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By CategoryWizard’s First Rule - Terry Goodkind
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Wizard’s First Rule - Terry GoodkindNot just Swords and Sorcery
2005-06-18
Article Written by: Mark Mosher
In the Wizard's First Rule, Terry Goodkind creates for his readers a magnificently diverse world which centers on the adventures of one man, a simple woods guide named Richard. Throughout this novel, and the subsequent series that follows, Goodkind weaves the nature of humanity into a fantasy world of swords and sorcery.
At first glance, the novel seems to follow the stereotypical route of a hero thrown into an epic battle to overcome some monolithic evil that threatens to envelop his world. And for all accounts, that's exactly what the novel is. However, the individual struggles of those around Richard make this book about far more than just a magical fantasy.
The characters within the story are all very unique, each of them with their own unique and well designed past that is reflected with no small amount of skill in the personalities of each person. Even the villains of the story possess an almost identifiable quality, which at times seems to almost generate an endearing quality in each of them.
The storyline itself flows in an interesting manner, even as Richard is the focus of the entire novel, Goodkind involves many of the major players in the story without detracting from the overall content of the story. Such an ability to maintain a consistent flow of ideas and content is rare, and makes for a very good read.
The overall content is fabulous; the main characters all seem to develop before the reader's eyes. Even the relationships between them develop in a most natural way, it seems more like a reader is watching real life events unfold between the characters rather than some carefully orchestrated conversation derived from the mind of an author.
This book, and the continuing series for which this book was the starting point, is well worth anyone's time to read. With its dynamic story and realistic portrayal of the human condition, it has everything any reader could hope to find in a novel of its kind.
