Wizard's First Rule

[Kat Kanning]

Has anyone read this series?  I just finished Confessor, the last book.  It turned out to be like a fantasy Atlas Shrugged 

[Mike Barskey]

I read it. It was good, but I thought it was geared toward a younger audience. It was indeed quite freedom oriented, without being as direct about it as Atlas Shrugged. There is apparently a whole series of "Wizard's Rule" books, but this is the only one I've read.

The author, Terry Goodkind, was interviewed on FTL once.

[Lloyd Danforth]

Reading books possibly geared towards a younger audience is one of Kat's jobs.

[dalebert]

I'm guilty of really enjoying the Harry Potter series. 

[Friday]

Has anyone read this series?  I just finished Confessor, the last book.  It turned out to be like a fantasy Atlas Shrugged 

I never even heard of it; sounds like I'd like it, though.

I'm just finishing up "The Eyre Affair"; it's pretty fun.     It's making me feel a bit guilty for never having actually read Jane Eyre, though; I think I started it once and found it boring.

[dalebert]

It was indeed quite freedom oriented, without being as direct about it as Atlas Shrugged.

And by "direct", I take it you mean preachy. And A.S. was horribly preachy and just a horrible piece of writing IMHO. Great premise though. The ideas are solid; just such a horribly written book. I need to read some of her other stuph. I've heard she's done much better.

[K. Darien Freeheart]

Has anyone read this series?  I just finished Confessor, the last book.

I'll have to add it to my list of series to read.

[KBCraig]

And by "direct", I take it you mean preachy. And A.S. was horribly preachy and just a horrible piece of writing IMHO. Great premise though. The ideas are solid; just such a horribly written book. I need to read some of her other stuph. I've heard she's done much better.

The Fountainhead was a much, much better book. We the Living is interesting, since it's practically an autobiography of her years in Russia. And Anthem is a good short read.

For an interesting collection of non-fiction, pick up Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal. Alan Greenspan's views on gold and the Fed were *ahem* somewhat different than when he became chairman of the fed.

[Kat Kanning]

I read it. It was good, but I thought it was geared toward a younger audience. It was indeed quite freedom oriented, without being as direct about it as Atlas Shrugged. There is apparently a whole series of "Wizard's Rule" books, but this is the only one I've read.

I didn't really think the series was geared toward a younger audience...it had quite a lot of torture and rape.  The first book wasn't real freedom oriented - he got into his philosophy in later books.

[toowm]

I read it. It was good, but I thought it was geared toward a younger audience. It was indeed quite freedom oriented, without being as direct about it as Atlas Shrugged. There is apparently a whole series of "Wizard's Rule" books, but this is the only one I've read.

I didn't really think the series was geared toward a younger audience...it had quite a lot of torture and rape.  The first book wasn't real freedom oriented - he got into his philosophy in later books.

I actually stopped after the first book due to the darker stuff.

[Giggan]

Anthem's public domain, and thus easy to find online. I recently got into reading pdf's on my laptop, cuz its free and convenient. You could finish Anthem in like 2 hours, give it a spin.

http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2837

[Sam A. Robrin]

I thought it was geared toward a younger audience.

Which is not necessarily a bad thing.  I'm especially fond of the books of Daniel M. Pinkwater (or D. Manus, sometimes), who writes exclusively for younger readers, but, without a trace of preachery, depicts a weird-but-benevolent universe of the sort most libertarians live in, or wish they could.  Try Lizard Music, or Wing Man, or Fat Men From Space--and if you find a copy of The Big Orange Splot, let me know, because I keep giving them away to children I know . . .

[SethCohn]

Let's see, lots to reply to:

Wizard's First Rule: I just picked up the paperback of the first book at the local dump recycle house, after giving up twice on the audiobook (anyone want a listen?) because I just didn't find it grabbed me.
There is a tv show based on it also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_of_the_Seeker

Gardner also interviewed Goodkind in later 2007. http://media.odeo.com/5/2/7/11-19-2007.mp3

Eyre Affair: Jasper Fforde ROCKS.  I've listened and/or read all of his books.  I don't want to spoil later books by even trying to describe them, but rest assured, if you like funny fiction about fiction, it only gets better as he goes on...   Totally worth reading!

Daniel Pinkwater: Amen, Sam.  I love his stuff.  Alan Mendelsohn, Boy from Mars was one of those "Wow" books for me early on as a kid.

Anthem: Listened to the audiobook, and read the book.  Both good.

I'm doing a lot of audiobooking, just due to commute time, as I can read the book faster, but reading while driving is a bad thing, listening is better.

If anyone is looking for ebook versions or audiobook versions of any of the above, let me know.

[Mike Barskey]

I thought it was geared toward a younger audience.

Which is not necessarily a bad thing.

Good point. I did not intend to say it was a bad thing. I just meant that I thought it was written to an audience younger than myself, so I didn't appreciate it as much as if it had been less direct and more provocative. I did like it, though.

[Daien]

Has anyone read this series?  I just finished Confessor, the last book.  It turned out to be like a fantasy Atlas Shrugged 

I read the first two, and then got busy getting ready to move. I really enjoyed them.