Some of Goodkind's political views have provoked controversy,[4] notably the dedication to his novel The Pillars of Creation (2001):[15] To the people in the United States Intelligence Community, who, for decades, have valiantly fought to preserve life and liberty, while being ridiculed, condemned, demonized, and shackled by the jackals of evil.

[4]Don D'Ammassa described Goodkind as part of a "host of brand new writers [with] no previous experience writing fiction but who could turn out one large epic adventure after another".

[16] Robert Eaglestone described his books as a "depressing read" due to the series' overarching cynicism, with a weakness being that the heroic characters are only likable in comparison with utterly murderous villains.

In April 2010, Goodkind signed a contract to publish three more novels with Tor Books, the first of which revisited the world and characters of the Sword of Truth series.

Goodkind self-published the second new novel, The First Confessor: the Legend of Magda Searus, on July 2, 2012;[19] the book was ranked #28 on the Kindle bestseller list by the next morning.

Writing about the series in The Atlas Society newsletter, Willam Perry states that Goodkind's "characters, plots, and themes...are clearly and directly influenced by Rand's work, and the book's heroes occasionally invoke Objectivist principles".

[30] On July 24, 2006, it was announced that the Sword of Truth book series would be adapted as a television mini-series produced by Sam Raimi and Joshua Donen.

[31] The series was ultimately dubbed Legend of the Seeker, in order to differentiate it from the novels and allow an episodic format of self-contained stories that moved beyond the first book.

[32] Raimi, Robert Tapert, Ken Biller, and Ned Nalle served as executive producers for the series, distributed by ABC Studios.