#1 - Chainfire by Terry Goodkind

Fantasy, Book 9 in the Sword of Truth Series, 748 pages

So, the first book in the 100 book experiment almost felt a bit like cheating to me, since it is book 9 in a series of 11. But, it is a fantasy book, and I read it, so I say that it counts.

From the day that I picked up the first book in this series, Wizard's First Rule, and started reading away, I was irrevocably hooked on these books. It isn't just Goodkind's writing and narrative style that draws me in, it is the fact that his characters come alive for me. I feel like I know the protagonists, Richard and Kahlan. That level of emotional involvement with the characters made this book (and many others in the series) kind of hard for me to read. I know that I have recommended Wizard's First Rule to several people, so I will endeavor to summarize without giving too much away.

Sometimes Goodkind's books have a kind of hook at the beginning and then unfold slowly. This was not one of those. It opens with a bang that leaves a reader who has come to love the characters over the course of the other eight books reeling. I read the first eight pages, freaked out and put the book down for a couple days before I could continue. In those eight pages, Goodkind turned the world he had created upside down, and that was just the first drop in the ensuing emotional roller coaster.

Richard, the beacon of hope for all the other protagonists in the series, suffers a devastating setback. The wizards and sorceresses we have met so far in the series make a gruesome discovery about prophecy. The evil emperor looses a new horror to stalk and kill Richard, and the most evil and cunning of the Sisters of the Dark unleash a unpredictable terror on the world, in the effort to bring Richard to ruin. As with Goodkind's other 'bad guys', you are reminded that evil for him is REALLY, utterly evil, and capable of heinous and unspeakable acts.

Throughout the book, the other characters doubt Richard's sanity, and we see him experience emotions that Goodkind had previously not explored for Richard. We get to watch him grow in new ways. We see the remarkable changes in the personalities of some of our favorite Mord-Sith, particularly Cara as she comes to know more about Richard's deepest emotions when he heals her, and Berdine as she quietly comforts Sister Verna in her despair. And Nicci grows and is changed so completely from who she was when the reader first encounters her that you almost forget it is the same character.

In typical Goodkind fashion, you meet new and pivotal characters approximately 400 pages into the book, are convinced that everyone is going to die once you are about 200 pages from the end, and ravenously devour the last hundred pages in a mad dash to see how some of the issues are going to be resolved. Because Chainfire is the first in a trilogy of books, the resolution at the end is somewhat unsatisfactory. Some of the secondary issues that have infuriated the reader are, indeed, resolved. Basically, you are still sure that the world is probably going to end, but at least Richard is no longer trying to save life on his own.

As with Goodkind's other books, I give this one five stars. It is probably one of my favorites in the series so far. Reading these books had definitely enriched my life. They aren't just fantasy - I almost feel bad labeling this book as fantasy. Yes, there is magic and prophecy. But there is also a ton of action and logical reasoning to resolve problems. And most of all, the deep and abiding love story between Richard and Kahlan is truly timeless. I think that everyone should read these books. You will be glad that you did.