Naked Empire

I'm a week overdue to report on Naked Empire. This is the 8th book in Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. Since Faith of the Fallen, Goodkind has been much more explicitly philosophical in his novels, integrating philosophical issues with the plot in a fantasy setting. In the previous book, Goodkind took a side-trek with a completely new character who it turns out is the sister of the hero. He introduces other characters in the previous book that end up playing a pivotal role in "Naked Empire."

This is part of the reward of reading a fantasy series--you get to see apparently minor characters set up pivotal events without realizing what they're doing until it's way late in the game. This is a hallmark of the skill of Goodkind's storytelling as well--he is very good at bringing in that long-overlooked-supposedly-irrelevant fact that serves as the linch-pin of the entire plot.

As much as I have enjoyed his books so far, Naked Empire is not his best work in my opinion. Unlike his other novels, the climax isn't as ... clear and necessary. Despite my misgivings, it still stands as a seminal work of fantasy fiction. Goodkind is clearly in the elite of fantasy authors. I highly recommend him to anyone.