This installment of the Sword of Truth follows entirely new characters – Jennson, Richard’s sister. While I don’t think the series needed this divergence, the plot and characters were pretty interesting. ( )

"The Pillars of Creation" by Terry Goodkind is book 7 in his series "The Sword of Truth." This book is written in a bit of a different focus from the rest of the series. It's still set in the Midlands, don't worry about that! But instead of having Richard and Kahlynn as the center of the story, we meet a girl named Jennson, who turns out to be Richard's half-sister!

I liked that we broke away from the main story in this book. He did that some in another one of the books, but no where near to this extent. In fact, we don't actually see Richard and Kahlynn until the very end of the book!

Jennson has been through a lot in her young life. Darkhan Rahl, her father, has been hunting her for her entire life simply because she was born of his seed, and born ungifted. Descendants of the house of Rahl who are born ungifted are like holes in the world. They can't be seen or touched by magical means. Jennson doesn't know all of this though at the beginning of the book, she simply knows that her father hunts her, and that her mother has always done whatever she could to protect her.

Unfortunately, Jennson's mother dies, and this sets Jennson off on a quest to learn more about her past and avenge her mother's death. I found her story very intriguing because she gets pulled to the dark side, but it happens so subtly that she believes that she's fighting for and doing what's right. I think it was a masterful portrayal of how easily people can be mislead with just some simple lies. I really enjoyed this story and I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next! ( )

It annoys me that, after 6 books of developing characters and the plot, Goodkind suddenly decides to switch to some random, little-related subplot with some barely-likable girl whom magic cannot effect. I like the series overall, and found it awesome when Richard destroys several hundred men in the blink of an eye at the end but, honestly, this book was not a very good addition to the series. ( )

Unfortunately, by this point in the series, it really starts to bog down. Another side plot is introduced when we are introduced to some of Richard's half-brothers and sisters - the uniquely gifted, who are completely immune to magic. What that has to do with the overall plot and what's going on with the Imperial Order is questionable. Richard and Kahlan and Zedd and the rest of his allies are still excellent characters, but in this book, they need something to do that relates to the overall plot, not filler. ( )

Book 7 of the series was finished today. This was the last book that I read the first time through the series, so after this, it’s all new. This book is very different from everything up to this point as we see the story from the point of view of a brand new character. We don’t see the characters we’ve grown to know throughout the series until very late in the book and really only as a segue into book 8. This was an interesting novel in it’s own right and if this was a stand alone book, it wouldn’t be all that bad….but there is just something about it that I had trouble getting through it. Not sure if it was the book itself or just fatigue of the series as a whole. Perhaps it’s time to take a short break and pick something else up in a different genre to keep this series from getting stale. Not a bad book, just not one of the best. ( )