Unintentionally cool. But no 4 stars because the author was actually serious.

Let's start with the positive stuff.

This is a very nice blend of Star Wars, LotR and Dune. It's a very smartly shaped book, which one can think of as a collection of short-stories with an overarching theme.

There are no plot holes, but—as a reviewer suggests—there is one instance of plot-induced stupidity. That said, part of the reason why I'm tempted to rate this 4 stars is how brilliant the foreshadowing and plot twists were.

The book is full of cute moral relativism, but the author treats it as if it's a bit deeper than it is. The author is very keen to spread moral relativism and Anya Rand libertarianism bullshit to the readers. What reads as humourous / parody fantasy is, according to Goodkind himself was written as stone-faced serious piece of fiction. That said, one can't really argue with the truth of the wizard's first rule, no matter what one's beliefs are about the organisation of the society.

Other reviewers talk about "wooden dialogues", and yes, the writing at large leaves things to be desired, but I want to be a devil's advocate here. Sometimes you read dialogues and they straight up feel like it's the same character talking to themselves and this character is... ...the writer. Goodkind has managed to avoid at least this level of cringe. His tell-don't-show is at least in character, which is ok. And he sprinkles it with fun mental experiments. So yeah. Could be worse!

TW: sexual abuse, gore, mass murder.

P.S.

I've read it as a kid and somehow I'm not into BDSM as an adult. Check-mate, christians.