Wizard's First Rule

Terry Goodkind

Sept 2010 · Sword of Truth Book 1 · RosettaBooks

About this eBook

The “wonderfully creative, seamless, and stirring” debut novel in the Sword of Truth epic fantasy series by the #1 New York Times bestselling author (Kirkus).
 
Terry Goodkind’s debut novel, Wizard’s First Rule, was a phenomenon from the moment it was first published by Tor Books in 1994. In it, readers are drawn into the magical New World, where ordinary Westland forest guide Richard Cypher accepts his extraordinary destiny. As a Seeker of Truth, Richard is the only one who can stop the tyrannical wizard Darken Rahl from seizing the all-powerful Boxes of Orden.
 
When the beautiful and mysterious Kahlan Amnell appears in Richard's forest seeking help, his humble world is turned on its head. After proving that he can wield the Sword of Truth, Richard knows that a confrontation with Darken Rahl looms. But Kahlan beseeches him to reach beyond his sword and invoke his inner nobility in order to face the dangerous challenges ahead.

Ratings and reviews

A 3rd grader can make a better story than this. If you have any wits about you and actually enjoy the fantasy genre stay away from this heap of garbage. You can probably come up with a better story yourself. Terry Goodkind plagiarized this from Robert Jordan and still managed to take the magic of Jordan and turn it into this linear meandering mess of a series. If you respect yourself don't buy this book.

The story itself is pretty good. Standard fantasy fare. However, Terry Goodkind is the John Madden of fantasy. He explains in great detail the simplest of concepts. And keeps explaining it. For 5 pages. I cannot count how many times he repeats the exact same idea in different words. It's insufferable. The dialogue is often extremely cheesy and character progression is random and choppy. I enjoyed the book for its plot, but I wouldn't say Terry Goodkind is a particularly strong author.

This first book in the sword of truth series was a fun, if not disturbing, read. However, this story gets dragged out far too much. Once you hit book five the only thing that will keep you going is the amount of time you have invested in the series. The story becomes a war against Utilitarianism, and religion. Do yourself a favor, and don't read it!

About the author

Terry Goodkind (1948-2020) is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Sword of Truth series. He has written 30-plus major, bestselling novels, has been published in more than 20 languages world-wide, and has sold more than 26 million books. Other popular works include the Richard and Kahlan stories,The Law of Nines, The First Confessor: The Legend of Magda Searus, as-well-as collaborator for Legend of the Seeker, the Sam Raimi produced, Disney ABC television series based on The Sword of Truth books. Goodkind was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, where he also attended art school, one of his many interests on the way to becoming a writer. Besides a career in wildlife art, he was a cabinet maker and violin maker, and did restoration work on rare and exotic artifacts from around the world, each with its own story to tell, he said. Join the fan community at TerryGoodkind.com or on Facebook (fb.com/terrygoodkind).