Finally Finished Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind

Terry Goodkind's books dominate the shelves in the fantasy section of bookstores.  His Sword of Truth series is his trademark achievement, spanning twelve (or more?) volumes, periodically putting him at the top of the bestseller list and no doubt making him a very rich man.  Yet when I recently got on the Internet and checked out a list of the top 25 fantasy series (George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire at the top of it), Goodkind's presence was nowhere seen...not even among the supplementary "honorable mention" list.  I myself had a bit of difficulty last year with the first book, Wizard's First Rule, getting through a few hundred pages (it is gigantic) and finally putting it down in frustration.  Not only did I discover that I felt an irrational aversion to this fantasy world of magic and swords (and the accompanying gore and violence), but I also experienced the same feeling that I had when reading Christopher Paolini's Eragon series: both authors probed the thoughts and intentions of their characters far too much instead of letting each story's actions and dialogue reveal their personalities as the plot progressed.  This, to me, took away some of the natural mystery and suspense that could have sustained me as a reader.  However, with Goodkind at least (Paolini is FAR too ponderous), I decided to give him another chance.  So I went back to Wizard's First Rule and read the whole damned thing from beginning to end.  And a funny thing happened: I began to like it!

It isn't quite so clear at the beginning of Wizard's First Rule, but as I read through it, I came to feel that Terry Goodkind is doing more than just spinning a yarn set in an imaginary fantasy setting.  He is also laying out a philosophy for living that involves people taking responsibility for themselves while redefining the notions of what truly constitutes compassion, and how important the method is to achieving one's means.  These are significant, heady topics, and Goodkind delves into them...at least in the first book.  I'm getting myself ready now for the second in the series, titled Stone of Tears... Oh by the way, I read up on Goodkind and he appears to be a follower of Ayn Rand's objectivism philosophy.  How that point of view is reflected in his writings should prove interesting to discover as I read on.

As for the title Wizard's First Rule, what does it mean?  Simply that, in the pantheon of rules that the wizards of Goodkind's imaginary realm have listed, there stands one principle high above the others: people are stupid and will believe whatever they WANT to believe, regardless of the facts!  You know what, that sounds like MY first rule as well!