The Law of Nines

June 22, 2009
Bestseller Goodkind (Confessor
) ventures into thriller territory with results sure to please fans of his fantasy fiction. In the opening pages, Alex Rahl, the book’s unwitting hero, saves the beautiful Jax from being run down on the street in Orden, Neb., by a plumbing truck flying a pirate flag. Jax, who turns out to be from an alternate reality where evildoers are attempting to seize control of her civilization, has traveled to Nebraska to seek Alex’s help in saving her people. In Jax’s world, magic takes the place of technology, but on earth she’s stripped of her powers and forced to fight armed with only her trusty dagger. The author takes his time setting all this up, but once the story gets rolling, it’s a gripping ride as the bad guys whoosh in between their world, which remains unseen, and ours. Fantasy and thriller readers alike will find themselves swept along to the final confrontation and looking forward to the next installment.

July 1, 2009
In this thriller from Goodkind, a man named Alex Rahl, hardworking artist, blameless citizen of a nice little Nebraska town, is about to turn 27 in a most memorable way.

In the process, he will encounter an Alex he never would have believed possible, discovering things about himself, his lineage, the world he inhabits—and the alternative one he doesn't—that will prove dramatically transformative. Consider his name. As series buffs know, it's one to conjure with: Richard, Lord Rahl, is Seeker of Truth, puissant possessor of the eponymous Sword of Truth and, not so incidentally, Alex's antecedent, going back some thousand years. Then there's the fraught numerology of being 27, with all those evocative nines (two plus seven; three times nine). The whole astonishing business begins when Alex saves the life of a strange and, of course, beautiful lady, who undertakes his education. It's through Jax that he first learns of a co-existing world"on the other side of darkness, on the other side of nothing." And it's with her at his side that he battles an assortment of Iago-like bad guys in order to save the world(s).

Goodkind departs from his hot-selling Sword of Truth series (Confessor, 2007, etc.), but not entirely.

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July 20, 2009
Goodkind follows his mega-successful fantasy series, "The Sword of Truth," with this spin on a contemporary thriller. On his 27th birthday, Alexander saves a woman from being hit by a truck and later in the day, receives a deed to a piece of land from his grandfather. Alexander's mother had also had a memorable 27th birthday-she was committed to a mental asylum for claiming people in the mirrors were after her. Now Alexander thinks he, too, is starting to see things. Is he about to lose his mind, or is something more sinister at work? Verdict Unfortunately, Goodkind's tense and exciting thriller serves to continue his fantasy series rather than break away from it; more stories are clearly coming. Still, newcomers will enjoy the blended fantasy/thriller elements, and his legion of fans won't complain either. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 5/1/09.]-Jeff Ayers, Seattle P.L.

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.