What did we all think of The First Confessor - Spoilers

So what did we think of it.

Terry's first foray into self-publishing. Leaving aside all the self-publishing issues we could get into, what did you think of the actual novel?

I thought it was interesting to see the world from that viewpoint. We'd been hearing about Magda and everyone through the prism of time and Richard and Kahlan's world but now we got to see the world 3000 years before Richard would be born.

It was interesting and I'd have to read it again to really sum up my thoughts but overall I enjoyed The First Confessor but felt that there was a hell of a lot of repitition. The same thing seemed to get explained multiple times and I kind of got bogged down when Magda was talking to the spiritus or whoever she was.

Don't get me wrong, it was certainly enjoyable and I'll probably reread it after The Third Kingdom but I just remember thinking it was a bit of a slog through the middle part of the novel.

I also like the fact that Magda's new power does not and did not define her. A confessor essentially is a "seeker of truth" in their own right and it seemed to me that Magda was that before she got the power. The power doesn't define her. Much the same with Richard and Kahlan.

Once I reread it I'll come back and post some other thoughts.

I think those who start reading Terry with it will find the SOT a very different experience. And in many ways I think it ruins many of the sub-plots for them. However in and of itself it really felt like a SOT like novel. My suspicion is that Terry had most of this story down many years before recent developments and thus it really felt like the comeback.  I did feel there were some clunky transitions here and there in trying to adapt a story that was probably larger into a bit of his new style while laying some ground work for the "Zombie cycle" for lack of a better term.

I really think Terry has done something unique with TFC (and LON  to a lesser extent as well). If people come to Terry's stories with these books first their experience will be very different than those of us who have read in published order and that difference will be something we cannot really share.  (What has been seen cannot be unseen) It will make for two very distinct relationships with the books that will have a fair amount of "uncommon" ground. I find myself wishing I could be one of those people who starts with TFC just so I could understand what that experience is like. But I cant.

Quite right.

He did something similar with POC. I think he called it a "dual plot".

Very interesting.

Okay, I loved this book. Finally knowing the details on these legends was awesome. There were a few spots in the book though that didn't seem to flow well, but he did manage to tie them back in pretty good. Like the Isadore scene...while I liked learning about Spiritists and such, as I was reading her story I kept thinking...where are we going with this? lol
The whole "Zombie" aspect was something I didn't expect and kind had to get used to but by the end I kinda like where he went with it. I like the dark lands and glad he explained some of it's background. I kind wished I had read this book before The Oman Machine, cause it made me understand Oman machine alot better.
Merritt is a badass!!! Magda was a badass!!! I loved Quinn and I loved Alric Rahl. Naja was cool too. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I hope he continues to write more back stories and now I really want to know about before the star shift. Why they made the boxes of Orden, the Omen machine and other mystries not yet explained. I'm excited to get into The third Kingdom now that I understand better a few things. Great book!

It makes one wonder how different WFR would have been had it been written in this more defined style. Frankly I'm more of a fan of a faster paced story. WFR remains one of my top favorite books of all time (FOTF is easily my favorite because by that time Terry's sense of voice in his stories had caught up to his incredible knack for storytelling).

This book to me felt the most like WFR of any of his books since WFR itself, because it still felt very raw. A lot of this has to do with the fact that fewer hands touched it from the actual writing of the tale to the publication process. You could tell where the writing itself lacked the... for lack of a better phrase "professional editor's touch". And for me that made the story more personal. I felt more connected to the world than I had been since FOTF. In essence the "flaws" of self-publication became the strengths in Terry's storytelling this time around. At least, that's how I felt while reading it.