The First Confessor
SoHamed says:
Being a huge fan of lore and world building in fantasy novels, I was extremely excited to see a book about the time during the Great War from whence all the conflict Richard coasts through originates. Putting personality to the mythic figures of Richard and Kahlan's world is a fantastic idea, but I would have liked to see them actually doing more instead of just talking.First, though, the good parts of the book. Number one for me is the lore aspect, as mentioned above. This novel gi...ves you the chance to see key events of the ancient wizards' war that have been hinted at in other books, such as the origin of the Rahl bond. I love getting to fit more pieces into the often vague puzzles of history that Richard and friends face.Second big pro for this novel in my opinion is the characters (some, not all, and definitely not the walking stereotype of an antagonist). Alric Rahl and Merritt are more interesting than Richard throughout the entire book. Granted, they've had less opportunity to grandstand and lecture, but I still found them remarkably more interesting and even rounded than Richard, even at this brief glance.For the cons, I'm going to limit it to one, but it's probably the most glaring flaw throughout: the constant exposition and recap conversations. Whenever Magda meets a new ally, of course she naturally fills them in on the story thus far. In full detail. Every time.Not once does Goodkind opt for a simple, "So Magda and Merritt explained the situation to [X]." Instead, the story dissolves into an almost comical repeated scene in which the same story gets told over and over in almost the same words with small bits added on as the novel progresses. It seriously takes up a ridiculous portion of the book.With most of the repetition taken out, The First Confessor would be a much tighter, compelling read that would provide insight into the mysterious history of Goodkind's world. Instead, we have a repetitive, often rambling book that ends in, of course, another conversation about how they're going to finish fixing the problems, but then not actually show any of those things happening. Far too much of the action in this book is given to the reader secondhand.Tl;dr: Goodkind spent another book talking at readers and having characters discuss problems instead of showing them solving them. If you aren't much interested in world building and lore, you won't miss much skipping this one. If you are interested in that stuff, go ahead and give it a read that will leave you underwhelmed but generally satisfied with the backstory and entertained by some of the characters' interactions.
Sweetshellee says:
It explains a lot of things left hanging from the other books. But I'm not a fan of making a continuing series of this story line. If only for the fact that if feels too much like the Seeker books. I would rather see this author turn his hand to a new story and see if he can surpass himself.Lastly, if does feel like his previous book in that he was trying to tie up loose ends. I would have been more entertained by a good story that didn't depend on so much dialogue.MoreLess
Being a huge fan of lore and world building in fantasy novels, I was extremely excited to see a book about the time during the Great War from whence all the conflict Richard coasts through originates. Putting personality to the mythic figures of Richard and Kahlan's world is a fantastic idea, but I would have liked to see them actually doing more instead of just talking.First, though, the good parts of the book. Number one for me is the lore aspect, as mentioned above. This novel gi...ves you the chance to see key events of the ancient wizards' war that have been hinted at in other books, such as the origin of the Rahl bond. I love getting to fit more pieces into the often vague puzzles of history that Richard and friends face.Second big pro for this novel in my opinion is the characters (some, not all, and definitely not the walking stereotype of an antagonist). Alric Rahl and Merritt are more interesting than Richard throughout the entire book. Granted, they've had less opportunity to grandstand and lecture, but I still found them remarkably more interesting and even rounded than Richard, even at this brief glance.For the cons, I'm going to limit it to one, but it's probably the most glaring flaw throughout: the constant exposition and recap conversations. Whenever Magda meets a new ally, of course she naturally fills them in on the story thus far. In full detail. Every time.Not once does Goodkind opt for a simple, "So Magda and Merritt explained the situation to [X]." Instead, the story dissolves into an almost comical repeated scene in which the same story gets told over and over in almost the same words with small bits added on as the novel progresses. It seriously takes up a ridiculous portion of the book.With most of the repetition taken out, The First Confessor would be a much tighter, compelling read that would provide insight into the mysterious history of Goodkind's world. Instead, we have a repetitive, often rambling book that ends in, of course, another conversation about how they're going to finish fixing the problems, but then not actually show any of those things happening. Far too much of the action in this book is given to the reader secondhand.Tl;dr: Goodkind spent another book talking at readers and having characters discuss problems instead of showing them solving them. If you aren't much interested in world building and lore, you won't miss much skipping this one. If you are interested in that stuff, go ahead and give it a read that will leave you underwhelmed but generally satisfied with the backstory and entertained by some of the characters' interactions.
Sweetshellee says:
It explains a lot of things left hanging from the other books. But I'm not a fan of making a continuing series of this story line. If only for the fact that if feels too much like the Seeker books. I would rather see this author turn his hand to a new story and see if he can surpass himself.Lastly, if does feel like his previous book in that he was trying to tie up loose ends. I would have been more entertained by a good story that didn't depend on so much dialogue.MoreLess
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