Eighth in Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series, Naked Empire brings the regular characters back to the forefront in their continuing efforts to defeat the Imperial Order.

Naked Empire picks up right where The Pillars of Creation leaves off.  ”The Gang”, as I’ll be referring to the group of heroes from here on out, encounters an individual named Owen, who begs for their assistance.  He gets The Gang’s assistance by poisoning Richard, with the promise of an antidote once he has freed Owen’s people from the Imperial Order.  Richard soon finds out that the Bandakar (Owen’s people) are all pristinely ungifted, with no spark of magic, like his half-sister Jennsen.  He reasons that the Imperial Order’s motives for conquering the Bandakar, as out of the way as they are, are to use them as a weapon against magic, as magic has no effect on them.  Richard must find a way to expel the Imperial Order from Bandakar, and win the allegiance of the Bandakar people before his time runs out.

-[insert revolutionary thinking here]