A review by reasonpassion
Severed Souls by Terry Goodkind

3.0

I'm not entirely certain that I read the book before this one and frankly I can't summon the energy to care. There's no real need to have done so as the key points are covered soon into the story and just as quickly moving along towards an end that Goodkind has been promoting for weeks up to its release. This is the end of Richard. That another dies (I won't spoil it) is actually far more disturbing and done in such a perfunctory way that I felt cheated. The books have long since turned into allegory rather than literary fiction, with Richard and Kahlan being un-changing paragons of rational humanity, along the lines of Ayn Rand's John Galt. While at times I find the fact that the characters never really make mistakes and rarely fret over their decisions, I read another review that basically stated: "finally adults acting like adults!" and had to agree. A good allegory has characters you aspire to be and while the degree of certainty Richard possesses is a bit scary at times, his dedication to principles and firm pursuit of a rational existence are exemplary things to uphold. An excellent continuation of the series and I can't help myself with being very curious how the next one will go.