Wizard’s First Rule

When I picked up Wizard’s First Rule by Terry Goodkind, I knew what to expect from the novel. A start to a long-winding Fantasy series somewhat on the lines of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series, and yes…it is similar in some ways. This book is the first of the Sword of Truth series.

The story is mainly about Richard Cypher, who discovers he’s destined to be a True Seeker (read the book to know what it means). He joins forces with the book’s heroine, Kahlan, who has magical powers. They embark on a quest to defeat the evil Darken Rahl, a mighty wizard trying to use the Boxes of Orden (again, read the book to find out what they are) to gain the power to rule the entire land.

Terry Goodkind is making a case against communism here. Darken Rahl is a dictator who wants people to divide the fruits of their hard work among others. Therefore, hard-working people have to starve because lazy people who cannot provide for themselves depend on the state for assistance…hehe, this concept sounds familiar.

The story moves predictably but quickly. Richard travels long distances and encounters various scary people and beasts whom he can convince to support him or subdue. Five hundred pages or so into the book (this is a gargantuan book of about 800 pages), and I was still gripped by it.

However, the last couple of hundred pages killed it for me. Too many gratuitous sadomasochistic sex and torture scenes. The scenes where Darken Rahl tortures, kills, cooks, and eats a young boy are beyond disgusting (this happens at the beginning of the book itself). Also, the S & M scenes between Richard Cypher and Mistress Denna (a true-blue vamp) were completely unnecessary…even from a plot perspective, these sections did not move the story any further or develop the character of the personalities.

The story’s ending was pretty good and set the stage nicely for the series’ other novels.

Last word: This book is for people with a strong stomach and lovers of hard-core Fantasy novels. If you don’t like violence, don’t pick up this book.

8 comments

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  1. EdgarLO

    did yu hear about new iphone 4.0? For me, one of the best features in iPhone OS 4.0 is its multitasking feature. And you?

  2. mike crouser

    I recently began to read “Wizards First Rule”. I had avoided Mr. Goodkind because I’m not a big magic guy, more swords and such. However I have been pleasantly surprised. One question to anybody : When Richard and company come to a small town after escaping thier initial brush with the boundary, two members of a “quad” enter the inn they are staying at. One is killed, the other dissapears. As they continue on to the bone womans house , they are concerned about the fourth member of the “quad”. What the devil happened to the third guy?

    • Nish

      You know…that’s a pretty good catch. I never thought about it. One of those guys from the quad does get killed at a later date. So, that leaves one unexplained guy. He doesn’t make an appearance later on, or even in the sequel. Definitely a mistake!

  3. vinayvasan

    Also if you want to try other fantasy fiction authors, I would recommend Raymond Feist and RA Salvatore.. Also strongly agree with you that it is time WordPress gets a Shelfari widget

    • Nish

      Thank you 🙂

      I was seriously considering creating a book review blog on Blogger just because of the Shelfari issue

  4. vinayvasan

    It is a fairly good read.. The pacing of the series is pretty good despite the “S&M” scenes (as you very succinctly put it) between Kahlan & Richard.. Book 6 Faith of the Fallen is a very good read addressing the whole communism ka funda while at the same time paying tribute to Ayn Rand.

    The last 3 books do make for compelling reading and is definitely a series not to be missed.

    • Nish

      Thanks for commenting 🙂

      Overall, I did like Wizard’s First Rule. And, that’s why I am currently on Stone of Tears. This one is slightly slower but still gripping nevertheless

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