Xue Wang Wang itibaren Kertosari, Ulujami, Pemalang Regency, Central Java, اندونزی itibaren Kertosari, Ulujami, Pemalang Regency, Central Java, اندونزی

This is somewhere between four and five stars for me, though I think the tendency toward the fifth star is because I'm just so darn happy to be back in D'Hara with Richard and Kahlan. I'm gonna go old school with a pro-con list on this review. Let's start with the bad news, because, frankly, there's very little of it. CONS: The trouble all starts the day after Cara's wedding? *sad wail* I really thought we were settling in for a good long period of peace and prosperity after all that Jagang mess. I understand the gathering as a vehicle for the diplomats to be in the palace- but I wish it had been handled differently. Have Richard host an annual summit of his leaders or something. A couple of weird copy-edit things slipped through. One sentence near the beginning had six (6!) prepositional phrases... that's a lot. Little things like that sprinkled through that affected the overall pace of the story, because they pulled you out of it in order to figure what the heck we're talking about. PROS: It's freaking Richard & Kahlan. The pace of this novel was tighter, like a blend of Goodkind and James Patterson, than previous tomes. (Bad example, because I don't particularly love Patterson, but there's no denying the frenzied feeling his books convey, and mixing a dash of the freneticism in with a more complex, tightly woven story was a good move.) The aforementioned complex, tightly woven story. This is one of my favorite things about Goodkind. He reveals the villain early on, so we see a lot of the "behind the scenes" stuff happening, and we are able to piece the story together along with our heroes, instead of getting a humongous blow-by-blow at the end. A new, believable villain. Jagang has been defeated, and this isn't a Hydra-esque reincarnation of his empire. It's not a new branch of the Imperial Order, it's a whole new villain, one who watched that skirmish from afar and is now stepping forward. I was relieved to see this- too many authors fall back on the first big, bad guy. The violence was tempered this time around. Still definitely "adult" but not so brutal as the previous stories, and I liked the change in scenery. I don't know where most other people stand on this, I haven't checked the other reviews yet, but I actually liked the sci-fi twist on it. There is, indeed, a machine involved in this story, which (when the title was revealed) I was skeptical about. A machine? In high fantasy? Is he going steampunk on us? No. He's not. It fits and I liked it. The political and social commentary returns, and in an interesting twist. Where there had been bad guys declaring "THIS IS MY WAY!" against Richard saying "THIS IS MY WAY! NOW WE WILL BATTLE!" there is instead whisperings, back room deals and subtle plays of power. The reader may know this person is on the wrong side, but nobody else in the room/story does and it makes for an interesting conversation. If you're a fan of Goodkind, this is a must read. If you have sort of enjoyed some of his work in the past, but aren't a big fan, I submit that you should give him another try this time around. The narrative is cleaner, the pace is faster, the story complex without being overwhelming. You do need to have read Wizard's First Rule to understand this book, but anything beyond that isn't completely necessary: this is a whole new series. It is the start of a new series (3 books at least, I heard? Somebody correct me if necessary.) and while the end is tied off neat enough for me, there will be those who do not like the fact that there is most definitely a sequel coming. I wouldn't call it a cliff hanger, but... a cliff-stradler? PARENTAL ADVISORIES Sex 2/5: Lustful forms, some kissing among tangled sheets, a mention of being distracted on one's wedding night, one fade-to-black makeout scene. Violence 5/5: Brutal violence is the modus operandi for Goodkind, and this is no different. A pack of savage hounds are attacking, and they leave horrific deaths in their wake: including one of a very pregnant woman and her unborn baby (this one is described in the most detail of them all). Some people resort to murder and suicide to avoid the dogs. Some super scary things-are-watching-us-in-the-dark scenes. Dark magic is used in a violent way to slowly drain hundreds of victims of their blood. An attempted assassination. We see the Mord Sith in action very little, but they are there. Language 1/5: One b-word, that actually serves a purpose. Substance Abuses 1/5: Some wine is served at a feast, a couple drink wine together.

To be honest - I was expecting little bit more from my first Gaiman's fantasy book. Maybe because there is some hype about his work (Sandman, Coralina, etc.) Well, I can't say that it's not worth trying, no - it is very nice and people who knows London and it's tube will go further while reading it, but in my opinion, the story could be better, sorry Neil :)

Quite brilliant. Quite fun. Incredibly creative sci-fi.