What it was is almost an exact carbon-copy of Wizard's First Rule set in our world in a modern time. Same guy, same girl, same story, same philosophy and rants. Still interesting to some degree, although I'd guess that the philosophizing would be a lot more interesting to someone who hasn't already read 11 long books of it.
Goodkind is still a very strong writer who turns a terrific phrase and writes a vivid and engaging story. Alex and Jax are as likable as Richard and Kahlan, probably because they are clones. Goodkind used the modern American setting to full advantage, illustrating some of the scariest horrors our world offers to helpless victims.
It really was a 3. I do think it's funny that Goodkind is such a mix of tough guy and softy. He seems to believe in love at first sight. His guys are warriors and brainiacs, his women are lovely fighting machines. It's really very Heinleinesque.
View all 7 comments. Mar 05, Al rated it did not like it Shelves: tedious , utter-crap , awful , not-worth-finishing. I was keenly reminded upon finishing this book that I should have remembered my vow to never read Terry Goodkind ever again.
Aug 20, Jake rated it it was ok. I just finished Terry Goodkind's new book, the Law of Nines. Before I go on, I will warn there are spoilers in this review. I loved Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. Finally, some fantasy with depth and vision. What made that series so incredible was the way he mixed in philosophy the objectivism found in Ayn Rand's books with a really great and entertaining fantasy tale.
Richard and Kahlan, the two main characters in that series, were believable as lovers and as heroes. They both progressed and developed in very natural ways that made the reader get really attached to them. He had created a world that did not seem irrational because it mirrored our own so well except it had magic.
The ending of the series was particularly interesting because it was unexpected. Lord Rahl, Richard, ends up sending those who are against his philosophy the bad guys to our world. What a cool commentary. Goodkind essentially said, in the end, that those bad people live in our world and they are trying to push the same philosophies here as they were there. I needed to tell you all that information for you to understand my review of the new book. Now, I had heard that Terry Goodkind was going to write in the thriller genre.
I was ecstatic because I don't think that authors should always have to write in one genre. Certainly, if you are a good enough writer, you should be able to write in several genres. It was a little weird, at first, to realize I was reading Goodkind when all that was happening was on our world and in a modern time. Not only that, the writing quality was nowhere near the quality of the Sword of Truth series.
I read a review that called the writing "blocky and strained. Then he started throwing in all these hints about the world from his other series. I was shocked and a little excited because it was unexpected. But then I found that the fact that he tied in this book with the other world made no sense. We get 1, years worth of history between the end of Sword of Truth to this book in just a chapter. I felt like someone had taken a beautiful painting and written all over it with marker.
Oh wait, that's what happens in The Law of Nines not only once, but twice, a detail which was confusing because somehow the bad guy, Radell Cain, had been watching Alex Rahl the whole time. That brings another point. Alex Rahl. Rahl is Richard's last name. How the hell did a Rahl get to our world?
This is a detail Goodkind never addresses. Then, not only that, his love interest is Jax Amnell which is the same last name as Kahlan in the other series. Correct me if I'm wrong but, if Richard and Kahlan got married which it's not outlandish to think that they did , Kahlan would no longer be Kahlan Amnell. She would be Kahlan Rahl. I was really confused. Her last name was supposed to be some big revelation, but I found myself wrinkling my nose in distaste because of the implications.
Whether or not that was intended, I know not. Moving on. Alex is a nice guy, right? He's your average Joe at the beginning of the novel when he saves Jax from a van that's about to run her over.
Somehow, in the midst of all this, Alex goes from regular Joe to a killing machine. There is a gruesome description of Alex strangling a nurse at the psych ward where his mother is being taken care of.
The nurse is a bad lady, but this is one of the first acts of violence in the book. It makes me less sympathetic to Alex simply because we have not seen the bad guys do anything really terrible up to that point.
Another thing. The action scenes drag on forever. And I found myself skimming a lot toward the end because I wanted to get to the main point of the story. It took forever for the climax to come around and it was disappointing. It all felt like a rehash of The Wizard's First Rule. Well, more like a cheap imitation of it because WFR is fantastic. This book is just mediocre. I guess I could sit and nitpick at the book all day long. Kudos to Goodkind for trying to get out of the fantasy realm.
I've been trying to figure out if it is best to read this book without having read the other series, or if you should read SoT and then read this book.
I don't know. This book relies so heavily on you understanding what happened in SoT that it would be even more confusing if you had not read them. I would only recommend this book if you're a die-hard Terry Goodkind fan. I am still a fan because he was able to produce an amazing series, but I hope his next book is not as hard to get through as this one was.
It was entertaining, but not worth getting excited over. I kind of hope he returns to fantasy. We shall see. Aug 20, Meredith rated it did not like it. Once upon a time Goodkind wrote some pretty decent sword-and-sorcery novels. Not mind-blowing, not life-changing, but solid and fun adventure stories with some seriously superb world building and characters that I liked enough to follow to the end of the Sword of Truth series. Followed it to the bitter end, because my affection for the characters was the only thing that sustained my interest in an increasingly preachy and unenjoyabl Terry Goodkind presents: Terry Goodkind's Glock of Truth novels.
Followed it to the bitter end, because my affection for the characters was the only thing that sustained my interest in an increasingly preachy and unenjoyable series.
When it ended, I breathed a huge sigh of not completion and satisfaction, but relief. But I can't write a review of The Law of Nines without talking about the Sword of Truth series, because this book is basically an extension of that series.
Even if Goodkind thinks this is an independent new work and if he doesn't, his marketers seem to think so , I consider this the latest addition to the Sword of Truth series.
So when I heard that Goodkind was going to write another novel, this time a modern day thriller, I was interested to see what he'd do outside the series he's spent over a decade writing books for. I was disappointed, though, when I first read the cover flap and found out that his main character's last name was Rahl. I had a sinking feeling that Alex Rahl was going to be Richard Rahl 2.
Worse, though, while I started out liking Richard in the Sword of Truth novels and then grew to dislike his speechifying and rhetoric later in the series, Alex is immediately as self-righteous and preachy as Later!
Richard so I never really warmed to him. Jax isn't so much a person as an excuse to move the story along, and I guess Jax and Alex love each other because Goodkind tells me that they do. The appeal of Richard and Kahlan's relationship in the Sword of Truth novels is gone; there's no challenge or romance in this that made me cheer for Alex and Jax like I did for Richard and Kahlan. It's sad when you know what an author can do, and he doesn't deliver. Furthermore, the plot is not particularly interesting.
Alex and Jax chase across the country, followed by evildoers from the Sword of Truth world. There's not much suspense there, because we pretty much know at least Alex has to make it to their destination, and if Jax dies along the way There's a villain who's evil I guess just because he likes being evil, which is never all that interesting.
Nothing about the plot is more complex than "You Bad, Me Good," and characters are the way they are because the plot requires it, not because they have any dimension to them. The book is less a story than a vehicle for Goodkind to deliver his particular flavor of Randian Objectivism. As in the last several books in the Sword of Truth novels, Goodkind's philosophical leanings are glaringly apparent in The Law of Nines.
It's grating for readers like me who are only there for a solid piece of fiction, not to get the Truth According to Terry Goodkind. I know what you think, Terry. I'm not opposed to an author who wants to twine in philosophical leanings with a story, but I feel like Goodkind has played, ad nauseum, an Ayn Rand techno remix at full volume throughout his last several books.
Nowadays, his writing doesn't engage me in thought like he obviously wants it to rather than turn me off. I simply don't engage with his literature like I did when reading Wizard's First Rule , which is a shame. This reads more like Sword of Truth fanfiction than a novel that can stand on its own merit. Sorry, Terry. I think I should see other authors now. It's been real. Jan 22, James rated it it was ok Shelves: fantasy , general-fiction.
Contrary to the summary provided on goodreads for this book, I did NOT think that Goodkind "proved he could jump genres. Aside from that, I really enjoyed that series. It was clever and dramatic. This however, was a mostly failed attempt to "jump genres" but really not do anyt Contrary to the summary provided on goodreads for this book, I did NOT think that Goodkind "proved he could jump genres.
This however, was a mostly failed attempt to "jump genres" but really not do anything of the sort. Well, actually he did abandon all of the good stuff about his previous books. For anyone who missed that reference, this book was like a bad spin off. Goodkind kept throwing in random details that link the content of this book with his previous work, but the connections would either be lost on non-fans or eye rolling to fans.
I could tell that Goodkind kept trying to bring in the same type of dynamics and social commentary that existed in the sword of truth books, but without the overt fantasy setting. The result is that you get a lame "thriller" which incorporates hollow and loosely supported fantasy elements.
And because Goodkind has "jumped genres", we get the slew of descriptions of weapon hardware and over the top explanations of "how it really could happen because it's real world stuff" that you commonly find in thriller books, and which I tend to hate. It really wasn't all that exciting anyway. The most the book held my attention was when the protagonist was held against his will in a mental institution.
Goodkind held my attention as I overly scrutinized the escape scene and description of psychotropic medication to see if he did his homework. That's the beauty of a fantasy landscape--you can do whatever you want, as long as you stick to your own rules. With real world thrillers, you have to research your Glocks and your car parts and your thorazine to make sure you got it right, and then make sure you convince the reader you're being realistic or you'll get angry letters.
Probably not worth it. I've noticed that books that disappoint or appall me get long reviews and the good ones get a single line or paragraph. Guess I like to gripe and point out flaws? Or maybe they just make themselves targets? Nov 22, Melinda Haas rated it it was ok. As a diehard fan of The Sword of Truth series and Terry Goodkind, I felt this was a compromised peice of work, similar to the Legend of the Seeker television series.
It feels like Terry did not spend the time fleshing out the story and the characters as well as he did with SOT. When he started referencing Alex lifting his gun to make sure it was ready and Jax' special smile she only gave Alex, among other things, I really came up short and couldn't believe he had borrowed so carelessly from the As a diehard fan of The Sword of Truth series and Terry Goodkind, I felt this was a compromised peice of work, similar to the Legend of the Seeker television series.
When he started referencing Alex lifting his gun to make sure it was ready and Jax' special smile she only gave Alex, among other things, I really came up short and couldn't believe he had borrowed so carelessly from the the Richard and Kahlan characters.
It just seems like he put all of his effort into his original series, and the spinoff works are just to milk it for money without regard for the quality of SOT. It just feels like he is yielding to the pressure of the commonness of what's popular, which really goes against his entire philosophy in his stories.
I actually recognized the potential for a spinoff when Richard created our world and put all of the nonmagical people in it. If he could just spend a little more time with some intelligent design, it might be worth checking out the inevitable next novel where Jax comes back so he can help her with the next problem that is sure to immerge. After all, when Richard killed Darken Rahl and then sent him back to the keeper again, there was a whole new set of problems that took the rest of the series to resolve.
Nothing leads me to believe Terry won't copy that idea for this series. Another problem with this series is the lack of detail in the law of nines.
He never made it clear how the law of nines works, other than Alex was born on September 9th, at a. Aug 28, Tulara rated it really liked it.
I am usually reluctant to read what I call "changeover" books - authors who cross their specialty writing to another. Terry Goodkind wrote a new book, but it's a mystery thriller type of book. Oh, it has magic and the Terry Goodkind guy who doesn't know he's to save the world kind of formula.
I was getting really engrossed, but then the "hero's" last name was Rahl. As in Darken Rahl, Richard Rahl??? And I'm not even going to tell you the last name of the woman of magic I am usually reluctant to read what I call "changeover" books - authors who cross their specialty writing to another.
Pretty good story, but falls back on the Sword of Truth series a little too much for me. I'd rather read more our Richard and Kahlan. And Goodkind really looks different - from when he first started writing with his long blond hair - and just a writer-looking guy.
On this book jacket, he's shaved his head and wears a black turtleneck and stands like he's a clothes model. In fact, the description of the villian in the book reminds me of the picture of the author on the back cover.
Apr 12, Reading Funk rated it it was amazing. This book gets a bad wrap but I really enjoyed it. It is a good read. Jan 01, Judy rated it it was ok. First, let me say I was very disappointed in the Sword of Truth finale. I was first drawn into his Sword of Truth series because of the descriptions of the characters and the world that just made it all feel real. Towards the end of the series, though, the books seemed to be shallow. Phantom by Terry Goodkind.
Temple of the Winds by Terry Goodkind. Faith of the Fallen by Terry Goodkind. Debt of Bones by Terry Goodkind. Naked Empire by Terry Goodkind. Turning twenty-seven may be terrifying for some, but for Alex, a struggling artist living in the midwestern United States, it is cataclysmic. Inheriting a huge expanse of land should have made him a rich and happy man; but something about this birthday, his name, and the beautiful woman whose life he just saved, has suddenly made him-and everyone he loves-into a target.
A target for extreme and uncompromising violence. In Alex, Terry Goodkind brings to life a modern hero in a whole new kind of high-octane thriller. Advertising Download Read Online.
Info about the book Author: Terry Goodkind. Series: Unknown. Languge: English. Users who have this book I have the Ebook I have the Paperbook. Users who want this book I want the Ebook I want the Paperbook. User: Perpetua Nnopu Rating: 1 Thanks! You can use your Download Destination card to borrow titles from these partner libraries:. The Law of Nines. By her twenty-seventh birthday insanity had come to his mother. Turning twenty-seven may be terrifying for some, but for Alex, a struggling artist living in the Midwest, it is cataclysmic.
Inheriting a huge expanse of land should make him a rich and happy man; but something about this birthday, his name, and the beautiful woman whose life he has just saved, has suddenly made him—and everyone he loves—into a target. A target for extreme and uncompromising violence. In Alex, Terry Goodkind brings to life a modern hero in a whole new kind of high-octane thriller.
Longtime fans and new readers alike will not forget. Languages English. Why is availability limited?
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