The Omen Machine

I finished The Omen Machine by Terry Goodkind a few days ago.  While it's fresh in my mind, I'm going to do a quick review.  Nothing to in depth.

I enjoyed the book.  It was fun to read about Richard, Kahlan, Cara, Zedd, and Nicci again.  Some familiar faces do not make an appearance (WHERE THE FUCK IS SHOTA?!) and this made me sad.  But, since this is a three book deal, I'm sure she'll show up eventually.  At least I hope so.

If you've read Law of Nines, you'll find that The Omen Machine is written in a very similar format.  Goodkind went with that style of writing, forgoing that of the Sword of Truth series.  Which, for me, was fine.  I liked Law of Nines a lot, and enjoyed the style.  It's a bit more modern, less wordy, and gets to the point much quicker.

The plot here is not so much deep as it is left open-ended by the end of the book.  There is an immediate problem that Richard manages to handle with the help of this omen machine that was found in a room beneath the Garden of Life.  Richard and Kahlan went to sleep in the Garden of Life during a spring snow storm (because some dark beings were watching them sleep in their rooms) and the roof caved in due to heavy snow drifts, and a lighting strike hitting the from of the glass windows.  The strike grounded in the floor of the Garden, and weakened the ceiling structure of the room below.  When all the snow fell in with the glass, part of the floor collapsed revealing a room below.

Richard and Kahlan venture down and find the omen machine.  It typically only comes to life when Richard is around (though I think it does once or twice issue an omen when he's not present).

With the help of this machine quite late in the book, Richard is able to resolve the immediate problem of the Hedge Maid.

Goodkind has introduced a new system of dark, occult magic.  We're not sure how it works at all, we've only touched the tip of the iceberg.  Hedge Maids practice very dark and death-based magics as far as I can tell.  The main bad guy appears to be a man named Hannis Arc, but could actually be Abbott Dreier, one of Arc's associates from Fajin Province.  Fajin Province is a land north east of D'Hara, one that we're unfamiliar with due to ... well not ever having needed to go there in the Sword of Truth series.

Nicci knows some about this area as well as the magic the Hedge Maid practices.  We also find out the Hannis Arc, as the big bad guy, wants to get the people of D'Hara to reject Richard as the Lord Rahl because Hannis feels he should be the ruler of D'Hara.

The book ends with, as I mentioned, some resolution to an immediate issue that boils over in the last 10 chapters of the book.  However, the main issue, Hannis Arc wanting to rule D'Hara, is unresolved.  The omen machine also appears to still be operating by the end of the book.

So we're left with a pseudo-cliff hanger.  There was enough to provide some closure, but we'll see what happens next year when the second book is released.

I really hope Richard and Kahlan's first born child is introduced.  Because that is A BIG LOOSE THREAD from the Sword of Truth novels.

Overall, good book, not amazing, but decent.  I'd give it an 7.5 out of 10.