Rating: 
Summary: Best I have read!!!!
Review: I originally picked this book up just so i would have something new to read, and i ended up tearing right through this series, i would recommend that anyone and everyone should read this book if not the whole series, my praise and thanks to Mr. Goodkind.
Rating: 
Summary: A classic from page 1!!!!
Review: The epic ride of the century. You'll know that it beats any other elves, dwarves, dragons, fantasy just by reading the first 100pgs. Richard and Kahlan are two amazing characters who come from completely different backgrounds. It is so cool to see Richard go from a plain young woods guide to this awesome swordsman who won't take any wise crack from anyone. As i am writing i just had a thought:maybe a theme like that may even inspire someone. The only let down was that the ending was pretty settled and in my opinion, rather boring.
Rating:
Summary: AWESOME book
Review: I think this book and this serie is one of the best I've ever read.. 2nd favorite of mine. This book has much action and keeps you reading. But you need to have a strong stomach for it.
Deals with very mature scenes.. I read this book within a week I could not put it down.
I highly recomend it to any open minded fantasy or fetish readers.
This rocks!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Weak Characters
Review: I love to live inside characters. But I found them so paper thin in this book, I had a hard time reading it. The overall story is good, but all the encounters by the travelers are the same: They are met with mutual distrust, but are hugging each other within a few pages. I didn't read the series any further, but perhaps Goodkind finds his stride later on.
Rating: 
Summary: traditional yet adequate fantasy reading
Review: This is certainly not the best fantasy novel I've read but it was entertaining. The draw of the story is the romance between the 2 main charcters which for unusual circumstances can't be in love. There is little consistency or ryhme/reason to the magic, a so-so plot, and few truly likeable characters. What it does have though is the great romance, wonderful action descriptions when richard uses the sword, and a very fresh sexual massicistic relation. Its a long novel and I will not read the remainder of the series but I do not rue the reading.
Rating:
Summary: If you like Tolkien You'll Like Goodkind
Review: This was the first fantasy book besides Tolkien that I read. Tolkien is one of the best but can get a little dry at times. Wordy I guess. I have never felt that about Goodkind's books. This is a fast-paced book that will make you regret having to get sleep. I have since read this book several times and never get tired of it. The characters seem so real and you really get immersed in the story and there lives as you read. This book is well worth your money. If you are in for high brow reading this is definitely not for you. If you are the type that like long books and hate to see a book end, this is for you. You also have several more books to look forward to in the series.
Rating:
Summary: Sloppy. Gratuitous. Self-contradictory. Lazy.
Review: Sloppy. The teaser short story prequel I read, Debt of Bones (in one of the Legends anthologies), was excellent: original ideas, grand, tight, dramatic... This, the first in a series of standard package 500 page epic fantasy (dragons, swords and cleavage on the covers), starts well, but starts to wane, then to irritate, and then you wonder whether you'll bother finishing (I'm not keeping the book, nor, obviously, going on with the series). A pity: the idea of a central character that walks in to a bad situation and changes it with insight and power into a just one is attractive (I don't think I've seen anyone do it better than Orson Scott Card in one or two chapters of Speaker for the Dead). However, Richard Cypher just walks in and randomly changes things at no personal cost. Far too many pages: the plot just becomes utterly random. Not only has he got a bad case of the David Eddings' (every key character has godlike powers), he constantly contradicts the attributed powers by suddenly making his characters inexplicably vulnerable. One minute they can casually defeat something cosmic and huge, the next one or two of them will be in dire threat from some minor, well known (within that world) character who pops in and out with no reference to a wider plot. Oh, and how often do we think we've heard about the real enemy, when out of the blue we're supposed to be terrified at some silly tangent ("Oh no, the mud people"; "Oh dear, the wicked witch,"; "Crikey, it's a gar..."). It just goes on and on, and you're supposed to be overwhelmed each time - and save yourself for a big climax. By mid way through the book it's clear that Goodkind just doesn't care. Suddenly a character has this miraculous power that we haven't heard about yet. Blimey, here's a nice dragon. It's just too easy. Nothing costs anything - very Eddings. Maybe, just maybe, you could forgive it as pulp teen thing: they can be carried along by the action, who needs a shred of coherence or character. However, he throws in gratuitous rape and torture, often of children, just as background (he's so blithe about it, and we're supposed to be too). He not so good at actually creating a threatening character, so he goes straight to melodramatic - as opposed to powerfully disturbing - mention of atrocities just as tropes. If his naivety was restricted to the absurd presentation of romantic love (he shows no insight into relationships at all: his babe 'Confessors' have the power to enslave people if they unleash it, so no-one wants to mate with them because, as we all know, any woman having sex - even purely for procreation - will be overwhelmed with ecstasy and no longer able to control their will), we could perhaps smile at the fairy tale, but when he throws in some 'hard realism' (without a shred of empathy or insight), it puts that under scrutiny too. So much the way with fantasy: everyone wants to be Tolkien (yes, of course the front cover has such an absurd comparison), so they write huge books in a series, yet no-one wants to finish the last before publishing the first, and they are so lazy about throwing in characters and locations with no coherence. And there's no cost: We know that Aragorn's love of Arwen is true and tragic. Goodkind is trying to set something up like that with Kahlan and Richard, but we all know they'll get together, because rules really mean nothing, and there is no cost (likewise Eddings blithely throws around immortality with his characters). (Did I mention that there's no cost? I thought so...)
Rating:
Summary: Average, basic, and not to exciting, True fantasy fans only.
Review: A moderately good read, I would suggest this book for true fantasy lovers only. Relatively well written and developed, these books can prove an enjoyable read if you aren't in the mood for an intellectually-involved book. Character's personalities are rather indefinite, focus areas shift with each book, and no apparent plot-direction are part of what contribute to the lessening of appeal for this series. With no end goal in sight, sticking with this series could mean hanging around for a long haul. Otherwise, these books can vary to battle, plotting, politics, humor, or romance. Plot per-book is evident, if no staying series-long plot. Characters that have outlived their value to the story seem to die, and places are not often re-mentioned. This series belongs only on the die-hard fantasy fan's shelf-not that of an occasional fantasy reader. Worth a try, but not worth dying over.
Rating:
Summary: A Developing Threat
Review: Wizard's First Rule is the first novel in the Sword of Truth series. Richard Cypher is having a bad day. When his father had been killed three weeks previous, a sprig of vine had been left for Richard in the message jar. He didn't know what it meant, but had been searching for such a vine ever since. This day he finds it strangling a fir tree in the upper Ven Forest, but it bites him as he tries to tear it off the tree, leaving a thorn burrowing into his hand. Then something really big and red flies over and shortly thereafter he sees four men stalking a women. Richard intercepts the woman and takes her up a side trail, hiding their tracks. They climb upward, making as little sound as possible, until they are at the foot of the bluff. Suddenly, the four men appear, blocking all escape. The leader tells Richard to leave, but he declares for the woman. When the four attack, Richard kicks one man off the side of the mountain and delays another, but that man swings on Richard with deadly intent. Just then, however, the other man attacks Richard's assailant, taking both over the side, and Richard is saved. Suddenly the fight is over. Afterwards, the woman asks his name and tells him that she is Kahlan. Richard is puzzled about the outcome of the fight (he was sure that he was going to be killed), but is certain that Kahlan doesn't want to talk about it. She does tell him that she is from the Midlands on the other side of the sealed boundary. Richard first takes Kahlan to his brother Michael's house, where she meets Chase, a boundary warden and Richard's friend. They dine later with Michael and Michael makes a pass at Kahlan, which she firmly rebuffs with minimum bloodshed. After that Richard takes her to meet Zedd. This story is about a war that has been temporarily stalled, but is now about the erupt once more. Richard learns some interesting things regarding Zedd as well as himself. And when he accompanies Kahland as she returns to the Midlands, events began to move quickly. This story is much like Edding's Belgariad series, with a hero hid among the common people and having their friendliness and folk wisdom. Luckily, Richard has Kahlan and Zedd to advise him, for his tasks are as much political as military. The plot and monsters are very derivative and the writing is very linear, but the story is engrossing and some of the gimmicks are very innovative. The sexual content is often very hot and not recommended for the younger set. In one respect, the author is lousy at plotting: each book is generally able to stand alone. Other than the characters, most of the storylines are tied up neatly at the end of each volume; no cliff-hangers to be resolved in the next volume. However, the next threat is always reasonable after the fact, so the threads were there but we failed to notice them. I am always satisfied after every volume, yet ready to read the next one when it arrives. What more could you ask? Recommended for Edding's fans and anyone else who enjoys epic fantasy with approachable heroes and perversely evil villains.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely an incredible book
Review: I don't really want to give away much of the story line and many people already have so I won't. But I must say that this book kept me up late at night. I'm not quite sure why Publisher's Weekly didn't give a good review on it. Perhaps because it does take a moral perspective. But that is part of the reason why I like it. Yes I will agree that some of the scenes in the book are rather troubling but that only serves to tap into your emotions. It really brings you into the storyline to understand what all of the characters are actually going through. I have purchased all of the books in this series and must say, not one has let me down. I lent 7 of the books to one of my professors to read in his spare time. Well approximately one week later I received a desperate email claiming: "your fiendish plot to ruin my sleep and command all of my spare time has worked with these novels, I just can't put them down." Perhaps I am not the most sophisticated reader and that may explain why I enjoy these books so much, but please do yourself a favor and at least visit your local library to check this one out. I own them all and am glad I do, I can lend them out to whomever I like and spread the cocaine. His new book has been released and I am debating whether or not I should purchase the hardcover, we will see. Again, I stress that you take the time to check this series out. Just please be sure you have some spare time before you start reading :)
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