Posted: February 9, 2021
Naked Empire
Gifted, Ungifted, and Pristinely Ungifted
The naked empire being referred to in the title of this book is the land of Bandakar, an isolated Old World area whose inhabitants are exactly like Jennsen and Oba in the previous book. These people, referred to as "Pillars of Creation" and "Holes in the World", are more accurately referred to in this book as pristinely ungifted.
So we have the gifted like Richard and Zedd, the ungifted, just about everybody else, and the pristinely ungifted which are Jennsen and the Bandakarians. The pristinely ungifted cannot be affected by magic and cannot even see magic. They can be harmed by magic indirectly as Zedd so effectively demonstrated when one of them attacked the Wizard’s Keep and Zedd used magic to weaponize shards of masonry, ripping the invader to shreds.
In The Old World
This book begins with Richard, Kahlan, Cara, Jennsen, Tom and Friedrich making their way through the Old World with the intent to return to the Midlands. Initially they were going to rendezvous with Nicci but that did not happen. Plans go awry as the group stumbles on a “beacon” and on Owen, an inhabitant of Bandakar.
There are two beacons, both are small magical statues. One is shaped like Kahlan and the other like Richard. They are supposed to be warning beacons that the magical shield surrounding Bandakar has been breached. I was hoping as I went through the book that these beacons would make some sense. They are supposed to be ancient objects and I was hoping to find out how these ancient statues came to be shaped like Kahlan and Richard. Nada. No explanation ever given. Not only that but the beacons themselves essentially don’t make sense; they could have been taken out of the story entirely without any impact on the plot or any aspect of the tale.
So the story starts out with Richard’s group plodding through desert country and being stalked by giant birds of prey called Black-Tipped Races. These birds are being used to spy on them by a new kind of magic-created living weapon.
Nicholas the Slide
As was explained in previous books the wizards of old created magical creatures from people. The first kinds we are made aware of are the Confessors, able to create love-obssessed slaves with their touch. Then we were introduced to the mriswith, deadly lizard men created from wizards. Dreamwalkers, able to control people by slipping into their minds. The Sliph, a liquid-like being used for travel. The gars, gargoyle-like creatures created by wizards to counter the mriswith.
Here, in "Naked Empire" we are introduced to Nicholas the Slide. The Slides are ancient living weapons able to steal souls and use these souls to command animal life. It is Nicholas who is commanding the Black-Tipped Races stalking Richard and his group. Nicholas is in league with the Imperial Order and has been conscripted by Jagang to capture Richard and Kahlan. In return, Nicholas is asking for the rule of D’Hara.
As the story progresses Nicholas experiences success after success and becomes power drunk. Towards the end of the book Nicholas is no longer content to be a vassal of Jagang and has ambitions to overthrow the dreamwalker. That could be an interesting battle, but we’ll never get to see it. There is a very brief confrontation between Nicholas and Jagang in the book. Actually it’s not really a confrontation, more of a bit of power play between uneasy allies.
Bandakar
Bandakar reminds me of Anderith in the sense that Terry Goodkind is using both lands to make a philosophical point. Anderith was an autocracy whose people worshipped a pseudo-deity slash leader. Terry Goodkind has a lot to say about that in "Soul of the Fire". Here, in Bandakar, we have a society of extreme pacifists - people who literally stand by while they get killed, raped, and pillaged. And Terry Goodkind has even more to say about that.
It’s a more heavy-handed treatment here than in "Soul of the Fire". Richard literally makes a sermon on the mount about why the Bandakarians are wrong. It is repeated yet again, although much more briefly, when Richard encounters the Wise One - the child the Bandakarians call their leader.
The gist of what Goodkind, and Richard, is trying to say is that, one, evil exists, and, two, using violence to destroy evil is an act of good. This was demonstrated in this story twice. First, in the large, with Richard’s successful effort to free Bandakar from the Imperial Order invasion. Second, it was demonstrated on a smaller scale with Richard’s problem with headaches. It turns out Richard was having headaches because of his unconscious belief that his killing of evil men needed to be balanced by his refusing to eat meat - a choice he was making to essentially apologize for killing evil men. The story makes the point that Richard need not apologize for the good act of killing evil men. He need not refrain from eating meat. When Richard came to this realization the headaches went away.
Zedd and Adie Captured by the Order
Just like in "The Pillars of Creation", the best part of the tale was when it looked at the latest developments in the Imperial Order/D’Hara War. The last time we saw Jagang and his forces they suffered terrible losses while trying to conquer Aydindril, losses that were caused by Zedd and Adie.
The Wizard’s Keep, in particular proved impregnable. Leave it to Jagang to find a way: He uses the pristinely ungifted Bandakarians to breach the Keep. It looks like Zedd trusted in magic so much he didn’t lock any of the damn doors. I was horrified to read of the capture of Zedd and Adie by the Imperial Order forces. After what this pair did to the Order in the pages of "The Pillars of Creation" I was pretty sure they were going to be tortured.
It was worse than that. It’s the eighth book and by this time I know that Goodkind will occasionally be throwing the most horrendously brutal and gory scenes. I admit that it’s a guilty pleasure for me to read these scenes and they are part of the attraction of the Sword of Truth series for me. The scene in this book is particularly horrible in that fascinating way. In order to get Zedd’s cooperation in identifying the magical objects that have been pillaged from the Keep he isn’t tortured, neither is Adie. Instead Jagang gets some families together, separates the children, has the children tortured while instructing the parents to convince Zedd to cooperate. Damn!
Anyway, hearing about Zedd, rescue parties start infiltrating the Order’s camp. We have some expected rescuers here like Captain Zimmer and his men. A slightly unexpected rescuer in the form of Rikka disguised as a Sister of the Light. And best of all, a pair of very welcome rescuers, Chase and Rachel from the pages of "Wizard’s First Rule" and last seen being rescued from the Valley of the Lost in "Stone of Tears". I was very happy to see this pair again but not as happy as reading about the successful rescue of Zedd and Adie.
Zedd returns to the Keep with Chase and Rachel while Adie goes with Captain Zimmer to the D’Haran front lines.
The D'Haran Forces
The D’Harans have been entrenched in the high passes preventing the Order from moving across to D’Hara. We are given a welcome look at Verna and the troops successfully holding their position.
Conclusion
Meanwhile, Nathan and Ann, unsurprisingly still following the dictates of prophecy, make their way to Bandakar just in time to give Richard and his band magical support in their war against the Order in that place.
In this story Richard has imbibed a slow acting poison with a three-part antidote. Using the last antidote as bait, Nicholas manages to capture Kahlan. Richard is under the double burden of his headaches and the slow acting poison. The story takes a very dark turn.
Jagang has always been a villain that I love to hate but Nicholas is just plain hateful. For almost the entirety of this story he is so smug and gloating while Richard is writhing in pain. The way that Richard finally takes down Nicholas the Slide is so, so good.
Impressions of the Read
This is the eighth book in the series and the second worst book at this point in my readings. The worst book is the one previous to this: "The Pillars of Creation". So the series is getting weaker.
Why is this the second worst book? A lot of it is because the land of Bandakar and it’s people are not as fleshed out as I would hope. I keep comparing it to the better rendered Anderith. If Bandakar was a drawing it would be a rough sketch. From the writing standpoint the people and the land needed more polish, the fact that the Bandakar story takes up a majority of the book only serves to highlight the flaw. What Oba Rahl was to "The Pillars of Creation", Bandakar is to "Naked Empire".
I’m also a bit frustrated with being this far into the series and Richard still being so ignorant of his magical abilities. Even the Sword of Truth ran out of batteries in this book.
With the incredibly weak previous book and this one, nearly as weak, I would surmise that readers, at this point, would be leaving the series in droves. The Sowrd of Truth, as a series, is probably in trouble at this point.