bookrev: Phantom by Terry Goodkind

Picked the pace back up in the series

Sword of Truth: Book 10

For a series that started with the amazing Wizard’s First Rule, pulled me back in with Faith of the Fallen and has gone on and on and on (not as long as Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time, which I could not stick with, but on for a while), Phantom finally picks the pace back up.

Many of the past few books have centered on too few (or just one) of the characters or plotlines. Phantom brings them all back together (albeit some of them do not remember who they are), and manages to introduce a few new ones without getting us too off track.

I still enjoy most of the us (we are here to enjoy life) vs. them (this life is for suffering, the next life is better) back and forth bantering. This book makes me draw comparisons to what I understand about ancient times where suffering was what the church/shaman called for, similar to what the Order is calling for here in the Phantom. The depictions of the violence inflicted by the order (real and in dream sequences) is vividly described(Crusades, anyone?).

Most every character is either very bad or very good.And, after all, this has come down to good vs. evil, us against them, so there is no time for any fence sitters, is there? But I like characters with conflict. For that reason, I enjoy the brief moments of Shota the witch, who is out for her own purposes and is sometimes one of us, sometimes one of them. I used to enjoy the character of Nicci for this reason, but she was pure evil in the first few books, now she has been converted by Richard and is pure good.

I do look forward to the Final and Concluding book in the series, and tip my hat to Mr. Goodkind for such an epic work.

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