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The Sword Of Truth: Part 2
Well, I've finished all the published books of The Sword of Truth, and I have to say that it was quite a good read. There are apperantely to be twelve books in this saga, and the last three books are a trilogy. It make for a rather weak ending of the ninth book, but I think that this is to be expected, since the "trilogy" is more likely to be one book too long to tell in a single cover.
This book is about pacifism at its worst, and how to overcome it. I liked the end result, but I somehow begin to think that the books are loosing their edges, there aren't as many thrilling moments, but those that are there are just as good as those in the previous books. For the first time, I felt the plot being weaved, which is not a good thing (this means that I notice other things than the story). I think that it's a measure of the weak plot twists that appear in this books - an important letter is burned in an attack just before the crucial information is revealed, for instance. Or magical statues which just appear of nowhere, or the whole "something aweful is happening, but we aren't going to tell you because it might affect your decision" attidute in the beginning of the book. Another thing that I didn't like is the whole resolution of the poisioning of the main hero, he should have died, but magic suddenly saved him. This is just not credible, I expected much more from the book. The overall impression is good, but those thing really put a damper on my enthusiasm for the book.
This book begins with the main heroine vanishing, not only from the story, but from everyone's memory. Except for the main hero, who everyone else thinks crazy. This book is far more credible and solid than the previous one, and I couldn't find any real holes in the plot. It also has some amazing fighting scenes, where you can really feel the tension and the violence. The only problem, as I already said, is that this is a first part in a trilogy and that it cut rather suddenly in the middle of the story. This part solves the part about the credibility of the hero, and lies the foundations for solving this problem, but it's ending is rather abrupt and leave much to be desired.
Final impression:
Overall, I found the books to be of high quality and entertaining (which is the most important quality), the 7th & 8th books (The Pillars Of Creations and Naked Empire) weren't as good as the rest of the books, but they are still very good compare to many others. The last book, however, more than compensate in the quality department. The only complaint I've about it is that it ends too soon. I think that since I read all of the first nine books one after the other, without having to wait, then it's a cause for frustration when I now need to wait to read the completion of this saga.
All in all, I most enjoyed Wizard's First Rule (1th) and Faith of the Fallen (6th). The first because it's such a good book, and breaks many expectations that I'd about the way the story would go. The second because of the brilliant description of marxist & relegious society and the way the hero handle being thrown into such place without his customary advantage (sorry, but I do try to have no spoilers).
All in all, I would really like to read the finish of those books (I expect that it would get to this point sometimes in 2009, but no matter, I can wait :-) ) and I highly recommend reading them, but beware of the length of the books and the fact that they are quite hard to put down.
Still waiting for The Wheel of Time, however. Less than five months to the release of Knife Of Dreams. A friend of mine thinks that The Sword of Truth is better than The Wheel of Time, I disagree mainly because of the depth of the The Wheel of Time which is (in my opinion, at least) far more complex than The Sword of Truth, and contain more realistic world. The Sword of Truth, however, is far more entertaining.
[Listening to: עשרים וארבע שעות - שלמה ארצי - צימאון(04:16)]
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