[.ca] Temple Of The Winds (ISBN 1593351577)

good book- little to much lovin' goin' on though:
It is a good book. The war starts- a plague sweeps the land and people are forced to either join with the good guys or get blown away. Very good war fantasy book- it is not as good as Martin but still still good in its own way Yes there is to much kissing and love, but i really didn't mind that bad if terry would not go into so much detail- i didn't mind the torture detail in the second book but this was to much but i still think that this is a good book and worth reading

Temple of the Winds:
Having read the entire Sword of Truth series, and having enjoyed it, I can say this is my least favorite. I think if Richard grabbed Kahlan once more and dragged her into a corner to kiss her, yet again, I would have thrown the book across the room. The plot was engaging, the characters are some I have grown to care about, but the stolen kisses just got to be tiring, even for a romantic at heart such as I am.

Stolen ideas, weak development... more of the same, again:
The series started out with a lot of potential. I was a big fan of the main character and the development in the Stone of Tears was refreshing. Things tapered off with the Blood of the Fold. The structural problems of this series are quite numerous and continue to add up. First, the Sword of Truth is essentially the Sword of Shanarra (Terry Brooks, 1977) but with irregular and erratic character development. Second, several of the events that take place in the story are borrowed from several other novels (Tolkien, Brooks, DragonLance, the list goes on...) What surprises me about this book and the series is the waves of good reviews. Frankly, this series should have been a trilogy. Just when you hope there will be some progress or some advancement another erratic inexplicable event. In this Jordanian (Wheel of Time) style series, events sprawl into each other in a effort to keep the audience buying more books. I have abandoned this series at this novel, and I suggest you do as well.

How to Write Like Terry Goodkind:
Want to get your own stories published, no matter how bad your plot? It's easy! If Terry Goodkind could do it, you can too. Here are his secrets: To design characters: Make up names, give them different clothes and genders, and then make sure they all act the same. All should be incredibly stubborn, to the point of abandoning any sense of self-preservation. For conversations that will flesh out your flimsy plot: All of your stubborn characters should argue with each other for as long as possible before any progress is made. For example: "I intend to raid the castle." "All by yourself? That's stupid!" "Stupid it may be, but I plan to raid the castle." "You'll be killed!" "No, I won't. Stop trying to delay me." "I have to delay you, because otherwise, you'll be killed!" "No I won't!" "Yes you will!" "No!" "Yes!" \oTwo pages later:\c "Guards! Lock her up! I'm going to raid that castle now." "Yessir!" This works especially well if, like Goodkind, you seem to have some sort of power/control complex and an obvious interest in BDSM. No matter how pointless the argument, if you throw in some women in skin-tight leather with flails, you'll be guaranteed the "Gor" audience, at least. Occasionally you may write something that seems profoundly emotional to you. It might not be so obvious to your readers, though, so make sure they understand emotional states by using repetition: "I'm going to kill her. Just give me the chance, and I'll cut her to pieces. I am filled with wrath. I'll strike her down on this very spot. Her blood will flow across the floor, because I'm so angry, I'm going to kill her." Etc. This litany may be interrupted with dialogue, so make sure to resume and repeat it in different ways until the reader gets the point. Punctuation: Don't worry about it. No matter how many punctuation marks are missing, the readers can still figure out basically what you've said. Plot twists: A really good plot twist requires lots of unnecessary confusion leading to things that would have happened anyway. (Seriously! Think about it!) Once you're sure that no sane person could unravel your bizarre reasoning behind dancing around the otherwise predictable plot, then congratulations! You can now write like Terry Goodkind. Good luck!

A bad joke:
If you liked the first three in this series, don't think for a moment you will like this one. If you didn't like the first three, this one you will hate. Basically, having written three books, the author decided to take a break in this one and write sheer and utter nonsense. The first 100 pages is a complete joke, inane conversation abound, written as if by a high school child. Worst of all, it's unbelievable BORING. It's as if he's paid by the word and he just sat down and started rambling. Page after page of childish, boring conversation between the characters. It's UNREADABLE. I cannot believe the editors let this be published as is, shame on them.