I hardly ever stop reading part-way through, so it was with heavy heart that I laid aside Phantom by Terry Goodkind, a respected fantasy author. I am a big fan of the genre that involves alternate worlds told in saga like format (think LOTR or The Golden Compass) but this one was just too ponderous. It suffered from lack of good editing in my personal opinion. Maybe if it had been told in half the number of pages I could have stayed with it, but each event seemed to be belabored endlessly, much as I am doing now with this non-recommendation. The premise is interesting enough. The phantom is a woman who has disappeared from everyone's memory as a consequence of evil machinations to control powerful tools of magic. But it's only part of a chain of events that are unwinding the power of magic throughout the world, leaving it vulnerable to a takeover by a life-negating philosophy and army. The particular religious order that fuels this destructive force rings remarkably similar to most organized religions that have been used to wreak havoc on a massive scale through the course of human history. The book is also rife with detailed explanations of magic that are too complex for someone jumping in without being grounded through prequels. The last chapter sets it up for a sequel, but don't think I'll go there.
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