Fantasy Artists

Published 2009-03-03

In the aftermath of the brutal murder of his father, a mysterious woman, Kahlan Amnell, appears in Richard Cypher's forest sanctuary seeking help…and more. His world, his very beliefs, are shattered when ancient debts come due with thundering violence.

 

In a dark agewhen it takes courage to live, and more than mere courage to challenge those who hold dominion, Richard and Kahlan must take up that challenge or become the next victims. Beyond awaits a bewitching land where even the beat of their hearts could betray them. Yet, Richard fears nothing so much as what secrets his sword might reveal about his own soul. Falling in love would destroy them - for reasons Richard can't imagine and Kahlan dare not tell him.

 

In their darkest hour, hunted relentlessly, tormented by treachery and loss, Kahlan cals upon Richard to reach beyond his sword - to invoke within himself something more noble. Neither knows that the rules of battle have just changed…or that their time has run out.

This is the beginning. One book. One Rule. Witness the birth of a legend.

Kahlan has at last gained the one goal she had always thought was beyond her grasp…love. Against all odds, the ancient bonds of secret oaths, and the dark talents of men long dead, Richard had won her heart.

 

Amid sudden and disastrous events, Richard's life is called due to satisfy those treacherous oaths. To save his life, Kahlan must forsake Richard's love and cast him into the chains of slavery, knowing there could be no sin worse than such a betrayal.

Richard is determined to unlock the secrets bound in the magic of ancient oaths and to again be free. Kahlan, alone with the terrible truth of what she has done, must set about altering the course of a world thrown into war. But even that may be easier than ever winning back the heart of the only man she will ever love.

In a world as rich and real as our own, Richard Rahl and Kahlan Amnell stand against the ancient forces which besiege the New World - forces so terrible that when they last threatened, they could only be withstood by sealing off the Old World from whence they came. Now the barrier has been breached, and the New World is again beset by their evil power.

 

War and treachery plague the world, and only Richard and Kahlan can save it from an Armageddon of unimaginable savagery and destruction.

Terry Goodkind, author of the brilliant fantasy bestsellers Wizard's First Rule and Stone of Tears, has created his most masterful epic yet, a sumptuous feast of magic and excitement replete with the wonders of his unique fantasy vision.





Return to the world of Richard Cypher, whose adventures have stirred the blood and filled the hearts of legions of satisfied readers. When Richard was a simple woods guide, he never dreamed he would get caught up in magic, war, and dangers so extraordinary that the fate of his entire world would hang on his actions and decisions. Over the course of his journeys Richard learned to accept his true role, first as the Seeker and the wielder of the Sword of Truth, and then, in Stone of Tears, as the new Lord Rahl and the war wizard who led the fight against the Keeper and his dark minions.
 
Everything Richard has learned thus far, all the wisdom, the magic, and the conviction he holds, will be for naught as the power-mad Emperor Jagang returns with his multitude of demonic underlings. For Richard must now challenge the impossible: the magic that thwarts magic, the three-thousand-years-sealed-away fortress of evil that has begun to infect the world with a terrible, sorcerous plague. He must find the Templeof the Winds. But once the shadow of betrayal falls across that mission, Richard must accept the Truth and find a way to undo the damage...or his world will perish.

Return to the world of Wizard’s First Rule, which “has everything one could ask for in an epic fantasy” (Publishers Weekly), the world of Richard Cypher, a simple woods guide who never dreamed he would get caught up in magic, war, and dangers so extraordinary that the fate of the entire world would hang on his actions and decisions.

In Wizard’s First Rule Richard and Kahlan Amnell, the Mother Confessor of the Midlandsand the woman he would come to love, were the last hope against the forces of Darken Rahl, who had vowed to enslave the land on behalf of the Keeper, the evil lord of the Underworld.

Richard slowly learned to accept his true role, first as Seeker and wielder of the Sword of Truth and then, in Stone of Tears, as the new Lord Rahl and war wizard who led the fight against the Keeper and his Dark minions.

Richard managed to seal the Keeper in the Underworld and, in Blood of the Fold, defended the midlands from genocidal armies of the Blood of the Fold.

In Temple of the WindsRichard was faced with an evil even he couldn’t stand against – a dread plague loosed by the mad Emperor Jagang. Only by journeying to the Temple of the Winds was Richard able to thwart the plans of Jagang and save his world and the life of his Beloved Kahlan.

But when Kahlan summoned the dominion of the chimes to save Richard, unwittingly she loosed arcane powers that now not only threaten those she loves, but are bent on reshaping the world itself into forbidding visions that will forever alter the very nature of life itself.

Ricahrd and Kahlan must now hunt the chimes, those most mysterious of hunters – the unseen stalkers of souls, the thieves of order – and in so doing plunge headfirst into danger perilous. For there is no place so dangerous as a world without magic.





Bestselling New York Times author Terry Goodkind revisits his gripping Sword of Truth books with the eagerly anticipated Faith of the Fallen. In the sixth installment of this beloved series, Richard Rahl and Kahlan Amnell struggle against threats to the freedom of the world, testing both their endurance and their love for one another. As his beloved Kahlan lies close to death, Richard -- who distrusts prophecy more than anyone -- is confronted by a compelling vision that bears a terrible price: taking Kahlan away from the protection of the army he leads, and abandoning his people to a grim fate.
 
Kahlan, left behind and unwilling to abandon the cause of the Midlands, violates prophecy and breaks her last pledge to Richard. Finally, she will come face to face with the architect of the terror sweeping her land: the mad dreamwalker, Emperor Jagang, who is poised to unleash his formidable fury on the New World.
 
Meanwhile, in Emperor Jagang's sprawling encampment, Nicci, a Sister of the Dark, is tormented by her memory of Richard yet is captivated by the inexplicable strength that she saw in this gaze. Despite her hunger to understand the source of his indomitable will, her burning passion to destroy him commits her to the unthinkable and draws her into a haunting, epic conflict.
 
This latest compelling installment in the Sword of Truth series showcases Richard and Kahlan's further struggles against the relentless, monolithic forces of the Imperial Order, resulting in Goodkind's most captivating novel yet.
 
 

 
 
 "Richard Rahl and his wife, Kahlan, have been reunited after their long separation, but with winter descending and the paralyzing dread of an army of annihilation occupying their homeland, they must venture deep into a strange and desolate land. Their quest turns to terror when they find themselves the helpless prey of a tireless hunter." "Exploited by those intent on domination, Jennsen finds herself drawn into the center of a violent struggle for conquest and revenge. Worse yet, she finds her will seized by dark forces more abhorrent than anything she ever envisioned. Only then does she come to realize that the voices were real." Staggered by loss and increasingly isolated, Richard and Kahlan desperately struggle to survive. But if they are to live, they must stop the relentless, unearthly threat that comes out of the darkest night of the human soul. To do so, Richard will be called upon to face the demons stalking among the Pillars of Creation.






""You knew they were there, didn't you?" Kahlan asked in a hushed tone as she leaned closer." "Against the darkening sky, she could just make out the shapes of three black-tipped races taking to wing, beginning their nightly hunt. That was why he'd stopped. That was what he'd been watching as the rest of them waited in uneasy silence." ""Yes," Richard said. He gestured over his shoulder without turning to look. "There are two more, back there."" "Kahlan briefly scanned the dark jumble of rock, but she didn't see any others." "Lightly grasping the silver pommel with two fingers, Richard lifted his sword a few inches, checking that it was clear in its scabbard. A last fleeting glimmer of amber light played across his golden cape as he let the sword drop back in place. In the gathering gloom of dusk, his familiar tall, powerful contour seemed as if it were no more than an apparition made of shadows." "Just then, two more of the huge birds shot by right overhead. One, wings stretched wide, let out a piercing scream as it banked into a tight gliding turn, circling once more in assessment of the five people below before stroking its powerful wings to catch its departing comrades in their swift journey west." This night they would find ample food.





"How much of this blood is his?"

"Most of it, I'm afraid," a second woman said as they both rushed along beside him.

As Richard fought to focus his mind on his need to remain conscious, the breathless voices sounded to him as if they were coming from some great dim distance. He wasn't sure who they were. He knew that he knew them, but right then it just didn't seem to matter.

The crushing pain in the left side of his chest and his need for air had him at the ragged edge of panic. It was all he could do to try to pull each crucial breath.

Even so, he had a bigger worry.

Richard struggled to put voice to his burning concern, but he couldn't form the words, couldn't get out any more than a gasping moan. He clutched the arm of the woman beside him, desperate to get them to stop, to get them to listen. She misunderstood and instead urged the men carrying him to hurry, even though they already panted with the effort of bearing him over the rocky ground in the deep shade among the towering pines. They tried to be as gentle as possible, but they never dared to slow.

Not far off, a rooster crowed into the still air, as if this was an ordinary morning like any other.

Richard observed the storm of activity swirling around him with an odd sense of detachment. Only the pain seemed real. He remembered hearing it once said that when you died, no matter how many people were with you, you died alone. That's how he felt now-alone.




The second installment in the Chainfire Trilogy, which will bring a dramatic conclusion to the Sword of Truth series.
 
 

 
 
 

For all of my readers, here is a preview of what is to come. Descending into darkness, about to be overwhelmed by evil, those people still free are powerless to stop the coming dawn of a savage new world, while Richard faces the guilt of knowing that he must let it happen. Alone, he must bear the weight of a sin he dare not confess to the one person he loves and has lost. Join Richard and Kahlan in the concluding novel of one of the most remarkable and memorable journeys ever written. It started with one rule, and will end with the rule of all rules, the rule unwritten, the rule unspoken since the dawn of history. When next the sun rises, the world will be forever changed.

The exciting prequel to Terry Goodkind's much-loved, highly successful Sword of Truth series--complete with a specially commissioned author's introduction and exclusive full-page illustrations by artist Keith Parkinson! Goodkind's fervent admirers have sent all his books in this landmark fantasy series soaring to the top of the best-seller lists...and the Debt of Bones will surely continue tradition. Pre-dating Wizard's First Rule, and featuring one of the fans' favorite characters (First Wizard Zedd), this epochal tale gives fresh insight to that later story. It begins as a young woman arrives at Aydrindril to petition for help in the war against D'Hara and the vicious rule of Panis Rahl. Little does the First Wizard, much less the woman herself, realize an act from her past will force him into a cataclysmic duel of magic with Panis Rahl himself.