We are now in the final stretch of our Sword of Truth 13 Night Marathon. Tonight we start the first of the trilogy that will complete the Sword of Truth arc….Chainfire.
Chainfire by Terry Goodkind – a Review
When I started Chainfire, I was so looking forward to the final trilogy that will end Sword of Truth, and bring Richard & Kahlan together (I hope) forever. Then the first chapter of Chainfire threw me for a loop. I had to go Miranda to get some answers, and to calm down. Afterall, what would you think my reaction would be to “Who is Kahlan” I knew that something happened to Kahlan in Phantom, but not in Chainfire.
Crap, here we go again, separating Richard and Kahlan. Upon talking to Miranda, I further discovered that I had endure no Kahlan in Chainfire, but also in Phantom. I love SOT because of Richard & Kahlan (and Cara too). So I was sort of depressed knowing I had to read this book without a major part of it (Kahlan).
The beginning was a shock, then it became sort of pushing my way through it. Then, came the part of Richard saving Cara. That turned things around a bit. Those scenes with Richard taking Cara’s pain, loving her, and forcing her back to life, was one of the most emotional scenes in any book I have read. Bravo to Goodkind for this part. Very well done.
The Shota storyline was excellent, and kept my interest. Though I do not like Shota, usually she comes through for them eventually. Giving up the Sword of Truth was puzzling, but I can see that Shota must have known that some how Samuel would come to the rescue. Mind you, I have no idea whether he will be a danger in Phantom, but for now he helped them.
What I did not like throughout the book, was the constant belittling of Richard, that he was delirious. I understood it, but that and Richard’s over and over and over saying “ I have to find Kahlan”. You got tired of him having to say it all the time, and then watching Ann, Nathan, and Zedd putting him down. I feel bad to only have seen Kahlan for one chapter, and the way they treated her. Damn, I hope soon she gets her revenge.
The last 1/2 of the book was very exciting, and even now I feel myself still tense. Nicci saving Richard from killing himself, Rikka (though she couldn’t go) joining with Cara and Nicci to help Richard escape from Ann, Nathan, and Zedd, seeing the sliph again, going to caska/jillian, the palace with the missing boxes of orden and Nicci getting all the answers from Tovi. Nicci wanting Richard to kill her (as Cara did earlier), but both (and Rikka) believing in him as he addressed Ann,Nathan, Zedd, even if they still couldn’t remember Kahlan. I enjoyed Cara seeing Benjamin again, Nicci pushing him to Cara, and Nicci knowing how much Richard loved Kahlan.
I also have to say in this book, I liked Nicci. No not for Richard, but as a protector, similar to the way Cara is to him. Richard needs all he can get to help him with this. Having Nicci and Cara will help him get Kahlan back, and all of them, including Zedd, Nathan and Ann (maybe Verna) will finally destroy Jagang.
The worst part was the cliffhanger ending that I so love. 🙂 I don’t know how anyone had to wait for so long for the next book. Thankfully I can read Phantom next. As the sooner we get Kahlan back, the better I will feel. Now if that doesn’t sound like someone obsessed.. I don’t know what is.
Let’s here your thoughts on Chainfire.
Reviewed by Barb
Great Review Barb… I remember reading the last 3 of the series over a long weekend (I know) and it was brutal. I had lost track of the series for a while due to a heavy schedule and missed getting them until the last one came out… I have to admit I was totally lost as well… and I did not have someone like Miranda to help me through the head scratching… I did; however, have to get answers to all the questions that were bugging me. I was happy to see things come together at the end though, if for no other reason than to get answers as to what in the world Terry Goodkind was doing to us. (and his main characters)
Great review Barb, and I too felt the same way you did as I read this book. I can’t remember though if I had already met Miranda or not by the time I came to the last three books in the series. All I know is that halfway through Chainfire I went and reserved the last two books in the series so that I could read them all back to back without any interruptions. If I had to wait any length of time between these last three books I would have be totally lost. I also did the online Coles notes thingy too for aid in reading this book when I was a little confused. It brought me back to my days in high-school when I used coles notes. LOL
Great review. It’ll seem weird to read this book without Richard and Kahlan being together.
Great review as always Ms. Barb! I am so disappointed that I missed this one.
Keeping it short, (yeah right) Chainfire was sheer genius. Most people can read this series back to back now, and will sort of miss out on the original vision of this book. Which was to turn the entire series on its head, and make us question everything we thought we knew, and to make us wonder if what we had been reading for years was real or false.
I cannot begin to explain what was going through my mind when I began reading this book….Richard bleeding out, his friends scrambling to save his life, Richard thinking over and over in his head like a litany that he HAD to tell them something vitally important before he fell unconscious. My heart was pounding so hard, and all I could think after the over a year wait from the previous installment to this one was…”what the hell is happening!? Did I miss a book in between???”
The when Richard awakens, not knowing he has been unconscious for a lengthy amount of time, that he had been overcome with fever, and infection and had nearly died. Of course his first inquiry is about Kahlan…..and when Cara asked “Who is Kahlan?” My heart stopped, and I nearly fell out of my reading chair. For real. My immediate reaction was violence towards Terry Goodkind if readers were about to find out that Kahlan had been nothing but a figment of Richard’s feverish mind. *snort*
This read was very emotional to me, in large part because of Richard being so alone in this book. Everyone he relied on, believed him delusional–and considering the phenomenon which is Richard’s mind–this was heartbreaking. Thank God for Nicci in this book. She was his saving grace. The one that would not allow him to give up.
My unenjoyment stemed mostly from the frenzy this book stirred amongst the fans of a Richard and Nicci pairing. Honestly, anyone who would want this is not a true fan of the SoT series because Goodkind makes it obvious over and over that the heart of this entire series, something of which reaches a breathtaking culmination in Confessor–is the love Richard and Kahlan share. Nothing can stop it, nothing. We are shown by the end of the very first novel WFR, that Richard is incapable of loving anyone but Kahlan, so at what basis did these people have for a wish of Nicci and Richard being a couple? *sigh*
Did I say I would keep this short? Aside from the lack of Kahlan, and depression of Richard, this book truly was exceptional in its plot. Phantom was better to me, because we get to see Kahlan….and the struggles she goes through, not knowing a single thing about herself aside from her name.
Thank you for another wonderful review Barb!