I enjoyed the first couple of his Richard Rahl books, but after The Blood of the Fold It just got annoying that there was alway yet ANOTHER thing preventing Richard & Kahlan being together.
I think Terry Goodkind is a little bit of a pain-perv too.
My favprite author has got to be the great Terry Pratchett. Literally everything Ive read by TP has had me laughing out loud, usually in an embarassingly public place. Douglas Adams comes a close second.