Review: An Amazing Prequel
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 28, 2012
I must say that I absolutely loved this book, and it's probably my favorite prequel I've ever experienced in any format. I had been pretty disappointed with The Omen Machine, but after reading The First Confessor I know that Goodkind definitely still has it in him to write an amazing story. Any fan of the Sword of Truth series should buy this book, as it includes a lot of very interesting details to an important time in the history of the SoT world. Specifically, it occurs around 1000 years before Wizards First Rule when the New World is in the middle of a horrific battle with the Old World. For many readers, there will be a lot of cool moments where you see how important events unfolded and magical items are created. A reader new to Goodkind's books would definitely be able to start with this book, but I would warn that parts of the book may be very confusing. To keep the pace moving in this book there aren't too many moments of World Building, and a lot of the previously established facets of the World aren't explained again for new readers.In this book, Magda and Merritt are great mirrors for Richard and Kahlan, but they are different characters, not copies. The whole book takes place in a first-person viewpoint of Magda, which is a bit of a departure compared to his other books. Because of this, you get a great view into the character of Magda, but you still don't learn too much about her past. [Slight Spoilers] You really don't learn about the past lives of any of the characters except for one, where her past is delved into for multiple chapters, and then right after you really grow to like the character she's killed off. I understand why this happened, as she was really just used as a plot device to move the story along and provide insight to the beginning of the war, and that the death is very visceral along with the fact that if her character lived it would have complicated things, but it still sucked. I also found the main villain in this book to be a little lacking, right from the first meeting Goodkind designed the character to be absolutely hated by the reader, and we never really learn his motivation other than the generic goal of the Old World, which is to destroy magic. However, I really enjoyed the story, and especially the end of this book. It's also interesting to see that this isn't a one-off prequel story, there's still a lot to tell in this timeline, and I really want more of Magda and Merrit, perhaps more than I want of Richard and Kahlan (as I really see their story as being over with Confessor). From the author's AMA, the sequel to Magda's story is his next work after The Omen Machine 2, so we may see it either in late 2013 or early-ish 2014. I hate waiting. :/ [/spoiler]The only other issue with this book is that there were over a hundred mini-chapters. This isn't a big deal for most people, as it just results in a page-turn/button-push, but for me personally I use normal chapter breaks as a reminder to stop reading and savor the great story a little longer. For example, in The First Confessor there are multiple chapter breaks that occur in the middle of conversations or large dramatic scenes. When I see these, part of my brain tells me that I should stop reading, but then another part of me yells "YOU HAVE TO KEEP READING TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!" resulting in me reading chapter after chapter until the book is over. I hate when I read great books (like TFC) really quick, but more mediocre books take me forever to read. However, I asked a question about this in Goodkind's AMA, and he said this was actually a formatting decision he made because many people would be experiencing the book on tablets or phones, to have an almost condensed experience and to all moments in the book to settle.Overall, I would absolutely recommend this book to any fan of Goodkind, and probably any fan of great Fantasy novels.