Get ready for a long adventure! If you are a reader who doesn’t mind the thickness of a book or the amount of details an author puts into his story, then this is a book for you! Terry Goodkind’s Wizard’s First Rule is the first book in a long series that captures the adventures, hardships, love, and pain that Richard and Kahlan face while trying to stop the evil Darken Rahl. Goodkind’s story is so much fun to read and brought a wonderful balance between the world building and character development that I really enjoyed! Once you start you’ll want to keep going!
So here’s the story:
Richard Cypher never had to worry about magic before thanks to the boundary dividing Westland from the rest of the magical world; however, when he steps in to save a beautiful yet mysterious woman in the woods, he is thrust into the magic world whether he likes it or not. The boundaries are failing and Kahlan Amnell is sent by wizards in the Midlands to look for the One Old Wizard that can name a Seeker. The Seeker will be able to help stop or kill the tyrant Darken Rahl before he is able to either destroy the world or become invincible.
The goal is to sniff out the wizard in hiding, get the Seeker to claim the Sword of Truth, find the last magical box, and survive till winter or die trying. As Richard and Kahlan set out they have to balance between a fine line of life and death in order to succeed in their ultimate goal. While traveling in the unfamiliar lands to Richard and the homeland that fears Kahlan, they find that there secrets behind every corner and in every heart including those closest to them. The two adventurers have to beware everything they do and say even to each other.
Be careful where you place your heart. Trust only the truth and use your head, because the wizard’s first rule is brutally efficient and will succeed every time.
The prophecies have spoken and the worst is yet to come.
My Thoughts
I love a good story with a bunch of twist and turns in it and this one definitely has that! It was such a good book! It was a long book, but considering this one has a lot of world building and character explanation/development, I can totally understand the need for the length. I actually appreciate the fact that Goodkind was willing to give so much detail in his story. You can really see the amount of effort he put into nailing down the world that he has created.
I also really liked this book because it had a similar layout that I have found in Tolkien’s series, The Lord of the Rings. I am in love with the journeys and stories found in Tolkien’s writing. So the fact that Goodkind was able to incorporate his own Epic Fantasy in a really great story was fantastic and made it a lot easier to fall in love with!
This book had me laughing, cringing, crying, and yelling throughout the entire thing, which I count as being a very good book. Goodkind is wicked good at using dramatic irony all over the place. I can honestly say that these were moments were a lot of the grumbling and yelling at the characters came from, which was both enjoyable and probably annoying to those around me while reading. I was loving the balance he has when swapping between the character’s point-of-views that when those dramatic situation happened I simply sat there and applauded Goodkind because it was so well done.
As an overall, this book was fantastic and I am really looking forward to reading the rest of this series! If you are looking for a longer series and like Epic Fantasy I would highly suggest this book to you. And I have listened to this through Audible and I really liked the reader for this book. So if the length of the book looks daunting, the audio version can help you through it!
Time to go get lost in the next story!
Favorite Quote
“It was like finding the other half of myself and being complete, whole, for the first time in my life.” (chp. 36)
These are sayings that Richard uses a lot throughout the book that I liked as well:
“Stop thinking of the problem and to think of the solution.”
“Promise made. Promise kept.”
