Chainfire, by Terry Goodkind

Book 9 of the Sword of Truth

This is the first book of a trilogy that will complete the Sword of Truth series. Firstly, I have to say straight up, that the first book of the Sword of Truth, "Wizard's First Rule" is my favourite book. If you haven't read it, beg, borrow or buy it, and read it.

The rest of the series hasn't quite been up to the standard of Wizard's First Rule, but they've been pretty damn good reads nonetheless. While the first book was fairly standalone, the rest have clearly been part of an overall series. They have all been leading to a final confrontation between Richard Rahl and the Imperial Order (Emperor Jagang, the dreamwalker).

This book starts with Kahlan, Richard's wife and a major part of the series, going missing. And no-one but Richard remembers her. (that much is on the blurb on the back, no spoilers there, however: spoiler may be below!)

I found this extremely readable, as usual for Terry Goodkind's novels. While I occasionally got annoyed with his long soliloquies talking about the philosophy of freedom (somewhat preachy and repetitive) the story is intriguing. I particularly enjoyed the linking back to the first book with the Boxes of Orden, and since this will clearly be a big part of the next two books I think that will make a nice wrap-up to the series.

Highly recommended.