Terry Goodkind is one of the premiere fantasy writers of our generation. He is made known by his series, the Sword of Truth. In these books he puts forth the nine rules of wizardry and chronicles the tale of the Wizard Zedd, Richard the Seeker, and Kahlan the Mother Confessor.
Terry writers on a different level than most fantasy writers, using more adult terminology and does not stray from the dark side of man. He is less candy can fiction and more realistic in the way the that people react to each other in different situations. He also does not stay away from more intellectual and complex story lines.
https://www.terrygoodkind.com/
According to his site, Terry looks to be ending his Sword of Truth series at twelve books. No word what his next project will be or if he intends to keep writing. I am still only four books into the series so I have a ways to go, but knowing the end is coming is very sad.
Goodkind definitely takes medieval fantasy to the next level. Between him and Philip S. Dow, I stay heavily involved in medieval reading. The two of them fill a complete shelf of this genre in my office. Otherwise I stay completely devoted to Anne Rice and her thrilling sci-fi books.
I have read all the books in Goodkind's series so far and am currently waiting for the next one to come out. Although I agree with his books being fantastic, I believe that as you get farther into the series it may become harder to read. In my opinion a couple of his books really dragged on. If you find yourself agreeing with me as you read them I urge you to read on because with last 2 books he has published I believe he has recovered nicely and is better than ever. If you are a fan of Goodkind's work than I would strongly suggest George R.R. Martin...namely the series "A Song of Ice and Fire." His writing is very dark and the style is unique. You would do well to pick it up.
I would agree some what. I have read all but his latest "phantom" which I am going to buy this week. I thought that some of his books end up ultimately looking like really good fillers for the series, a way to get from one point to the other without really changing the story line. But some of the harder books to read, like Pillars of Creation, really set the stage for later events in the later books. I have not read Phantom yet, do you like it?