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I'll just start this off by saying:

I haven't been too happy with the latest two books. So you know where I'm coming from... so here goes as to my reasons why (in priority):

1. chainfire/Boxes of Orden

So the whole time from book 1, the boxes of orden are a mystical but well known entity that if used correctly, will give the user ultimate cosmic power; and if used incorrectly, will destroy all life.

Now, suddenly, we have this spell called chainfire, and we "discover" (which I believe can be compared to discovering that a character has not, in fact, died in a show/movie/anime/etc.) that the Boxes of Orden are in fact, the COUNTER to chainfire. Essentially, that they serve no other purpose but to disable the effects of the chainfire spell. WTF? There is no extrapolation regarding whether the fixing of chainfire is a side-effect of having all the power in the world (at which point we have to say, "well no s**t you can fix chainfire with it... it's ULTIMATE POWER!") which is LAME, or whether the mythology of the Boxes of Orden's power is actually referring to a counter to chainfire and doesn't do anything else (no extra power, you open the boxes and poof, chainfire is gone), which is LAME. The biggest problem I have with all of this is:

how do you have a weapon created (boxes) to fix a problem (chainfire) where the fix to the problem is remembered through time, but the problem its self is not? Normal people knew of the boxes of Orden... but no one knew about chainfire. Why? that's like making a firehose but forgetting that fire exists. it doesn't make any damn sense.

2. More Boxes of Orden

So at the end of Phantom, nikki sets the boxes in motion under the player of Richard Rahl. And my hairs immediately and collectively release a "WTF?" reaction.

Since when can the boxes be initiated by someone and put into play under someone else? HOW THE HELL DOES THAT MAKE SENSE? Why didn't Richard just put the boxes into play under "Jagang" 3 years ago? WTF? All they had to do was put Jagang into play with the boxes of orden and laugh while he desperately tried to get to the palace in a year and then poof, dead. Sure, sure: someone would have taken his place. but that doesn't matter at all. See the battle with the order isn't the real problem in the world: Jagang is. He's powerful physically and magically, he's very intelligent, and he controls most of his followers through his dream walking.

Kill him, and all the real leadership is gone. Now you have millions of unorganized undisciplined troops with no direction and no real support.

And lastly: no consequence for failure or running. there's no one to oversee the sisters who would be able to run away with control... and probably start nations of their own (each sister having a nation and some troops) and would fight each other as much as the rest of the world. they would be decimated over time.

so essentially all of this story is Goodkind's half-assed attempt to make a specific scenario occur in the last book that makes us all say "wow" and he's manufacturing and ham-fisting it so hard that all I'm going to wind up doing is rolling my eyes. And I hate that because before Chainfire I was praising it as the best series EVARRR, and believed, like most other readers (thanks to the misleading statements from Goodkind himself) that this was all planned from the beginning. Which brings me to point #3.

3. More like a bad GM than a good author

The recent developments in the two books prior to the final are so incredibly ridiculous and immature (regarding story line developments) that they would seem to fit right along side a 13 year old kid game mastering a DnD session with his friends.

First, the events of both books should have been summed up into one book. Chainfire was useless. NO ONE WAS FOOLED BY IT. There isn't a single right-minded person who would have accepted an ending of "oh he's crazy! Kahlen never actually existed! haha! fooled you all!". That concept is so utterly ridiculous and Shyamalan esque that it makes about as much sense as aliens who can't survive H2O attempting to invade EARTH (71% covered in water with more global days of rain than sun shine).

About 75% of chainfire was attempting to convince the reader (or at least make them consider) that Richard was crazy. When that would have made all of the previous books 100% useless. Not to mention the idiotic fact that only Richard was found to be actually exempt from the spell... because he was in love with her. COME THE F ON! Zedd didn't love Kahlen enough to be exempt? Only Richard? Or was there some sort of cosmic law that only 1 exempted may be assigned to any given casting of chainfire? WTF. The entirety of the previous books attempted on no uncertain terms to identify that magic in this world still followed laws of physics. magical physics, yes, but physics none the less. there are rules that govern the way magic is use-able and the more power you have, the more you can bend those rules to your will. But if magic can supersede physics, then why not just have Richard's head cut off and start running around casting death lightning out of it's eyes while his body remains flailing about in the dance of death? If one aspect fails, it all fails. So if Richard can be exempt from Chainfire, there better be a GOOD FING REASON FOR IT. And as far as I see, there isn't. Beyond all that, back to the point of this portion of part 3: this all goes to show that the 75% of the book made to deceive the reader was USELESS, and I personally, found it irritating to sift through.

then we get to Phantom which for some reason, seems to assume that we all forgot that the first book existed (or at least never read it)... because it attempts to re-write the entire first book from cover to cover. Now the fairy wasn't telling Richard about Darken Rahl when it said the world would end if Darken is ever allowed to open the boxes... no... now the fairy was talking about THIS EVENT. And now the boxes aren't about this, they're about that. And now the book of counted shadows should have been the book of counted shadow and Richard had Darken open the wrong box out of SHEER F'N LUCK. Etc.

the number of inconsistencies and literary mess-ups in the last two books made me seek other authors just so I could make myself stop writing them down.

So... those are my top 3 reasons why I hated the last 2 books, and will probably be pretty irritated at the last book.

What do you all think about the books, and if you like them, what do you think about my reasons for not liking them?

They made things interesting xp

Of course everything is based on what the author writes. But are you really trying to tell me that if Confessor came out and it was about how Richard and Jagang choose to let the past behind them and become homosexual lovers who rule the whole world with an iron fist (possibly raping and killing Kahlen in the process); and you wouldn't care? Would you really just say, "ah well, whatever the author says"?

In my opinion, part of the entertainment an author is giving me, has to do with the story they're writing. Maybe that's just me though. Maybe I've been doing it wrong this whole time and I'm only supposed to be reading for emotional value. All these little pestering details like plot are more just there to drive the emotion engine... is that it?

Sorry, I'm obviously playing a bait and switch tactic here with over-dramatization. But it's a little bit how I feel when I hear those opinions from otherwise perfectly sane people.

There's literature intended to give the reader emotions, and there's literature intended to give the reader thought. Then there's literature intended just to entertain.

SOT (and most fantasy) is intended to mix all of the different styles of literature to provide a "complete" experience. Some thought, some emotion, some entertainment, etc. But the fact is, that Goodkind obviously uses plot as a device to elicit some of these styles. Plot devices are why you care about the characters. If the plot stops making sense, then so do the characters, and then an analytical reader won't receive any emotional response.

My accusations against the books can essentially boil down to plot devices that are attempting to elicit a response, that in my opinion, are backfiring due to the now-fickle nature of the plot.

Wow, I noticed some things were a bit off but I haven't read those books since they came out, maybe I'll have to reread it.

I agree the " No one knows who kahlan is" thing was irritating but I liked the drama about it.

Ok here's is what I think. I am going to answer some of your angered questions too.

"how do you have a weapon created (boxes) to fix a problem (chainfire)
where the fix to the problem is remembered through time, but the problem its self is not? Normal people knew of the boxes of Orden... but no one knew about chainfire. Why? that's like making a firehose but forgetting that
fire exists. it doesn't make any damn sense."


Think about Chainfire. Chainfire is a very very bad thing. The wizards from the time it was created realized that they had created something that was extremely dangerous. So of course they would try to rid the world of it's existence by locking it away and never telling anyone about it. So of course you'd need the boxes to be well known just in case Chainfire was ever discovered. Makes perfect sense to me.


"Since when can the boxes be initiated by someone and put into play under someone else? HOW THE HELL DOES THAT MAKE SENSE? Why didn't Richard just put the boxes into play under "Jagang" 3 years ago? WTF? All they had to do was put Jagang into play with the boxes of orden and laugh while he desperately tried to get to the palace in a year and then poof, dead. "

If you didn't notice. Nicci had just discovered at the end of the book by reading the book of life that it was possible that you could put them into play under someone else. It wasn't something that was known the whole time. You cannot underestimate Jagang either, he is a very smart guy. He even said that he had picked up the Book of Counted Shadow decades ago. Not like that matters because like I said Nicci only just discovered that she could.


"First, the events of both books should have been summed up into one book. Chainfire was useless. NO ONE WAS FOOLED BY IT. There isn't a single right-minded person who would have accepted an ending of "oh he's crazy! Kahlen never actually existed! haha! fooled you all!".
About 75% of chainfire was attempting to convince the reader (or at least make them consider) that Richard was crazy. When that would have made all of the previous books 100% useless. Not to mention the idiotic fact that only Richard was found to be actually exempt from the spell... because he was in love with her. COME THE F ON! Zedd didn't love Kahlen enough to be exempt? Only Richard? Or was there some sort of cosmic law that only 1 exempted may be assigned to any given casting of chainfire? WTF. So if Richard can be exempt from Chainfire, there better be a GOOD FING REASON FOR IT. And as far as I see, there isn't. Beyond all that, back to the point of this portion of part 3: this all goes to show that the 75% of the book made to deceive the reader was USELESS, and I personally, found it irritating to sift through."


Alright now I am mad at you. You didn't read the book. Because if you did you would already have the answer to this absurd paragraph.

It specifically says in the book that when the sisters invoked Chainfire ( when they came and got Kahlan) Richard was holding the Sword of Truth and was therefore invoking magic. No one else in the camp was using their magic. That is why Richard was exempt. It says this in the f-ing book. READ

Also the author was not trying to fool everyone that Kahlan didn't exist anymore. It was more of a test I'd say. The frustration you felt when reading it, was the frustration Richard felt. You reading it knew that Kahlan existed. She was in all the previous books. None of the other books would make sense if she didn't exist and this is what you used to not falter and give in that maybe she didn't really exist. Richard also had those memories. He never gave up. And when finally the book acknowledged Kahlan I was relieved. Relieved that the frustration I felt was over.


``Then we get to Phantom which for some reason, seems to assume that we all forgot that the first book existed (or at least never read it)... because it attempts to re-write the entire first book from cover to cover. Now the fairy wasn't telling Richard about Darken Rahl when it said the world would end if Darken is ever allowed to open the boxes... no... now the fairy was talking about THIS EVENT. And now the boxes aren't about this, they're about that. And now the book of counted shadows should have been the book of counted shadow and Richard had Darken open the wrong box out of SHEER F'N LUCK. Etc.``


So WHAT?? How many times have they said in the book that prophecy and many other things have been misinterpreted? It doesn't attempt to re-write the first book it tries to tell you that what was thought at the time was wrong. The interpretation was wrong by them at that time. The author obviously knew what the story was from beginning to end. He didn't just make s**t up as he went along.


There is nothing in the book that wasn't explained. Just because things seem inconsistent to you doesn't mean that they are. I see no inconsistences. If you would like I can even give you the page number to the point I proved that there was a reason Richard was exempt.

I mean seriously just because the book wasn't written the way you wanted it to be, it has now gone to crap? I absolutely hate when people do this.

And I took this long to read this topic because I hadn't finished Chainfire and Phantom.

Grr now I am just mad and irritated. Thanks.

I just finished Phantom (first time) so I should be all ready too smile