| Chainfire starts out with Richard seriously injured and close to dying. Nicci the Sorceress barely saves him, but he is unconscious for several days. When he wakes up, he asks for his wife, Kahlan, and is shocked that no one remembers her. Nicci is sure that he dreamed Kahlan, because of the trauma from his injury. Everyone he talks to has no memory of Kahlan, and often their memories of events involving her are dramatically different than his. While he searches for any evidence of Kahlan in their camp site, the men he is traveling with are brutally killed. Nicci explains that the Sisters of the Dark created a monster for the evil Emperor Jagang, with the purpose of killing Richard. She suspects that this creature also killed their companions Unfortunately, she does not know anymore about the kind of creature it is.
Even though Richard is still weak, they travel to the city of Altur'Rang. While they are in the city, the monster attacks again, and Richard's bodyguard, Cara, is almost killed. Then they discover that Jagang's forces are on their way to re-conquer the city. Because he is so distraught over Kahlan's disappearance, he decides to continue his search for her instead of helping defend the city. Richard's obsession with the seemingly fictitious Kahlan make his companions concerned about his sanity, and some of the people begin to lose faith in him. In fact, he is so desperate that he decides to visit the witch woman Shota, even though she threatened to kill him if he came to her home again. While traveling there, he is again attacked by the beast. When he finally arrives, Shota does not remember Kahlan either, but she does have information about the beast that is tracking him. She says that it is impossible to kill, because of the way it was created. Meanwhile, the former Prelate of the Sisters of the Light, Ann, and the Prophet, Nathan, discover that all the books of prophecy have blank sections in them. Even the passages that should be familiar to them are completely blank in their minds. They are very disturbed to find that the blanks all seem to be connected to Richard. Back at the Wizards Keep in Aydindril, the wizard Zedd makes the same discovery. If Richard cannot solve this puzzle, the monster chasing him may no longer matter, because the universe itself may unravel. This is the 9th book in the Sword of Truth series. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of book - suspenseful (sophisticated fear) FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - fantasy world/fantasy past Inner Struggle Yes Plotlet: - amnesia Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Descript. of chases or violence - 40 % planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 10 % Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 10 % Main Character Identity: - Male Profession/status: Age: - 20's-30's If magical mental powers: - can cast many different spells Main Adversary Identity: - Male Age: - 40's-50's Profession/status: Eccentric: Yes How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - almost none How sensitive is this character? Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters Setting Terrain A substantial portion of this book takes place on a non-Earth planetary body: - humans in a primitive/fantasy society Planet outside solar system? Yes Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - very explicit references to deaths and torture scientific jargon? (SF only) - some scientific explanation How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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