Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind (2008, Paperback, Media Tie-In)

If what you want is to shut your mind off after a hard day but without the hangover or the video game headache, then you might want to pick up Wizard's First Rule. The emotional focus of the book is mainly on the romance between the two leads, Richard and Kahlan, which is deeply angsty and, while unrealistic, satisfyingly intense. The story has enough suspense to hold a reader's interest, but don't walk in expecting a consistent universe or an intellectually satisfying ending.

Overall, Wizard's First Rule is not very well written. Whenever Goodkind writes himself into a corner, some new magical spell or beastie that we've never heard of before shows up as a plot point ex machina. There's also a lot of sleaze. It isn't that the story involves sex, rape, violence and other prurient elements so much as that sex, rape and violence are slathered in on top of the plot for cheap thrills. The characters come off as type caricatures. Rachel is the Piteous Little Girl. Zedd is the Wise(cracking) Old Man. Rahl is Big Bad.