Almost ten years ago, Terry
Goodkind brought to an end his 11-novel Sword of Truth series. I was satisfied
with that ending, and thought the final three books in the epic series were
very strong.
After producing one contemporary
novel, The Law of Nines, Goodkind found himself drawn back to the characters
that he wrote for nearly two decades. Branded “Richard and Kahlan” novels, he
began a new series. And with Warheart, he (supposedly) has ended this second
fantasy series. Once and for all.
At least for now.
In this finale, Richard and
Kahlan face down the ultimate Evil that is coming to claim the D’Haran Empire. And
at the start of novel, Richard is dead, lying on his funeral bier. So things
don’t look good for the heroes. But since Kahlan was dead for a while in the
last novel, the fact Richard does not stay dead in this novel is not a
surprise.
Goodkind ends the series on a
strong note, bringing in past characters where appropriate, and fulfilling
Goodkind’s goals in writing fiction. He has strong feelings about notions of free
will and prophecy and similar tropes of epic fantasy, and those themes come
into play in the final resolution of the storyline.
I trust that Goodkind intends
to not write more about these characters, but he has said that before. These remain
among my favorite fantasy series, and if he chooses to revisit this world years
from now, I’ll be here to read what he produces.
Source: public library
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