Temple of the Winds (Sword of Truth, Book 4)

This is an outing of the series back when I still found it tremendous fun. (Alas, that would not remain so, although once-fans of Sword of Truth widely disagree about when the series jumped the shark, even this novel has its detractors and there are some entertained to the end of the series.) I

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remember when I first picked up the book I was a bit cheesed at yet another series of obstacles placed in the way of Richard and Kahlan getting together. How long was Goodkind going to stretch it out? But Goodkind's strengths in world-building, inventive magic and memorable characters are still in play, and I was sucked in. I particularly loved Nathan as well as Cara and the other Mord-Sith in this. And the "Temple of the Winds" is itself almost a character.

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Another fairly predictable, one-dimensional, typical fantasy romp through Goodkind's Middle Earth (or whatever he calls it) this novel is still enjoyable for all its many faults.
Although obviously fraught with your typical male fantasies (A woman who can devour you with her orgasm, and a couple of

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sado-masochistic dominatrix type women in skin-tight leather with pain giving "rods" who ohbytheway are also uber-sexy lesbians) this novel is still fun and still entertaining.

And I mean, the lesbians ARE hot.

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I'm glad he finally married off Richard and Kahlan. I couldn't stand the cheap soap opera tactic. I get really distracted by Richard's lame mood swings "She betrayed me" Give me a break. I don't know if I can continue with this series. It seems be loosing a little with each new book

From the very first page I was drawn into the book, and could not put it down. I cried, I cried some more and still left the book with a warmed heart and a smile. Amazingly written. I love the characters, and cannot wait to read the next one.

ook 4 in the Sword of Truth series reads a bit more like a “who done it” type of mystery than a pure fantasy novel. This works nicely and progresses the story line nicely. I enjoyed this one the character development, which focused mostly on Richard and Kahlan this time. It did get a bit

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tedious reading over and over how much they loved each other, but it was actually important to the story so I can understand. Most annoying thing about this book is again the page long explanations of what happened in the previous books. This is truly annoying and is getting worse with each book. At this pace, book 10 will be mostly a rehash of the previous 9 books. But still a great story and I really do want to see how this all plays out, so onward we go to book 5.

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Fourth in the "Sword of Truth" series, and by many accounts the best of the lot. This one introduces us to Drefan Rahl, Richard's half-brother, and lets us see what happens to the world when Emperor Jagang attempts to unleash a plague. Nathan has a much bigger role in this one than he has in the

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last two, and every word is a joy. Oh, Nathan! There's also quite a bit of Cara, Berdine, and Raina, the Mord-Sith, which is very welcome.

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Richard and Kahlan are at it again in this sequel. Trying to find time to get married is hard when you have a witch woman sending would be lovers to your soon to be spouse, a plague starting, and a dream walker making a nuisance of himself.
Full of mystery, magic, betrayal, and love, Temple of Winds

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delivers what Goodkind fans have come to expect. A read that will keep you reading until the end.

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This is the fourth book in the Sword of Truth series, and it had the double whammy challenge of being the fourth very long book in a very long series, and of being the book I was reading just before my comprehensive exams for grad school. These challenges made me move through this book a little

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more slowly than the previous three, and the beginning was a bit more slow moving than I would have liked, so it took me a bit longer to read than I expected. Nevertheless, The last 200 pages or so absolutely flew by. I read them in a matter of a few hours, sacrificing some precious precious sleep on the night before comps to finish it. Again, Terry Goodkind messed with my mind and made me despair that things would turn out the way I wanted them to, or thought they should. But, as always, he managed to give me the ending I wanted in an unexpected way and with the promise of lots of new conflict and heartache to come. I swear I don't know why I like these books. They just stress me out! If only I could stop...

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A plague has broken out all around the New World killing hundreds of thousands. Richard Rahl has to find a place that no one has heard of before and must destroy the plague, but in the end it will destroy him. This book is very suspensful with the things Richard and Kahlan must do to save everyone

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and it gives a taste of what Richard is capable of doing with his gift. As with all of Goodkind's books, this book is a great book for fantasy lovers.

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I continue to make my way through a series which demands completion. The characters presented make all the difference; they inspire either complete loving adoration or, in some cases, disgusted ire. While at times the author becomes bogged down in inconsequential description of detail (do we really

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need to know from what stone every individual surface in the palace is constructed of?), the story flows in such a way that putting the book down becomes a test of will.
Beyond all this, Goodkind seems to have invoked in his writing a healthy mix of philosophical insight. For example... if saving the lives of everyone on the planet required the sacrifice of one live, would you willingly accept the death? The general opinion at this point in the argument is one of approval. What happens when the person to die becomes the one you hold most dear? Would the approval still hold? It is a rare person that can still say yes. Most of the questions presented in the books are not quite this dire in nature, but still increased my enjoyment in reading.
I am, however, a little floundered my the sheer number of editing errors residing between the pages which, at times, force a pause to consider what the attempted sentence is. Who exactly has been editing these books? Epic fail.

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The Temple of the Winds brings the real terror and ruthlessness of the Imperial order to a head in Richard Rahl's story. Jajang has sent a Sister of the Dark to retrieve a item of magic that was sealed away thousands of years ago, hidden between the world of life and the underworld. He uses it to

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unleash a plague across the world, killing those in the old world and new alike. We also learn of what happens/happened to other offspring of Darken Rahl when we meet Defran, a healer from D"hara and Richard's brother. In a race against time, and prophecy, richard struggles to learn of the Temple of the Winds and tries to avoid being bretrayed in blood by Kahlan.

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I think this is the book where the Sword of Truth series went finally and irrevocably off the rails for me. This book highlights Goodkind’s worst faults as a writer. His total lack of complexity when drawing out his female characters. It seems that in Goodkind’s universe women fall into two

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categories; Madonna/whore. Goodkind’s preachiness also beings to grate. After reading the entire series, I can safely say that this is the book where it all comes apart.

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Whew! I'm done with the travails of Richard and Kahlan, but what a ride. If you got through Blood of the Fold, you should read Temple of the Winds. Fold is just the intro to the end of the Richard/Kahlan marriage story. If you have ever watched soap operas, you know Kahlan will finally wed Richard

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in her blue dress, just like you were promised back in the first book. However there will be a few more obstacles in the way...long-lost half brothers and an old girlfriend for instance. And Darken Rahl has been replaced by a new enemy who unleashes a deadly plague. The Mord Sith change from being torture queens to Richard's and Kahlan's bodyguards and relationship therapists. They add needed humor to the torture/destruction theme of the series. When the Mord Sith misbehave, Richard punishes them by having the ladies feed chipmunks.

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Terry Goodkind has again produced another powerful addition to his Sword of Truth series. This novel explores marital fidelity, self-sacrifice, and ultimately, the embodiment of true love and power.

I read the first book. Then I read the second book. Then I read the third book. Then I got half way through the fourth book and I thought to myself, "Why the hell am I reading this?" It suddenly occurred to me that I really don't like the writing in these books. The only reason that I gave all

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these books two stars rather than one is because I have to give the author some credit for getting me to read four books. I'm still not sure why or how I got that far.

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A great continuation of the Sword of Truth series! Richard, Kahlan, Zedd and their cohorts are now locked in a deadly battle with a dream walker. Richard's life is threatened by prophecy, but the prophecy does not play out as expected. A great series and a gripping read, I can't wait for the next

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installment.

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My least favorite sword of truth novel so far. The "traitor in our midst" character was recognizable as such the moment he entered the story, and I hate it when the good guys in a book are this stupid that they can be so easily trapped. This took most of the wind out of the story ( "wind", get it?)

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as you lost all of your respect for the characters as well as your interest in the story.

It did have one quote that I liked, though (Forgive my poor memory the exact quote):

Zed:"What did you lose?"

Richard:"Knowledge."

Zed:"And what did you gain?"

Richard:"Understanding."

I used this quote on my mom once when she asked why I spent the evening playing videogames instead of studing for a test I had the next day.

She cracked up, and I was saved a painful tongue-thrashing. Thank you Terry Goodkind, you have saved my life.

Also the cover art of this book has to be the cheesiest ever, he looks like the "I can't believe it's not butter" guy posing for a commercial or something.

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I almost gave up on this book and the series. It started out extremely slow and hard to gather interest in any of the storylines. Halfway through I still felt the same, but I kept clamoring away because I liked the first few books of the series. Luckily the last quarter of the book was mildly

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interesting that I was able to push myself to finish it. Not sure when I'll pick up the next book based on this effort.

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I almost gave up on this book and the series. It started out extremely slow and hard to gather interest in any of the storylines. Halfway through I still felt the same, but I kept clamoring away because I liked the first few books of the series. Luckily the last quarter of the book was mildly

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interesting that I was able to push myself to finish it. Not sure when I'll pick up the next book based on this effort.

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Never have I been so relived and happy to be done with a book. Goodkind has an amazing ability to play with a reader's emotions; with all of his plot twists, cliffhangers and whatnot the last 200 pages proved gruelingly nail-biting. I was relived that nearly everything reached a sort of resolution,

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and the series has given me a bit of respite before I venture into the next volume.

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Finally, they get married in this one! But who knows what the have called with the three chimes.

In this 4th book, the plague has broken out in Aydindril, and Richard and Kahlan have the monumental task of trying to stop it before it decimates every living thing. And as if the plague isn't awful enough, there's a madman running around murdering women in unspeakable ways. But, should you be

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worried that everything is doom and gloom, fear not. This book contains some great bits, and the ending is fabulous.

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One of my favorites in the series. Glad for the chance to read it through again.

Struggled through this one, and ended up skimming most of it. Having not really enjoyed the last two (after quite enjoying the first), this is where I gave up this series. Richard became more and more unlikeable the more he became the only person on the world who could do anything to oppose the

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"bad guys".

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