. After a while it gets rather exhausting, because usually the solution is magic. Oh what a terrible foe, now our protagonists are really in a pickle. Oh, wait. They have this exact magic as the solution, that was foretold in one of the millions of premonitions. Yeah, much tension. Such magic.
Damn, why did I have to waste so many credits on this series.
For a proper in depth review I would refer to a
fellow goodreader Ashely who says everything I couldn't be bothered to articulate about this book. -
Temple of the Winds is a place you wish you were, because that way, you'd be far, far away, in a fantasy world, and not reading this worthless abortion.
Note to Goodkind haters: Before you call Terry a misogynistic piece of shit for turning Kahlan into a hypocritical whore, read Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series. Female authors treat their female characters no better. Besides, there are a million better reasons to call Terry Goodkind a misogynistic piece of shit. -
If you like terrible writing, redundant plotlines, inane characters, lots of rape and violence then Terry Goodkind is your man. Otherwise, try
Robert Jordan,
George R.R. Martin or
Matthew Stover. -
4.75/5.
The Sword of Truth series is such a magical world filled with wonderful and interesting characters, an engaging storyline and excellent storytelling that immediately captivates me from the very first line. Every book, I have been immediately immersed back into this world and its characters, whom are all loveable and different.
Temple of the Winds just might be one of my favourite books in the series so far. It is the fourth in the main series and was encapsulated in adventure, romance and magic – everything I like love in a book.
The story takes off from almost where the previous book, Blood of the Fold, finished. The characters are in a war with Emperor Jagang, who is threatening to take over the world and bring it under his control. On the other side, we have Richard and Kahlan and all those loyal to them who are fighting against the emperor’s rule. Richard is attempting to unify the Midlands in order to build an army.
Added to the drama that finished in Blood of the Fold, we are introduced to a place called the Temple of the Winds. A terrible plague has been taken from there and spread throughout the Midlands, killing thousands of people in a short period of time – beginning with children. It is up to Richard and Kahlan to stop it, but in order to stop it they both must make many personal sacrifies.
The romance between Richard and Kahlan in this was bittersweet in places. I was unaware how invested I was in their relationship until this book. Aspects in here where they were unable to be together were heartbreaking and I felt their pain in places. Really got me in the feels, I guess you could say.
Enjoying time with our other much-loved characters such as Cara, Verna, Zedd, was a wonderful experience too. Having them not all together, all on different missions, yet all fighting for the same cause throughout the lands is always interesting. And yet, I can’t wait to have them all together again and I eagerly await the next book to see where the next book takes me. -
A bit of a mixed bag.
There were moments that were really powerful (feeding squirrels, Cara's backstory) and made me happy (everything with Nathan) and the plot was pretty interesting, but there was also so much frustrating (Nadine, the unresolved sexual tension) and convoluted stuff (getting into the temple) and the plot was so packed that neither of the elements got enough room to breath or be fully explored. Also, the recap exposition goes in way too long into the book.
The things I liked outweigh the annoying stuff and that's mostly in the beginning and ending anyway with a pretty solide middle. I still had a lot of fun reading this, but it's my least favorite book in the series so far. -
Temple of the Winds by Terry Goodkind is an epic high fantasy with dark desires and tough choices. Temple of the Winds is book 4 in the Sword of Truth series. This book was light on the action, but filled with so much high stakes drama instead. These last two books The Blood of the Fold and Temple of the Winds has some of the best writing your characters into corner writing. Goodkind perfected that kind of writing with this story; He will have a scenario that is life or death with two options both are bad one involves this bad thing happening this betrayal and the other option is even worse. Goodkind masterfully handles his characters suffering with a pin prick of light at the tunnel. This book flowed better than the others in the series it starts off a little slow then at page 200 the story bounces from characters we have met in the series and the threats they are facing. This book manages to bring most of the characters together at some point, most of these characters have been distant from each other since the first book. The finale works really well and establishes a new threat for the next book. I have a couple of family members hooked on this series so I will read one every couple months. This show came on my Radar because of the TV Show Legend of the Seeker, which does not do the series justice, even though I have a spot spot for the show. These books are filled with raunch, sex, and violence, and the show needs to capture that. I included the plots for all 4 books in the series, feel free to skip if you do not want a summary overview of the Sword of Truth series.
The Plot of Wizard's First Rule: Richard Cypher is a wood guide that that has recently lost his father to a brutal murder with no suspects. His father and him had a code where one would leave an item in a jar my the door, the item is a rare vine that should not grow in his land. Richard is on a mission to find the vine and it takes him on the outskirts of the boundary of Westland. While investigating he finds a beautiful woman, Kahlan being chased by four big men. Richard knowing the trails can get to the woman first. He gets to the woman first and ends up defending her and defeating the men. they become fast friends as the woman in mystified by Richard and the way he treats her, it is revealed she is from the other side of the boundary, the Midlands, the boundary is protected by miles of border wall of the underworld, and not used to the kindness from men. Richard takes her to an old healer/ cloud reader friend, Zedd. Quickly Richard finds out that his old friend is not what he seems but a powerful wizard, one of the last of his kind. Kahlan is very important to the cause and Richard is special and anointed the Seeker of Truth, which comes with a powerful weapon the Sword of Truth that is a powerful magical item that focuses emotion into the blade. Richard finds out the true nature of the world that there is a Threat in Darken Rahl that involves tearing down the boundaries and ruling the world. It is up to Kahlan, Zedd and Richard to stop him.
The Plot of Stone of Tears: The Plot: Two days after Richard defeated Darken Rahl. A creature from the underworld has escaped and it wants to mark Richard so he can open the underworld for the Keeper. Zedd deals with these creatures first and must find Richard and seek side in closing the veil to the underworld. Richard and Kahlan are returning a boy back to the mud people when a creature from the underworld comes for them. They defeat the creature but Richard gets migraines that make it feel like his head will explode they keep getting worse and worse. He meets 3 Sisters of Light that day they can help him but they must collar him and own him to teach him to control his new magic. He refuses and the sister creates suicide right then and there, saying that was chance one you will have two more chances to get help of you do note, you will die.
The Plot for Blood of the Fold: A funeral is held at the Palace of the Prophets for the Prelate and the Prophet. They were burned by Sisters of the Dark who have infiltrated the Sisters of the Light. Sister Verna who is the a good Sister of the Light and a friend to Richard Rahl the Seeker of Truth, is set up to be the new Prelate she doesn't know if this is for real or a trick of the Sisters of the Dark, the prophesies foretold that the false Prelate will destroy the Palace of the Prophets. She believes this to be free when she unravels a conspiracy that makes the prophesy come to pass. Richard having just came from seeing Kahlan and confirming she is alive when the world thinks she is dead. Richard waits at the Mother Confesser's temple and fights the Mriswith a deadly snake like creatures that he saw and killed in the old world but has never seen one in this world. The Mriswith have now started to plague the land, they are being lead by something Richard must find out. Richard has started to embrace the Rahl part of his name he believes that the only way to unite the Midlands is be the supreme ruler, with all of Midland under his rule. He tries for peace by strong arming The Blood the Fold leader, the very same man who thinks he murdered Kahlan, but the Mriswith help him as their ruler wants him to live, and has a purpose for him. The ruler is known as the Dreamwalker and quickly takes over the Sister of the Dark and the Blood of the Fold, he wants Richard defeated and the Palace of the Prophets to be his especially the slow aging spell attached to it. Richard and Verna must fight the Dreamwalker on to different fronts.
The Plot for this book Temple of the Winds: Richard and Kahlan are finally reunited and talking wedding. They get three very special visitors One is a man claiming to be Richard's brother an illegitimate son of Richard's father Darken Rahl. The second visitor is Nadine a girl from Richard's village who was sent by the witch woman Shota to marry Richard. The final visitor is an assassin who's job it is to kill Richard. Through interrogation of the assassin they find that he was not alone, and with a sister of the dark that work for the Dreamwalker. The Sister has started a plague which starts a prophesy for Richard if he does nothing millions will die, if he wants to fight Kahlan will betray him . and Ricard will be no more. When the first victim of the plague dies his spirt takes over his body and talks about the winds This leads them to find out of a spiritual place called the Temple of the Winds that could hold the key to the cure and stop the plague. The price to enter the Temple of the Winds might be too high?
What I Liked: The high stakes writing, a couple times I was like how are these characters going to get out of this? The overall story keeps surprising me. The Kahlan and Richard romance is the heart of the story, you just want them to be together with so much getting in the way. The humor, when the book does a joke it usually works every time to give me a chuckle. The deaths had meaning, one death in particular really got to me. I liked the reveals of Shota and how that character has evolved. The conclusion of this story was so fulfilling and perfect. There wasn't much action but when it was their it was intense. There was a couple of really great twist and turns.
What I Disliked: I wanted to see the moment where Nadine found out, I felt very cheated sense we get the aftermath but don't see how it went down. I thought one character turned to the darkside too fast, it was explained after the fact but I would have wanted to see the gradual change. The beginning was a little slow, we stay with only Kahlan for the first 200 pages and it need to switch.
Recommendation: This book was especially good it had me twisting a turning with some character's decisions.This book will make you invest in these character's. This book was my second favorite in the series so far. I rated Temple of the Winds by Terry Goodkind 4 out of 5 stars. -
Emperor Jagang’s armies invade Renwold and Nathan is there. He takes one of the new slaves, Clarissa, under his protection. One of the Sisters, Amelia, enters the Temple of the Winds on Jagang’s orders through some convoluted ritual. She takes away a book and along with an assassin, Marlin, goes to Aydindril. The book carries the plague. Thousands of people get it and die. Richard must go to the Temple to find out how to stop the plague. But he must marry Nadine – who has shown up, thanks to Darken Rahl and Shota. And Kahlan must marry Drefan Rahl – one of Richard’s bastard brothers. He also finds out he has at least one sister. Drefan is a Raug’ Moss – like a healer monk. He is also a serial killer of prostitutes and considers all women whores. On the wedding night Cara actually switches the grooms and Kahlan spends the night with Richard. Nadine was no so lucky. Drefan tortured her and threw her off a cliff. Goodbye Nadine. The plague ends but not before killing Raina. Nathan and Clarissa devise a plan to get the plague book because Nathan knows that Richard will need it. Clarissa rescues Verna and Warren, who in turn save some sisters. The sisters turn out to be traitors. Kahlan arrives at the well and saves Verna, Warren and Nathan, but Clarissa is killed. Zedd and Ann get lost in the wilds. They are captured by the Nangtong and are going to be used as human sacrifices, so they act crazy. The Nangtong trade them for blankets with the Si Doak. They were terrible slaves, so the Si Doak traded them to some cannibals – the Mud People, so they are at the Mud People’s village when Kahlan and Richard arrive with Cara to get married. Lots going on in the book and I read it through pretty quickly, but it just seemed like filler. This story probably could have been told in 100 pages in another book, but Goodkind dragged it out. Didn’t really do a whole lot for me.
