Wizard's First Rule :: Terry Goodkind
Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth, Book 1)
Genre: Fantasy
Year: 1994
Just finished Wizard's First Rule again. This time I'm starting to wonder if Mr. Goodkind has a fetish for women putting collars of obedience on men. LOL. It happens twice in the first two books.
That aside, he still manages to draw me in to the story so much that I can't help but follow the characters everywhere they go. He, like other authors have struggled to bring the human aspect back into fantasy. Not just the good versus bad in the large scale, but within the characters themselves. Some may argue that this has no "literary value" and is merely there for entertainment purposes. I feel sorry that those people should limit themselves that way.
The series is a rollercoaster adventure across all sorts of interesting lands and full of interesting people and situations. I think that Wizard's First Rule is by far the best book in the series (The Sword of Truth), followed closely by the second one, "The Stone of Tears" because these are the two novels where we really explore Richard and Kahlan as people - at the same time they're saving the world, of course. I especially like that these two have a working relationship - and that it's not free of the occasional spatand misunderstanding. Kahlan is also not your typical female fantasy heroine who waits around for her hero to do all the rescuing. In fact she's nearly as formidable as Richard is and that's something I like. When I hit "The Blood of the Fold" I start to slow down a little, but it isn't until I hit "The Soul of the Fire" (which is after "The Temple of the Winds" incidentally) that I sometimes stop reading. Perhaps it's a matter of intensity for me, because Goodkind is very good at keeping the level fairly high. On that note, perhaps it would be prudent for me to not read the whole series back to back. On the other hand, it may be because Richard finds out he's even more powerful than he originally thought - which seems to happen at least once in every book. I have yet to get past "The Soul of the Fire", but when I do, I will again update.
The secondary characters are also well fleshed out, which is something I find lacking in some lesser fantasy series. I especially love Cara, The Bird Man, Scarlet and Gratch. If you pick up the series you'll see what I mean.
Sword of Truth Series
Genre: Fantasy
Year: 1994
Just finished Wizard's First Rule again. This time I'm starting to wonder if Mr. Goodkind has a fetish for women putting collars of obedience on men. LOL. It happens twice in the first two books.
That aside, he still manages to draw me in to the story so much that I can't help but follow the characters everywhere they go. He, like other authors have struggled to bring the human aspect back into fantasy. Not just the good versus bad in the large scale, but within the characters themselves. Some may argue that this has no "literary value" and is merely there for entertainment purposes. I feel sorry that those people should limit themselves that way.
The series is a rollercoaster adventure across all sorts of interesting lands and full of interesting people and situations. I think that Wizard's First Rule is by far the best book in the series (The Sword of Truth), followed closely by the second one, "The Stone of Tears" because these are the two novels where we really explore Richard and Kahlan as people - at the same time they're saving the world, of course. I especially like that these two have a working relationship - and that it's not free of the occasional spatand misunderstanding. Kahlan is also not your typical female fantasy heroine who waits around for her hero to do all the rescuing. In fact she's nearly as formidable as Richard is and that's something I like. When I hit "The Blood of the Fold" I start to slow down a little, but it isn't until I hit "The Soul of the Fire" (which is after "The Temple of the Winds" incidentally) that I sometimes stop reading. Perhaps it's a matter of intensity for me, because Goodkind is very good at keeping the level fairly high. On that note, perhaps it would be prudent for me to not read the whole series back to back. On the other hand, it may be because Richard finds out he's even more powerful than he originally thought - which seems to happen at least once in every book. I have yet to get past "The Soul of the Fire", but when I do, I will again update.
The secondary characters are also well fleshed out, which is something I find lacking in some lesser fantasy series. I especially love Cara, The Bird Man, Scarlet and Gratch. If you pick up the series you'll see what I mean.
Sword of Truth Series
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home