Richard is given the titular Sword of Truth, which uses the power of its user's personal anger to strike down enemies. For a long time some people thought Goodkind was ripping off Robert Jordan , as his stories contained many things that had exact counterparts in Jordan's novels.
From the third book on, things get slightly less derivative , with the introduction of a new Big Bad and increasing focus on Richard's struggles as a leader. By the fourth book the plot is still pretty standard but at least going under its own power. Around the fifth book, Goodkind began introducing overtly Objectivist themes and aesops inspired by Ayn Rand in the Sword of Truth.
Things went overboard in the eighth book, Naked Empire , which contains the infamous evil pacifist plot. The last three books, collectively called the Chainfire Trilogy, brought back plenty of the early themes and events of the series, and Confessor , the last book, was specifically one huge throw-back to Wizard's First Rule.
Goodkind has stated a distaste for cliffhangers and other ways of forcing people to buy future books, which is why, aside from the Chainfire trilogy, the books have mostly self-contained plots; some new danger is introduced, the characters wonder about its meaning, and it is defeated. However, all of these book-plots are tied by the Myth Arc of either the Imperial Order or the Keeper of the Underworld. There's also a spin-off book, The Law of Nines , which follows a completely different cast of characters and shifts genres from High Fantasy to a contemporary thriller with fantasy elements.
It takes place in the magic-free world created at the end of "Confessor", the inhabitants of which developed technology to replace the magic they had lost. The story follows the exploits of Alex Rahl, a distant descendant of Richard's half-sister Jennsen, whose life is changed forever when he meets a woman named Jax who claims to be from a parallel universe where magic still works.
Now has a character sheet. In rejecting reason, refusing to think, one embraces death. Quoting Zedd: " The Sixth Rule is the hub upon which all rules turn. It is not only the most important rule, but the simplest. Nonetheless, it is the one most often ignored and violated, and by far the most despised.
It must be wielded in spite of the ceaseless, howling protests of the wicked. Richard is by this point the embodiment of the rule.
Although Zedd explains it to Kahlan, no one has to explain this to Richard, though he does know of it by Naked Empire. The past can teach us, through experience, how to accomplish things in the future, comfort us with cherished memories, and provide the foundation of what has already been accomplished. But only the future holds life. To live in the past is to embrace what is dead. To live life to its fullest, each day must be created anew.
As rational, thinking beings, we must use our intellect, not a blind devotion to what has come before, to make rational choices. Richard learns the rule as stated in the ancient book titled The Pillars of Creation , in-universe sent to him by Nathan and carried to him by Friedrich. He states the rule to Jennsen and Kahlan in particular, but to the 'crowd' e. Kahlan, Jennsen, Cara, Tom, and Friedrich in general. Be completely committed. Earn what you want and need rather than waiting for others to give you what you desire.
The ancient old wizard, Kaja-Rang, imparts this lesson to Richard by means of an inscription on the base of the statue guarding Bandakar. To believe in a contradiction is to abdicate your belief in the existence of the world around you and the nature of the things in it, to instead embrace any random impulse that strikes your fancy - to imagine something is real simply because you wish it were.
A thing is what it is, it is itself. There can be no contradictions. Faith is a device of self-delusion, a sleight of hand done with words and emotions founded on any irrational notion that can be dreamed up.
Faith is the attempt to coerce truth to surrender to whim. In simple terms, it is trying to breathe life into a lie by trying to outshine reality with the beauty of wishes. Faith is the refuge of fools, the ignorant, and the deluded, not of thinking, rational men. In reality, contradictions cannot exist. To believe in them you must abandon the most important thing you possess: your rational mind. The wager for such a bargain is your life.
In such an exchange, you always lose what you have at stake. Zedd imparts this lesson to Richard, Nicci and Cara when Richard refuses to believe that Kahlan was a myth, all evidence uncovered to that point contradicting his belief. The truth is what should motivate your life, not the lies, or you will fall victim to the first rule and if you ignore the truth you're betraying everything that you believe in, because the lie is more convenient to you than reality.
Zedd states this rule to Richard, Shota, Nathan, Ann, Nicci and Cara when discussing Richard's performance against the Order to date, the activities of the witch woman Six, and various other 'state of the world matters' during the meeting of the world's most powerful gifted.
The final rule cannot directly be quoted, but using the Terry Goodkinds knowledge that it is indirectly stated you can interprete it. Rachel tells Violet, "No Violet, I want to live, you came here to hate. That you embrace life and do what you do for love, not hate. Richard uses this rule when he dispassionately orders Jagangs death and Zedd confirms he did it correctly, "Strength without hate. Richard believes this book entitled Secrets to a War Wizard's Power will be a means for him to finally understand how to use his gift and therefore in essence be the solution to major problems.
Once he obtains the book however, its pages are blank and his grandfather Zedd informs him that Baraccus left it blank to illustrate the meaning of the rule unwritten.
Using this knowledge Richard reasons that "The Book of Counted Shadows" could not possibly be the key to the Boxes of Orden , and that in fact the Sword of Truth was the only way to harness Orden's power of life itself. Incalculable effort had been put into obtaining the knowledge contained in The Book of Counted Shadows by Jagang and the Sisters of the Dark , and in the past that it was well protected, yet when the Sisters of the Dark finally used it that effort was all for nothing.
As far as the knowledge within the book was concerned, there was 'nothing in it', much like Secrets to a War Wizard's Power. The Sword of Truth, representative of its namesake, was key to life. The secret to Richard's power is that he seeks the truth.
In seeking truth he turns a blind eye to corrupt ideas and embraces that which is the essence of life itself. In this book, we have the hapless regular guy who through a great series of coincidences finds himself traveling to sa I am adding this author to the list of people that I wouldn't want to have lunch with. In this book, we have the hapless regular guy who through a great series of coincidences finds himself traveling to save the world with the beautiful, mysterious woman formerly, the damsel in distress , the great and powerful wizard who is utterly disappointing and mostly serves as comic relief , and the hardened, streetwise soldier.
It almost feels like the author drew a map of his new fantastical world, decided to put the main character at one end, and the solution at the other, and then gave him a veritable obstacle course of classic problems on the way.
He runs into underworld beasts, monsters, dragons, deluded armies, and betrayal which, consequently, the rest of us saw coming pages before he did. To say this book is plot-driven would be an understatement.
Sadly, though, even the pacing of that plot isn't good. But none of that has anything to do with why I wouldn't want to hang out with the author. I found the creations of his imagination really disturbing.
I could almost feel his delight in divining new and more horrible atrocities to detail as the story went on. Yes, the bad guy is very, very bad. But there was a definite sick, sadistic side to the story. I just have to wonder what kind of person decides to spend something like eight chapters on very descriptive and imaginative torture of one character, when the great love that supposedly drives the story took a comparative flash to develop.
He's great at devising innovative ways to cause pain and anguish, but terrible at imagining realistic human interaction. The dialogue, sadly, reflects that. When the author isn't describing pain or evil, a sitcom-like feeling prevails. A paraphrased typical scene: a genuinely disturbing challenge with an emotional resolution that should leave everyone drained and perhaps scarred, until big old wizard asks, "When do we eat?
If you love Dungeons and Dragons, or if you're someone who enjoys causing or experiencing pain, this book is for you. For me, not so much. I wonder if his other books get any better? View all 13 comments. Shelves: fantasy. The sheer depth of Wizard's First Rule is simply amazing. His characters are unique and original, yet seem simple when you realize that they aren't perfect. Every chapter you read will cling you tighter to his series. Of course, many will dislike Terry Goodkind's works, either because he establishes dead on ethics in an 'I'm right, your wrong' approach, or because of dissatisfaction with his writing style, but it would be a baseless altercation to state that he is a run-in-the-mill, and mediocre The sheer depth of Wizard's First Rule is simply amazing.
Of course, many will dislike Terry Goodkind's works, either because he establishes dead on ethics in an 'I'm right, your wrong' approach, or because of dissatisfaction with his writing style, but it would be a baseless altercation to state that he is a run-in-the-mill, and mediocre author. Terry Goodkind deserves nothing but praise for this extraordinary novel. View all 18 comments. Apr 09, Julio Genao rated it did not like it.
View all 38 comments. Mar 26, Suzanne rated it did not like it Recommends it for: Nobody with taste in fiction. Recommended to Suzanne by: Somebody who I will have a hard time forgiving. I can honestly say this is the worst piece of fiction I have ever encountered, in any genre. It's hard to know where to start critiquing this book since I hated so very many things about it.
First off, it is about four times too long. I'm all for an epic sized novel if the story can support it, but this one doesn't come close. The dialogue is, for the most part, trite and boring and the characters are all astoundingly two-dimensional and unauthentic. They are all constantly doing things against I can honestly say this is the worst piece of fiction I have ever encountered, in any genre. They are all constantly doing things against their described nature, and so many of their actions are inconsistent with what the characters know and how they would logically act.
This is part of what makes the story read like a rough draft where the author is trying to get the plot down and needs to go back and do some serious polishing. The polishing never occurred. The characters all make the most idiotic mistakes about things that a kindergartner would have been able to reason out.
This is just bad writing. The author could have achieved the same results in far more plausible ways, while at the same time giving the characters some consistency, intelligence, forethought, and reasoning ability.
Like many other negative reviewers, I am astounded by the sheer quantity of trite plot devices. He really pushes Jungian literary theories of collective conscious and archetypes to the limit. The real show stopper on the trite-fest that is this book is the "Luke, I am your father"-esque moment at the end. The plot line in the book was not well planned out, if it even was planned out; I would not be the least bit surprised to hear that the author just winged it.
Think of the plot of a good book as an enjoyable road trip. The route will turn, taking you past several interesting vistas, while still generally heading towards the destination. The plot for Wizard's First Rule stops at every turn out and explores every cul de sac along the way, and frequently stops, goes back a ways, and then drives over the same stretch a second time.
It is chock full of sequences that do nothing to advance the story or aid character development. I don't have a problem with the content of this message, just that it was so blatant and heavy handed.
The other oft-repeated and preachy moral was that of relative morality, which I did have an issue with. The main character, through the preaching of his trusted wizard friend, keeps having deep thoughts about how there is no good or evil from the viewpoint of those making a choice or performing an action.
Like we are supposed to believe that, from the viewpoint of the child-molesting serial killer character, he considers his actions good and morally acceptable. Boo, Mr. Goodkind, boo. Speaking of the child-molesting serial killer, he was only one of several deeply disturbing elements of the book. Not only do we have evil characters doing horribly naughty things, we, as readers, are treated to graphic descriptions of said naughty things. We get to hear about the molester's love of buggery, the dominatrices passion for torture, and how the pointlessly-vegetarian-turned-cannibal evil ruler first brainwashed his child victim before pouring molten lead down his throat, mutilated his body, and ate parts of it.
Oh, and a bunch of rape. This was just pages of a horribly written waste of time. If I didn't enjoy meeting with my book-club which is discussing this in a few weeks , I wouldn't have continued past the first chapter.
I deeply resent the time this book took to read, as I have so many more worthy things I could have been reading in its stead. View all 9 comments. The gender ideologies underlying the novel's cosmology are just so profoundly disturbing that I couldn't enjoy what there was of the story -- not that I was likely to enjoy it anyway, since it featured large amounts of sexual torture of Our Hero. It's really not any more tasteful when gender-reversed.
View all 14 comments. Nov 23, Jason rated it did not like it Recommends it for: people 10 years old or younger. I was referred to Terry Goodkind as a better alternative to Robert Jordan. I feel betrayed and lied to. Or maybe it was some kind of joke. Goodkind's characters are simply not believeable, and this absolutely kills the book. The dialog is forced, and it feels as if no one ever proof read Goodkind's "masterpiece.
View all 4 comments. Jan 24, Choko rated it really liked it Shelves: fantasy. It is a linear story, no multiple POV's or constant action sequences, but engrossing nonetheless Recommend it to all Fantasy lovers, but I think those new to the genre would enjoy it most! View all 11 comments. Nov 04, Ivan rated it liked it Shelves: fantasy.
To be honest I started this book with certain bias. Because statements like: "The books I write are first of all novels, not fantasy, and that is deliberate; I'm really writing books about human beings. I star To be honest I started this book with certain bias. I started his book hoping for ammunition against author.
Well I have to say I didn't get it, Goodkind may be all of the above but he isn't a bad writer. No he's books don't transcend fantasy genre, but if we ignore author's delusion of grandeur we have decent heroic fantasy with a twist.
I had one big problem with it. Book tries to have serious themes in it but in book with noble heroes and evil, evil villains they often feel out of place. No matter what Goodkind claims he's book doesn't transcend fantasy genre but it's good enough and it might have been 4 stars if not for 30 page torture porn.
I am not sensitive person but I would prefer if authors would leave their kinky fetishes out of their books. Dec 05, Leila rated it it was amazing Shelves: my-wow-books , adventure , fantasy , so-many-books-so-little-time. I loved it. It was one of the first fantasy books I ever read. I think I must have read the first seven plus books in the series lots of times over the years.
After that the series began to gradually become samey! During lock down, it was so enjoyable to read this first book of the series again. I carried it around the home daily reading whenever I got the chance.
I will get round to the next in the series eventually. Highly recommended to all epic fantasy fans. Sep 12, Ed McDonald rated it did not like it.
Terry Goodkind's literary crimes are too numerous to go into any detailed sort of exploration, so I'll talk about just one. Goodkind is a sexual fetishist who is disgusted by his own fantasies of rape and sexual violence, portraying them as vile and evil even as he delves into the details.
The more you read of his books, the more titillating sexual violence encounters are foisted onto his female characters. Most of the women in these books are either raped, threatened with rape, are rapists, or i Terry Goodkind's literary crimes are too numerous to go into any detailed sort of exploration, so I'll talk about just one.
Most of the women in these books are either raped, threatened with rape, are rapists, or intentionally have sex with demons who have barbed penises, and then get raped later on.
The level of depravity is revolting throughout. All the while, a beautiful young woman in a wedding dress runs around, protected against losing her virginity because of her anti-sex magic, which literally destroys anyone who sleeps with her. Unless they are her one true love, of course.
This grotesque and damaging view of sexuality is really Goodkind's main point after his Ayn Rand objectivist philosophy. He just wants to write grotty, woman-hating stories about his darkly violent sexual desires. Goodkind says he writes stories about people, not stories about fantasy; this is not true.
He writes fantasy stories about the imaginary people being subjected to his sexual fantasies. Which involve demons. And lots of rape. View 1 comment. Mar 14, Gavin rated it it was amazing Shelves: fantasy. I'm not really sure what to say about Wizard's First Rule as a book.
Usually I can throw some sort of review together for even the worst books I've read but I'm finding reviewing this one is proving surprisingly tough. It does not help that I've read it multiple times over the years but never had to write a review for it before as I had not found my way to Goodreads on any of those previous occasions.
What is worse is I do not even know how many times I've actually read Wizard's First Rule over the years. I know this is at least my third read. I first read the series when I was still in my teens and it ended up being my absolute favourite fantasy series! Trouble is I do not know if I ever reread it while I was in my teens if only Goodreads was around to keep track of that stuff back then!
I was not big on rereading but I did make exceptions for the books I really loved. I know for sure I made a second attempt at the SoT series around I know that as it was when I made the transition from reading to audio. They were both favourites from my teen years and seemed solid value for money picks as the were all well over 25 hours long in audio.
I struggled a bit with SoT second time around as its flaws were more apparent and the audio versions of the series really sucked. So that means this return to Sword of Truth is at least my third attempt at the series.
I've never finished the series! In my teen years I read up to the 6th book and then caught the next few as they got published but I only made it to the 8th or 9th book in the series.
I decided to pause to let a few of them build up as I was forgetting too many of the happenings between instalments. My second attempt of the series ended sometime around the 3rd to 5th book. The series just never held my attention as well as it should have. I was never sure if that was because it was just not as much fun now that I was a more mature reader or if it was simply because I was struggling to make the transition from physical reading to audio and SoT, with its poor narration, was just a bad choice for that experiment.
That is why I'm back for this reread. I had great success recently with rereading, and finally completing, two of my other teen favourite series WoT and Malazan in case you guys were wondering so I figured it was time for a third and probably final go at the SoT series! So how did this read of Wizard's First Rule go? Pretty well and better than I expected considering my memories of my reread were slightly negative.
I quite enjoyed Wizard's First Rule even if it was not quite the favourite I considered it to be in my teen years. Goodkind has a weird writing style but it is still pretty engaging.
The story itself really does feel like a typically epic s fantasy series. It has young heroes banding together to save the world from an evil villain and packs in plenty of action, mystery, adventure, and magic along the way as well as a tad of romance. It is also not shy in using a lot of the old school tropes as this book alone had everything from prophecy to magic swords and even dragons! The basic story was enjoyable and intriguing enough. Richard Cypher, a young woodsman, finds his life taking a dramatic turn when, in the space of a few weeks, he finds his father brutally murdered and then stumbles across a mysterious woman fighting for her life against four men who are trying to kill her.
Richard helps her escape and soon finds himself caught up in events that will shape the fate of the world. The woman he saves, Kahlan, explains that the magic boundaries that separate the three lands, D'Hara ruled by an evil wizard lord , the Midlands a collection of countries in a land where magic is prevalent , and the Westland a place with no magic at all are failing and that she has come to Westland in order to find the Great Wizard.
She has come come to the Westland as Rahl has started a magic ritual that will give him complete dominion over the living world if he manages to complete it successfully. She needs the help of the Great Wizard to stop it and he fled to the Westland after the rulers of the Midlands turned their back on him years ago.
That sounds like fairly standard 90s fantasy fare but Goodkind made it work and this was a pretty fun story. Rahl was an awful guy so it was fairly easy to root for Richard and Kahlan on their various adventures as they tried to stop him gaining the power to rule the whole world.
I found the story engaging most of the time so that is always a good sign and I did like the heroes even if they did indulge in a few morally questionable moments along he way! I know a lot of people hate this series and it does not have a positive reputation with modern fantasy fans and I can see why people might feel that way as this time around a lot of the flaws that I missed in my innocent teen years were clear to me this time around but I have to admit that they did not bother me enough that they ruined the story for me.
This was still a fun read despite them! I'm not sure how much my nostalgia plays a part in my ability to ignore some of the more disturbing stuff that goes on but I guess that does not really matter as long as I do enjoy what I'm reading. I think the three big complaints I see in regards to SoT are Goodkind's Objectivist beliefs, the sexual violence in the story, and the casual sexism so I'll share my thoughts on each of those issues: - The Casual Sexism - Of the three the casual sexism and single outburst of homophobia I spotted in the story are the things that annoyed me the most!
Goodkind has a few flaws for sure but I do think his views on women are what I find most disturbing. Not that I want to slam the guy too much as it is not like he comes across as a guy that hates women and there are a fair few strong female characters in this book and across the rest of the SoT series it is just that he holds to some fairly old school conservative views on women and gender roles that can be quite annoying for the modern reader to have to deal with.
As a hardened fantasy reader I'm well used to this sort of casual sexism so while I found it annoying it did not overly hinder my ability to enjoy the story. For example the sexism in The Last Wish , which I read a few months ago, was far worse than anything one will find in the SoT series! I think in terms of tone the story was not all that bleak or dark but it definitely had a few dark moments.
There was a fair bit of torture and death as well as plenty of allusions to rape and sexual violence within the story but I never felt like any of it was all that explicit. Usually most sexual violence within fantasy stories ends up falling on the female characters but it was fairly well spread gender wise in this particular book.
If anything the guys suffered the worst of it! I could have lived without people being castrated and without the Mord-Sith being so over the top but it was not so bad or explicit that it damaged my enjoyment of the story and the nature of the villains did give them a more menacing and human feel than your average fantasy villains.
I even feel like that whole Mord-Sith story arc had a few good moments mixed in with all the cringe-worthy ones. I bet the actresses and scrip writers for the show must have been pissing themselves laughing while writing and acting out Goodkind's kinky dominatrix fantasies lol! Also worth noting that when I read this series as an innocent teen I had no clue about dominatrix or sadomasochism so just figured the Mord-Sith were some sort of twisted fantasy style torture villains Goodkind had dreamed up on his own.
Don't judge me! It was the pre-internet era back in those days so there was still a few of us innocent souls around lol! Goodkind definitely injects his beliefs and philosophy into his story but I do not think he gets all that preachy until around the 6th book in the series.
His objectivist beliefs are clear to see even in this very first book but I do not think they hurt the story. I actually felt like they gave the story an interesting twist. The heroes in this book had a different feel to those in your average fantasy tale and I found that more intriguing and thought provoking than annoying.
I'm not a fan of Objectivism but I do not hate every single aspect of the philosophy just most of them since I'm a super liberal socialist with vastly different ethical and moral values as well as a guy who does not give a fuck about "art" so I found it fascinating to see the ideas interwoven into a fantasy story in a fairly seamless manner. In terms of feel Wizard's First Rule came across as a weird mix of Robert Jordan and Stephen Donaldson with a little Erikson style philosophising thrown into the blend.
It was a strange mix but I felt like it worked especially as old school 90s fantasy series like WoT were clearly the biggest influence on this book. All in all I did not unconditionally love this series like I did in my teen years and would not rate it up to the standards of my modern day fantasy favourites but I do think it was still an entertaining and enjoyable read despite its flaws.
Rating: This is a hard book to rate. Since this was my absolute favourite series in my younger days it is probably worth a 5 star rating for the nostalgia value alone!
I think I'd probably still rate it around 4 stars nowadays despite the flaws and issues that are apparent in the story. It was still a fun read even if it was a bit more dark and disturbing than I remembered. It was the very first audiobook I ever bought from Audible! It is a pretty poor effort and performance. I've no idea why but the audio publisher for Sword of Truth treats the series like absolute shit.
Not only does the series get lumbered with multiple different audio narrators, which destroys any consistency of interpretation for the characters, but it also has the misfortune of getting a piss poor narrator every single time. I notice even the newer books in the series which I've not listened to yet also get brand new narrators so it seems like the publishers have learned absolutely nothing over the years.
It boggles the mind why a publisher would treat one of their most popular series so poorly in audio! The audio narrator for this version of the series was Nick Sullivan. He gave a good performance of the story. I've no idea why they did not just retain him for the commercial versions! When an author displays a poorly developed writing style I have a hard time getting past it and caring about the story.
That's what happend to me with this book. The story was decent, but Goodkind's writing was lousy. He probably improved with later efforts, but I'll never know because I'm not going to read them. View all 10 comments. The books follow the protagonists Richard Cypher, Kahlan Amnell, Nicci, Cara, and Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander on their quest to defeat oppressors who seek to control the world and those who wish to unleash evil upon the world of the living.
While each novel was written to stand alone, except for the final three that were intended to be a trilogy, they fol Wizard's First Rule Sword of Truth, 1 , Terry Goodkind The Sword of Truth is a series of twenty one epic fantasy novels written by Terry Goodkind. While each novel was written to stand alone, except for the final three that were intended to be a trilogy, they follow a common timeline and are linked by ongoing events that occur throughout the series.
The series began in with Wizard's First Rule and Goodkind has since written eighteen more novels in addition to a novella titled Debt of Bones. The latest novel in the series, Shroud of Eternity, was released in As of , 25 million copies of the series' books have been sold worldwide, and the series has been translated into more than 20 languages.
Jan 01, Kiri rated it did not like it Shelves: dont-read. This is yet another standard fantasy tale, with a questing youth and his magical item and aged mentor who turns out to be the premier wizard in the land. I didn't enjoy this book for a variety of reasons, but mainly for the repeated appearance of overused fantasy elements and the inane dialogue between the protagonist and his romantic interest.
The wizard character is more interesting and engaging. With one exception, there are no plot surprises, and things are always just a little too convenien This is yet another standard fantasy tale, with a questing youth and his magical item and aged mentor who turns out to be the premier wizard in the land.
With one exception, there are no plot surprises, and things are always just a little too convenient for our heroes. The one twist that stands out as unusual in the genre is an extended episode in which the protagonist is trapped by a sado-masochist and the reader is subjected to unending detail about the tortures that ensue. Bizarrely lengthy, this sub-story claims to have an educational effect on the protagonist, but really it's just an extended torture of the reader.
After the first page or so, we get the point. Adding to the jarring feeling of having swapped books temporarily, when he escapes from this captor, there seem to be zero lingering physical effects. Having been dragged through the descriptions of his torture, it's hard to believe that he could be anything more than a stumbling cripple, much less a hale and hearty hero who swings a sword, tames a dragon, escapes a horde of angry gars, and so on. During captivity, he definitely had several ribs broken and probably other bones as well and suffered blows, contusions, concussions, welts, dislocations, as well as other details that the author delicately?
No mention is made of setting broken bones or healing any of these wounds. Innovation is fine, but it needs to be plausibly integrated with the rest of the book, which fails to happen here. Now, he must go to those distant lands to face the Evil controlling it, as well as to deal with issues of truth.
Along his journey, his position is tested as his love for his new lady love. But, it attracted a lot of fantasy readers, who tend to be more thinkers, and it holds a great deal of promise. Richard was very noble and easy to anger when faced with lies or difficult appeal; I think this resonated with many readers who are tired of the BS in our society and desire simpler times; characters are interesting but only on a simple level; if you want gray characters and profound thinking and interactions, you won't get it in this series.
This is much more a story of context and characters than of plot or fast action. A great deal of time is spent playing off the character relationships, describing the landscape and people and monsters and also in laying out the History. And actually, the History is pretty interesting as are the monsters.
There were several character revelations which weren't surprising in this novel since it was so character focused. A few surprises and such, too. Richard Cypher is a good and moral character.
Perhaps a bit too much. He is the typical innocent yet good youth from mythology who sets out on a mission where the odds seem insurmountable. The dragon character was fresh enough and the description of the travels along the wilderness were interesting. The interplay between Richard and Kahlan kept my interest. Enough tug and pull and conflict. Zedd was introduced naked which was interesting and new. He wasn't stereotypical either and had enough of his own lines to make him stand out more.
Also, he wasn't some big buffed dude. I liked the way he manipulated in a good sense towards other people to achieve some better end, but still felt bad over it. The viewpoint of using a child and changing the word usage was good, too. The villain wasn't different but interesting enough.
The sexual debauchery made them even worse. No doubt this was to create moral outrage. Have to say Richard is no warrior in the first novel but that's okay. He seemed to get out of jams enough times.
Not clever. More noble and good that he gets others to help him as in the case of the Dragon. Interesting how Richard went through pain whenever he took a human life and had to deal with the results. Magic, in other words, has its limitations. Great details of the world and History; in regards to the lands being divided into three areas; the red fruit that is poisonous in the magical lands; the illusions used to fool the hero and heroine; the limitation of magic users; the confessor development and History; the Seekers and info.
Those are the main ones which come to mind but I'm sure there are others. Also interesting were the little phrases that permeated the storyline, giving it texture. For instance, Zedd the high wizard had the best ones: "Nothing is every easy. One other thing I found interesting in relation to truth was Wizard's First Rule: "People are stupid and will believe what they want to believe.
So too, Richard's people were told that the magic lands were dangerous to their well being and created an army to put an end to it. It would have gotten even higher if the themes of truth had been elaborated upon more so. Why not have someone who is compelled to tell the truth all the time in difficult situations to show the flip side of being honest? While being honest with your intimate partner is an ideal, being honest in the workforce or with people you hardly know can sometimes be destructive.
Too much self disclosure to such types looks bad and weak. Another area that I felt was missed on truth was to develop the local populace opinions on what they felt was right. While Goodkind did a good job with it, I felt he could have really mined this area more to make it more thought provoking. The discussion of truth wasn't taken far enough or really hammered into the them big time. The part about Richard being a bastard child of the villain was revealed a bit late and made it anticlimatic.
Perhaps it was intended and the next book will tell. The story lacked surprises. There were certainly a few but not enough for such a long novel. As I said above, it was more of a page turned for appreciation of the characters than a great moving story with lots of surprises and mysteries to it.
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