Faith of the Fallen

Okay, this book has certainly gotten a lot of up and down reviews. First of all, I don't understand what people mean when they talked about the character development in previous books. I never cared for it, because I thought all the characters were just the same. All the good guys were the intelligent people who thought the same way, and all the bad guys were either evil or just stupid, so they were slaves to evil. Zedd, Richard and eventually Kahlan all struck me as the same person. Though I won't say much about Kahlan's experiences, It seemed to me that Richard struggled in this book more than ever before. If you're just looking for a fun book, then this isn't your kind of fantasy. If you hate when the author illustrates his own political/moral viewpoints, then the same is true. I for one love it, if it's done well. I still remember picturing the marble statues and the effect they had for people who had no pride and no will to do their very best in the world. It challenged me in the way I think, both about myself and about political systems. Whether you hate what he has to say or find it resonates with your soul, at least he's making you think, which is more than many fantasy writers can say. To me, that's the mark of good fantasy. Perhaps there's a bit too much preaching. I think it's worse a couple books later. The character of Nicci I find intriguing. You might not buy her, but then you probably can't imagine being connected with ultimate evil or the reason's why one would be so. But the obsession she has with the fire in Richard's eyes is, I believe, not only believable, but possibly the best thing about the book. And the night that it dies and she thinks she'll have to kill him the next morning, and she wakes up and it's burning brighter than ever. That was an amazing moment. It touches on the strength and dignity and potential of the human spirit. It shames those who would sacrifice or ignore or deny such a thing. You disagree, fine. But at least he illustrates it and reveals it all to us through good writing. I say, great job.

In Faith of the Fallen, we see Richard captured (yet again), and this time taken to Jajang's home of Altur'rang. He learns more and more about the Imperial Order, and what makes them tick, also Richard being Richard, begins making friends quite impossibly, while reminding the people of the Old World on an individual basis, what makes them great is themselves, and their belief in good, and right. Meanwhile Kahlan is off fighting against the Order in the New World, and having marginal success. This book is interspiced with the usual standard of triumph and tragedy I've come to expect from this series, and toward the end of the book was bringing things closer and closer to our climax. I know that personally, I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

My husband and I have been reading Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series for some time now, and have enjoyed them a great deal. In my opinion, however, "Faith of the Fallen," Book 6 in the "Sword of Truth" series, is by far the best book to date.Each book expounds upon one of several rules of magic -- beginning with the "Wizard's First Rule," that people are stupid -- and we have had fun trying to figure out what each rule was before one of the characters, usually Zed, got around to announcing it."Faith of the Fallen" is, like its flap copy states, a novel of ideas. In it, Richard Rahl is captured by a sorceress, Nicci, and taken to the heart of the Imperial Order, its crown city in the Old World. There, he sees and confronts the Order's effect on the lives of its citizens firsthand.The Old World in sway of the Imperial Order bears more than a superficial resemblance to the failed regime of Communism in the former USSR, although its lessons can also be applied when contemplating our own society's ongoing efforts towards greater equality and the continuing welfare debate. Goodkind is not the first writer to tackle the issue of socially engineered "equality" -- Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron" is another fine example of this genre -- but he does so in a way that is compelling and thought-provoking.It goes without saying that Richard will save the day, but this time we see a new side to the War Wizard, that of creator. Put simply, the Sword of Truth is not the only blade that Richard can wield with almost supernatural skill.Goodkind is very adept at description, and his passages about carving seem very realistic and vivid. He is also very good at characterization, and his most vividly drawn creations include several women -- Kahlan, Cara and Verna among them.The number of women in Goodkind's volumes is a refreshing change from what seems their mere token appearance in the work of some other male fantasy authors. For some reason, though, several of these women want to go to bed with, or marry, Richard, and Nicci is no exception. A fully realized character, full of conflict, who Nicci is and what she does in "Faith of the Fallen" are a direct result of her past experiences.Altogether, "Faith of the Fallen" is an excellent novel, enjoyable on many levels as rousing fantasy adventure and as the "novel of ideas" it is purported to be. I highly recommend "Faith of the Fallen" and the other volumes in the "Sword of Truth" series.

While this book was fundamentally similar to Stone of Tears, if you just read the book with a bit of optimism, instead of nitpicking through it trying to find all the flaws, you could come to realize that Faith of the Fallen, in reality, is nothing like Stone of Tears or Blood of the Fold or any other book in the series. This book is about a chance for life where life has been denied, a chance for freedom where only slavery was offered. Instead of bemoaning that fact that Richard doesn't kill hundreds of people in the first few pages, put your mind to work and try to understand that spark of life within his eyes as he carves the statue. Read not only the words written, but also the feeling that Goodkind put within them. The book was exciting because of its ponderous philosphy, and its inherent sadness at the denial of freedom. Instead of mindnumbingly reading the pages without any brain work whatsoever, read the sentence again, or the paragraph, or the page, and grasp the message that has been given to you, comprehend the beauty of the words showing you what life really is. The book is great because it is not a quest for violence, but a soul shattering mural of beauty, painted by one who loves life. Read the book and understand with your heart.

Unlike the other five books which slowly but inevitably built up a world of numerous factions, powers, and people, "Faith of the Fallen" takes a slightly different approach by approaching a rest stop in the nonstop action of the previous couple. After having just finished two books in a row (Book 4 and Book 5) that have greatly expanded the world of Richard and Kahlan at a cost of focus on the main characters, Goodkind reasserts Richard and Kahlan's role as the protagonists of the book. He returns to the original book's comfortable and directed telling of the main event without diverting on such a multitude of side stories that the main plotline gets obscured. Everything comes together in this book. Just the right amount of characterization, thrilling chapter enders, and action combine to offer a satisfying successor to the previous five. Lastly, unlike the deeply unsatisfying "Soul of the Fire," this book has an ending that is paced, careful and stable, offering closure of a limited sort for having finished such an engaging book without the tantalizing prequel of another in the works. The only problem that resulted from finishing this book is "WHERE'S THE NEXT ONE???"