The Sword Of Truth Sequence - Terry Goodkind
                   The first three books

                       By James Judge

1) Wizard's First Rule
2) Stone Of Tears
3) Blood Of The Fold

This sequence of books (the fourth of which I believe has just
been released) is your standard fantasy fare with a hero (Richard
Cypher) and heroine (Kahlan Amnell) along with madcap Wizard
(Zedd) and evil presence - The Keeper (Lord of the Underworld and
all that jazz).

Wizard's First Rule starts off with Richard being but a lowly
woodsguide in his homeland surrounded by his friends - the
enigmatic Chase and slightly zany cloudreader Zedd. After a
chance encounter with a strange female in the woods, and saving
her from the attack of four men, Richard soon becomes embroiled in
a plot that, not only will see his father killed horrifically and
his brother turn on him, but also threatens to destroy life in,
not only his homeland, but the whole of civilisation.

After a few chapters Richard is declared the rightful Seeker, and
is presented with the Sword Of Truth, which enables him with a
strange form of rage-driven magic as well as awakening his own
natural born gift for all things magical.

The three books see Richard turn from humble woodsguide to the
self-named "Bringer Of Death" as he struggles against pure evil
and their worldly agents, while trying to restore the balance
between the Creator (good) and the Keeper (evil) and still holding
onto his own sanity, honour and his friends and loved ones.

It does all start off as standard fantasy fare, which readers of
the Dragonlance series will be more then familiar with. However,
the story soon becomes involved enough (about halfway through the
first book) to warrant the title "saga" as more and more elements
of this good vs evil battle emerge and alliances are broken, made
and twisted. Soon the reader has a good feel for the type of world
that exists in these books, and while Terry Goodkind's writing may
not be as emotive as other saga writers (typically Robert Jordan
and Raymond E. Feist) or as detailed with regards to politics and
events on a world-wide scale, his characters soon spring to life
with the reader gaining a more intimate understanding of their
make-up, not just "oh, he's the bloke with the sharp sword".

As these appear to be Goodkind's first writing attempts, it is
natural that the story gets better as the books progress and the
third instalment is definitely the strongest, with elements of
humour emerging, as well as the more typical traits of your
erstwhile saga.

Anyone who has read a wide selection of fantasy books will
probably see parallels and similarities between these books and
other writers. But this is no bad thing as you soon feel
comfortable in this alien world and, while some of the plot
conclusions are apparent from the word go, as the saga progresses

more and more become apparent that have unguessable outcomes,
which does well to keep the reader on the edge of their chair.

In all a brilliant series, which I can't wait to read more of.

A little note for SynTax readers.

I got these three books for the paltry sum of eleven pounds - all
were new, two were paperback and the last instalment was in
hardback. How did I manage this feat? Well, for the past eight
months or so I've belonged to the Fantasy And Science Fiction
book club and it's from here that I bought the books. It works
like most of the mail order clubs that you can belong to, where
you chose a certain number of books from a selection, and pay
something like one pound per book. You then receive the books
and, if you're happy, agree to buy one book from every catalogue
the club sends you over the next year. This means you get about
five catalogues in a year. After that year you can continue
membership or stop.

For my introductory offer I managed to pick up an X-Files
companion, the latest Red Dwarf book, a Terry Brooks book, an Anne
McCaffrey book and four Terry Pratchett books for about œ9,
including P&P!

The choice of books from the club covers the majority of popular
authors, but centres mainly on the more well-known side of things
and new releases. Once a book has been in the shops for a month
or so, it will probably be in the catalogue. Price-wise the club
is very competitive with the majority of hardbacks being priced at
about œ9, and when you think that a paperback will probably cost
you œ6-œ7 these days, I'm more than happy to pay a little more for
the longevity of a hardbacked book.

Often they will run member deals, where you can buy two books for
a vastly reduced rate, or buy two and get a third free etc. For
instance, before Christmas I bought two Terry Pratchett books for
about œ16 and received Blood Of The Fold for free, and in the
next catalogue there was the first two books of this sequence in
a package for œ10.

Delivery takes about two weeks and payment can be with either
Postal Orders, Cheques or all major credit and debit cards over
the 'phone (or by post).

If you want to explore new authors then this is definitely a good
way of doing it - the commitment of having to buy a book every
catalogue has shown me at least three brilliant authors (Terry
Goodkind, Melanie Rawn and Robert Jordan) and that's only from a
few catalogues....

For more info write to:
Fantasy & SF Book Club, Guild House, Farnsby Street, Swindon X,
SN99 9XX
or look out for their regular leaflets and adverts in TV guides or
computer magazines.



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