Temple of the Winds has the easy job of trying to create a story out of the tangled mess of direction that it’s predecessor “The Blood of the Fold” set before it. How does the 4th installment treat the Sword of Truth series? Let’s dive into it and find out.

Terry Goodkind’s Temple of the Winds is clocking in at 528 pages shared amongst 70 chapters. The book was published September 1997. The book continues the story of the struggle with the new found enemy of the Imperial Order and Richard, now known as Lord Rahl and Kahlan, who is now reunited with Richard to bring the Midlands into the order of D’Hara.

Was Temple of the Winds Good?

The beginning of the book was relatively confusing with the introduction of Nadine. A girl from Richards past that felt thrown into the book just to balance out the introduction of another character. She shows up very mysteriously and everything she tells the characters flops back and forth like a fish out of water.

The other character that was introduced was Drefan Raul. Both he and Nadine happen to be healers and show up within close proximity at the beginning of the book while Kahlan is trying to deal with a prisoner with one of the Mord Sith Cara. These characters and their abilities will prove to be important throughout the book.

My first impression of this book is that it was an improvement on the Blood of the Fold. There was not as much significant political discussion that went on to no end with this installment. With that being said, it was still present here, just in a much more consumable quantity.

Temple of the Winds has a significant difference from the Blood of the Fold in that the story is not as loosely present. There is a beginning discovery and end while also continuing to grow the looming threat of the Imperial Order. I think that this book executed that in a much better way. We start to get an idea of who Emperor Jagang is and his cunning understanding of view of the world.

The book falls flat this time with the Zedd and Ann story line. It seems to drag unnecessarily in the second half. I found the first portion to be rather enjoyable as they try and capture Nathan before he gets used by the Emperor with his abilities as a Prophet.

Nathans character really develops well in this book. His cards start to be revealed for what his intentions are and why he is doing what he is doing. He is also shown to be a very competent wizard that could be trouble down the road.

The main story revolves around dealing with a Plague that is onset from the Winds, to that extent a lot of the book revolves around healing and the promises of magic. There are also mysteries of events happening in the city that Richard is attempting to solve himself but is also needing to rely on others to help him solve these mysteries this time around which is refreshing.

One thing that I did feel at the end of this book was that it was a rather self contained story. Something that directly opposes Blood of the Fold. Many characters in this book come as quickly as they leave which surprised me. It does make me wonder what the staying power outside the main 4 characters in this series up to this point actually are.

The end to the book wasn’t anything really shocking and was relatively lame how the Temple of the Winds could actually be entered. I and I assume a lot of others really just didn’t care for this idea and you will see for yourself if you read the book.

In Conclusion

At the end of the day this book was a step up from the train wreck that was Blood of the Fold. It does not however, beat out the other two entries of Stone of Tears and Wizards First Rule. Hopefully the next book will continue to dig its way out of the hole book 3 put it in.

What are your thoughts on this book? Comment below and let me know! I should remind everyone that I am reading these book for book so I do not know any future events that may alter my decision on any specific hints in the book. Onward to Soul of the Fire.

If you want to see where this book ranks in the original series, you can find our Ranking the Sword of Truth series article here!