Ominous Truth(Sword of, that is)

As the Sister mentioned in an earlier post, we are both huge fans of Terry Goodkind's, Sword of Truth series. I have been in love with this series for years. The moral, political and philosophical stances that are reflected really hit right on with a lot of my personal views. And hey, who can help but love a story where the hero overcomes after lots of trials and tortures and does so with some really awesome female companions who can kick some major butt on their own?
Goodkind is one of the few authors, in my humble opinion, who has successfully written and wrapped up a rather long series of books. When he "ended" the SoT series, everything was complete, he did an awesome job of tying up all the bothersome loose ends and the conclusion was pleasantly cathartic. While I hated to see the journey of my well-loved characters come to an end, he ended it well. Hobbits would sing of them in song if they were in a Tolkeinverse. But........
He wrote another book in the series. The Omen Machine. It picked right up from where the last book left off, which is nothing new in that regard, he did that with most of the series. It works well for the storyline. However, this story felt weak to me. There was a lot of stuff going on with nothing really happening. The story had a very pointless feeling about it. Now, I am NOT going to slam Mr. Goodkind, I love his story and it is his. However, this story didn't have good direction, there was a lot of filler "stuff" going on and whats worse, it had no completion. Even though his stories have always led into one another, they always felt like a complete story. The Omen Machine just felt incomplete. I was not riveted by his writing this time around and it was very hard for the book to keep my interested. I was able to stick to previous books in the serious even when reading one for the 4th or 5th time. With The Omen Machine, it was almost painful to keep reading. However, without giving out spoilers, the ending, which really felt like the book just stopped, definitely gave him a chance to redeem the story. I don't see anyway that there is not another sequel already in the works.

Before I sign off here, I just want to reiterate that I completely love the SoT series. And even though I was somewhat disappointed in the latest installment, Mr. Goodkind won me over years ago, and I still feel, for now, anything he publishes is worth the read. As for now, I'll patiently wait to see where he takes Richard, Kahlan and the most awesome Mord Sith next.