Heart of Black Ice: Sister of Darkness: The Nicci Chronicles, Volume IV (The Nicci Chronicles, 4)

No spoilers here: If you're a sword of truth fan, you're going to love the latest volume of the Nicci Chronicles. I think what's rather beautiful about this series is that it stands on its' own for the most part. Why 5 stars? Because for the couple of days that I had my nose buried in this book, I was somewhere else. I was with Nicci and Bannon and Nathan, rallying against the dark forces that seem to always pop up in their world.I have a tendency of cruising through Goodkinds books. When I first learned of the sword of truth series, I think I spent a few weeks catching up. For me, that's the mark of a talented writer. Someone who can transport the audience to another place or another time. Goodkind has always done that for me...even when he has annoyed me to no end with some of his more repetitive lines in past books, I still really appreciate him and the world that he has created for all of us to enjoy.

I've said it for years and years, I absolutely love Goodkind's books. So much depth and layering of people and places, interconnected events epic and small. The characters are brilliant and distinctive and very easy to get attached to. Losing one can be literally emotional. This 4 part tale was awesome and epic. Nathan Rahl's 2nd life book will be one for the historians of this world for sure. My heart started racing the last few pages when I realized where the story of Nicci and Nathan will take us next... Seems like Nicci's journey out of the darkness is about to come full circle to where her path began. I can't wait!

Once again, you see I am a fan of Terry Goodkind, I've read every installment of his Sword of Truth series with Richard and Kahlan (that's the whole collection on my bookshelves), once again he has allowed me to accompany his magical heroes as they battle real world villians. Again I watched as impossible situations were discussed, strategies were planned and plots were carried out. This book is of Nicci and Nathan and will be added in their own space, a companion series to what, I feel, is one of the finest examples of modern, fictional storytelling ever. Thank you, Terry!

I enjoyed this book. The character development is excellent. The characters seem real. There are many scenes filled with incredible action.

The whole Nikki Chronicles was excellent as expected in usual Terry Goodwin style, albeit with a lot less repetitive back stories (thank goodness) as seen in the Sword of Truth series. The last book, Heart of Black Ice wraps things up very nicely, and left room for more. Not predictable at the end. Nikki is a reformed Sister if the Dark, and a formidable opponent. Enjoyed the entire series. Now back to Richard and Kahlan....8)

I've been reading Terry Goodkind's books since 1994, when he published Wizard's First Rule. His world-building, story-telling and character development have been first rate and worthy of praise. But the last two books of this series have been flat, repetitive, predictable and underwhelming. There are inconsistencies in the facts presented. For example, the narrative does not reduce the size or threat of the ancient army even when tens of thousands of their soldiers are killed. Their ability to fight also does not appear diminished even when they are starving and feeding off of their own bodies. For another example, the lead Morazeth doesn't last long in a fight with King Grieve, but Bannor, who was trained by the Morazeth, kills Grieve in the same amount of time. I know how hard it is to write books, but this just didn't work for me. I debated between two and three stars but eventually settled on three since the story was strong enough that I wanted to find out how things got resolved.

A very good read with all the wonderful story description that drew me in to the sword of truth series. Though I have felt the author followed a formula to his writing in the past, and it is a good formula, this book is more open, free flowing and is not repetitive within itself as some books in the series struck me as. This is one of the better books in the series.

The group is separated, and each one has quite the job of defeating their enemies and in the end, the world. I was on pins and needles as each small victory moved the group closer and closer back together, all with their enemies on their heels. This was a page turner, just like the others in the series. I would love more and more of Nicci and Nathan.

Terry Goodkind was one of the main reasons I got into reading as a young teenager. His original works in the Sword of Truth Series were unparralled and when he finished with Confessor I had the series equal with anything else I'd read. Even then, there were murmurs of discontent with certain habits - like explaining everybit of the story again as if each book was independent rather than part of a bigger story arc or constant wordy preaching on his philosphy that was endlessly echoed in the later series....or the lack of imagination when it came to the story. i.e. seperate the heroic couple, deprive them of their gift and then solve every solution through 'need' at the end...But back to this series...I was really hoping for a breathe of fresh air and admit even now I'll buy his latest books in the hopes they will rekindle the earlier magic he produced. Sadly, the story is hopelessly predictable, the characters one-dimensional and the dialogue wooden. And sadly he has not produced anything new since Jagang came onto the scene...No matter who is defeated, how the world is saved, another equally predictable villain is produced who embodies the same Imperial Order beliefs (think Communism that just won't go away) and is always a bigger threat than the last moutpiece in charge. It's really frustrating that after so many books we don't ever actually see anything new - we get occasional hints of new creatures, the usual melee of blood and gore and magic and then same tired endings being pararded out each time. The ending of this series with the same (surprise surprise) idealogical threat from the Old World made me grit my teeth in frustration...seriously HOW MANY TIMES!!!It hurts to write this about one of my favourite authors but I really hope he takes this in the spirit its meant - Give Richard and the gang some credit, let them actually learn how to use their gift and find villains who can challenge them on a worthy level. It's insulting to Kahlan, Nicci and everyone else that ultimately, for all their intellect and brilliance, it's always Richard with his super IQ that will find the solution.And for goodness sake can we move on from the Imperial Order - it's worse than the Star Wars Imperial Order coming back every movie with a bigger badder death star!

It was sad that after building Nicci's story over several books, Goodkind decided to make Richard the one who actually saves the day, again. I was reminded of the line in the Lost in Space movie, where Matt LeBlanc is annoyed that an expert pilot is just being used to activate the autopilot, and he utters the line "And the monkey pushes the button." That's essentially what they do to Nicci in this. They could at least have let her be the hero of her own book series. She deserved a better end to the story. Definitely the weakest book of the series.There is also the issue that if Richard had been less cryptic, the whole thing would have ended earlier, and fewer people would have died.

This is classic goodkind. The fourth book in this series does not disappoint and nicely brings everything together at the end. Or does it?There is definitely a story yet to be told with the Selka and apparently Richard is having some problems in the new world ( so there is at least another two books to look forward to).

The next instalment in the Nicci Chronicles is a well worked tale taking the parts built over the previous stories to a conclusion. The series follows on from the massive Sword Of Truth series of novels and as such, should really be read after those and alongside the Children of D'Hara stories.

Tremendous back to his original complete structures. Really well written and the story line was really detailed and complete. Really the tv series could have been so much better if the original storylines had been followed and a real close actor to the description of Nicci and in other books Richard had been found.