Soul Of The Fire

By Terry Goodkind

The Sword of Truth series follows Richard Cypher, a young woodsman intent on tracking down his father's murderer. His quest will take him far from home, embroiling him in an ancient war, three-millennia past, that is about to re-ignite with world-shattering violence.

Richard has traveled far from his roots as a simple woods guide. Emperor of the D'Haran Empire, war wizard, the Seeker of Truth – but none of these roles mean as much to him as his newest: husband to his beloved Kahlan Amnell, Mother Confessor of the Midlands.

But their wedding day is the key that unlocks a spell sealed away long ago in a faraway country. Now a deadly power pours forth that threatens to turn the world into a lifeless waste.

Separated from the Sword of Truth and stripped of their magic, Richard and Kahlan must journey across the Midlands to discover a dark secret from the past and a trap that could tear them apart forever. For their fate has become inextricably entwined with that of the Midlands – and there's no place so dangerous as a world without magic...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Release date: Jul 29, 2015
• ISBN: 9781784971908

Terry Goodkind

Goodkind was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, where he also attended art school, one of his many interests on the way to becoming a writer. Besides a career in wildlife art, he has been a cabinet maker, violin maker, and he has done restoration work on rare and exotic artifacts from around the world. In 1983 Goodkind moved to the forested mountains he loves. There, in the woods near the ocean, he built the house where he and his wife, Jeri, live, and came at last to tell his own stories.

Reviews for Soul Of The Fire

[jrg1316 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A good continuation of the series. I was a little disappointed with the beginning, but once it got going, the story moved quickly.

[antao-3 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

(Original Review, 2002) "Hissing, hackles lifting, the chicken's head rose. Kahlan pulled back. Its claws digging into stiff dead flesh, the chicken slowly turned to face her. It cocked its head, making its comb flop, its wattles sway. "Shoo," Kahlan heard herself whisper. There wasn't enough light, and besides, the side of its beak was covered with gore, so she couldn't tell if it had the dark spot, But she didn't need to see it. "Dear spirits, help me," she prayed under her breath. The bird let out a slow chicken cackle. It sounded like a chicken, but in her heart she knew it wasn't. In that instant, she completely understood the concept of a chicken that was not a chicken. This looked like a chicken, like most of the Mud People's chickens. But this was no chicken. This was evil manifest."In "Soul of the Fire" by Terry Goodkind.Goodkind is responsible for the worst thing ever written by a human being; the now legendary evil chicken scene (above).I read along the fantasy cliches and admittedly fascinated by the creepily detailed sex and torture scenes - wow, there are adults who write this sort of smut in fantasy? A woman who can’t have sex because she’ll have an orgasm which will destroy her partner (and why can’t she just masturbate beforehand?)? A hero who gets deflowered by a sexy S&M torture nymph? Torture, torture, torture, big hulking Teutonic soldier men, graphic sexual violence, wow how does this sort of thing get published next to Tolkien? But one book is a bad taste curiosity, a whole series of increasingly unhinged writing is just appalling. His books are ranty ultra-conservative bullshit with bizarrely detailed descriptions of near rape, child dissection, sexual torture, child killing, sexual assault, kicking children in the face, rape, cheesy romantic sex, evil chickens, intelligent goats, and attractive women in either skintight dresses (somehow their curves always got described, of course) or skintight leather (how do they sneak up on enemies in the dark? How much talc do they have to wear?). It is near explicitly described that these things are what happens to society when it doesn’t follow Objectivism, and I’m not kidding. I just hope the covers put people off..Goodkind is not only a hack, he's an Ayn Rand hack. "Wizard's First Rule" is the only book that I have purposefully abandoned at a train station, hoping that it would go to some "Lost Items" limbo. Maybe it’s still there...[2018 edit: Urgh, did not need this reminder of the crap I read back in the day.]

[wagner5sarah35 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Sword of Truth series picks up right where it left off in the previous volume. Richard and Kahlan have finally wed, but the consequences of Kahlan saving Richard's life soon become clear. The chimes have been summoned from the underworld and are causing magic to fail throughout the world. Magic must be returned to the world, or many may die. Richard, Kahlan, Cara, and Zedd all must play their part in defeating the chimes, all while the Imperial Order continues its relentless march and threatens the Midland community of Anderlith. A great series, I look forward to continuing to read of the adventures of Richard, Kahlan, and their friends.

[clong_818048 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I had mixed feelings about the first four books of the Sword of Truth series. They were reasonably entertaining. At the same time, there was something annoying and simplistic about them. The main characters, both good and bad, were static, lacking in any depth, and often clueless. And, sex (much of it of the brutal, sadistic, raping kind) can only carry a book so far before you actually have to write an interesting story. This book, however, was just plain bad. After reading Soul of the Fire I decided not to waste my time with any more Goodkind.

[jms001 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not exactly my favorite from the series. A lot of stupid decisions, IMO, made by various characters. But I suppose it's for the betterment of their development.

[clstaff · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the fifth installment of the Sword of truth series and the story and my interest are still going strong. 7 books in the series to go. I will copy and paste this review into all subsequent reviews of this series, except the last, in which I will hopefully say how awesome the whole series was.

[caillech_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book disappoints. While the general plot was worthy of a Sword of Truth novel, the execution fell several long leaps short of my expectations. Too much of the book revolved around the dramas, both small and large, of the Ander elite. Yes, I see what the telling accomplished. The same end could have been achieved in a manner which didn't encourage me to yawn every few paragraphs. Nor does the ending of this book excite me to read the next, Richard's attitude being so far from what has previously been seen. I will read the next book in the hopes of improvement - and yet, I'm not looking forward to continuing the series anymore.

[lisamaria_c · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There are people who loved Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series from beginning to end. But a lot of people who loved it through the first four books feel this is where the series jumped the shark. Goodkind is a devotee of Ayn Rand; he's open about that on his website. But although you could see libertarian themes in the earlier books, this is the one where it's more than subtext easily ignored. If that is what bothers you about this book, to the point you didn't find it enjoyable, you might want to stop here, because in Faith of the Fallen that line becomes even more explicit and beyond that even I, who am mostly sympathetic to his philosophy, finds Goodkind unbearably preachy and just plain unbearable. But this book, even if I do see it as falling off in enjoyment from the earlier books, is still very entertaining as Richard and Kahlan combat the power of the chimes leaching magic from the world. There are still characters I love here, and there's still humor, and there's still imagination in Goodkind's world-building to burn. And I do like that there are consequences here to actions from previous books. So even if here I could see the shark's fin protruding from the water, he hadn't jumped for me. Yet.

[kassilem · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I liked this book even less than the fourth book. It seemed like two stories in one; one about Richard, Kahlan and the chimes, and one about the Anderith people. I could have dealt with the side story if the characters had become important to Richard's story, but they didn't. Most of them die when it's convenient and the one that does live... I'm not sure we will hear about her again. I can't remember. The ending also caused disappointment. It was too quick and not explained well. However there was more interwoven humor in this volume and a very big turning point for Richard. It is also a continuation of a series with a character that I love and so I feel it gets a four star, if barely. I am hoping that the next book is on par with the first three book and not this one. I can't remember completely from my first read of it, so we shall see.

[michael_rose-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This series was introduced to me by a then girlfriend (my first serious one). My review applies to all of his books that I've read.His stories are engaging enough, so that's not an issue. They are extremely pornographic in their depictions of sex, rape, torture, and war...if that's your thing. It's just the fantasy element has been attached. They're also very masturbatory (or "autoerotic", if you prefer) when it comes to all things Ayn Rand ("objectivism"). One book in particular (I forget which one) was decidedly anti-democracy in its ethos. There was also the author's justifications for the slaughter of innocent people (because, in his eyes, they're not innocent, even if they're non-combatants). I enjoyed the books well enough as a high schooler, though I've since grown up (and grown beyond them, though I still enjoy the fantasy genre).

[silva_44 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This particular installment of the Sword of Truth series was a bit of a downer. Albeit the best possible downer. Goodkind takes a major pause from the main storyline in order to develop a secondary storyline which has a huge impact on Richard and Kahlan toward the end of the book. I absolutely love the way in which Goodkind presents political agendas. My favorite quote in the book is from an up and coming social climber, Dalton Campbell, who recognizes the folly of his ambition a bit too late. "Following the lead of noted people such as the Directors, ordinary people had not taken to loudly voicing the tailored notions they had been fed. Even though Dalton had expected it, he never failed to find it remarkable the way he had but to say a thing enough times, through enough people, and it became the popular truth, its provenance lost as it was mimicked by ordinary people who came to believe that it was their own idea." The book ends on a massive cliffhanger, so make sure to have Faith of the Fallen in hand well before you conclude this one.

[dbhutch_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Prrof that politics is a corrupt theory. Soul of the Fire has Richard and Kahlan searching for a way to stop the chimes that were released - and pledged to Richard's soul inadvertently when Kahlan saved his life. Travelling to a land where a famous wizard once resided, where corrupt politics and life has run amok, our champions find out how the Order manages to conquer lands with such ease - and it has very little to do with might, and everything to do with greed.

[harpua_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Book 5 of the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind focus’s more on political intrigue than on action. There is still plenty of action, but the politics of the world become more important and more prevelant to the story. Here we also begin to view Terry’s political philosophy based on Ayn Rand. This really doesn’t distract from the story though if you are completely opposed to Rand’s philosophy you may find the writing as a bit of preaching. I didn’t mind so much since as a conservative some of Rand’s ideas fall in line with mine. But that discussion is better saved for a different blog.Because of the change from action to politics, the book was a slower read for me. There were times I just couldn’t motivate myself to read, but plugging through leads to some rewarding reading the last few chapters, leading to a climax with ramifications that will impact future novels.Overall, not a bad book, not the best so far, but an important transitional book.

[karlstar_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In this book, Goodkind takes a bit of a different approach, and spends a lot of time creating a new country and new characters, all of who are destined to be bit players. However, the point here is to now build up to a theme that Richard is the champion of in the future books - you are responsible for your own actions, and willingly (or stupidly) cooperating with tyranny is evil. Even if you don't participate and just go along. To some extent, Goodkind spends too much time in this book creating the background of Anderith, and not enough time advancing the story, but for once we get to see Richard and Kahlan acting as leaders, instead of just death machines.