The Law of Nines

By Terry Goodkind

A Retroview by Eric Allen

Deus Ex Machina - Latin: "god out of the machine." A plot device whereby a seemingly inextricable problem is suddenly and abruptly solved with the contrived and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability, or object. - Wikipedia

MacGuffin – A plot element that catches the viewer’s attention or drives the plot of a work of fiction. The defining aspect of a MacGuffin is that the major players in the story are (at least init More...

For those familiar with Terry Goodkind’s massive fantasy series, The Sword of Truth (see Wizard's First Rule), it might have come a bit of a surprise that the author has chosen a slight genre departure for his latest novel. The Law of Nines is best described as a supernatural thriller, and especially the seemingly mundane beginnings of the book are quite a change from the usual fantasy worlds.

There are ties to Goodkind’s other works, though. The protagonist, Alex Rahl, is linked to the universe More...

Alex is an artist who just wants to paint the beautiful landscapes that reveal his hope for mankind. But he is at the heart of an ancient prophecy that turns his world upside down, and is forced to see it through by whatever means necessary. Through it all, Alex doesn't waver from the core of who he really is. And like his ancestor from another world, neither does he waver from the woman he loves.

I thoroughly enjoyed this contemporary fantasy novel by Terry Goodkind. It was a page turner from th More...

I picked this one up on a whim because I had a few dollars left on a gift card and I had never read any Terry Goodkind, although I had heard quite a bit about his books. After reading the blurb on the back, I was intrigued enough to add it to my stack of selections and make my purchases, it then got set aside and I forgot about it for a while.

Imagine how thrilled I was when I ran across this book on the shelf one day, started to read it and could not put it down. I don't know how I never read an More...

This book is strange so far.

well damn Mr. Goodkind, why do you torture us like so?

When a certain name came up I thought of his other series.

Also, Jax, Alex's female protector reminds me a little of Kahlan, the main female character in The Sword of Truth.

The idea is also the same. He lives in a world of technology and she lives in a world of magic. Almost the same as The Sword of Truth.

It just makes me laugh and want to keep reading it.

I love it, the idea about love just takes over for me. The h More...

Did I enjoy the book? Yes. Does this mean it is a good book? No. It did keep me turning the pages, so technically it did its job, but it has serious flaws that cannot be overlooked. Let’s dive into it.

(view spoiler)[The events of the book take place some 1000 years after the events of Confessor, except this time our own world serves as the setting. The protagonist is one Alex Rahl, a painter trained in the ways of the Green Berets by his eccentric grandfather. Oookay, I suppose that's possible. As the book sta (hide spoiler)] More...

Terry Goodkind is a good storyteller. Granted, I stopped reading his first series after book three or four, but it wasn't because the story wasn't interesting and the characters folks I wouldn't mind hanging out with. It was that, like the Wheel of Time, somewhere along the way somebody decided the story needed to be stretched out over more books.

Maybe it wasn't a conscious decision. Maybe it was. Suffice to say that this stand-alone urban fantasy novel suffers from the same problem that made me More...

I lot of people disliked this book. And I get that. It moved slower in parts that it should have and focused on unimportant details.

And if you are familiar with Goodkind's works, you know how inclined he is to slip in his political opinions, especially his later books (which I hate, because it usually has little to do with telling a good story and more to do with him trying to seduce you into subconsciously adopting his political views). This book was not saved from his weaving of political str More...

I found 'The Law Of Nines' to be a sufficiently enjoyable read; it certainly made my holiday air travel much more pleasant. Aside from that, I think the best thing I could say about it was that it made me want to re-read the Sword of Truth books, because at least there I was getting what I wanted.

'Nines' seemed to move both too quickly and too slowly. The protagonist takes the abrupt changes in stride, going from Midwestern starving artist to calculated killer almost overnight. Okay, okay: week More...

Oooooo...I LIKED this one!! Just over 500 pages and I couldn't put it down until I finished it (just over 12 hours later).

Set in modern day midwest/northeastern America, the landscape is easy to identify with, and yet it has strong ties to a time and place long ago forgotten, but not gone. The suspense, action, plot, emotion (yes, there is a budding love story), and pace of the story are fresh and riveting, and yet very familiar to Mr. Goodkind's style used in the Sword of Truth series.

**SPOILER More...

Having read all of Mr. Goodkind's previous works, I came to this book with a feeling of Trepidation. Would this be an astounding thrill-ride with philosophical undertones, much like he had given us in Wizard's first Rule or Faith of the Fallen? Would it be a lengthy author's tract, full of sermonizing and light on story, like Naked Empire?

The answer is; neither really.

I found it refreshing to be able to read one of the author's always entertaining "characters are screwed from the get-go" plots More...

First, let me say I was very disappointed in the Sword of Truth finale. I was first drawn into his Sword of Truth series because of the descriptions of the characters and the world that just made it all feel real. Towards the end of the series, though, the books seemed to be shallow. I continued to read them, though, because by that point I had to know how it all worked out for Lord Rahl and Kahlan. The last book seemed to be written as though TG was tired of the whole thing and had one more cho More...

I'm going to be honest from the get-go. I've never read any of Goodkind's books before and I've never seen the tv show based off of his works. I'd heard of him but I've never had the time to pick up any of his works.

The reason I mention this is because I've heard two things about this book. One is that this book was supposed to be accessible to all people (even the ones who haven't read anything of his before). The other is that there is supposed to be a slight tie in with his Sword of Truth ser More...

Terry Goodkind rushed the finale of his Sword of Truth novels... to write this?? I was really disappointed with Law of Nines despite the allusions to the novels I so love. I felt like the story was a direct parallel to Wizard's First Rule, except in today's world. However, unlike Wizard's First Rule, there was little character development in Law of Nines; I felt like TG was relying on readers to associate Richard and Kahlan's personalities with Alex and Jax. Their love seemed fake and convenient More...

I have mixed feelings about this book. I didn't expect it to be what it was. I read the Sword of Truth series and I absolutely loved it - I've had a hard time finding other things to read that matched up to it. When I saw this book I was excited to start reading it, thinking that it was going to be a whole new adventure. Something new to really sink my teeth into.

It turned out to be a spin off from the Sword of Truth series - and while I loved that one - I had put it to bed. I was actually a lit More...

"The Law of Nine" is a thriller with some fantasy elements. The action was non-stop except for 30 pages of dialogue stuck in at 193 pages into the story to explain who these mysterious killers were, where they're from, and why Jax didn't like them. The story was fast-paced and exciting, but it wasn't very pleasant. It involved torture, attempted rape, brutal mass murder of children, and a great deal of other violence. The world-building was done well, bringing the story alive in my imagination-- More...

I just put it down last night about half way in, and I'm done. Doesn't Goodkind have an editor? A writers' workshop group, or something? Holyhell: tedious monologues, repetition of grindingly banal insights, idiotic dialog, adolescent cliches about love, and the subtlety of a wrecking ball.

Here's where I gave up: After Jax explains to Alex that they are trying to outlaw magic in her world, Alex responds with something like, "So what? We don't have magic in this world." The stupidity of that resp More...

I am usually reluctant to read what I call "changeover" books - authors who cross their specialty writing to another. Terry Goodkind wrote a new book, but it's a mystery thriller type of book. Oh, it has magic and the Terry Goodkind guy who doesn't know he's to save the world kind of formula. I was getting really engrossed, but then the "hero's" last name was Rahl. As in Darken Rahl, Richard Rahl...??? sword of truth anyone? And I'm not even going to tell you the last name of the woman of magic More...

I liked the first six books or so of Goodkind's Sword of Truth fantasy series. At first I found the characters and the world-building great. But while some authors (Bujold, Pierce) simply get better with successive books, others (Tom Clancy, Mercedes Lackey, LKHamilton) get bloated, self-indulgent, get tired blood. In Goodkind's case his at first appealing hero became the worst Marty Stu I have read in professional fiction, and his world-building, narrative and dialogue got more and more bogged More...

You know that guy you met at the party? Yeah, the one with the really cool story about the stuff he did. Then you saw him at a later party, and he told the same story. You laughed at the appropriate times, and went along with it, because after all, it was a pretty good story. After a few parties, you want to scream every time you see him. Tell a new god damn story you want to shout, but really, he's so good at telling that exact same story, you silently hold your tongue. That guy is Terry Goodki More...

After reading "Wizard's First Rule" earlier this year, I wasn't inclined to pick up any more of Terry Goodkind's fantasy novels. So, when I heard that his new novel, "The Law of Nines" was an attempt to take his writing in another direction with a novel that was labeled as a thriller, I decided I'd give Goodkind another chance.

Unfortunately, every issue I had with "Wizard" was on display here in "Nines."

Alex is an artist, living painting to painting. On his 27th birthday, he rescues a beautiful More...

The review that comes up when you click on this book discribes it as "stunningly original." I'm not sure I could say the same, considering the whole time I was reading it I had the nagging feeling that I was reading Wizards First Rule again. All in all, it's not a bad book, and I did enjoy it, but really? - The "big man" suddenly finds himself in a struggle much larger than him, and a mysterious woman (who happens to be a Confessor of striking beauty and life with long wonderous brown hair who g More...

Contrary to the summary provided on goodreads for this book, I did NOT think that Goodkind "proved he could jump genres."

Though I had my stickler points with Goodkind's epic Sword of Truth fantasy series, mostly having to do with the fact that Goodkind is a stark objectivist and licks Ayn Rand's cold dead feet every night before going to bed. Aside from that, I really enjoyed that series. It was clever and dramatic.

This however, was a mostly failed attempt to "jump genres" but really not do anyt More...

I would like to give this book 3.5 stars but I rounded down instead of up. First - it's a unique story and very well paced. It has a lot of interesting elements and decent, if somewhat underdeveloped antagonists. It's not really about the bad guys, though, so I'll forgive it that. My main problem with the book, as was the same problem that I had with "The Sword of Truth" series when I tried to read it, is that there is something about Goodkind's writing style that I just don't care for. I can't More...