Rating: 
Summary: Good Start to the Series
Review: A different take on magic than other fantasy novels out there highlights this book for me with additive and subtractive magic. The main characters of Richard, Zedd and Kahlan are interesting. Goodkind is a good writer and keeps the story moving at a good pace. Overall, a promising start to what has become a Jordan-esque like fantasy series in size.
Rating:
Summary: Fantasy at its best
Review: I opened Wizard's First Rule one sunny afternoon and suddenly came back into my body at 2am when I ran out of pages. An unheard of event. Wizard's First Rule re-established my faith in the entire fantasy genre. Sick of reading rehashed novels with a big and brawny main hero fighting his way to solving a quest he was sent on by a mysterious wizard/older male figure whilst the reader knows all along that he'll prevail, through great personal tragedy, and marry that chick he met in chapter two.In this first book of several, Goodkind gives the reader tantalizing glimpses into a world rife with magic and tormented by it. The dark empire of D'Hara looms menacingly over the rest of the world and Richard Cypher, our hero, is the ONLY ONE WHO CAN SAVE THE WORLD! Richard Cypher does, I admit, have some generic hero-type qualites, i.e. he's handsome, has a older male friend who turns out to be 'more than he seems' and meets a girl at the end of chapter one. But I didn't notice this similarity until long after. And it doesn't matter. This book has great twists, intruiging secrets, and characters that are actually human! Without a doubt the most well-read book in my collection, Wizard's First Rule is fantastic for hard-core fantasy addicts like myself or the novice. Buy it now or regret it forever.
Rating: 
Summary: Oh my God!
Review: Wow! This book was so incredible. I first picked it because it was long and I like the cover but it took me about three days to finish it! I couldn't put it down! I lost some serious sleep on weekday nights with this book! my advice, to the serious fantasy lover: BUY THIS BOOK you'll love it! To those people who gave this book a bad review: It's fantasy! it's not supposed to be realistic! If you can accept the fact that this does not take place in real life, than this book is totally amazing!
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Fantasy Series Ever!
Review: You guys that downed this book must not be paying attention very good. Goodkind explains the concept of magic very well by using the additive and subtractive concepts. Neither kind of magic is good or bad like the one guy stated in his review, its just that the subtractive magic is mostly used by the evil characters. But if you read the next books you learn more about the magic and then understand it. Goodkind did a very good job on keeping you wanting to read more and more. He made you actually care for the characters and what happened next. If you read this one and enjoyed it, you will want to read the others.
Rating: 
Summary: this is tripe
Review: Forgive me all you Goodkind fans, but this book is downright schmaltzy! Don't get me wrong; I love a good fantasy story as much as anyone. Believe me when I say that I have stretched the limitations of what I will accept for the sake of a good story about sleeping in the woods, running around with wizards. This book, however, has crossed the line. There are too many reasons why this book is so bad to number, but I can at least name a few: The Dialog. The dialog is horrendous. If I have to hear one more time between Richard (our fair hero) and his beloved Kahlan that they do something or other for each other because "that's what friends are for", I'm going to puke. No kidding. Goodkind actually managed to slip that kind of stuff past the editors, and it's in there repeatedly. Blatant overuse of the word "bestest". Memo to T. Goodkind; Fantasy should not be confused with great literature, at least not the stuff you write. You are NOT William Faulkner and this is NOT *The Sound and the Fury*. Stream of consciousness has no place here, and stream of consciousness is not achieved by using stupid kiddie words, such as "bestest", to get into the head of a street urchin. Sappy Sentimentality. Oh these characters are so sentimental. Richard, the angry hero (nicknamed, believe it or not, Richard with the Temper by the aptly named 'Mud People') actually thinks things like "seeing his friend Chase again made him believe that everything would be alright." Okay, that's a paraphrase, but the writing really isn't any subtler than that. Allegorical Paranoia. This book teeters dangerously close to promoting ideas of xenophobia. With the land broken up into three kingdoms, each separated by a magical boundary, which way would you guess one would travel to experience an increase in evil? East, of course. The Westland is a land without "magic", safe from the outside world. But when the boundary fails and magic and evil begin to creep over the border, a strong Westerner must go to the eastland and destroy the baddie. Sound familiar? Does anyone remember feeling this way during the Cold War before you knew that anyone with a Russian accent doesn't necessarily want to destroy you with a nuke? Finally, The Title. If you read this book, and I hope you don't, just wait until you find out what the Wizard's First Rule is. It's really dumb.
Rating: 
Summary: Leave something to the imagination
Review: Terry Goodkind's "Wizard's First Rule" first attracted my attention because of its size. I hate spending Seven Plus dollars on a book that I can finish in a day. In that he did not disappoint. It took me several days..... largely due to the overexplaination of unimportant subjects. I REALLY didn't need to hear all the gruesome details about how Darken Rahl mutilated the little boy to make his magic potion to get into the underworld. I understand that Goodkind wanted us to know how "evil" Darken Rahl was, but he could have easily implied almost all of it and still come off with a successful image. And don't think he stops there. There are several places in the book where the author delves too far into the attrocities of the antagonists, when he could have had the same effect(minus the grossness) using implication. In my opinion that type of writing brought the book down from a four star rating. I thought the plot was excellently handled. The characters were given significant enough depth to allow the reader to care about them. I especially liked the way the author wrote Zed, the master magician who is almost the only character to provide comic relief while retaining his Not-to-be-trifled-with image. Overall the book was good and kept me reading. It was the overexplaining of the vile acts that left a sour taste in my mouth. If you can look past it, then you should have a very enjoyable read on your hands.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent fantasy novel
Review: Terry Goodkind has done an excellent job of turning a fantasy novel into a deep-thinking exploration of the human mind. While never veering from the traditional themes of a fantasy novel, Goodkind has added a new aspect, she has delved into the mind of one in love and seeking the truth, refusing to give in to what centuries of laws have decreed. Goodkind has gone a step further in the writing of Wizard's First Rule
Rating:
Summary: Incredible Saga
Review: I have seen many mixed reviews on this series of books. I had never read a fantasy novel before picking up Wizards First Rule. I'm hooked. To the people who say that magic is off or bad or whatever...Give me a break. Its a FANTASY NOVEL. You are supposed to suspend reality when you pick up. I loved it and went out and bought the next two the day I finished Frist Rule. Highly recommend.
Rating:
Summary: Goodkind and Jordan Rule
Review: This is one of the best fantasy books I read. It took me 2 nights to read it and I could not put it down. Story line up to certain degree similar to Jordan's but writing style is unique and you most certainly will like it if you into this kind of books. There are enough surprises and unexpected turns in this book to keep you puzzled and exited for a while. I will not open all the secrets of this book so that you can enjoy it as much as I did.
Rating: 
Summary: if you like SM ...
Review: Goodkinds book raises a sharp tension in the reader, because he writes on, where normal books stop, and fantasy writers avert their eyes and pens. I felt true horror reading this book. It's best classified as a mixture of pulp SM and pulp fantasy. Why pulp fantasy, you might ask? --- because of the cliches. There hardly is a new thought in it (well, besides from very smart idea to penetrate the fantasy book market with concepts as the sm-like enslaving proces, bondage, skin ripping, and brain raping). But next to that, the structure of the book is like a lego-building of which you can easily distinguish the building blocks: a bit of a quest here, a witch in the woods there, the semi ophan who turns out to be ..., etc. It would be nice to do some research to see if really every cliche is covered here. The fact that Goodkind needs a new geographic scenery for each new encounter gives his jig saw of cliches away easily. I can't really get into why it's pulp SM, because in my opinion SM books classify as pulp by definition. But I'll admit readily: i'm not well versed in it. If violence turns you on: by al means, read this series. It gives you what no other fantasy series will. And all in a far better disguise then the "real" SM books with their reveiling titles and covers. Why, you can even read it in the train to work.
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