Book Review of Confessor by Terry Goodkind
Culmination of both the Sword of Truth Series and Chainfire Trilogy
Richard Rahl and his wife, Kahlan Amnell, have been on quite an adventure for the first ten books of Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. From the very beginning, Richard was called upon to save the world from his father, and immediately upon doing so, he started preparations to save the world from ideals -- in particular, the ideals of the Fellowship of the Order.
Since around the fourth book, The Temple of the Winds, Lord Rahl has been on an Ayn Rand crusade of fantastical proportions with Kahlan either by his side or taken from him by force. The Chainfire trilogy that ends the series starts with Kahlan missing, and the key to recovering her also happens to be the same key that will end the war against the Order and save the world once more.
Save the Mother Confessor, Save the World
Confessor picks up right where Phantom left off, with Nicci naming Richard as a player of the boxes of Orden and Richard learning -- while still chained up as a captive player of Ja La Jh Din -- that he is one. Now that he is a player, he can use the magic of Orden to free the world of the Order, which happened to be the same magic that he had to prevent his father from using in the very beginning. In addition, Orden is conveniently the same power that can free Kahlan from the Chainfire spell.
Terry Goodkind Makes Full Circle with Confessor
By using Orden in both his first book and his last book, Goodkind wraps up his story very neatly and enhances the quality of completeness. He even brings back practically every character from the first ten books to help Richard out in some manner. It does not matter if they are already dead or if they are magical beasts that Richard met once; virtually everyone is here for the reunion tour/series finale.
Goodkind even wraps up his Ayn Rand philosophy with a full John Galt speech at the end, albeit not nearly as long. Readers can skim and/or skip through this speech as they can the real John Galt speech from Atlas Shrugged. Like the philosophies stated throughout Atlas Shrugged, if readers haven't learned Goodkind/Rahl's philosophies at this point, they aren't ever going figure them out. However, readers should be aware that Confessor has a more magical and somewhat more inspiring ending than Atlas Shrugged.
Final Wizard's Rule
Goodkind has crafted an incredible tale of fantasy and political philosophy that none other has accomplished. Those who have made it this far will definitely enjoy how the story ends, as well as learning the final Wizard's Rule. Those who have not had the pleasure of indulging in this series should look into Wizard's First Rule and then quickly understand that while the series is well written and has a great story, it is also at times downright preachy.
Confessor by Terry Goodkind
Published by Tor Books on November 13, 2007
ISBN: 0765315238
Confessor Book Cover
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