Customer Reviews

Sword Ring And Chalice Sword

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Story summary: Some guy wanders around aimlessly as his destiny leads him to be king of a county he knows nothing about. Meanwhile many of his friends and enemies are killed by demons.

I've read about 500 sci-fi / fantasy books and while this wouldn't make it into my worst 100 list, its damn close.

After having read all 3 books, my impression is that they were written based on watching a couple King Arthur movies and the cartoon version of The Hobbit.

The magic goes back and forth between being powerful and weak, depending on which is more convenient.

The main character decides to reclaim his father's throne because its his destiny, but he couldn't care less about the country or its people because he's never been there and the only person he met from there was a real jerk!

His faithful sidekick only gets mentioned when someone is needed to ask a stupid question or make a blatantly obvious observation.

The main characters are very unsympathetic as they make random decisions based on reasoning like "I've never been wrong before, so while this looks like an extremely stupid thing to do it will turn out to be the right thing" Huh? (That isn't an exact quote from the book, but close enough.)

The only reason I finished the whole series is that I was hoping it would be bad enough to make it into my "worst" list. But unfortunately it isn't really awful, its just predictable and extremely boring.

...this is some of the worst written drivel I have read in a long time.
I title this review "Fan Fiction" because that is truly what it reads like- someone with a great mind for fantasy "concepts" but a complete inability to formulate any sort of prose. There is no continuity in the writing, and the author uses "powers" to help her characters when they need help, then discards those abilities when they need to be in danger again.
Additionally, the improper use of similes and metaphors astounds me. What kind of editing is involved in making a book like this?

Sorry to come out sounding so negative, but this is the kind of garbage that makes outsiders to the genre of fantasy laugh when they see people reading it...

My reaction to this book confuses even me. Nothing in this book seems to be well done. The major characters are flat, the minor characters are completely insubstantial and all of them are too clearly either good or evil. The plot is made up of individual moments and situations that, though entertaining on the individual level, are tied together rarely by solid means. Character motivation is shallow and at some points stretched to the point of being totally illogical. The writing is deplorable, even for modern, pulp fiction standards (which is saying something) and the author made some truly terrible choices about the book's construction, in general (like the entire prologue's existance). Where is the editor? I don't have any reason to think that one ever existed. The main character getting together with a woman in the end is done suddenly with no basis behind his decision. The worst part is that the book is anything but memorable (though, come to think of it, that could be why I managed to come out of it with a relatively good impression). Overall, this book is only a good read if you're not paying attention.

I liked this book, but unfortunately the sequel does not keep up with the first volume.

I liked the boy's adventures and even if the story doesn't stand out for its originality, I found it quite enjoyable: the lost prince, the lost heritage, the quest for the magical talisman... if not new, they were at least decently developed.
The characters also seemed quite interesting...
but in the following two volumes the main character loses all depth: as long as he was a commoner he was 'true', but as soon as he discovers his true identity he suddenly IS a prince. There is no struggle, no hesitation, no CHANGING, one day he is a foundling and the next he is an arrogant noble. Bah.

I would suggest Miss Chester to read TheBoneDollsTwin (by Flewelling), just in order to see how a believable -and wonderful- character is developed.

Three stars for the first volume, two stars for the following ones.

_The Sword_ is the first of a high-fantasy trilogy and is little more than a prologue for whatever follows. What I mean by that is this: in terms of actual plot development, very little happens here. Each paperback in this trilogy is about 400 pages long (1200 total), so this could easily have been a 2-book saga with little to no impact on its quality.

As for the story itself ... There are some books you can read when you're tired, some you can't, and some that just make you tired. At its best, this book falls into the first category; at its worst, in the third. The writing is clear but rough and unremarkable (much more telling than showing, especially where character emotions are concerned, not one clever simile or metaphor), while the plot is uneven and filled with numerous, extended chase and fight sequences that create a sense of deja vu. (Other reviews here describe the plot, so I won't, except to express complete disappointment with the climax, in which the hero saves the day not through his own talents but through, not just one, but two instances of deus ex machina.) Two sub-plot threads are interspersed with the main one; however, the female protagonists in those receive so little stage-time that one can only hope their actions will actually mean something later in the trilogy.

The book's one strength is its ability to keep you wanting to know what happens next, which is certainly a literary virtue. However, few to none of the other ones (style, plausibility, insight, etc.) are present here. I strongly recommend _A Game of Thrones_ by George Martin or _The Briar King_ by Greg Keyes instead of this (though this one does contain a lesser degree of sexual content, if not violence, than those very fine tales). That said, if you're looking for a fantasy book to distract yourself during a long plane ride, this one would probably work. 2-1/2 disappointed stars.

I must admit, the reason I bought this book is because I have a thing for elves (or in this case, elds). The idea of an elf who was a main character was particularly appealing to me and so I stumbled upon this charming little novel.

The Sword has the classic fanstasy novel plot: poor, outcast, farmer boy accidentally comes upon his true destiny and ends up saving the world. However, I have never minded these plots and Deborah Chester pulls the cliche off with enough elegance that the book is engrossing from start to finish.

Beginning the book with the story of Dain's father (who's name I won't even try to spell) was a well done touch. It was refreshing to have Dain's past be only a mystery to him, as opposed to the reader, because we all know very well, whether told or not that Dain is going to somehow be important.

Dain himself was a compelling character, and I found myself becoming increasing furious at the way he was treated by humans, especially Prince Gavril. Prince Gavril, by the way, is a wonderful villain, and Dain responds realistically and in the end, heroically, to Gavril's constant torment. Dain, is his struggles and occasional lapses of logic, comes accross as very compelling. He is a teenage boy, albiet a noble, long lost prince, but still a teenage boy, and Chester does a magnificent job at portraying him as such.

The fantasy world that Chester created is for the most part, complete in it's detail and well thought through. My only complaint is that there is no map. I found myself looking, on more than one occasion, in the back and front of the book for something in which I could get my bearings. Chester clearly put a great deal of work into the people, beasts, and customs of her world, but not so much into her geography. It was little distracting.

Whatever my complaints, though, I could not put The Sword down. It was a quick read for me and I enjoyed nearly every minute of it. I find myself looking forward to reading the continuation of the series. I will definatly be buying those.

I was very disappointed with this novel. First the King's wife dies, then he is exiled, then the foster father for his kids dies (a nice old dwarf you never meet), then the daughter dies, the villian is introduced but has no depth, he is just evil and predictible. All this jut to set up the story. And I couldn't believe that this was written by a women, the females either die or have no depth. Terrible book.

I'm a very picky reader, I only have a few select authors that I adore and Chester is right up there. I found her first book, "The Ring" at the book store and decided to give it a chance. The idea behind the book was interesting. After a few dozen pages I was gripped with so much emotion that I was hooked right off. I found tears in my eyes and loving Faldain so much! His struggles and fight just gave me goosebumps. I believe I love this book series because of the realistic human emotions and choices people take - the characters are well thought-out and you tend to bond with all of them. I hated Gravil so much it drove me nuts and I couldn't put the book down! The names of the swords had a silly grin on my face, very well-thought of names and places. I've read through all three books in the series, the story even gets better! Hard to put down! You won't regret getting involved in this series. The series is The Sword, the Ring, and The Chalice. The Chalice is one of my favorites. I also picked up, "The Queen's Gambit" which is like a follow-up book on another character that I love. :)

I am a recreational reader at best, in that I only get stuck into ones I really enjoy. I then usually take months to read them, but not this trilogy! I swept through all 3 following the growth of Faldain who had to find himself and save his home lands. It had all the elements of a good story with action, magic, honor, suspense and a bit of love tucked in later on. I even read allowed in some parts to my young boys who got into it. Faldain's newfound friends and allies are loyal and true and Prince Gavril is so bad that you love to hate him. Your emotions get going in this one and you WILL enjoy it!

The first part of the book seems a little detached...it isn't until the second part of the book begins that I found the book to have some real merit. The Sword take a traditional fantasy approach with eldin (elves), humans and dwarves, though the author does add her own twist to how these races mingle and what powers they utilize.

She does a good job of bringing out the personalities of her characters, though they were sometimes RIGID in their roles and therefore somewhat predictable in their reactions to circumstances. And the author's use of religion and race as a force to drive the characters into a storyline was interesting, though not overly done. Don't get me wrong, the book is great, I just saw some minor things that bugged me just a little.

And I did like the spin of the overall story enough to purchase the next book in the sequel. A good one to read.