The Law of Nines by Terry Goodkind

Cover Description: Turning twenty-seven may be terrifying for some, but for Alex, a struggling artist living in the midwest, it is cataclysmic. Inheriting a huge expanse of land should make him a rich and happy man; but something about this birthday, his name, and the beautiful woman whose life he has just saved, has suddenly made him-and everyone he loves-into a target. A target for extreme and uncompromising violence.

I recently finished the book called The Law of Nines by Terry Goodkind. It is the 8th book I have read by this author. He is best known for his Sword of Truth novels. When I grabbed it off the shelf I briefly read the cover, recognized the author and thought I would take a chance. Thankfully, I was not disappointed. This novel is a stand alone novel, but it does have connections to his other series The Sword of Truth. The connections are subtle, which does not make it necessary to have read the previous books.

The novel takes place in present time, on the main character Alexander Rahl's 27th birthday. He is a painter, with one parent dead (his father) and his mother in a high security mental intuition, where she has been since he was 9 years old. He meets a beautiful woman (Jax) under mysterious circumstances and of course falls madly in love. It had something to do with her hair I believe. Anyway, he soon finds out there is another universe and according to the prophecy of The Law of Nines he is the savior of the entire universe, his and hers.

Like most Goodkind novels the central theme is love conquers all. All you need is love, love lifts you up where you belong. Blah Blah Blah more love. Unlike his other novels he doesn't hit you over the head with the love stuff. He also doesn't get into long drawn out theological/magic/good vs. evil explanations. Instead you have a cut and dry boy meets girl, girl needs boy to save the world, boy helps and they all live happily ever after, with a lot of killing and running for their lives. I believe this is a new series so the end does leave a bit of a cliffhanger, but nothing too dramatic.

It was a fast-paced, action pack novel. I couldn't put it down and didn't want it to end.

Although this is how Goodkind sucked me in last time...