Author: Terry Goodkind
Series: Sister of Darkness: The Nicci Chronicles #1
Series: Sister of Darkness: The Nicci Chronicles #1
Pages: 468
Published: Jan 24th 2017
Publisher: Head of Zeus
This is a book that I judged by its cover. I came across it in Waterstones and the deal was £4 off the hardcover and seeing as it was the first in a series and I was craving some serious high fantasy I bought it. The cover itself was indeed beautiful and very tempting.
I did not start reading it straight away however. After purchasing the book I looked it up and I saw that Nicci is a major character is Terry Goodkind's fantasy series Sword of Truth of some 15 odd books. I was slightly put off as I did not know whether I would be able to immerse myself in fantasy world that I did not understand. Seeing as he has gotten quite some criticism for the last few books in the series I was unsure whether this book would be worth it or not.
A year later however I decided to give it a go. This is not the best fantasy book I have read. Not by far. My biggest issue was probably Nicci, the protagonist. I do understand that she is the badass assassin with a heart of stone and ruthless killing habits but I could not connect to her at all. Not until the very end, and even so it was not a lot. To be honest I much more appreciated the attitude of the wizard Nathan Rhal who had much more charisma, Bannon who's backstories were always more interesting than the book itself, and Thistle who added personality to the whole story. In fact Nicci became quite annoying. She did not seem badass and dangerous but rather boring and I quickly lost my respect for her. I do not know if this is due to my lack of understanding of her backstory since I have not read the Sword of Truth series, the author's storytelling or just the character.
As a story the book followed a simple storyline. Days of walking, finding a town/village, helping that town/village and then out to walk again to stumble upon another town/village and helping them out. After the third round I desperately needed the narrative to move forward to a more concrete story. And it did. The last third of the book is actually much more exciting and it really does pick up. Nicci becomes more bearable, thanks to Thistle's addition to the story and it did end on a very good note. I do intend to read the sequel, but not straight away.
I would have appreciated more world building and perhaps a bigger picture as the plot only concerned the three adventurers but nothing of the world as a whole. It was quite isolated. However, this makes it a light read and I do recommend reading this book for readers who are new to fantasy as it is not intimidating in length, politics, or amount of characters. Although it is a fairly quick fantasy read, it is not a page turner as such and not the most exciting of high fantasy.
Plot Summary:
Sister of the Light, Sister of the Dark, The Slave Queen, Death's Mistress...
Nicci has gone by many names and faced many challenges.
But that's in the past.
Now, on the far horizons of a world forget anew, she much head the witch woman's words:
'and the Sorceress must save the world'.
My Rating:
5/10
Other Books by Terry Goodkind:
Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth #1)
Stone of Tears (Sword of Truth #2)
Blood of the Fold (Sword of Truth #3)
Temple of the Winds (Sword of Truth #4)
Soul of the Fire (Sword of Truth #5)
Faith of the Fallen (Sword of Truth #6)
The Pillars of Creation (Sword of Truth #7)
Naked Empire (Sword of Truth #8)
Chainfire (Sword of Truth #9)
Phantom (Sword of Truth #10)
Confessor (Sword of Truth #11)
The Omen Machine (Sword of Truth #12)
The Third Kingdom (Sword of Truth #13)
Severed Souls (Sword of Truth #14)
Warheart (Sword of Truth #15)
Death's Mistress (Sister of Darkness: The Nicci Chronicles #1)
Shroud of Eternity (Sister of Darkness: The Nicci Chronicles #2)
Siege of Stone (Sister of Darkness: The Nicci Chronicles #3)
This is a book that I judged by its cover. I came across it in Waterstones and the deal was £4 off the hardcover and seeing as it was the first in a series and I was craving some serious high fantasy I bought it. The cover itself was indeed beautiful and very tempting.
I did not start reading it straight away however. After purchasing the book I looked it up and I saw that Nicci is a major character is Terry Goodkind's fantasy series Sword of Truth of some 15 odd books. I was slightly put off as I did not know whether I would be able to immerse myself in fantasy world that I did not understand. Seeing as he has gotten quite some criticism for the last few books in the series I was unsure whether this book would be worth it or not.
A year later however I decided to give it a go. This is not the best fantasy book I have read. Not by far. My biggest issue was probably Nicci, the protagonist. I do understand that she is the badass assassin with a heart of stone and ruthless killing habits but I could not connect to her at all. Not until the very end, and even so it was not a lot. To be honest I much more appreciated the attitude of the wizard Nathan Rhal who had much more charisma, Bannon who's backstories were always more interesting than the book itself, and Thistle who added personality to the whole story. In fact Nicci became quite annoying. She did not seem badass and dangerous but rather boring and I quickly lost my respect for her. I do not know if this is due to my lack of understanding of her backstory since I have not read the Sword of Truth series, the author's storytelling or just the character.
As a story the book followed a simple storyline. Days of walking, finding a town/village, helping that town/village and then out to walk again to stumble upon another town/village and helping them out. After the third round I desperately needed the narrative to move forward to a more concrete story. And it did. The last third of the book is actually much more exciting and it really does pick up. Nicci becomes more bearable, thanks to Thistle's addition to the story and it did end on a very good note. I do intend to read the sequel, but not straight away.I would have appreciated more world building and perhaps a bigger picture as the plot only concerned the three adventurers but nothing of the world as a whole. It was quite isolated. However, this makes it a light read and I do recommend reading this book for readers who are new to fantasy as it is not intimidating in length, politics, or amount of characters. Although it is a fairly quick fantasy read, it is not a page turner as such and not the most exciting of high fantasy.
Plot Summary:
Sister of the Light, Sister of the Dark, The Slave Queen, Death's Mistress...
Nicci has gone by many names and faced many challenges.
But that's in the past.
Now, on the far horizons of a world forget anew, she much head the witch woman's words:
'and the Sorceress must save the world'.
My Rating:
5/10
Other Books by Terry Goodkind:
Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth #1)
Stone of Tears (Sword of Truth #2)
Blood of the Fold (Sword of Truth #3)
Temple of the Winds (Sword of Truth #4)
Soul of the Fire (Sword of Truth #5)
Faith of the Fallen (Sword of Truth #6)
The Pillars of Creation (Sword of Truth #7)
Naked Empire (Sword of Truth #8)
Chainfire (Sword of Truth #9)
Phantom (Sword of Truth #10)
Confessor (Sword of Truth #11)
The Omen Machine (Sword of Truth #12)
The Third Kingdom (Sword of Truth #13)
Severed Souls (Sword of Truth #14)
Warheart (Sword of Truth #15)
Death's Mistress (Sister of Darkness: The Nicci Chronicles #1)
Shroud of Eternity (Sister of Darkness: The Nicci Chronicles #2)
Siege of Stone (Sister of Darkness: The Nicci Chronicles #3)
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