Product Description

The tenth book in the Sword of Truth series from bestselling author Terry Goodkind. Fantasy adventure on a grand scale featuring the popular wizard-hero Richard Cypher. As her husband, Richard, desperately searches for his beloved, who only he remembers, he knows that if she doesn't soon discover who she really is, she will unwittingly become the instrument that will unleash annihilation. But Kahlan learns that if she ever were to unlock the truth of her lost identify, the evil itself would finally possess her, body and soul. If she is to survive in a murky world of deception and betrayal, where life is not cheap but fleeting, Kahlan must find out why she is such a central figure in the war-torn world swirling around her. What she uncovers are secrets darker than she could ever have imagined.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3030 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Naked Empire is book eight of Terry Goodkind's bestselling "Sword of Truth" fantasy series, following on directly from the events of the previous instalment The Pillars of Creation.

Richard, one of various gifted children of this world's former dark lord Darken Rahl, continues his journeying with the Sword of Truth and his wife Kahlan. Seven volumes of magical and military upheaval, and all too many desperate last-ditch measures, have left their scars: "The world was unravelling, in more ways than one. But there had been no choice".

Ancient sorcerous barriers have been accidentally toppled, freeing the unpleasant "Imperial Order" to rape, loot and pillage the rest of the world. The Emperor and his chief minion are revolting creatures whose sadism begins where Vlad the Impaler left off. Bandakar, a land of pacifists, has little chance of survival until someone gets the bright idea of giving the admired liberator Lord Rahl--that is, Richard--a dose of slow-acting poison. There is no antidote until he, personally and more or less single-handedly, frees Bandakar from the invading horde while, as pacifists, the natives will stand clear and disapprove of the slaughter. Some lessons in ethics and realism need to be learned here...

Goodkind deals in tougher issues and greater moral complexities than the typical blockbuster fantasy series, and underlines the dreadfulness of his characters' choices with unsparing descriptions of Imperial atrocity. Big trouble is also spreading elsewhere, with the Rahl homeland under siege and the fabled Wizard's Keep--a bastion that is actually the home of just two elderly magicians--threatened by magic-immune infiltrators.

Meanwhile in Bandakar, Richard and friends have greater problems than overwhelming opposition and useless allies. His personal magic "gift" is failing, he gets terrible headaches, his relationship with the Sword of Truth is in trouble, poison symptoms worsen, and the three vials of antidote are hidden in widely separated places. Worse, the local boss of Imperial forces is a soul-stealer who rides the minds of birds and beasts, watches Richard's progress through their eyes, and can gloatingly anticipate his plans. No-one said this was going to be easy.

A violent finale sees some good surprises and ingenuity, plus one cheeky deus ex machina, bringing this adventure to a neat conclusion. The greater war continues, though, and further sequels must follow. Newcomers to "Sword of Truth" may be dizzied by the number of back-story references, but the saga's legions of admirers will welcome this slickly crafted and compulsively readable episode. --David Langford

Review
'A real born storyteller' Anne McCaffrey 'Everything one could ask for in an epic fantasy' Publishers Weekly

About the Author
Goodkind was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, where he also attended art school, one of his many interests on the way to becoming a writer. Besides a career in wildlife art, he has been a cabinet maker, violin maker, and he has done restoration work on rare and exotic artifacts from around the world -- each with its own story to tell, he says. In 1983 Goodkind moved to the forested mountains he loves. There, in the woods near the ocean, he built the house where he and his wife, Jeri, live, and came at last to tell his own stories.

Customer Reviews

Are you testing our loyalty?
It was all that I could do to get through this book. Except for a couple of chapters on Zedd, it didn't even seem like the same person wrote this book. Like many people, money is very tight for me, so it pains me on multiple levels when I feel that I was taken advantage of. None of this story actually went anywhere. It was a large book that droned on and on about nothing interesting. It's a little late in the game to have Richard speaking (without end) about whether or not there is a justification for death vs. freedom. This could have been summed up on one page, not one-half of the book. I also didn't need the heavy handed recap of the last seven books.
Where's all the wonderful magic, the interesting, action packed adventures? Gee whiz, what was the purpose of this book?

So disappointing.
I found Terry Goodkind's most recent effort, Naked Empire, very disappointing. I have been following his work since his first novel, Wizard's First Rule, was published. Wizard's First Rule was a truly remarkable book. It was so good because Goodkind produced fully rounded characters. Naked Empire lacks any characterisation whatsoever. It's almost as if in this eighth book in the series Goodkind feels that he no longer has to bother with any characterisation. For example, in the previous book he introduced a new character, Richard's sister Jensen, but in Naked Empire he doesn't bother to explore how this new character impacts on any of the existing characters.

However, even more irritating is Goodkind's propensity to preach. In his earlier books Goodkind has always used the story to put across his views on many subjects. This became even more the case with the war between the D'Haran Empire and the Imperial Order which Goodkind makes clear is a war of ideologies. In Naked Empire this becomes outright preaching. The story takes a back seat to discussion of the various ideologies in the book, and Naked Empire is a long book. If Goodkind came up with new and varied arguments it wouldn't be too bad. But his arguments are repetitive, as if Goodkind were preaching a very complex subject to someone with little understanding and, hence, had to keep repeating himself. I found this both irritating and rather insulting. But I suppose he had to fill out the book in some way since there is not enough of a story in Naked Empire to fill all 660 pages.

Also, there is nothing new in terms of content in this book compared to the previous seven. The war goes on. Characters get captured and tortured. Richard is dying once again and Kahlan makes a great sacrifice to try and save him. And, too, there is a lot of reference to previous books and when there have been so many previously that's a lot of reference.

I am so disappointed because Goodkind's early works, particularly his first three novels, show that he has a rare talent. I think it is time for Goodkind to leave the Sword of Truth behind and try something new and fresh. Something that will show us, once again, the talent that was so evident in his early work.

Not quite up to the usual standard
I have read all nine of the books that preceded this one in the series and have eagerly awaited the release of each one. There are certain characteristics which make a fantasy novel outstanding. The primary one of course is that the author creates a world which captures the imagination of readers. In order to be effective, a fantasy world, no matter how many of the rules of our own world it breaks, must abide by the laws of nature that exist within that world. Very few authors since Tolkien have ever achieved this. Most cheat at some stage to resolve the plot complications they have introduced. The beauty of this series was that Terry Goodkind had created a world that was perfect within itself. On top of this his characters were fascinating and the intricate plot he wove was totally gripping. This is the first of the novels that did not live up to the expectations created by the other nine. The magic worked by the `gifted' at times becomes a little too complex and suspiciously close to not conforming to the inner rules of the fantasy world. The intricacies of plot become a little repetitious and we have the notion we have been in the same place before. Fantasy novels almost always portray the fight between `good' and `evil' and at times in previous novels in the series the association of `evil' with a force that seems to represent communism has descended into sermonizing. This is the first novel where that sermonizing seriously detracts from the plot, however. The plot still swept me along (in the second half of the novel anyway - the first half dragged a little) and I am still eager to read the final novel in the series, but I hope that it returns to the standards of the first nine.

Note - be careful of the reviews on this page. It seems that many of them actually relate to 'Naked Empire' or 'Chainfire' and not to 'Phantom'