Just Finished Reading Terry Goodkind's Naked Empire

As I continue along with my reading of fantasy writer Terry Goodkind's twelve-part series The Sword of Truth, I was gratified to discover that it only has eleven books (if you exclude an added prequel).  That doesn't necessarily mean that I dislike this series, but rather that perhaps the author will sooner get around to resolving matters instead of just inventing new lands and characters in order to further his philosophical beliefs.  There's nothing wrong with that, though: fiction can be a very effective way for someone to promote their own worldview, as long as they don't come out sounding as if they are lecturing the reader in the process.  Unfortunately, Goodkind has this flaw, and book #8, titled Naked Empire, has him continuing with his "teaching" without any attempt at subtlety.

In Naked Empire, protagonists Richard and Kahlan are still fighting the Imperial Order...which they've been doing since book #2, as a matter of (fictional) fact.  They discover a people called the Bandakar that had been isolated by magic from the rest of the world. Bandakar is composed of non-magical people who fancy themselves as being civilized (and therefore superior) and everyone else as barbarian (and inferior)...including Richard and Kahlan.  When the magical barrier comes down and the Imperial Order overruns them, one of Bandakar's former leaders enlists our heroes to help them defeat their conquerors by being the "barbarians" they refuse to be themselves.  In other words, get the uncivilized outsiders to kill off the enemy that they themselves are too "good" to stand up to. The philosophy of the Bandakar has them continually making excuses for the cruel, oppressive rule of the Imperial Order while refusing to lift a finger to resist them in any way...even chastising those of their own who act or even speak against their oppressors.  I can't help but think that this is a not-so-oblique analogy of Goodkind to the tendency that some in the West have had to go out of their way to apologize for and explain away the oppressive and militarily aggressive Soviet Union and its proxies...and, later, terrorist groups like Al Qaeda...while roundly criticizing any resistance to them from the U.S. and its allies (aka "blame America first"). I also believe that Goodkind is indirectly criticizing some of America's allies who benefit from their protection without making any appreciable sacrifices in terms of money and human lives...while many of their people condemn the actions of their protectors.  While I think that Goodkind has a good point to make here, I still think that in recent years we've been too eager to go off to war without first leveraging our military advantage to gain diplomatic solutions to conflicts (Iraq comes prominently to mind).  Also, turning our brave soldiers into "nation builders" under PROTRACTED OCCUPATIONS of hostile lands isn't protecting anyone...least of all our precious young men and women serving so selflessly.  Maybe Goodkind would agree with this last opinion of mine...especially when the leaders of countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, whose very regimes have depended on our presence there, often speak out as if we were the enemy and our (and their) enemies were their friends. In this regard they sound a lot like Goodkind's Bandakars.

One thing that appeals to me in this Sword of Truth series, the soapbox philosophizing notwithstanding,  is the way I have come to know and like its main characters.  This skill at character development, as I see it, is Terry Goodkind's great strength and it keeps me reading on.  I have read that the concluding books 9, 10, and 11 represent a trilogy in themselves, which I find a bit perplexing...since each book in the series directly leads into the next anyway...