Rating: 
Summary: Awful
Review: Personally, I found this to be the absolutly worst fantasy book I have ever read. The first two or three pages seemed to be decently written and I settled myself in for another good epic. Wrong. The prose deteriorated quite quickly; I couldn't help but flinch dozens of times at the sub-standard writing. In fact, the only reason I finished this book is because I don't like leaving things incomplete. *** After a while as I 'adjusted' and simply ignored the numerous faults, I found that the story itself wasn't really that bad--though hopelessly derivitive--but unfortuantly Goodkind was unable to instill any sense of wonder or plausible image through most of the adventures. I nearly laughed out loud at the Southhaven section.*** One thing that I admire in fantasy novels are well-crafted worlds with in-depth histories and myths provided. Goodkind produces only the most shallow of these, reducing any pleasure found. *** Overall, the book struck a inauthentic note within--it felt false and plastic in my brain, like any of those paint-by-number action movies Hollywood continues to spew out. The only scenes that did feel that the author might have experience in were the S&M sequence with the Mord-Sith; unfortuantly this quickly grew boring and excessive, even ridiculous. I find the number of positive reviews for this kind of drivel is disturbing, and to all those out there that will undoubtably contest my opionion, I recommend Tad Williams, Fiest (Rift-War series), Tolkien (of course), and the one that Goodkind desperatly wishs to emulate but pathetically fails: Robert Jordan. All of these are examples of quality in this genre. I cannot bring myself to continue this series. The charicters are obvious and sometimes idiotic, the 'lessons' Goodkind attempts to write about are poorly integrated (SHOW, not TELL), and the inauthenticy makes me feel that I've wasted my time with this 'material.' This is espicially offensive to me because I am a fledging author myself and would rath! er not have this kind of influence to subconsciously degrade my own skills...you are the product of your experiences, after all.
Rating: 
Summary: The best single book ever.
Review: This is a great book. I recomend it to any one who can read. Goodkind did a great job of tying all the people together. I could share every moment of the story with Richard and Khalen. I can't wait to read the sequel.
Rating: 
Summary: Not too bad, at least I made it to the end
Review: Not the most original book I've ever read, but it utilizes the standard "fantasy quest" elements pretty well. Some interesting twists that I wasn't expecting. A good fantasy worth a try, though not for the faint of heart!
Rating: 
Summary: Constant action kept me reading.
Review: This book was very interesting though I sometimes wondered if Goodkind was sexually repressed, he sure seems obsessed with rape and torture. If you like fantasy and aren't to squimish you would really enjoy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: "Wizard's First Rule" is an excellent book! I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, as well as the sequels. It was fast-paced and a true epic journey. Sure, it shouldn't be considered as a masterpiece in literature, but it's a lot of fun to read anyway.
Rating:
Summary: Very Entertaining and hard to put down.
Review: I've just read the reviews of some other readers, and frankly, I'm a little surprised to see how divided they are. I'm certainly no fantasy expert but maybe that's why I liked the book. Most of the people claiming to hate it also cite the fact that they've read many books in this genre and that Goodkind is simply copying. While I haven't read a huge volume of fantasy literature, I've read enough to know Goodkind is superior to most. So what if he copies, that's what writers do. They draw on the works of others. If you say Goodkind is unoriginal, you have to apply the same to every other fantasy writer out there because they are all influenced by somebody. I recommend the book to any fantasy buff who doesn't spend a lot of time trying to analyze plot and meaning, but just wants a good, engrossing, and well-told story.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent read for fantasy buffs, not so for anyone else.
Review: I enjoyed WFR immensely, as well as the sequels. I found the story lines to be unique and interestng, and all in all a lot of fun.If I have a problem with the series it's not that it's written to typical 7th grade mass market appeal, it's that I am unconvinced that the characters are ever in real danger. Along the same lines I felt that the main characters, Richard and Khalan, while enjoying a love deep enough to be a fantasy itself, often act out of synch with their personalities. For example, Richard, who sees everything in black and white - good and bad - wrong and right, can make clear decisions for the betterment of his people and so forth, and demonstrates maturity beyond his years in the wake of battle, terror, and near death experiences only to act like a thirteen year old when wondering what's up with his betrothed, Khalan. Sometimes I just want to beat him about the head senseless! It's like watching Dumb and Dumber! This problem seems to worsen with each sequel as the relationship between these two gets in the way of the story itself. I don't prefer mushy-soft characters with so much detail on their wimpy personal issues that it conflicts with the stamina they demonstrate when they're about to be cleaved in two by a seven foot bat winged Gar covered with Blood Flies! Well, that's a small price to pay for a work that is uncommonly rich in thought and dynamically sound in most other areas - plot, depth, humor, etc. For those that cut down the series using abusive criticism and comments that suggest it's beneath them to read something of this caliber I suggest they read a few pages before wasting their time on a lengthy effort like Wizards First Rule.
Rating:
Summary: This book is really intence and has great fantisy storyline.
Review: This is a great book for all you fantisy lovers out there. I loved this book because every time you think one thing is going to happen another problem comes up. I also love this book because it is filled with magic, wierd creatures, and a forbiden love. So if you love those things I think this wiould be a great book for you to read.
Rating:
Summary: Imagination, ok. Execution, terrible.
Review: I was given this book to read by a friend who said, "If you liked 'The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever', you'll like this." He was wrong -- both to assume that I would care for Goodkind's work and to assume that Goodkind's work had anything nearing the depth and breadth of Donaldson's trilogy (the 1st one). I finished "Wizard's First Rule", but only by skimming the last 300 pages. While some ideas in this novel could have been compelling, the execution of them is on par with the average junior high school student's. (In the days when I taught creative writing to junior high school students, some often wrote consistently better than this.) Goodkind clearly has not given much thought to how people actually interact, think, or act when in desperate circumstances. Character development is not a high priority in this book, nor is believability. Consider our first view of the villain. Ignore for a moment the one-dimensional portrayal (with its self-conscious mentions of the villain's fingering his eyebrows). A child is buried in sand up to his neck. Our villain talks to the child briefly. Why does the child never *once* asks why he's been buried up to his neck in sand? Why doesn't he talk about how hard it is to breath? Why doesn't he panic? The novel is emotionally wrong throughout, thanks to scenes such as that. I can usually overlook a great many problems in a book, but the trite dialogue, lack of character development, emotional incongruity, and generally very poor writing kept leaping off the page to remind me that I've read much better books than this.
Rating:
Summary: Terry Goodkind is good, but could be better.
Review: This is a very interesting story!!! The main character starts out in a place with "no" magic, except for perhaps the sword his mentor keeps, the book his father made him memorise and then burn, and a few other odds and ends. To give you an idea of this series, the main character is bitten by a plant in the beginning. It injects a sliver into him that will slowly worm its way to his heart and kill him. (Hmm.. sounds familiar...) He meets a beautiful woman that just happens to be attacked by four men. He helps to save her, but for some reason ignors the sound of thunder in the heat of battle and one of the attackers suddenly fighting on their side suicially. Afterwards, his lifelong teacher, Zed, suddenly announces that he is a wizard. Unphased, the main character (named Richard) fights some more. He is very stout! His father had just been slaughtered, his brother betrayed him for his own social gain, his teacher was a wizard, even though there are none, he has a sliver worming its way to his heart, and there is a strange cloud following him everywhere. Later in this book, he comes across an artist. This artist draws people and uses the drawings against them as a form of magic (you ever played Final Fantasy III?). After this, he is captured by a strange class of people that control him using his magic. If you've read the Wheel of Time series, you can see where that came from. What I'm trying to say is that Terry Goodkind's books can be nice and fun, but you could read almost anything discussed in them in another book series with an earlier publishing date. Also, he needs some patience. One chapter, he introduces a prophecy, or some difficulty, such as Richard finding that he must turn the Sword of Truth's blade white or rot gradually while living (another thing Robert Jordan's readers will be familiar with.) I thought, 'Gee, that's neat! Now Richard has something else to fight against than Darken Rahl and the Keeper of the Underworld (also known as The Dark One, Sauron, S! hai'tan, etc.). This should be interesting!' Not quite! The next chapter, the blade was white and Richard was continuing undaunted. Overall, I recommend this series if you don't mind some familiar things happening. It is much easier reading than the Wheel of Time. Try bringing the books to school with you! They are thick, and very impressive!:}. But, don't only read it because of that. You never know.. Terry Goodkind isn't a bad author, and he is good at surprises!
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