Sword of Truth Series Ranked
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Today we will be ranking the Sword of Truth series from Wizards First Rule to Confessor. Yes that means that we are leaving out the new Richard and Kahlan series as this was the intended end of the series. Overall the series itself tries be to something that it’s not. It starts on shaky grounds but ends strong with a horrible slog in the middle. Let’s take a look.
11) The Blood of the Fold
This book in the series had the benefit of coming off two rather enjoyable entries to the series and showed promise that the series as a whole might be a decent fantasy series to read. Unfortunately, it squanders it’s potential by giving the reader no clear direction of the story with a very forgettable enemy. This book was suppose to be a sendoff of the first villain with the main villain to the entire story but it just did not do that for me. It’s for that reason that I have to put this book all the way at the bottom of the list. The worst thing about this book, is that it’s arguably not skippable because it sets up the concept of the villain for the rest of the series very briefly and as a side note. Maybe just look up plot points to this book and skipping it anyway is your best bet.
Naked empire, wow, we take characters from Pillars of Creation, we chew up characters and spit them out as a complete waste of time to a boring two book arc that I still to this day do not care a thing about. If you are reading through the series, don’t feel bad skipping this book and Pillars of creation. They are not needed, boring and just make me feel like I am wasting my time when I could be enjoying a book.
Good lord this two book arc of the ungifted are big dragging points to the story. This one ranks only slightly above the previous book because it does not follow Richard and Kahlan, this made the story refreshing, especially since there as has been so much boring Richard and Kahlan story to begin with. It sheds a light on others ideas of Richard and his empire, but of course, everyone sees the light or Richards ways and leave the old world to support him. These books in this arc are simply not good.
Soul of the Fire, all I can say is that this book is really not that memorable to me. It’s boring, I got tired of hearing about demon chickens that the chimes were inhabiting that are ridding the world of magic. There just is not much else to say about this book then pass.
Temple of the winds is up here in the rankings because for some odd reason, I enjoyed the plague storyline and all the sadness as well as the intro of jegang for really the first time to Ricahrd and Kahlan. There is enough interesting story here to make it worth the read but the overall plot and conclusion are really odd to me. This was the first book in the series that gets a passable rating from me. Everything on this list that has come before are the reasons I just cannot recommend anyone to read the series.
Despite all it’s flaws, in which there are many, Wizards First Rule was still a good read to me. There are some oddities, and some blatant stealing from other fantasy genres that cannot be ignored. But the intrigue toward the beginning of this novel was really good. I enjoyed this book much more than most books throughout the series and so that is why it’s up at number 6. It could have been higher if there were more original ideas in the story that were not simply blatant rip offs of other fantasy series.
Phantom is the first book in the 3 book chainfire arc to be featured on the list. I think it ranks at number 5 as even though the story continues from its previous book really well, it still is a step novel that sets up the final chapter to the series. It’s still well done though. Richard, Nikki, Zedd’s characters are enjoyable to read. I am already interested in the plot so this book grows on it and sets up excitement for the final chapter.
Another one of the books in the last arc of the original series, Chainfire brings the concept of the chainfire spell that will have an effect on the entire ending arc of the series. This is something that was not very well done in previous arcs. There is a clear vision and story path with this arc that makes it significantly more rewarding than any other arc in the series. Richard is once again separated from Kahlan and is seen as delirious after a very bad wound in battle. The entire book is him attempting to convince the others that Kahlan even exists and piece together the mystery of why she was forgotten. Once again, this book was the beginning of a very solid arc so that is why we are putting it up at #4
This book I will always remember as taking the unoriginal first book and, though still being unoriginal in ideas, made them different enough to enjoy reading it. Richards character in this book is not as annoying as he becomes later in the series, and we get to see a whole new world and idea of what magic is to everyone. This book also introduces many characters that will remain throughout the series. I like the idea of Richard needing to learn to control his ability before it kills him. The separation of Richard and Kahlan though some may not like it, I was happy with.
Faith of the fallen was a decent story, It seems to be a retelling almost of the same thing we saw in Stone of Tears. I think I enjoyed this book more though because it was a good chunk of Richard starting from nothing and building his way up to be a respectable and rich person in the empire itself. I am a sucker for building of business and this book had it for me. Once again Richard and Kahlan were separated as well so I was happy to not have continued mushy to no end talk. This book was really great and did paint a picture of the enemy. Some thing other books up to this point in the series and even later in the series fails to do.
Confessor was a good end to the story in my opinion. It manages to finish off the series in both a way that is familiar to the beginning of the series, but also be an enjoyable conclusion to the chainfire arc. There characters are enjoyable to read in this book, the plot is solid and the enemy is made more clear than ever before in this edition to the series. For some reason after the second book in the series, the enemy just is not made clear anymore. It’s a shame that we could not get more characterization of the main villain throughout the entire series. Never the less, this book is an excellent send off and is a perfect stop point to the series. There is no reason to read on the books with the Richard and Kahlan series unless you thoroughly enjoyed the entire series as a whole.
So that is it for the Sword of Truth ranking for the original series. We do not intend to cover the later novels Terry Goodkind has released. The series was a marathon, but with the last few novels it helped redeem itself to a point where I can understand how some like the series. I sadly am still on the side of not enjoying the series itself that much.
So tell us your ranking and if it differs from ours here! Be sure to check out each of the books individual reviews for a more in depth cover of the story and my thoughts on it. I will link each of them to the headers of each ranking in the list!
