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

Rating:
Summary: I can't believe this was even published
Review: This book is appallingly bad. I can't believe it was even published. I have never read anything so bad, and I've read a lot. I couldn't even finish the book (although I did skim to the end, to see if it got any better. It didn't.) OK, my mama always told me, if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all. There are some original ideas scattered throughout the book. They do not make up for the overwhelmingly bad quality of the rest of it. So what's wrong with it? Calling the characters two-dimensional card-board cut-outs would be generous. Characters say something that is meant to be deceiving--and I could see right through it (although the other characters were too stupid to see it). The hero, Richard Cypher, gains the love of children by insulting them--he always tells kids they're ugly. No, really. May be it would work if it's a kid you know and who loves you (though I doubt it), but he says it to a kid he's just met and who's been traumatized, and she immediately loves him. Right ... The magic system and history are grotesquely simplistic. And then there's the dragon. Scarlet. You do not name dragons Scarlet (not if you're trying to be serious, which Goodkind apparently is). You name them Smaug or Embar Orm or something, but not Scarlet. (And if you have no idea who Smaug or Embar Orm are, read Tolkien's The Hobbit and LeGuin's Earthsea series--far better works.) And Scarlet, depsite being a gigantic, fire-breathing reptile has a very feminine voice. And, oh yes, she's a sucker for flattery. (Can you say "sexist"?) Even the painfully obvious flattery Richard uses on her (this goes back to the bad characterization). And finally there is the Wizard's First Rule. And perhaps you are expecting something deep and earth-shaking? I'm sorry, you'll be disappointed. It's about as trite and cliche as you can get--Wizard's First Rule is that people are stupid. Oooh. I'm so impressed with your insight into the human condition, Mr. Goodkind.

Rating:
Summary: Read
Review: This is one of the best books ever written. The whole series is amazing. Unlike Tolkien, and other fantasy writers, Goodkind does not rattle on and on about one subject for ten pages. Him reiterating major points in other books gets annoying, but the books are way way more than mediocre