Rent: Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth, Book 1)

I ripped right through the book and all and all, enjoyed it. Here is some of my input:

1. I found that the story moved along well and that I was always entertained. The main hero is a bit Frodoian, and perhaps a bit Arthurian, but it is its own unique story and an entertaining cast of characters.

2. The story sometimes gets a bit twisted with torture, rape, bad guys who like young boys, overly bad bad guys. The training and torture chapter was beyond what I was comfortable with, but making it through that, there was enough good stuff left to make me forgive him for this portion of the story.

3. Does the author's picture bug you a little like it did me? Mr. Kungfu, yogi, mastermind, serious guy.

4. I have to admit that there were some excellent and emotional moments in the story where great and wonderful things happen. Our hero is one good man and the love story with our heroine is also nice. They make one whale of a couple!

5. I was a bit disappointed to see so much awkward writing, typos, hard to read printing, etc. Is the publisher a bit lame?

6. There were many likable and well characterized secondary players. In general, I liked all of them except that a couple of the evil ones, like Princess Violet, were too ridiculously bad.

7. The author needs to be more subtle. There are too many great big hints about what is going to happen. The bad guys are way too bad and it is fairly easy to guess the outcome. Nevertheless, for a time, I wasn't sure.

Read the book without high expectations. Don't re-read and dwell on thing too much. The author describes the little things several times so you'll never have to wonder what happened. If you are a fast reader and want a fairly entertaining quick ride, this will work. If you are a perfectionist and very careful reader, I think this one will bother you a little bit.

I was drained at the end of this book and disappointed. The events, creatures, and characters throughout the story are very difficult to imagine in your head, which does not make anyone enjoy the flow. There was too much packed into this story which made me want to skip pages.

I loved certain storylines in the book like the whole Rachel saga, and the description of the Confessor getting her "extra power" was very strong in my mind. I love the dragon character. But the torture part towards the end of the novel was totally ridiculous and it literally made me sick where I couldn't sleep that night. The most disappointing aspect was that with such a thick book, there was no feeling of a big epic story. The underlying plot of the novel is not out of the ordinary. The end gets very predictable and I had known who the "villian" was right at the start of the book.

Basically this is a story kids would enjoy but it is told in a grossly masochistic adult way.

I'll admit that when a coworker first handed me Wizard's First Rule, insisting that Sword of Truth was a fantastic series, I was a bit skeptical. I had a hard time getting into Wizard's First Rule and even when it started picking up after the first few chapters I expected to read this one and never bother with the rest of the series. Well, Wizard's First Rule ended up grabbing my attention after all-- there were plenty of cliches and such that seem to run rampant in fantasy novels but there was more than enough to make up for it. Terry Goodkind certainly doesn't shy away from shockers! This first book ended in such a way that I thought to myself 'Well, I guess I'll try the next one, too...'

WIZARD'S FIRST RULE is the first volume of Terry Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" fantasy series. This series tends to divide readers -- some people love it, while others seem to despite it. Either way, the series has been an incredible success, selling somewhere between 10 to 20 million copies worldwide. Next to Robert Jordan, Goodkind is probably the bestselling contemporary fantasy writer for adults.

I'm not an expert on the fantasy genre, but I thought WIZARD'S FIRST RULE was pretty enjoyable. The characters are relatively likable, and the story is quite imaginative in places. The book does start out slowly, but the last 300 pages are very violent and exciting.

The major downside of WIZARD'S FIRST RULE, as many have pointed out, is the quality of the writing. Goodkind writes in a pretty simplistic style, and much of the dialogue is wooden and unrealistic. This is Goodkind's first novel, and it really shows. But I think a strong storyline compensates for medicore writing, and the plot of this book was compelling enough for me to eagerly turn the pages. Whatever its shortcomings, this book did not bore me.

Readers sensitive to violence may want to steer clear of this book, since there are several disturbing scenes of torture and murder. I don't think Goodkind crosses the line of bad taste, but this book may not be appropriate for younger readers.

Overall, WIZARD'S FIRST RULE is an entertaining read. I don't think it's anywhere near as well written as George RR Martin's SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, but it is definitely one of the better fantasy novels I've read recently.
Recommended to fans of good storytelling.

After reading other reviews, and having read this book 6 years ago or so, I have to ask the following question.... are people really stupid? Goodkind is an amazing writer, and while this first book of his series could have been better, it certainly does not deserve the abuse it has been getting from the hands of some of the folk here. Some of the plot points may be unoriginal, and some of the dialogue awkward, but certainly one must admit after reading it that the characters have an overall feel of maturity and age, more so than hte common fantasy/fiction piece of trash most people rave about. If you're literate and an adult, read this, you will like it. If you are illiterate or under the age of 16 then don't read this, try "The wheel of time", you'll be able to relate to those characters better.

Oh, and don't get the audio tapes, its a long novel and if you don't have hte time to read it yourself then you shouldn't be trying.