The series is set in a world divided into two major regions: the New World and the Old World. Parkinson died on October 26, 2005, but not before completing the cover art for two more novels in the series. New hardback and paperback editions of those two books were later published with new cover illustrations by Parkinson. Keith Parkinson served as the cover artist for all the novels of the first edition, apart from Wizard's First Rule and Blood of the Fold. A television series adaptation of the novels, titled Legend of the Seeker, produced by ABC Studios and broadcast via syndication, first aired on November 1, 2008. As of 2008, 25 million copies of the series' books have been sold worldwide, and the series has been translated into more than 20 languages. The latest novel in the series, Heart of Black Ice, was released in 2020. The series began in 1994 with Wizard's First Rule and Goodkind wrote eighteen more novels in addition to a novella titled Debt of Bones. While each novel was written to stand alone, except for the final three that were intended to be a trilogy, they follow a common timeline and are linked by ongoing events that occur throughout the series. The books follow the protagonists Richard Cypher, Kahlan Amnell, Nicci, Cara, and Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander on their quest to defeat oppressors who seek to control the world and those who wish to unleash evil upon the world of the living. The Sword of Truth is a series of twenty-two epic fantasy novels written by Terry Goodkind. Print ( hardcover and paperback), Audiobook