Imagine the shock of recovering from a near-fatal wound to find your wife is missing and everyone denies she even existed.

Then there is a magic monster/cloud on your trail that can reduce humans to shreds in seconds.

That is the situation wizard Richard Rahl finds himself in. To top it all, various important people are trying to persuade him to concentrate on combating an evil empire instead of setting out in search of his wife.

Somehow he manages to juggle all the pressures in this latest in the Sword Of Truth series, in between philosophical discussions on the importance of life.

A good book for those with plenty of time on their hands and a prior knowledge of the Sword Of Truth world.

Updated: 16:27 Friday, July 22, 2005