On Sat, 13 Apr 1996, Ross McKenzie wrote:

	Changing a law of nature for a reason is one thing.  Changing a 
law of nature because you did not bother to look up the real-world 
results is something else.  Terry Goodkind is guilty of this in his book 
_Wizard's First Rule_; apples and all things red are poisonous in the 
middle realm of his world because he needed a conflict between his two 
romantic leads.  It doesn't work.  His choice of natural laws seems ad hoc.

Eep!  Nope nope nope.  Sorry, but you have that red fruit bit wrong.
In _Wizard's First Rule_, all red fruit is poisonous, NOT because of 
nature, but because of a spell cast years ago.  The rationale behind the 
spell was that children like bright colors and liked the red fruits, so 
making all red fruits poisonous would kill off some children.  (Of 
course, people eventually caught on that the red fruits were poisonous, 
but in the meantime, many people died from them.)

I love _Wizard's First Rule_...~sigh~ I bought it in hardback, and it 
sits on my bookshelf beside my bed.  I see it every night before I fall 
asleep.... ^_^

-joyce, Disciple of Kasumi and Goodkind
Joey-kun no iinazuke!!