Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Review of The First Confessor

Book #36. The First Confessor, by Terry Goodkind. Unabridged audio.

Goodkind’s “Sword of Truth” is my favorite fantasy series ever. Since wrapping up that epic, he has done other stories in that world, including prequel novels, like this one. In this world, the magic of Confessors and The Seeker are among the most powerful, and this novel tells of how that magic came to be. The author once referred to the book as “the foundation of the Sword of Truth series” and “the beginning of the grand adventure.”

Magda Searus is the wife of the First Wizard, until her husband mysteriously takes his own life. In trying to unravel the mystery of why he would do such a thing, Magda finds herself powerless, and without standing. Without the magical spark of the “gift,” she ends up in the middle of a battle between powerful forces. 

Terrible magical forces have been unleashed across the midlands, including the dread Dreamwalkers.

In addition to the power and position of the Confessor, this book introduces other aspects of Goodkind’s world. We meet Alric Rahl, a powerful “maker,” who creates both theThe Sword of Truth and the protection of the Lord Rahl from the Dreamwalkers in this book.

I am a sucker for good prequel stories. They can be tough to pull off, balancing the need to tease the reader with what they already know while also telling a story with tension in its own right. Goodkind does a good job with that in this novel. It was a very satisfying read.

I listened to the audio version of the novel, and Christina Traister does a good job bringing the story to life. This is the first Goodkind novel to feature a female as the lead character, so having a female reader was a good choice. 

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