Posted: January 31, 2021
Pillars of Creation
Overview
The seventh book in the Swords of Truth series marks a break in the continuous storyline involving Richard, Kahlan, and, to a lesser extent, Zedd. It almost feels like Terry Goodkind decided to write another book that happens to be set in the same world. We don’t see familiar characters until two-thirds of the book has gone by.
What we do get are two new main characters in the form of Richard’s half-siblings. Jennsen and Oba Rahl. Although ungifted, they are special in a different way - they are immune to magic and cannot be affected by magic.
Jennsen
The book starts with Jennsen being the unwitting pawn of Jagang through his chief strategist Sebastian. Sebastian sets up a fake quad attack on Jennsen and her mother who have been hiding in the D’Haran woodlands.
Come to think of it, it is the first time we go back to D’Hara since the final pages of "Stone of Tears". I think now would be a good time to review where all the books have been taking us in terms of the SOT world map. "Wizard’s First Rule" took us from Westland to the Midlands and to D’Hara. "Stone of Tears" started in D’Hara, quickly moved back to the Midlands then took us to the Old World then back to D’Hara. This is the last time we will be in D’Hara until this current book, "The Pillars of Creation". "Blood of the Fold" begins in the Midlands, goes down into the Old World via the Sliph then goes back up to the Midlands. "Temple of the Winds" is a Midlands story. So is "Soul of the Fire". "Faith of the Fallen" begins in Westland, a place we have not been in since "Wizard’s First Rule", then gives us our longest stay in the Old World. "Faith of the Fallen" also has the awesome Midlands battle stories.
Going back to "The Pillars of Creation", we follow Jennsen and Sebastian as they flee to consult a witch about what Jennsen should do to escape the so-called malice of the Lord Rahl. They end up in D’Hara to find more answers.
Jennsen’s situation so far holds a lot of fascination for me because here is a young woman who is pretty much given continuous stressful moments. Starting with the murder of her mother, the frustrating meeting with the sorcerer Lathea, the sudden need to flee from the town under cover of darkness, and then the journey to D’Hara. The culmination is a perfect storm of stress that happens to Jennsen in D’Hara as she loses her companion/protector Sebastian, her horses and her beloved pet goat Betty, and then her money. All this hitting her one after the other. Bam! Bam! Bam! This is the kind of stress that normally crushes a person so I’m keen to see how Jennsen handles this mainly because I want to learn lessons on how to handle this kind of situation myself.
Jennsen does break down in the midst of all these trials, but she recovers, and when she does, she moves on to the logical next step - a trip to see the sorceress Althea. It is a doomed trip without supplies or horses but she literally puts one foot in front of the other and begins. I think that’s an amazing response - do what you can and see what life does. Simply grit your teeth and see what’s next.
What’s next is Jennsen meeting Althea and her husband Friedrich after going through a supposedly impassable swamp and somehow befriending a boa constrictor. The run of bad luck is not through with Jennsen as she literally receives nothing from the sorceress-prophet except the advice to figure things out for herself.
At this point Jennsen encounters Tom who, unknown to her, is an agent of Richard Rahl. Yes, the D’Haran secret agents are introduced in this book with their “badge”, an ornate knife with an “R” symbol. Incidentally, Terry Goodkind dedicates this book to America’s intelligence operatives.
So, Jennsen and Tom head back to D’Hara and in quite an implausible series of events Jennsen pretty much bluffs her way into D’Hara and frees Sebastian.
In "Faith of the Fallen" we meet Hania the Mord-Sith who is tortured to death in that book. Here we meet a Mord-Sith who is even more unfortunate than Hania. Nyda gets taken in by Jennsen Rahl and gets beaten up and nearly raped by Oba Rahl.
Oba
Oba Rahl. Let’s talk about this guy. He is the worst character ever created by Terry Goodkind up to this point. And that’s not because he is cruel and sadistic, which he is, but because he is so one dimensional. Oba Rahl is a clod who likes to torture animals and people and is entirely amoral and self-centered in such a simplistic way he comes out like some kooky cartoon character up until the end when he dies like Wile E. Coyote by being crushed under a rock. To make matters worse this bad creation takes up lots and lots of pages of the book. Too many pages really.
Oba, follows the exact same path as Jennsen. He visits Lathea, goes to D’Hara, then visits Althea then goes back to D’Hara. The only difference is that Oba leaves a trail of blood and murder in all of these places.
Pristinely Ungifted
Both Oba and Jennsen, being magically immune, have a special link to the underworld. A link that allows the Keeper to haunt their minds. Very early on Oba allows himself to be possessed by the Keeper and, in so doing, displays some powers. Jennsen is tempted to do the same as a result of her misplaced yet deep hatred of Richard as the one who sent the quad to kill her mother, but she is at core a decent person and manages to resist.
Imperial Order POV
In addition to seeing Jennsen tough it out while being mercilessly besieged in her life I also appreciate seeing, through her interaction with Sebastian, what it's like to be an adherent of the Old World. Sebastian introduces himself as Jagang’s strategist and speaks glowingly about both the Emperor and Brother Narev. This book makes us take an interesting walk through the mind of an Imperial Order loyalist.
Okay I’m past the midpoint in my reading and the Jennsen chapters are okay and the Oba chapters are pissing me off and where is Terry Goodkind taking this? How does this end?
Two-thirds of the way this book starts becoming good when it at last takes us to where we left the Imperial Order from the last book - about to invade Aydindril. This is presented to us as Jennsen and Sebastian catch up with Jagang’s army.
The highlight is when Jagang and his cronies encounter the severed head of Brother Narev in a spike in front of the Confessor’s palace.
What follows next is a treat as the last defenders of Aydindril, Zedd and Adie, pretty much hands Jagang a scathing defeat by unleashing the sorcerous goodies from the Wizard’s Keep. This includes a massive explosion in the middle of the Imperial Order army. Up until this point Jagang was this smug bastard but he gets beaten up here both figuratively and literally - ending up in his tent being healed by the Sisters.
Conclusion
Friedrich then encounters Richard, Kahlan and Cara and it’s like the last quarter of the book. I’ve never been so happy to see these main characters.
The endgame of this book happens in a desert place called the Pillars of Creation. The culminating scene involves the Rahls: Richard, Jennsen, and Oba together with Kahlan, Tom, Sebastian, and Sister Perdita, a Sister of the Dark. It ends tragically for Sebastian, the Sister, and Oba while Jennsen sees the error of her ways and reconciles with her half-brother Richard. I’m looking forward to at least hearing about Jennsen in future books.
Impressions of the Read
Although readable, Pillars of Creation is the worst book in the series so far. Two thirds of the book devoted to Jennsen and Oba was just wrong. Oba, in particular, is a caricature that truly mars this book.
One of the things I like about this book is it presents Jagang as a man leading an army rather than the usual lecher torturing the Sisters from the Palace of the Prophets, an image that was entertaining in "Stone of Tears" but was slowly getting old. The Emperor is presented as tough but not invincible. "The Pillars of Creation" deepens the layers of Sword of Truth’s best villain.
"Pillars of Creation" is my candidate for a book that is so bad that it could actually cause people to drop the series entirely.