predictiable and sexist

Okay, a few things. I'll begin by saying there was a lot of recapping and repeating from past books, including Richard and Kahlan series. A lot. Lots of repeated content by characters saying the same thing over and over again. Every time a chapter came to Thora, Maxim, Adessa they said the same thing. King Grieve, again just kept repeating himself! It's overkill. I can't tell you how much I hate that Goodkind feels the need to repeat everything from other books, explaining it all again. Or keeps repeating content again in another chapter (from same book!) We don't need recaps! Stop this madness! I found myself skimming... a lot. A lot of wasted pages, characters repeating content from Richard and Kahlan series, making it the very reason I swear to never read another Goodkind book. It makes the story just suck. I only return out of invested time I spent on particular characters and curiosity to where they may go. He's the only author I've ever despised by his writing skills, yet I enjoy his plots and some characters. His books are only thick from repeated content. Just garbage writing.

1. Stay with me here... Maxim released the stones warriors HE petrified by releasing everyone he ever petrified. alright. sounds legit. This, I followed... But then apparently because HE created the spell, he can somehow dominate over anyone else who used this spell by unpetrifying EVERYONE's petrification spell??? This is where I got lost and had a WTF moment. That's what went down. He undid everyone's victims that ever cast this spell. By Undoing his own petrification spell, he also unraveled the 3 other gifted Dumas spell that they cast to petrify Thora into a statue making her now some half statue, more lethal. He shouldn't have been able to undo Thora since he did not cast her petrification spell. Apparently he has some patent over the use of the spell. Made me rethink every person that ever creates a spell and others use it. Wouldn't that mean they can just take it back or undo its usage, too, by this theory, if they created the spell?? Other gifted clearly are strong enough to cast it and use it, because they did and by Maxims own admittance, it's easier to remove it. So what, Maxim is more powerful than the 3 other gifted wizards combined, to override them??
Maxim doesn't seem to have the power to over rule every wizards spells in that form when, he is clearly a coward. how can you be the most powerful wizard and be a coward who runs from a single mordsith *cough* I mean morazeth. He seems more of a trickster. I had trouble believing Maxim was so powerful and could just undo everyone's usage of this spell.

2. Female rant: What is the deal with making like every female characters some sexual play thing for men in these books (minus Verna)?! So many men use woman for their own sexual purposes in Goodkinds books. Maxim even took PRE TEENS in a village he took over! PRE teen means before 13...which is pedophilia!!! Maxim even complained about their inexperience. Is it necessary to keep repeating this theme in every book as if woman are mostly worthless? At any age even. (Can we just leave at least female children alone? ) It's repeated SO much that I have no other conclusion other than to assume this turns Goodkind on sexually, to constantly be demoralizing, raping and belittling woman in his stories or he's writing it for a targeted, male, audience that gets turned on by it.
The undertone was always there in the Richard and Kahlan novels. this book was written in 2018...and there's been no progression to ease from this. How many men say disgusting, sexual things to Nicci?
There's even an implication of incest between Uteros twin sister sorceressess that just worship him, pleasure him (and fight his battles for him while he does basically nothing). Verna, Elsa (Elsa gets killed off) are the exception to all these things. You didn't ever hear Verna or Elsa worshipping anyone, including, Richard Rahl. They act normal. Get treated normal. (because older woman are undesirable in Goodkinds views, clearly) Nicci is constantly repeating that everything she does is for Richard... I mean, come on already. It's a total turn off for female readers. Nicci at this point should have love and respect for Richard as a whole, as a leader and friend, not him be her reason to breathe and all she does like she's trying to impress him. This worshipping of Richard needs to go. Self respecting, powerful people don't worship anyone. Men are constantly worshipped in these books. Goodkind even made Lila pathetically worship Bannon, following him like a puppy, protecting him... is there a single main male character that isn't being ridiculously adored by some alleged powerful (or plain) female like a robot, Other then Ian (but even he snapped out of his Stockholm syndrome) and was killed off, or Nathan? how many males in Goodkind books become a mindless robot, only living for the female-worshipping her? Apparently you have to be a confessor and magically force men into this role. I'd actually think Lila and Bannon are cute, if not for Lila raping him (and Bannon just enjoying it like all the male characters who get raped)being the bossy, dominant, yet can't be without Bannon like a dog, undermining her actual dominance.


3. Another sliph? I thought they were spirits from the underworld? Is that not sealed too? Just another Sliph that magically appears yet no one knew it existed. Just like the grumpy sliph (Lucy) that magically appeared in the last Richard and Kahlan novels to save the day, and was also just placed there conveniently... This sliph apparently serves the evil wizards of the past... so there's now a grumpy sliph, a bad political one who serves enemies and a prior prostitute.. how many masters and sliphs are there? Why are they not retired in the underworld in a closed veil? Why would Nicci in the end put her life in the hands of such an untrusting Sliph that clearly loathes her? Now, she's stranded, alone in a place she doesn't know because she tried to force an unwilling Sliph to travel(this kind of behavior Goodkind writes for Nicci diminishes her from being the intelligent, powerful, bad ass, Death's Mistress she's suppose to be) Nicci would never of been so careless in previous series.

This whole world of Ildkar read to me like a copied Lord of the Rings meets the Roman Empire. Noble first class citizens to lower. Slaves who fight in pits to the death. (The movie Gladiator comes to mind).
Non magic against people with magic. Slaves want freedom. In the end, they slaughter the lower class anyways for sacrificing and Ildkar just disappeared again. WTF

Here's where I'm also confused: I thought Richard separated the people without magic, from this magic world and gave them their own world? Yet, here we are, with a ton of societies, abusing the non magic people, using them as slaves and like nothing Richard did effected anyone outside of his backyard. This would have effected everyone, everywhere, just like the stars in the sky.
Ildakar could get away with not being affected because they were in a time capsule world, hidden (I'll give them that excuse)

4.The twins being able to see into the veil of the world of the dead and speak to them? STOP. Sealing the veil means sealing the veil. period. there's no window shopping. This part was so stupid. again, undermining his beloved Richards work from previous books. There was no loopholes...The veil is sealed, permanently... until Goodkind decided to just change it. Just like the secret sliphs scattered everywhere. Hearthounds exist, again. How? The veil had to open for this and it was not even explained. Why repeat this story line? It's exhausted, finished...

5. Lila and her female companions are just copy cat versions of mordsiths from previous series. only they repel magic instead of stealing it from enemies. I found Lila only slightly less annoying then the others and wish Goodkind didn't lazily invent more Mordsiths and call them by another name. They all say and act the same. it gets old reading the same arrogant demeanor without human emotions. like robotic children. It feels like Goodkind is just recreating the same characters from Sword in the stone series but calling them by different names. Lila is no Cara!

6. how is Chalk seeing the future when prophecy is dead? It's definitely current and the last book in sword in stone made it clear that no one could predict futures or see them anymore... yet here's Chalk. Contradiction again.

7. King Grieve... honestly was not invested in this character or his people. A savage who intends to take over the world (how unoriginal), who feeds his own people to a sea monster for luck and occasionally eats them himself- who has an insane future, seeing, albino sidekick. Wanted them to die in this book but nope- Goodkind combined them in the end with Utro's army so they will conquer together. um.. okay.


8.I genuinely liked the plot. Just hated the writing. Felt like nothing really was accomplished in this book. It dragged on and no one was defeated. people just died and Ildkar just disappeared again. now all the good characters are separated. I like Nathan, Renn, Bannon, Capt. Zimmerman and Verna and was intrigued to see where the story takes them. I'm invested in these characters and am glad Goodkind brought them over from previous series. This book just wasn't delivered