Blood of the Fold and Temple of the Winds - Thoughts
Been meaning to do this write-up for a while, but book 4 always gives me a bad feeling when I think about it. Like I mentioned before, if you've read book 4 I'd really appreciate your comments on some things since I haven't seen much addressing this at the other places I visit for Seeker stuff.
Blood of the Fold
- I found this book probably to be the most entertaining out of the ones I've read so far. I just found Richard's antics of taking over the Midlands to be particularly comedic. XD
- I was kinda put off by how the Mord Sith become nothing more than a joke. Cara, Berdine, and Raina did really grow on me though. They were just such a complete change from the Mord Sith in Wizard's First Rule and it just seemed unlikely that they would change that quickly just because they had a kinder Lord Rahl. Berdine is my favorite.
- Richard declaring Kahlan Queen the Keltans just had me laughing. Especially when the general was all "OMG this is leik the bestest thing evah!! Lord Rahl is so great to name the Mother Confessor our queen!! ^__^" and Richard all "What? O_o" And then of course Kahlan and the generals exchange at the end when Kahlan discovers Richard named her their queen. XD Good times!
- I was really glad that Kahlan came back out fighting during the battle in Aydindril. Kahlan knows she's badass. No way she's gonna sit out of a fight.
- I think this book is where the story starts to take on that more epic feel. Events from the previous two books are really what drives this book and then there are hints that events in this book will be expanded upon later.
- I still see the Sisters of Light as kinda shady for the most part. I like that Zedd is kinda manipulating Prelate Analinna.
- And that's about all I can think of for this book. Book 4 thoughts are a little further down.
Temple of the Winds
- My first thought with the opening scene of Cara and Kahlan - Those two are so gonna become best friends forever! XD
- Lol at Kahlan being all "Bitch who you think you are that you can have hair as long as mine!?!" when she sees Nadine.
- I'm guessing that Anna of the tv show is supposed to be Nadine? Wonder why they changed her name. I guess it left an opening if they want to bring an actually Nadine into the show with a similar story line later in the series. I find the contrast of Anna and Nadine interesting. While both are former girlfriends of Richard, and therefore giving any RichardxKahlan fans a reason to hate them, Anna is actually quite like-able. I like her anyway. Nadine however is a manipulative bitch.
- Drefan gave me an uneasy feeling from the beginning and I figured that he was the one responsible for the murders. Kahlan's uneasiness around him also caused me to get the creeps whenever he showed up. *shiver*
- Raina's death was very touching and had me crying. I did feel that she was underdeveloped though. Cara and Berdine were developed pretty well, yet Raina was just kinda there without her character really getting expanded upon.
- Speaking about Mord Sith, I was glad that there was more of their actual Mord Sith side in this book, especially with Cara.
- I really liked the concept of the plague in this. I felt it was carried out really well.
- The unveiling of what the silph really is was creepy and I felt was done in a way throughout this and the previous book to make me go "Wow, how did I not see that?"
- What's with everything Richard and Kahlan do to fix their current problem ends up breaking something else. So far we have:
Kill Rahl by making him open wrong Box of Orden
By having Rahl open any Box the Veil is torn allowing the Keeper to come closer to escaping
To get to Rahl in time to stop Rahl from freeing the Keeper Richard destroys the barrier from the Towers of Perdition
With the barrier gone, Emperor Jagang can send his army through to the New Word much easier and unleashes a plague
To save Richard from the plague Kahlan calls forth the Chimes and unknowingly sets them free
Someone needs to just tell Richard and Kahlan not to touch anything any more! You break it, you buy it!
- Ok, now that the fun stuff is out of the way it's time to get serious and cover the part that really bothered me. If you've read the book then you probably know exactly what part I'm referring to. This would be the rape of Kahlan in Ch 58. This really affected me. I was crying throughout the scene and was kinda in a state of depression for about two days because I just kept thinking about how traumatic that would have been. I've never even been raped or had any close friends who have, so if I was affected that bad by this I can't even imagine what someone who has experienced this would have felt reading that scene. I just wanted to get out why this scene upset me so much.
1. Ok I'll start with the most obvious thing, namely Richard's reaction to Kahlan not knowing it was him in the room with her. So Richard is feeling betrayed that Kahlan thought she was with Drefan yet still took her pleasure from the sex. This is addressed in the book with Denna informing Richard that Kahlan did what she had to do by reminding Richard of how he ate off the floor while Denna was training him. So yeah, the reader knows Richard is being an insensitive bastard towards Kahlan and Richard realizes his error in judging Kahlan as well and apologizes. However, it never gets brought up that Richard did in fact sleep with Denna several times. Why wasn't that used as the comparison?
2. This is what upset me the most. Richard raped Kahlan. Yes, Kahlan would have been fine and happy to have gone along with it all if she knew it was Richard, but she didn't know it was him. She was clearly upset and not wanting to go through with it, and Richard obviously knew that, since he was trying to comfort her and let her know it was him. Again, she didn't realize it was Richard, and she was unwilling. That Richard would do that to her, the woman he loves more than anything else, when he could tell she was was unwilling (she was laying still and crying!) just kinda made me feel sick. That he could bring himself to a state to even be able to do what he did when Kahlan was like that gets to me. I just think that he could have done more to try to show Kahlan it was really him. And while you can reason he finished his job out of duty to the Winds, how dare he then get mad at Kahlan when she fulfills her part.
3. The graphic detail of the scene. While it was horrifying to get the scene from Kahlan's point of view, I don't really mean to focus on just that scene. I know the scene is supposed to be horrifying (although from the few reactions I've read, I'm not sure if everyone lets in sink in that Richard raped Kahlan) and that such scenes are necessary at times. What I mean to address is the balance to these types of horrifying scenes.
I mentioned in my book 2 review that I wanted a steamier sex scene between Richard and Kahlan. After the rape scene I didn't just want sex for the steamy scenes, but to balance the horror Kahlan endured with an actual experience of love. Goodkind is pretty graphic when it comes to Kahlan getting raped (not just in this book, the others as well), yet sex done in love is kept short and more alluded to. I just find it odd considering how often it is brought up in the book how important balance is that there is never a real Richard and Kahlan make love scene to balance the rape that Kahlan endures.
It's been several weeks since I finished this book, so I know I'm leaving out a lot of thinks I wanted to bring up. I'm tired and need to go to bed now too, so I'm gonna stop trying to remember things to put down.
Blood of the Fold
- I found this book probably to be the most entertaining out of the ones I've read so far. I just found Richard's antics of taking over the Midlands to be particularly comedic. XD
- I was kinda put off by how the Mord Sith become nothing more than a joke. Cara, Berdine, and Raina did really grow on me though. They were just such a complete change from the Mord Sith in Wizard's First Rule and it just seemed unlikely that they would change that quickly just because they had a kinder Lord Rahl. Berdine is my favorite.
- Richard declaring Kahlan Queen the Keltans just had me laughing. Especially when the general was all "OMG this is leik the bestest thing evah!! Lord Rahl is so great to name the Mother Confessor our queen!! ^__^" and Richard all "What? O_o" And then of course Kahlan and the generals exchange at the end when Kahlan discovers Richard named her their queen. XD Good times!
- I was really glad that Kahlan came back out fighting during the battle in Aydindril. Kahlan knows she's badass. No way she's gonna sit out of a fight.
- I think this book is where the story starts to take on that more epic feel. Events from the previous two books are really what drives this book and then there are hints that events in this book will be expanded upon later.
- I still see the Sisters of Light as kinda shady for the most part. I like that Zedd is kinda manipulating Prelate Analinna.
- And that's about all I can think of for this book. Book 4 thoughts are a little further down.
Temple of the Winds
- My first thought with the opening scene of Cara and Kahlan - Those two are so gonna become best friends forever! XD
- Lol at Kahlan being all "Bitch who you think you are that you can have hair as long as mine!?!" when she sees Nadine.
- I'm guessing that Anna of the tv show is supposed to be Nadine? Wonder why they changed her name. I guess it left an opening if they want to bring an actually Nadine into the show with a similar story line later in the series. I find the contrast of Anna and Nadine interesting. While both are former girlfriends of Richard, and therefore giving any RichardxKahlan fans a reason to hate them, Anna is actually quite like-able. I like her anyway. Nadine however is a manipulative bitch.
- Drefan gave me an uneasy feeling from the beginning and I figured that he was the one responsible for the murders. Kahlan's uneasiness around him also caused me to get the creeps whenever he showed up. *shiver*
- Raina's death was very touching and had me crying. I did feel that she was underdeveloped though. Cara and Berdine were developed pretty well, yet Raina was just kinda there without her character really getting expanded upon.
- Speaking about Mord Sith, I was glad that there was more of their actual Mord Sith side in this book, especially with Cara.
- I really liked the concept of the plague in this. I felt it was carried out really well.
- The unveiling of what the silph really is was creepy and I felt was done in a way throughout this and the previous book to make me go "Wow, how did I not see that?"
- What's with everything Richard and Kahlan do to fix their current problem ends up breaking something else. So far we have:
Kill Rahl by making him open wrong Box of Orden
By having Rahl open any Box the Veil is torn allowing the Keeper to come closer to escaping
To get to Rahl in time to stop Rahl from freeing the Keeper Richard destroys the barrier from the Towers of Perdition
With the barrier gone, Emperor Jagang can send his army through to the New Word much easier and unleashes a plague
To save Richard from the plague Kahlan calls forth the Chimes and unknowingly sets them free
Someone needs to just tell Richard and Kahlan not to touch anything any more! You break it, you buy it!
- Ok, now that the fun stuff is out of the way it's time to get serious and cover the part that really bothered me. If you've read the book then you probably know exactly what part I'm referring to. This would be the rape of Kahlan in Ch 58. This really affected me. I was crying throughout the scene and was kinda in a state of depression for about two days because I just kept thinking about how traumatic that would have been. I've never even been raped or had any close friends who have, so if I was affected that bad by this I can't even imagine what someone who has experienced this would have felt reading that scene. I just wanted to get out why this scene upset me so much.
1. Ok I'll start with the most obvious thing, namely Richard's reaction to Kahlan not knowing it was him in the room with her. So Richard is feeling betrayed that Kahlan thought she was with Drefan yet still took her pleasure from the sex. This is addressed in the book with Denna informing Richard that Kahlan did what she had to do by reminding Richard of how he ate off the floor while Denna was training him. So yeah, the reader knows Richard is being an insensitive bastard towards Kahlan and Richard realizes his error in judging Kahlan as well and apologizes. However, it never gets brought up that Richard did in fact sleep with Denna several times. Why wasn't that used as the comparison?
2. This is what upset me the most. Richard raped Kahlan. Yes, Kahlan would have been fine and happy to have gone along with it all if she knew it was Richard, but she didn't know it was him. She was clearly upset and not wanting to go through with it, and Richard obviously knew that, since he was trying to comfort her and let her know it was him. Again, she didn't realize it was Richard, and she was unwilling. That Richard would do that to her, the woman he loves more than anything else, when he could tell she was was unwilling (she was laying still and crying!) just kinda made me feel sick. That he could bring himself to a state to even be able to do what he did when Kahlan was like that gets to me. I just think that he could have done more to try to show Kahlan it was really him. And while you can reason he finished his job out of duty to the Winds, how dare he then get mad at Kahlan when she fulfills her part.
3. The graphic detail of the scene. While it was horrifying to get the scene from Kahlan's point of view, I don't really mean to focus on just that scene. I know the scene is supposed to be horrifying (although from the few reactions I've read, I'm not sure if everyone lets in sink in that Richard raped Kahlan) and that such scenes are necessary at times. What I mean to address is the balance to these types of horrifying scenes.
I mentioned in my book 2 review that I wanted a steamier sex scene between Richard and Kahlan. After the rape scene I didn't just want sex for the steamy scenes, but to balance the horror Kahlan endured with an actual experience of love. Goodkind is pretty graphic when it comes to Kahlan getting raped (not just in this book, the others as well), yet sex done in love is kept short and more alluded to. I just find it odd considering how often it is brought up in the book how important balance is that there is never a real Richard and Kahlan make love scene to balance the rape that Kahlan endures.
It's been several weeks since I finished this book, so I know I'm leaving out a lot of thinks I wanted to bring up. I'm tired and need to go to bed now too, so I'm gonna stop trying to remember things to put down.