The story starts off with the introduction of two new characters – Jennsen and Oba Rahl.  Yes, it appears that Richard is not the only surviving member of this family.  Due to the events before the first book written by Goodkind, both were hidden away far from the People’s Palace for not having the ‘gift.’  Both escaped along with their mothers to live completely different and hidden lives.  Through the course of the book, both of them separately have the chance to explore their world and define the roles that suddenly find themselves in.

Without giving away much of the story, I commend Mr. Goodkind for developing a story around new characters.  After the last couple of titles, I was getting tired of the same old story with Richard and Kahlan.  By bringing in completely different characters, the author gives us a chance to view the events and much of the world with a different pair of eyes.  Each character has a completely dissimilar view of their place in the world, and along with the events in the story, view opinions that greatly differ about the time and place that they exist in.  This gives Goodkind the chance to do what he does best – develop interesting characters and weave them into his fantasy world.

The first half of this book really impressed me, yet as I started to read further into the story, I started to feel that the writing appeared to be ‘rushed.’  In the last 100 pages, the story flew by at record pace.  Instead of taking the time to develop the remainder of the story, events were thrown in with reckless abandon.  The transition from development to fast-paced excitement was non-existent.  For those of you that have read any of the books in his series, you will no doubt find that unusual.  In the past, Goodkind has been known to write some very long titles.  Seeing any of his worked rushed like that really surprised me.

There were some other things that bothered me with the last part of the book.  Right toward the end, several of the old characters were thrown in as proverbial ‘extras.’  Richard and Kahlan, for example, appeared in the last 70 pages of the story.  Instead of taking the opportunity to develop the story further with their thoughts and insights, they were thrown in for the wild ride of the story’s climatic ending.  Considering the value that these characters, among others that were presented in the end of the book, I felt that the author could and should have taken more time to present them properly.

As for the story’s ending, well… let’s just say it was as disappointing.  I felt that the ending really lacked the imagination that I normally expect from Goodkind.  The resolution should have been developed better, and the parlay between characters appeared forced and trite.  After reading the last page of the book, I honestly scratched my head and thought to myself, “Why did I bother to read this?”

Overall, I felt that Goodkind started off the book in the right direction by introducing new characters to the series to give it a ‘fresher’ flavor.  However, whether he or the publishing company is to blame for the rapid ending to this novel, I felt that for the step that he took forward with the book, he took two steps backward in presenting the reader with a great story.

--Gary, Wizard's Keep staff