Wizard’s First Rule

Wizard’s First Rule (1994) Terry Goodkind

Michael has been reading Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series for several years now, and has mentioned repeatedly that he thought I should read it. So, with two weeks off from work, I decided I’d read the first book, just to see.

It’s good, and it’s interesting, but I definitely did not like it as much as Michael did.

It’s very long. 820 pages, which even in paperback is heavy. The story was interesting, and I liked the characters, but at times he just went on too long. I mean, it took 100 pages to tell us who the different characters were, when we’d figured it out 80 pages earlier.

Because of that, there were several sections that I skimmed, looking for important details, but not caring all that much about the scenery and precisely what kind of clothes they were wearing, or exactly what the room looked like. And I really did not care for the section on the Mord-Sith. I got the point in a couple of pages, I really didn’t need seventy pages of S&M.

Maybe I just don’t have the patience to read epics.

Occasionally, I didn’t believe that certain characters would act as they did. Kahlan in particular didn’t seemed inconsistent which bothered me as she was the only major female character.

Also, for reasons I can’t explain without giving everything away, I hate the cover. I have to wonder what on earth they were thinking when they created this cover. Or perhaps they weren’t thinking, which was part of the problem. So if I read further, I’ll have to make a point not to look at the covers of the remainder of the books. Just in case.

I did like Chase, and wish there had been more about him. He was interesting and amusing. And I also liked the Mud People, but again, I don’t know that I needed 100 pages of them.

Was the writing good? Yes. Was the story good? Yes. Were the characters likable and interesting? Yes. Will I continue with the series? I don’t know.
Rating: 6/10

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