Title: The Law of Nines
Author: Terry Goodkind
Published By: The Penguin Group
Published Date: 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-15604-5
Length: 502 Pages
Purchased From: Amazon @ $18.45
The Story:
At the end of Confessor by Terry Goodkind, Richard Rahl conjures a powerful spell to create an alternate world. The reason for this alternate world was to give those that wanted to be completely free of magic, a place to live. Once all that wanted free of magic were away, the opening between worlds was closed and The Sword of Truth Series came to a close.
Thousands of years later, a descendant of the house of Rahl, Alex, is living an everyday life in a world free of magic. With nothing in the world but an aging grandfather, a mother in a mental facility, and his love for painting, Alex begins his twenty-seventh birthday like any other day.
While out walking, Alex meets a stunning woman and saves her from being run over by an out of control plumbing truck. After a strange encounter, the pair walk to an art gallery where Alex shows off his work as a painter.
When this mystery woman disappears and strange things begin to happen, he thinks himself crazy. After being attacked by a crazy ex-girlfriend and her two thugs, Alex again meets the mystery woman as she saves his life and ends the lives of those attempting to hurt him.
In an attempt to put the puzzle together, Alex and Jax dive deeper into the Law of Nines prophecy and discover trouble for both of their worlds
My Thoughts:
Having read and enjoyed the Sword of Truth Series, I was a little skeptical about reading The Law of Nines. When I first heard about a new book from Terry Goodkind, I did a little online reading to see if the book would interest me enough to pick it up. After having read about a dozen different pitches on the storyline, I was most hung-up by the use of the last name Rahl as the main character.
Being billed as a Thriller and not a Fantasy novel, I was concerned of the crossover from one genre to another, while drawing from characters I knew and loved from a previous series. After much thought, I wasn’t pleased by what I had read and decided I was going to pass on the novel.
A few weeks later, while adding books to my Amazon shopping cart, I found myself in need of one more item to push me over the free shipping threshold. Not allowing myself to think about it, I added The Law of Nines to my shopping cart and made the purchase.
After having taken so long to read Mistborn – The Well of Ascension, I wanted a change of pace. I picked up The Law of Nines with my expectations set low. I was rather surprised by the story and wrapped up the book in three days.
My concern was that The Law of Nines was going to taint The Sword of Truth series, in my eyes. What I found was a story that takes place thousands of years after The Sword of Truth comes to its conclusion. The bridge from one story to the next was an interesting one that I am glad I took the time to read it.
Just like many of the Sword of Truth Books, I found myself not wanting to set the book down. The story is engaging and easy to follow as Alex Rahl and Jax struggle to save two different worlds from the same vile individual.
The Law of Nines does not require you to have read the Sword of Truth series to follow along. If you have read the previous books, there are a few things in this novel that will grab your attention and make you think back to the goings on in past books.
If you are a fan of The Sword of Truth Series, I would definitely recommend picking up The Law of Nines. Just keep in mind that this novel is billed as a thriller, with less of an emphasis on fantasy, however, the separate worlds, appearing and disappearing bad guys is definitely fantasy in my eyes.
2 thoughts on “Book Review: The Law of Nines”
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Another great book review. I still kick myself for not picking this up when we were over at Barnes and Noble. I may have to stop back there just to see if they still have it on the bargain shelves so I can read it.
Although, I still have not picked up the Sword of Truth series either hahahaha.
Mike
As a fan of the sword of truth and having also enjoyed other books by Goodkind, I picked up the law of nines when I saw it without investigating anything about it. Later on, reading reviews which assert that sword of truth fans were confused by this novel, I was gratified to know others were taken back by this book which cobbled together remnants from the sword of truth series while pretending to take place in a modern world where magic does not exist.. except it does. Except a Rahl descendent has no magic. At first, after reading the book, I was very angry. Then I was tempted to write to the author to urge him to rewrite the book and to suggest ways to do it to more logically maintain the link to the past while bringing the story into the present time. If I myself should attempt to rewrite the book it would not work because it would not have the Goodkind voice. I am still angry at the lost opportunities presented by this novel but am reduced to rewriting the tale in my own mind.