I picked up this book looking for something new and thinking I could not go wrong with a series from a best selling author. As it turned out, this would become the second book that I ever stopped reading without finishing.

I found the whole book, at least the first half that I read, rather pedestrian. The plot was overly simple and the characters tragically under developed. The standard formula was used: Introduce a seemingly ordinary main character; introduce threat; find out main character has special ability; define quest; gather group around main character for quest; travel, travel, minor conflict, travel, hardship, travel; confront big bad enemy that you have no possible chance of defeating; be victorious; end (kiss girl and/or setup for next book).

What finished me off was the piece de resistance in run-on sentences. Actually, it was a whole string of them. By the time I finished reading the page, I was gasping for breath. To check out this literary phenomenon, see the fifth page in chapter 21 (page 289 in my paperback).

Maybe I expected too much after Robert Jordan or Tad Williams. Maybe I ended my read too early and this turns out to be a wonderful book. However, with so many good books out there worth reading I decided to waste my time no more. If this book did anything for me, it made me realize that anyone can be a writer and my hidden dreams of creating a best seller is possible.

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Love, Love, Love this book! It starts off a little slow, but by the middle you can not put it down. I read the first 5 in the Sword of Truth Series all in a row because I just could not get enough and HAD to find out what was next in store for the people in the book. One of my favorite of all time.

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This is a science fiction fantasy book with complex characters and a dense interwoven plot. The only thing that bothered me were a couple of scenes of horrible violence against women. The author just couldn't conceive of killing a woman, she had to violated and raped and tortured first. It was if someone else wrote those parts because this series has one of the strongest female protaganists I've ever seen in a book.

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This is a great story and an excellent start to a wonderful series. If you're like me and you love fantasy/adventure books you'll love this book and be craving the rest of the series. I must warn you though... the series is addicting so make sure to set aside lots of time!!

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I loved this one about 8 years ago, when I was big on Wheel of Time too. But during a recent rereading- I couldn't believe how bad it was.

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This book was engaging to the end. I enjoyed the story. Some of the subplots seemed a little forced in that they really didn't advance the story, which is why I didn't rate it as 5 stars. But overall, a very enjoyable book.

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It was barely okay and sort of tedious. I was hoping for something along the lines of "A Game of Thrones," but this book was nowhere close. It was just barely good enough to keep me from discarding it, and I'm the kind of person who hates to quit on a book once I start reading it. I'd say, in general, that it was a waste of my reading time. It had no intrigue or genuine surprises in plot twist, no significant suspense....just one somewhat predictable adventure after another.

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can't wait to start book 2

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This is just my opinion but this book is not written well. And the editing is even worse. The story is taking way to long to develop. I read half the book and should have quit after the first three chapters. I just kept trying because I wanted it to get better. It never turned. The character development is sad, both of the main characters that the book is following are whiny, and All I could think of the entire time was Kristen Stewart in Twilight or any movie for that matter. Not good. The only two characters I liked were the wizard and the bad guy, but that dude was just too brutal for me. I don't agree with children being used to employ a plot. I mean I know people are bad like that in the real world, but I do also believe that creativity can take us farther than using children to get off a bad guy in a book. I do believe this one to be a fail, and I am super surprised that people are so into this series, enough for a t.v. show to be made.

P.S. I am not against books being over 800 pages but if they are they better be worth the read. This one is not!

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