clumsypenguin 's review for:

Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind

3.0

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A pretty fun fantasy adventure with a likable cast of characters and an interesting world. I found the pacing to be pretty inconsistent; sometimes I'd get whiplash with the book moving from one scene to the next without much time for the characters to react to or discuss the previous events. And as much as I love Richard (I really do love that his primary character trait is just being a good person), at some points, it felt like everyone else around him was going on their own journeys and rounded arcs while he remained pretty static for most of the story. And for how much the book was building up for the final battle at the end, it all wrapped up way quicker and smoother than I was expecting. And also

Spoiler

extremely minor gripe, but why did Scarlet suddenly come back at the end? She leaves Richard saying that their agreement was fulfilled and that she'd eat him next they spoke, but then not that long later she's eagerly taking Richard and his friends around D'Hara and saying that she'd do anything he'd tell her to? Idk just kinda contributed to the entire super-happy-perfect ending thing I was talking about.

Overall though I really did enjoy this, after so much Game of Thrones where everybody's morally grey and there's no one you can easily root for, it was really refreshing to read a fantasy novel where the main cast are just genuinely good people and are actually friends with each other.