Wizard's First Rule

The first entry into Goodkind's Sword of Truth universe.

First off: Don't watch the show. It changes too many critical points. Come in with a fresh perspective.

As a series, it is very, very uneven- the worst books are full-novel length Scouring of the Shire/Tom Bombadil pointless, with the added boredom of Ayn Rand-style lecturing on individualism.

The best books, though, are absolutely incredible and I would not fail to recommend.

As a personal opinion- and I say this as someone who eagerly grabbed each installment as a teen- I think Goodkind's voice and talents as an author weren't aligned with what he wanted to write, and that this caused that seesaw effect.

This opening entry is, in my opinion, the third-best of the series- and that show more marks it as very, very good.

Be warned: Goodkind has some background BDSM tendencies and is absolutely unafraid of graphically described violence. The former happens suddenly here and there throughout the series, the latter is fairly common.

Goodkind's strengths are absolutely gripping action, an interesting main character, and making everything seem obvious at the end with identifiable foreshadowing throughout on a review. His weaknesses are a tendency to lecture, and an almost pathological avoidance of doing world building ahead of time- large, powerful nations suddenly appear midway through the series as if they had always been there, just never talked about. He's a bit obsessed with keeping the books fairly self-contained in that manner.

The core conceit of this book is one of the best in modern fantasy- during times of need, the wizards appoint a Seeker and give them the Sword of Truth. The Sword gives them magical teeth, as it were, and a Seeker is a law unto themselves, free to follow their conscience, execute who they believe they need to execute, and seek out what they decide to seek out. It's a bit reminiscent of the Green Lanterns in DC Comics- the wizards identify the right kind of person, someone who asks the right kind of questions, has to find out for themselves, and is incorruptible- the kind of person who makes a bad enemy and peerless friend. These people bring the power to the position- the wizard, as an old wizard notes- just makes it "official" by granting the sword.

When there is an unsolvable problem, and the world is at threat, a Seeker is unleashed to find the solution. That is their strength: They find solutions, they don't solve problems. It is a really novel take on a heroic characteristic, and Goodkind writes that side of the series with exceptional talent.

The title derives from the Wizard Rules- one revealed in each book. The First is the first because it's the most important: People are stupid. They'll believe any lie because they want it to be true or are afraid it might be true.

The humor is of the first order, the magic interesting, the Seeker a wonderful concept; Goodkind manages to balance his magic with a kind of unintended consequences that makes it engaging and not overpower the series. This entry is highly recommended, and it does exceptionally well as a standalone. show less

I've pretty much given up on writing "real" (read: semi-coherent) reviews of books that I don't have a commitment to review. It's easier to just tell you all the random thoughts running through my head, and my pure elation at having found a new Fantasy series that actually captured my attention. I really missed being so absorbed in a new world, that nothing else existed outside of it. I'm just head over heels in love with Richard, Kahlan, and Zed.

Wizard's First Rule is lush. It's vividly written, with that perfect amount of description, that never falls over the line into obnoxious. Terry Goodkind's writing quickly pulled me into the world that he wove for me. The line in the sand, between the magic free Westland and the magic riddled show more Midlands, made me giddy with excitement. If there's one thing I know, a place with no magic that borders its exact opposite, always ends in some kind of war. I hoped for a deliciously evil villain, and I wasn't disappointed.

Which brings me to characters, who impressed me just as much as the plot itself. I fell hard for Richard, and his chivalrous personality. Let's be honest, I have a soft spot in my heart for perpetual "good guys". The ones who might have to make some hard decisions sometimes, but never lose their inner spark. That's Richard, plain and simple. Kahlan had to grow on me a bit, mostly because she's shrouded in mystery for a fair bit of the beginning of this story. As the story progressed though, and I understood her better, I started to fall for her too. By the end of the book, my heart bled for these two. Kahlan and Richard forever, and I don't care who knows it.

I could go on and on about the other amazing characters, especially that deliciously evil villain. I could wax poetic about how Goodkind has mastered the art of the grey area. He manages to write characters who aren't fully evil, or fully good, but somewhere in between. It makes for a much more interesting story. Wich prompts me to warn you that there are a fair amount of torture scenes in a portion of this book. They're important to the story, but also tough to read.

Anyway, If I wrote about all of that though, this review would end up as long as this book. It's testament to how much I loved this that I listened to 36 hours of this story on audio, without blinking an eye. I was actually sad when it was over. Book two has been borrowed, and is in my possession! Let's hope it's as good as the first. show less

I enjoyed Legend of the Seeker, all two gorgeous seasons of it. But I couldn’t get through this brick, even though there were sparks of real intelligence in some of the characters and plotting: despite his ridiculous name and ridiculous plan, the villain Darken Rahl did come across as a guy who thought he was the hero of the story, and other people seemed like people—and then there’d be a lot of narration and running around, and I just couldn’t wait it out. At least there’s always the DVDs.

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Title: Wizard's First Rule
Series: Sword of Truth #1
Author: Terry Goodkind
Rating: 2 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 852
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Richard Cypher, still dealing with his father being brutally murdered, and forbidden from investigating by his elder brother who is about to become the most powerful man in Westland, rescues a young woman from the clutches of four men. Her name is Kahlan.

Kahlan is from the Midlands, a land where magic show more abounds and that is cutoff from Westland by the Border, a magical construct. But the Border between the Midlands and D'Hara has already fallen and Lord Rahl, lord of D'Hara, has taken over the Midlands. A prophecy says that Kahlan will find the Seeker, the wielder of the Sword of Truth, in the Westlands. This Seeker can only be appointed by the last remaining wizard, a wizard so powerful that he cast a spell that made everyone in the entire world forget his name and his face.

Richard takes Kahlan to his old friend Zed, a rascally old man who has trained Richard throughout the years in woodcraft and various other skills. Richard does something or other that makes it obvious that he is the Seeker Kahlan is looking for, but where will they find an unkown wizard who has the Sword of Truth to give to Richard? Oh wait...

Richard, Kahlan and Zed are on the run, as Lord Rahl is able to send magical creatures across the Border to hunt down Kahlan. Richard has memorized a secret book and Lord Rahl has done some magical stuff with some magical boxes. These boxes will either give Lord Rahl complete power, certain death or the destruction of all living things. Only Richard knows the correct box to pick.

Lord Rahl pulls shenanigans and ends up with everybody at his castle. Everyone is so busy trying to protect everybody else that they give Lord Rahl exactly what he wants. He opens a Box of Orden, only Richard, being such a super smart Seeker, tricked him. Lord Rahl dies and it is revealed that Richard Cypher is actually the son of Lord Rahl and the grandson of the Wizard Zeddicus. Long Live the Good Lord Rahl!

My Thoughts:

Awwwww man! This went from a 5star read in '04, on my Loved side of the 100 books of Bookstooge down to a 2 star! Folks, that is a crushing blow. I am not sure that Life itself is worth continuing. With a blow like that, my confidence is shattered, my ego destroyed and my ham-handed self-righteousness has been shish-kebabed.

Where do I start?

Well, the writing I guess. It was bad. It was clunky. It was choppy. It did not flow. When I read the words I felt like I was in a wagon going over a cobblestone road. Richard did things. Richard said things. Kahlan also did and said things. Zed AND Lord Rahl both said and did things. It felt like watching a marionette show. I have no memory of the writing being this unskilled 14 years ago. Guess I've matured in that time. Thank goodness!

The characters. Most of the issues with the various characters stems from the writing skill (or lack thereof) and not because of any inherent flaws in the characters. They are mainly flat without any real individuality. The romance between Richard and Kahlan has all the texture, flavor and excitement of drying cement. Zed, for being a wizard of great strength and age, is as much an idiot as Richard.

The Mord Sith. This was just disturbing this time around. A group of women broken in every single way so that pain is pleasure to them. Lord Rahl then somehow makes them able to control any magic used against them and the Mord Sith can torture the magic user until they are the Mord Sith's slave. This was gone into in way more detail than was needed and I just felt dirty after reading it.

Everything is resolved because Richard is the golden boy. I usually like a protagonist who is capable and smart and able to handle everything thrown at him. This time though, Richard didn't work that way for me. He's so golden King Midas would be envious. It didn't encourage me, it made me nauseous. It didn't help that Goodkind uses Richard as a mouth piece and Goodkind blows the trumpet loud and long.

Overall, a very bleh read that really crushed me with how disappointed I was because of my memories.I will be removing this from the Bookstooge in 100 Books once I find a suitable replacement to go on the “Loved” side. Way to go Goodkind, make MORE work for me almost 15 years after I read your book. You're a real peach...

★★☆☆☆ show less

It is always curious to see fantasy authors who don't consider themselves to be fantasy authors. Case-in-point: Terry Goodkind. The former landscape painter said in an interview that he wasn't writing fantasy, but 're-inventing the novel'. It always drives me to wonder whether he has read any fantasy. Goodkind doesn't reinvent the novel; he doesn't even reinvent the fantasy novel, but he does twist the knobs and get a little more steam out of it.

Michael Moorcock critiqued Tolkien as a false Tory romantic, which is rather apt considering that the love story takes place almost entirely in absentia (prompting Peter Jackson to infuse some extra loving with that hot, elven, psychic dream sequence).

Most fantasy authors rectify this by having show more the girl come along for the journey. Goodkind likes to keep the separation for much of the story as our hero tries to seek her out across a continent (though she is often just in the next room! Oh! What a tragic coincidence! Actually, after the first time it's just an annoying and painfully artificial way to try to make the story more exciting while keeping the characters apart).

However, the other half of the time, the hero finds the girl and transfixes her on his mighty sword. No, really. I'm not sure why these authors always end up feeling as if they have to dump their sex fetish issues at this particular juncture: "Huh, I secretly dig BDSM. Maybe I should confide my fantasies in a book for mass publication".

I cannot think of a single female character in the entire series who isn't either raped or threatened with rape. If you want to give me an example of one, remember: I'm counting magical psychic blowjob rape as rape. I wish I never had the opportunity to qualify a statement with 'don't forget the psychic blowjob rape'.

I don't mind actual BDSM literature, but I'd rather have my own reaction to it than be told "isn't it totally dirty and wrong!? (but still super sexy, right?)"

Goodkind's book is cookie-cutter genre fantasy, but it's not badly done, and if you like people narrowly missing one another, bondage, masochism, rape, and dragons, it's pretty good. The series also dies on arrival part-way through, so prepare for disappointment. show less

Okay, so I finally finished all 800 and something pages, and I'll carry on to book two. I didn't think it was as fantastic as some of you, but I didn't hate it either.

Though it was another example of really crappy editing. His editor must have been in the "hated it" group and so simply skipped huge swaths of it to reach the end as quickly as possible. It's the only explanation for the blatant errors the book was riddled with. Or, maybe TOR is a really crappy publishing house, what do I know?

Every review I saw was pretty much one star or five. It don't see it. I appreciated the imagination and the story, though a little trite in places (aren't they all?). It's good vs. evil, wizards and dragons and the world hangs in the balance with a show more little love story thrown in. Isn't that what Fantasy fans are looking for? Isn't that what Fantasy genre is? With that, it was over long, over descriptive in parts, relatively predictable ending...it was not 5 star material for me. It was a nice diversion, but I doubt I will ever read it again. ( THAT , for me, is the mark of a five star book!) show less

I don't know how I missed this series through the years but now that I've started it, I look forward to going forward. The story follows Richard and Kahlan as they set out to stop the evil Darken Rahl from opening three magical boxes (Orden). If Rahl is successful he will have the magical power to be unstoppable and rule all of the lands. Along the way, they discover things about themselves and the new regions of the land that they travel to. The land is populated with many different cultures and creatures. I found the creatures very interesting (like heart hounds and gars). In the end, will they be able to stop the opening of the boxes? It is a wonderful story and I hope the rest of the series continues to be as enjoyable.