Naked Empire - Terry Goodkind

[goodreads]

Title: Naked Empire (Sword of the Truth #8)
Author: Terry Goodkind
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 660
Date read: September, 2009

Ancient sorcerous barriers have been accidentally toppled, freeing the unpleasant "Imperial Order" to rape, loot and pillage the rest of the world. The Emperor and his chief minion are revolting creatures whose sadism begins where Vlad the Impaler left off. Bandakar, a land of pacifists, has little chance of survival until someone gets the bright idea of giving the admired liberator Lord Rahl - that is, Richard - a dose of slow-acting poison. There is no antidote until he, personally and more or less single-handedly, frees Bandakar from the invading horde while, as pacifists, the natives will stand clear and disapprove of the slaughter. Some lessons in ethics and realism need to be learned here...

I read the first 6 books of the Sword in Truth series years ago and LOVED them. Especially the first three are some of my all-time favourite books. Then I read Pillars of Creation... Terry Goodkind really dropped the ball there. I missed Kahlan and Richard as the main protagonists and it just didn't work for me, so I never got around to reading the rest of the series.

Now that they're all out, I figured it was time to finish up - I owed it to the first books ;)

And with Naked Empire Goodkind got back on the horse. Just as captivating as the first 6 books, it drew me right in, and I finished the 660 pages in just two days. I'm now utterly immersed in the universe and wish I had time to reread the rest of the series.

That's not to say it didn't have its flaws. I certainly don't remember the first books as having this much monologuing, and there were some issues I felt weren't properly explained near the end of the book - it seemed like that was more a case of forgetfulness than because Goodkind couldn't figure out how to explain it though.

So yes, I do see the book's short-comings... but I still loved it.