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| The Law of Nines |
I’ve read the first few books in Goodkind’s massive Sword of Truth series, before giving up to pursue other books before the end of the decade. They’re so big that I wonder sometimes if Goodkind gets paid by the pound instead of the world. The Law of Nines drew me back because it takes place in our world, but it has ties to the rest of the series. I love meta stories, so I decided to take a closer look.
The Law of Nines takes place mostly in Nebraska, right after the protagonist’s twenty-seventh birthday, and things immediate start to get dangerous and weird. Alexander Rahl (those who’ve read the Sword of Truth series will recognize that name) finds himself in the middle of a violent conspiracy where no one really seems to know what’s going on until near the 350 page mark. Which I kind of like. Few things draw me into a story like puzzling out the mystery along with the main character.
At the beginning of the book, Alex inherits a mysterious parcel of land in Maine and then people start trying to kill him. He has an ally from the Sword of Truth world, but she doesn’t know much about what’s happening either. Together, they start to figure out who’s behind the death and destruction and why. Things really start to pick up in the middle of the book after Alex and his ally find out how deep the conspiracy goes. Things also get really violent around this point, too. There are some fantastic action scenes in this book, almost movie-grade.
While the plot, at times, is a little sketchy, there was enough action and intrigue to pull me along. Even though it’s 500 pages long, I was able to start it yesterday evening and finish early this afternoon. When I say that the plot is sketchy, what I mean is that there are some pseudo-Dickensian deus ex machina societies and events in the second half of the book that couldn’t help but make me wonder if Goodkind had dug a plot hole that he couldn’t get out of without stretching the bounds of disbelief. Still, I was hooked until the end. And I wonder if this book is going to turn into a series. If so, I would definitely read a sequel.