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coyotesprite 's review for:
Wizard's First Rule
by Terry Goodkind
Was it perfect? No. Did I love it? Yes.
As a female reader of high fantasy, I have resigned myself to having to read from a male POV often. I don’t love it, it just is what it is. Kahlan was a breath of fresh air in this story, and the main reason why I finally picked it up.
A lot of people are saying this is derivative of other people’s books. I don’t know about that, but it contains a lot of the usual fantasy tropes. Chosen one, beautiful sorceress, old wizard, bloodline revelations, etc. I liked the adventure, the explanation of the lands and why the boundary existed.
I also really liked the riddles and the Easter eggs. On a second read I would probably catch more things that Richard does/says. Zedd is a great character, I always love the old wizards.
There is some foreshadowing surrounding Richard’s brother, and also Zedd’s past, that is fairly easy to pick up on. But the journey from point A to point B was enjoyable.
I didn’t care much for the 2 main antagonists. They seemed tropey and honestly weren’t that scary. Darken Rahl was just kinda... lame. My opinion. Princess Violet was scarier than him.
The magic system confused me a lot. It seemed like people were able to just do things at whim, that needed to be done. Or randomly lost their magic. Some of it does get explained away, it honestly didn’t bother me enough to stop caring about the story.
There is a bit of a Mary Sue and Gary Stu element here with Kahlan and Richard. Richard’s abilities come full circle with explanations at the end of the story. I am still not sure why Kahlan is so powerful.
I’m deducting a star for that BDSM and SA stuff. It was really gratuitous and it went on wayyy too long. It was barely acknowledged as SA, and Richard bounced back (in some ways) like it was nothing. Also, it was somehow turned into a lesson on human nature, and the abuser was even thanked. I found it very strange.
Underrated GOATS: Chase, Rachel and Scarlet
As a female reader of high fantasy, I have resigned myself to having to read from a male POV often. I don’t love it, it just is what it is. Kahlan was a breath of fresh air in this story, and the main reason why I finally picked it up.
A lot of people are saying this is derivative of other people’s books. I don’t know about that, but it contains a lot of the usual fantasy tropes. Chosen one, beautiful sorceress, old wizard, bloodline revelations, etc. I liked the adventure, the explanation of the lands and why the boundary existed.
I also really liked the riddles and the Easter eggs. On a second read I would probably catch more things that Richard does/says. Zedd is a great character, I always love the old wizards.
There is some foreshadowing surrounding Richard’s brother, and also Zedd’s past, that is fairly easy to pick up on. But the journey from point A to point B was enjoyable.
I didn’t care much for the 2 main antagonists. They seemed tropey and honestly weren’t that scary. Darken Rahl was just kinda... lame. My opinion. Princess Violet was scarier than him.
The magic system confused me a lot. It seemed like people were able to just do things at whim, that needed to be done. Or randomly lost their magic. Some of it does get explained away, it honestly didn’t bother me enough to stop caring about the story.
There is a bit of a Mary Sue and Gary Stu element here with Kahlan and Richard. Richard’s abilities come full circle with explanations at the end of the story. I am still not sure why Kahlan is so powerful.
I’m deducting a star for that BDSM and SA stuff. It was really gratuitous and it went on wayyy too long. It was barely acknowledged as SA, and Richard bounced back (in some ways) like it was nothing. Also, it was somehow turned into a lesson on human nature, and the abuser was even thanked. I found it very strange.
Underrated GOATS: Chase, Rachel and Scarlet