Terry Goodkind's Confessor (Review)

Here's the scoop on the final book entitled Confessor in the epic Sword of Truth series. The review of the previous novel in the series, Phantom can be found here.

I was in Waterstone's in the UK on 31 December 2007 to buy a book. I thought I'd buy confessor but at £20 that was over $40 and I figured I'd wait until I got home as that's way too much for a book. I did see it at another shop for £14.99 and decided it was still better to wait until I got home. On 2 January 2008 I was in Harrods and saw a stack marked at £4.99 or about $10. I was informed it was a mis-mark, and I certainly agreed since that's less than a paperback costs and this was a fresh release hardback. To my surprise, they said they'd sell it to me anyway, so I got it and read it on the flight home. I started as the plane was over Ireland and finished before we got to Miami.

I had some trouble remembering all the details from the previous tomes, but it all came back to me quickly. This book is very well written -- even the parts I found, quite honestly, boring.

This book is the last in the series. As I said in my last review, which is good because it's gone on a bit too long. Some authors don't know when to stick a fork in it. I look forward to Mr. Goodkind's next books.

This book is an engaging read front to back, and at over 600 pages, it's hard for many authors to keep the pace going, but he's done it again right until near the very end.

(SPOILERS BEGIN)

However I will say, as in the last book, that some old characters seem to becoming more two-dimensional with age, and that's not a good thing. Cara and Bernedine are barely in the novel at all and serve no purpose, and there is nary a mention of Vera, Ann, Zedd, and Nathan. I don't like Nathan so I don't care. I have to say in this novel every part that mentions Zedd is boring as all hell. When Ann dies, I feel nothing but joy to be rid of a character that ceased being interesting two novels ago. Other characters die, more as an afterthought than as anything else. It's okay in some cases to do that to make a point, but to make a seeming habit of it is silly.

I did like Rachel's story, although it was short it was fascinating. So was the bit with Samuel.

Goodkind seems overly fascinated with some rape scenes and I know he's trying to bring the horror home -- good for him -- but I think he went overboard. What I found the least palatable, though, is the ongoing preaching. Yes, he's gotten preachy. And in the finale Richard turns into a preacher of the worst sort: one who goes on and on with a boring sermon.

The ending of this work disappointed me terribly. I knew it was coming because it was pretty obvious -- Goodkind isn't good at delivering surprises. It was more disappointing because he sold his readers short. He told a great story: especially the bits about Richard in the Emperor's camp. Brilliantly exciting and well done. You just can't sell your readers short. It's not the thing to do.

As I said in the Phantom review, I like what happens in the books because it feels right and with a fantasy novel that's very important. Nothing like a 'doesn't feel right' to ruin a good story. In that same review I also said: However the overriding sense of having a message rammed down my throat never left me and that's my biggest complaint about this novel. This is still true in this novel. It has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

Despite my complaints, it's a good book. The ending wasn't for me, but that doesn't mean you won't like it.

One Hundred Thousand Hits

In the next few days, this blog will record its 100,000th hit since it went live 17 October 2004 -- who could have imagined? That's huge. Traffic has died off over the past year, but that's still an impressive number. It's also terribly misleading.

Most of our traffic is currently driven by the world famous Led Zeppelin Sucks post -- in which I say nothing of the kind. They've directed over 30,000 of those hits. Those users do look around the blog a bit after posting their flames, most of which I don't even release anymore.

The next largest chunk comes from that damned Crazy Frog or Coldplay posts (there are two 1 and 2). Those visitors are worthless and they also account for around 30,000 hits, but for awhile it was sending nearly 75% of our traffic until Yahoo stopped listing us first. They come, read, and leave on the provided links, so it's not quality traffic. They aren't even nice enough to click on one of my Google Adsense Ads. Laugh, but those pennies can add up, and I always appreciate anyone who helps support our site. But ultimately, this isn't about the money because I haven't made any yet :)

The rest of the traffic is mysterious. I analyze my blog traffic regularly and there's no real pattern. I always hope some of the visitors tell me why they came but I get very few comments aside from the aforementioned Led Zeppelin Sucks post, which is a magnet of sorts for comments -- not all intelligent.

I thought my random post about the nude Harry Potter pictures would garner traffic, and they did but very little. Amazingly my post on Terry Goodkind's Phantom have generated some nice traffic -- by that I mean quality traffic, the people who stay and look around. Some of these folks even go to my website.

Google Analytics and Stat Counter are very useful, though for most sites Stat Counter is better suited. The Google Analytics page is more practical for corporate sites as it's pretty complex and overly complex.

Terry Goodkind's Phantom (Review)

(I will warn you before I get to spoilers, so read on without fear)

Ah, yes, I went book shopping yesterday with Adrian. Book shopping is a wholly satisfying thing in almost every way, even if you buy nothing. But this trip was a success because I bought the new Phule's Errand book (sure to be an empty but satisfying read), the new Dave Barry Peter Pan & The Shadow Thieves book, and Terry Goodkind's Phantom. I also bought a Holiday gift for someone but will leave the details out hence the person read my blog.

I started reading Phantom last night around 7:15 and with two breaks -- dinner and a shower -- read it from front to end, fishing just after 12:20am. I barely noticed the time. There were pauses while I zoned out and thought of things -- I'm funny like that -- and also to try and recollect the previous tome, Chainfire which I read nearly two years ago I think.

This book is the next to last in the series. The end of the book clearly says to look for the next and concluding book in this series. That's good because it's gone on too long. Most of it's good but there have been some missteps. Not nearly as bad, though, as Robert Jordan, who I've entirely given up on as an author.

This book is an engaging read front to back, which is good because that's what a summer read is about and at 587 pages, it's hard for many authors to keep the pace going. Like all Goodkind books, you normally see everything coming before the book gets there -- but there is one surprise that definitely laid me flat.

(SPOILERS BEGIN)

I won't reveal that surprise here, because it's a good one. However I will say that some old characters seem to becoming more two-dimensional with age, and that's not a good thing. Cara and Bernedine pretty much are there as decoration and serve no purpose, and there is nary a mention of Vera, Ann, Zedd, and Nathan. I don't like Nathan so I don't care. This story is Richard and Kahlan from front to end and it's just about those with them while they get where they need to be. (This is not a criticism, but it's certainly a 'middle book' syndrome here).

I like what happens in the book because it feels right and with a fantasy novel that's very important. Nothing like a 'doesn't feel right' to ruin a good story. Like the last one, this just ends with a cliffhanger, though it's pretty obvious what's going to happen next. The surprise here is going to be zero simply because he's written himself into a Richard meets XXX next corner, and that's just fine.

What I find a bit unsettling, and I am not sure if it's an intentional metaphor or not, is Goodkind's war solution for the D'Haran army. From a tactical standpoint, I make no arguments (but Richard's speech very well could have bored the enemy to death saving untold bloodshed). However the Order is a religious movement and Goodkind's characters advocate bringing the war to the Order's soil in a "just kill them all" approach. The more I read the more it sounded like he was advocating using American troops to wipe out the Muslim Terrorists while trying not to kill the Muslim People. This plan doesn't work in real life, though it's perfectly fine for a fantasy novel. However the overriding sense of having a message rammed down my throat never left me and that's my biggest complaint about this novel.