Reviews - Wizard's First Rule

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1.33k reviews for:

Interesting. It is hard to write a review of this one except to say that while it may not be the best book I ever read, I thought it was a good book. I liked the main characters - and was interested in the twists of the story here and there (the few I didn't see coming). A few situations felt almost cartoonish while others felt very real. The end part of the book, prior to the end moment of the book seemed a bit long and too detailed for the purpose for which it was written, but who knows. I also found the ongoing discussion of intent and perspective kind of interesting. Anyhow, it was good enough that I'm going to read the next book.

wayfaring_witch's review against another edition

4.0

What I enjoyed about this series was the chemistry between Zedd, Kahlan, and Richard. Most of the time I was passively enjoying following them through this universe. This book lacks luster in terms of depth, and a few times made me feel like I was reading a dime romance novel. Other times you'd find parts of plot that were carefully weaved. I will probably continue this series because I like the world and the main characters.

itsmarkyall's review against another edition

1.0

I can't imagine what went through Goodkind's mind when he conceived the idea for this novel. Maybe he thought something as atrocious as taking Atlas Shrugged and The Wheel of Time and writing some weird hybrid. Your result: epic face palm. His writing his juvenile. Goodkind's strange fascination with rape is petrifying. Worst of all he creates a fantasy world with some pretty unique names, and names his protagonist Richard! WTF is that!? Did he just tire of creating fantastical names, and just started drawing names out of a hat?

Don't waste your time with this series. Read his source material: Ayn Rand or Robert Jordan. If you don't want to do so there are some great fantasy writers that are more creative than Goodkind. Check out:

Brandon Sanderson
Patrick Rothfuss
Joe Abercrombie

You can never go wrong with Ursula K. Le Guin. She's genius. Le Guin is a fantastic writer and story teller, and her catalogue of novels is timeless. You won't be disappointed.

djinnia's review against another edition

2.0

Good book, but it's very misogynistic. The next two are just as bad when it comes to what happens to women.

kizzybianca's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

leiftheuncanny's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous challenging slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Diverse cast of characters: No

reread this book for the first time since 7th grade. I remember being very impressed and disturbed by it before, but now it just seems kind of ... unimaginative. Primarily, I was off put by the author's approach to sex: he seems to want to scandalized the reader by including depictions of rape and bdsm, but primarily as acts of depraved and traumatized people, maintaining that straight vanilla sex is the most pure and all others only exist as methods of (and the result of) abuse. It's upsetting. I didn't feel like anything interesting was said, or that the depictions of sex added anything to the reading experience.

I reread this with the intention of reading the whole series, because I never got around to it and I have fond memories of the tv show, but I don't know if I want more of Goodkind's specific brand of sexism and homophobia

Content Warnings

rowdya22's review against another edition

5.0

This book is the perfect introduction to the epic story of the Boxes of Orden and the Sword of Truth. Richard doesn't know what he is getting himself into now that he is the Seeker of Truth.