Faith of the Fallen by Terry Goodkind
For those who know the series, I'm sure you're wondering why I'm starting the reviews by the last installment of the series. Well, the reason is this is probably the best book of the series. :)
For the others, who haven't read these books, well the only thing I can do is introduce you to the characters.
This is, of course, a fantasy novel. I tend to read a lot of those these days. I guess, probably because I'm so impatient for the Lord of the Rings movie to come out.
Richard Cypher aka Richard Rahl and Kahlan are our two heroes. They have been through a lot. It took three novels to see them married and once married they unleashed the Chimes that nearly killed all magical beings in the world (See Soul of Fire).
Richard is a very special being, he is the only wizard with both sides of magic, additive and substractive; Kahlan is also a magical being and the last of her line, she's the Mother Confessor.
Richard and Kahlan are surrounded by several people: a wizard who happens to be the First Wizard and Richard's grandfather, Zedd, Sisters of the Light, to name a few Verna, the actual Prelate and Anne, the former Prelate; the Mord-Sith whose magic can only exist if a descendant of the Rahl family lives; the most important are Cara who protects both Kahlan and Richard and Berdine who's only job is to translate old D'Haran.
Then, on the side of evil, you have the Sisters of the Dark who have also both sides of magic (yes I know it really sounds like Jordan's wheel of Time, but it's definitely completely different), the most important one now is Nicci. But more importantly you have one very strong enemy the dream walker, Emperor Jagang and its ilk, the Order Empire.
Now to the story. Nicci, our own Sister of the Dark, has left Jagang's side. She has entrapped Kahlan in a maternity spell forcing Richard to follow her. She thinks that by going into the heart of the Empire in the Old World, he eventually will embrace the ideas of the Empire . What we see on the other hand is a system built upon the enslavement of people who, bit by bit, surrendered their freedom thinking it would be easier just to get what the Empire will give them without working.
A system very similar to communism. People working for the common good, never for their own, relinquishing all property and work for those who are less fortunate. Committees deciding which manufacturer will provide his goods to the person who needs it the most. By using committes, everything is slowed down, manufacturers cannot sell theirs goods, thus cannot pay their workers, making everyone in the Empire very poor. Long lines to get free bread while other products like good vegetables are rare. Working the system, Richard decides to help these people, easily enough he provides his services to transport anything at a lesser price and in doing so creating jobs on the entire chain from loggers to blacksmiths.
That's our Richard turning anything bad into good and having people liking him with his easy manners.
In the New World, Kahlan, Cara, Zedd, Verna and Warren are fighting their own battle against the Empire. Despite the fact that Richard has told them not to attack the Empire directly, they fight them by little skirmishes. This is not of course the most important part of the novel, Richard is right, it is no use to attack the army of the Empire head first. The only thing they can do is slow the Eppire down before it finally takes the Capital of the Midlands, Ayindril where the Wizard's Keep is.
The war in the New World is not what has made me like this novel more than the others. What made me love this novel was the description of a system very similar to communism (which on paper was a grand idea) and how it is possible to fight it, bit by bit. Terry Goodkind gave a very good idea on how to fight such a system, not by overthrowing it in one day but little by little. This is what should have been done in the ex-USSR. This is one of the best novels I've read on freedom; where people are free to choose their own life, by choosing their own destiny, by not pointing the finger at someone else for one's own mistake. I was enthralled by the way one single human being can change things by insuflating hope into others, showing them they can do good by teaching others to do the same.
It is always difficult to talk about something you really like, because they are no words strong enough to describe it. I wish I could find the words to express it; however, this is, with Bridget Jones' Diary: the edge of reason, the best book I've read in a long time.
I hope you will go and get it. Of course, you must read the first 5 novels :). Start with the first one, Wizard's first Rule, it's a great novel. :)
