Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth, Book 1)

by Terry Goodkind
Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth, Book 1)
published
2003 (first published 1994) by Tor Books
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binding
Mass Market Paperback, 848 pages

isbn
0765346524   (isbn13: 9780765346520)

description
The masterpiece that started The New York Times bestselling epic Sword of TruthIn the aftermath of the brutal murder of his father, a mysterious woman...more





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Icarus
Icarus rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
07/24/07

bookshelves: speculative-fiction
Terry Goodkind is a grossly inept writer, with the writing ability of a somewhat intelligent seventh-grader, but he jumped into the wide-open fantasy field when there were hardly any good fantasy writers (a state that hasn't completely changed, btw) and he has the persistence to turn out 600 page novels, and so he got published and now he's grandfathered in, because some people don't have better taste than to buy his novels. Additionally, his early work is grotesquely derivative, mostly of Rober...more
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Keely
09/03/07

bookshelves: childhood, fantasy, novel
Read in November, 1998
It is always curious to see fantasy authors who don't consider themselves to be fantasy authors; for example: 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 they have read any fantasy. Goodkind's first work goes where everyone has been before, and then a little further.

Michael Moorcock critiqued Tolkien as a false Tory romantic, which is rather apt considering that the love ...more
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John
John rated it: 1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars
08/12/07

Read in December, 2005
recommends it for: Hardcore fantasy readers, preferably young ones who read fast
Terry Goodkind is a good example of why people think all post-Tolkien fantasy is trash. He has one tenth of Tolkien's imagination, a smaller fraction of his brilliant study, and - oh look, swords! Cliche family drama, an angsty romance between tortured lovers, powerful characters who are so unjustly tortured - it's immature and it's crap. At its best, it is a clunky and self-indulgently obtuse hero's journey. Then there's the hundred page BDSM tangent, where the hero goes through excruciating ps...more
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k.wing
11/07/07

bookshelves: quit-reading
Read in November, 2007
recommends it for: ...
I'm sorry. I really did try for this one, as I love my boyfriend (very much) who loves this book. I found the writing unbearable, as I would rather smell my dog's breath and lick his teeth than have to read words written by Terry Goodkind. That being said, I was interested in the story, but it was as if the guy did not have an editor. Oh, he had spell check, don't get me wrong, but no one told him to take out the emotions and/or inner-dialogue he would repeat up to 4 times in a paragraph.
...more
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  2 comments

Nekouken
Nekouken rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
06/15/08

bookshelves: fantasy
Read in June, 2007
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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  1 comments

Kyle
01/03/08

Out of all of the Terry Goodkind books I've ever read, this is the best. It was mildly entertaining and I managed to finish it. Other than that.. eh..

I'm just not a fan. I figured out how the book would end as soon as "wizard's first rule" entered into the plot.

Also -- about the romance -- NOT buying it. He carefully explained all of the rituals he went through to deepen his devotion, but I didn't feel much of anything except for some brief physical attraction in about the mid...more
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Dave
Dave rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
10/10/07

Read in January, 2007
recommends it for: Teens +
The sheer depth of Wizard's First Rule is simply amazing. His Characters are unique and origional, yet seem simple when you realize that they aren't perfect. Every chapter you read will cling you tighter to his series. Of course, many will dislike Terry Goodkinds works, either because he establishes dead on ethics in an 'I'm right, your wrong' approach, or because of dissatisfaction with his writing style, but it would be a baseless altercation to state that he is a run-in-the-mill, and mediocre...more
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Tim
07/18/07

When an author displays a poorly developed writing style I have a hard time getting past it and caring about the story. That's what happend to me with this book. The story was decent, but Goodkind's writing was lousy. He probably improved with later efforts, but I'll never know because I'm not going to read them.
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  9 comments

Duckie
Duckie rated it: 1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars
09/24/07

bookshelves: notreccomended
Do not touch. Read too many. Ashamed I even finished the first. Even if you started and got hooked - by book four, it's miserable - all but three chapters were disgusting, depressing, hopeless - I reiterate: Do. Not. Touch.
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Aerin
06/24/07

bookshelves: fantasy
Read in January, 2003
Hated it. Ha-a-a-a-ated it. Hated it.

Long, and bad, and full of every standard fantasy cliche you can imagine. Bad writing, bad characterizations. I can't believe I made it through the whole thing.
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Donald
Donald rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
07/20/08

Terry Goodkind has cool hair.
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  1 comments

Ben Babcock
07/22/08

bookshelves: borrowed, fantasy
Read in July, 2008
recommended to Ben by: Stephanie Chow
My first fantasy experience, and what sparked my love of fantasy, was The Belgariad by David Eddings. Since I've matured (that was in grade seven), I've come to realize that much of epic fantasy is, in fact, fairly formula-dry stuff. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Most of Wizard's First Rule is predictable if you are familiar with the genre. In the first part of the book, combined with a terrible amount of dialogu...more
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Rob
Rob rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
04/03/08

bookshelves: have-read
This series as a whole is very good. I found that once I picked up the first book I flew through the whole series, stopping only when I read the last one out. I then continued reading as they came out. When I started reading them their was only five books, now that the series is complete we can set the whole thing into some perspective. I will be happy to see the TV show starting fall of 2008 and hope it is as good as the books.

On the less than benign side, the author does tend to stop telli...more
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Jen
Jen rated it: 1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars
05/12/08

Read in May, 2008
recommends it for: Dungeons and Dragons fans, sadists
I am adding this author to the list of people that I wouldn't want to have lunch with. After this review, I suspect he won't want to have lunch with me either.
This book reads like a game of Dungeons and Dragons. It's a quest, a bit formulaic, and at times I could practically hear the narrator telling me to roll the ten-sided die to see what happens when we go down the left fork. In this book, we have the hapless regular guy who through a great series of coincidences finds himself traveling ...more
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Doug
Doug rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
02/02/08

Read in January, 2008
recommended to Doug by: Janssen
recommends it for: Fantasty Literature Readers
I ripped right through the book and all and all, enjoyed it. Here is some of my input:

1. I found that the story moved along well and that I was always entertained. The main hero is a bit Frodoian, and perhaps a bit Arthurian, but it is its own unique story and an entertaining cast of characters.

2. The story sometimes gets a bit twisted with torture, rape, bad guys who like young boys, overly bad bad guys. The training and torture chapter was beyond what I was comfortable with, but maki...more
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Kelly
Kelly rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
07/31/07

bookshelves: fantasy, fiction
Read in March, 1998
recommends it for: fantasy fans
I genuinely loved this book. I mean, take this with a grain of salt, because I read it when I was 13. But I thought it was really fun and cool at the time. It was one of the ones that got passed around among my friends in middle school and early high school. I remember when about three of us were reading them and handing them off in a chain. It was great. One of my fonder memories is being on a field trip to somewhere, and we were all sitting next to each other reading different books and someon...more
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Cera
10/08/08

Read in February, 2003
The gender ideologies underlying the novel's cosmology are just so profoundly disturbing that I couldn't enjoy what there was of the story -- not that I was likely to enjoy it anyway, since it featured large amounts of sexual torture of Our Hero. It's really not any more tasteful when gender-reversed.
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Barbara
Barbara rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
03/31/08

Read in March, 2008
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Jason
Jason rated it: 1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars
11/24/07

bookshelves: fantasy
Read in November, 2007
recommends it for: people 10 years old or younger
I was referred to Terry Goodkind as a better alternative to Robert Jordan. I feel betrayed and lied to. Or maybe it was some kind of joke. Goodkind's characters are simply not believeable, and this absolutely kills the book. The dialog is forced, and it feels as if no one ever proof read Goodkind's "masterpiece."
If you like books written in a style where if you squint your eyes and pretend that instead of reading, you are watching a one-liner Bruce Willis fantasy movie, go...more
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Flourish
Flourish rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
11/11/08

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in November, 2008
recommends it for: people who aren't too concerned with the finer points of feminism, people who like long series.
So, I have mixed feelings on this book.

++++
• The characters seem very real to me in a way that fantasy characters often don't. They have emotional lives that aren't one-dimensional. They have interrelated relationships.
• You can't say that it doesn't include strong women.
• The world isn't just another rehash of Lord of the Rings, even though it is very clearly and explicitly high fantasy.

----
• The women are all defined in relation to the men. They don't stand on th...more