Far From Reality

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Review - Wizard's First Rule

Posted by LunaMoth at 2:00 PM

Wizard's First Rule 
Author - Terry Goodkind
Series - Sword of Truth #1
Genre - Epic Fantasy
Pages - 836

Description From Goodreads 

In the aftermath of the brutal murder of his father, a mysterious woman, Kahlan Amnell, appears in Richard Cypher's forest sanctuary seeking help . . . and more. His world, his very beliefs, are shattered when ancient debts come due with thundering violence. 

 In a dark age it takes courage to live, and more than mere courage to challenge those who hold dominion, Richard and Kahlan must take up that challenge or become the next victims. Beyond awaits a bewitching land where even the best of their hearts could betray them. Yet, Richard fears nothing so much as what secrets his sword might reveal about his own soul. Falling in love would destroy them--for reasons Richard can't imagine and Kahlan dare not say. 

In their darkest hour, hunted relentlessly, tormented by treachery and loss, Kahlan calls upon Richard to reach beyond his sword--to invoke within himself something more noble. Neither knows that the rules of battle have just changed . . . or that their time has run out. This is the beginning. One book. One Rule. Witness the birth of a legend.

I started this book many years ago then stopped because I just could not get into it. I decided to start it again and realized that I did not give this a decent chance. It is not a unique book by any means, it does take from other fantasy books, but what doesn’t these days? 

Wizards First Rule is an epic fantasy revolving around the woodsman Richard and the Mother Confessor Kahlan. He by chance saves her one day from a quad of men meaning to do her harm and because of that his whole world as he knew it was flipped upside down. 

Evil plots, magic, swords, love and betrayal. This book has all of that and more! While it may be a bit simple for some people (there are not a whole lot of perspectives and twists) and while the writing is a bit childish and repetitive, it is by no means a failing book. 

Yes, the bad guys are REALLY bad and the good guys are REALLY good but the clear-cut personalities just mean that somewhere along the series line that there is a chance for that to change, there is a chance for some development and questioning of morals and identities.

Richard is the most goodly good guy you will meet, he is a bit simple and tends to go into inner monologue and debates a lot but that is okay, he tends to make it interesting. Kahlan while a good person struggles with telling him her secret: She is the Mother Confessor and therefore has great and unimaginable powers. Why she doesn’t tell him? Well, you will have to read and see (but trust me you will get angry with her haha.) 

The other characters are nicely done, the wizard Zedd is funny and adds life to the others. Your heart will pine for Rachael and you will adore Adie, hate the queen and her malicious daughter and really hate Darken Rahl (our villain) and his lackey Demmin Nass. 

The only part I could have done without was the overly long sadist/bdsm section. It went on way to long and even though it did have a purpose it did not need to span 50 something pages. Which brings me to some other things, if you can’t stomach violence, blood, and gore… step away. There are some really graphic scenes, one even involving a child. 

 I have read the reviews good and bad for this book, I urge you to do the same and take them with a grain of salt, if it sounds interesting to you and you like 800+ page epic fantasies then you just may want to give Wizards First Rule a chance.

 

2 Comments:

1. A Library Girl said...
   May 4, 2013 at 7:13 PM  
   I read this book long enough ago that I can barely remember anything about it, but I do remember liking it. I noticed a lot of similarities between this series and Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, which I started reading prior to trying Goodkind's books. Although I thought Goodkind's writing was more simplistic, his books appealed to me more than Jordan's. I never did get past the fourth books of either series, though. I don't seem to have much epic fantasy stamina.
   Unknown said...
   May 8, 2013 at 8:43 PM  
   I enjoyed this book, but the BSDM section was unnecessarily long. There are also scenes in the later books that I don't really appreciate.

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