Twilight has fallen upon the Three Kingdoms: a grey time that could foretell either dawn or descent in bitter night. Richard Cypher, woodsman and warrior, is chosen to bear the powerful Sword of Truth, but his enemy, Darken Rahl, is a royal mage who comands armies, hideous beasts and-more terrible by far-a twisted magic
In the previous volume of this bestselling series of fantasy novels, our hero Richard Rahl, wielder of the Sword of Truth, and his lover Kahlan unwittingly released upon the New World a terror from the malign and wild magic of the Old World. The Chimes now run free in the Midlands and Richard and Kahlan, powerful in their own right, begin to see their own magic undermined, leaving the people of the New World vulnerable to the encroaching evil that Darken Rahl first unleashed in WIZARD¿S FIRST RULE.
The envious and evil denizens of the Old World once more launch an attack on the sovereignty of the New World, threateding the security of humanity and all that Richard Cypher, Wielder of the Sword of Truth, holds dear.
Science fiction. Fifteen years from now, a new virus sweeps the globe. 95% of those afflicted experience nothing worse than fever and headaches. 4% suffer acute meningitis, and 1% find themselves 'locked in' - fully awake and aware, but unable to move or respond to stimulus. 1% in the US is 1.7 million people 'locked in' - including the President's wife and daughter. But then two new technologies emerge. One is a virtual-reality environment, 'The Agora', where the locked-in can interact with other humans. The other is the discovery that a few rare individuals have brains that are receptive to being controlled by others, allowing those who are locked in to occasionally 'ride' these people and use their bodies as if they were their own. This skill is quickly regulated, licensed, bonded, and controlled. But will somebody be tempted to misuse it, for murder, for political power, or worse
A stunningly inventive breakthrough novel that takes the fantasy genre into a new dimension; this fourth novel in the Sword of Truth sequence takes the series on to much darker ground without losing any of its powerful magic and mystery, any of its gripping storytelling quality.