Customer Reviews

The Chalice (The Sword, the Ring, and the Chalice, Book 3)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Before I buy a book, I usually come to Amazon.com to check the reviews. Unfortunately, there are so few reviews here for this wonderful book that I decided to write a review. The complete story of the Sword, Ring, and Chalice was one of the best fantasy series I have ever read. While most fantasies follow the simple pattern of -- boy goes on adventure --> meets beautiful girl --> falls instantly in love with her --> defeats anatagonist -- this series was very unpredictable. The cast of characters only enhanced the quality of the book. The way they are presented leaves the reader with an unsettling doubt of who is good or bad, at least, until the end of the story! Finally, I would just like to say that I REALLY hope that Deborah Chester continues writing about Nether and the neighboring countries!

Although this book is as well written as the first two in the series (THE SWORD and THE RING), I think the plot was pushed along too quickly. As a previous reviewer mentioned, there were entirely too many things to accomplish in this book. The problem ends up being that the goals are accomplished both too quickly and too easily. The last half of the book seemed to be a cake walk for the protagonists. It made the antagonists seem inept and one dimensional. There was one side trip alone that I would have loved to see expanded into an entire book alone.

This is not to say that everything went right for the antagonists. Chester still hasn't lost her penchant for killing off characters. Some of those deaths truly surprised me. And some of them were hardly noble; they were brutal, ignominious executions, but they made the world seem more realistic. Not all of the good guys survive.

And don't think that I didn't enjoy this book. I gave it four stars because it was such an enjoyable read. I was still interested in seeing the growth of the characters. Plus, Chester's pure unpredictability had me turning pages late into the night. It lost that fifth star for being a bit rushed and easy for the heroes. However, Chester still has created a vivid world populated with believable characters that truly engages your imagination. This is a must read trilogy for any fantasy fan. I'm hoping that Chester comes back and revisits this creation sometime in the future, much like Terry Brooks does with his Shannara series, as long as she takes a break and flexes her muscles in another world in between.

I recently reread this excellent trilogy. I didn't expect to enjoy it the second time, since the plot had so many twists to it. However, the second time through I realized how excellent the characterizations were.

In brief, the story revolves around Dain, an Eld/human who discovers he is actually the missing King of Nether. The interesting thing about the plot is that he feels little motivation to claim his crown, but circumstances keep pushing him to do so. During the book, he has to develop from a near-feral boy to a man who can deal with rebuilding a kingdom. This character progression is deftly and believably handled.

The trilogy has some unusual characteristics. First, it is not really a trilogy, but one book divided into three separate parts. The titles are very misleading, especially the first book, entitled "The Sword". Since the first book has two important swords, I didn't really find out which the title referred to until Volume 3. Second, the book ends suddenly, without resolving some key issues. The evil kingdom which wishes to overthrow Nether is undefeated, and Dain's relationship with his mother's people is unresolved. Third, the first hundred pages, which describe how Dain's father lost his kingdom and his life, are a bit slow going. However, the second time through, I was much more open to this long introduction; I felt that it showed the similarities between father and son - that they were both very human individuals whose ideals and responsibilities threatened to outstrip their abilities. Last, the romance was peculiar, in that there was no description of any romantic feelings, at least from Dain's point of view.

The unorthodox handling of the trilogy format may throw some people off, but I would highly recommend these books. It is a trilogy which screams for a follow-up volume, which hopefully will be written!

Though I would not consider "The Sword, the Ring, and the Chalice" a top-shelf series as far as fantasy trilogies go, I would place it no lower than the second tier. It was placed in a world that is well-drawn and believable, as fantasy worlds go. It had characters you could get close to - heroes you liked and villains that you liked to dislike. My major complaint with the series is that Prince Gavril didn't get nearly what he deserved. It had a romantic interest, though not overly sappy.

It didn't make it as an epic in my book because, even though it was an enjoyable read, it was too easy. Even though there were points of conflict and everything did not go 100% smoothly 100% of the time, you never felt that at any point the story was going to stray too far from the predictable ending. Other than Pheresa's desire to be a queen at all cost, there were no real moral dilemma's raised or philosophical questions to ponder.

A little more meat on the bones would have made this a more memorable series, but even given that, it was fun to read and a series I would recommend to most any fan of fantasy, particularly those just becoming familiar with the genre.

'The Chalice' picks up right where 'The Ring' left off, with Gavril and Dain heading off to Nether to recover the chalice in order to cure the poisoned Princess Pheresa. Of course, the poison was meant for Dain, and Gavril is responsible, but Gavril's responsibility is never dealt with. As a matter of fact, Gavril's responsibility is never dealt with for anything, in any of the books. He might not win in the end (well, what did you think, the bad guys win?) but neither does he ever have to face consequences for his actions.

After Gavril tries to force Dain to reveal the location of the chalice, Dain flees with Thum, and two of the Thirst knights for the Nether border. Gavril continues on with the church knights and Pheresa to Nether in order to get a supposed cure that they can offer.

Alexeika and Dain finally meet, and Alexeika recognizes him from when she parted the veils in book one ('The Sword.') Alexeika, Dain and company go on to solve all of their problems, facing down one obstacle after another with surprising ease.

Too much is going on in this book, and all of it is dealt with in a very haphazard slap and dash fashion. Dain, Alexeika and Thum are captured, escape, find their way to the fortuitosely waiting army, etc. etc. Everything happens very quickly without reason, and without dealing with any of these episodes. This is especailly disapointing after the first two books where Dain and Alexeika actually suffer their way through the books. Here, the suffering is extremely transitory, except for Pheresa.

In all, the ending of this trilogy is a little too pat for my tastes. Everyone gets what they want in the end, and the only messyness is the lack of a treasury that Dain is left with. So, although the writing is quite good, the book is rushed. A good ending, but a little more detail would have been nice.

Jordan who? Deborah Chester has succeeded in demonstrating that a gripping, enjoyable fantasy story does not require ten volumes and ten thousand pages. Throughout The Sword, The Ring, and The Chalice, Chester brings a whole world to life with settings and people that seem sometimes all too real, and with a pacing that never slacked. Reading Chester has finally turned me off from Robert Jordan; I no longer see the point of investing three weeks in the next Wheel of Time book when I can have much more enjoyable fantasy at less than a third of the time cost.

As for The Chalice itself, the conclusion to the series was not as pat as I had feared, although complaints that it was too pat are not without merit. While some of the other criticisms are also understandable, one of the most frustrating aspects of The Chalice is arguably one of its strengths - it is impossible to completely like either of the two main characters because they each keep engaging in self-destructive behavior. When Dain and Alexeika were each young and new to their situations (i.e., in the first two books), it was easier to forgive their faults. By The Chalice, one simply wanted to slap each of them a half dozen times, which speaks highly of Chester's ability to get the reader involved. No flat, one-dimensional "hero is always good" here.

One could also complain about the sometimes too-clever prose, and a mildly annoying attempt to create a medieval-type dialogue (I hate it when characters say "nay" as if they were horses), but the complaints are minor in comparison with a story that keeps the reader turning pages, and often has the heart racing. This is a series that is well worth the read, and one that is worth revisiting from time to time.

The book starts with Faladin, (his true identity is not a secret any more), searching with his hated one dimensional enemy, the prince for a cure to his heart desire. The story picks off at the point where the second volume ended. The problem of the book is that it is much too short. In one volume Faladin must: Find a cure, Get the Sword the Ring and the Chalice back, Search for the Eldin folk, go on a sub plot to Gant, Build an army, win the trust of his people, conquer Nether, win a war against the evil believers, and fall in love. As a result we get a thin patch of many ideas woven together into a mishmash of events. The plot seems to "just hang there" with no connecting threads. Faladin builds his army in two pages finds the chalice in one and still able to win the war in the following page. The final meeting between him and the prince is a real anti climax and there are few threads at the end of the book left open. I think that perhaps this fine story deserved to be spread over few more books. As a whole I think this book is a miss and it's a shame after the promising previous books.

The trilogy makes for a nice week of reading and is quite well written. Unfortunately, it does have a couple flaws, which are neglectable if one seeks only entertainment (see below).

Chester's Sword/Ring/Chalice-Series is one story told in three books, this is the third. Book 3 continues the storyline the day it ends in the second book, so, this is not a "20 years later our hero goes off to a new adventure"&"I want to write a sequel and make more money"-story. You'll have to buy/read all three books if you want to know the end (comparable to Tolkien's three books, even if on a different level).

Conclusion:
I usually turn off my brain and simply enjoy a story when reading fantasy. For me, a story needs to be gripping, seem real and make me want to not put the book down. Chester delivers those things for sure. The main characters are well developed, the side characters neglected and killed quickly. Sometimes, unimportant things are described in great detail just to never surface again. A love story between the two main characters is somewhat crammed into the last pages: The heroine's affections for the good guy are mentioned and well developed throughout the series, but he's going for some other girl all the time. His sudden decision to dump the other girl and take the heroine instead is unprepared, unexplained, seems unlikely and leaves a sour aftertaste which spoils the closing chapter. It's not exactly an unforgettable series; one can read the books again in a couple of years and pretend it was the first time. I enjoyed the series and - within the frame of the restrictions mentioned before - I do recommend it.

The flaws:
Flaw No. 1: The first 100 pages of the first book drag on and do not really have relevance, it's just an extended prelude about how the father of our hero screws up big time. The triology is actually more thrilling (I'd imagine) if one simply skips the beginning and reads this "prelude" afterwards.
Flaw No. 2: The author obviously does not know or not care about the historically correct meaning and status of aristocratic titels. There's a bunch a princes running around who are neither heir to the throne nor related to any king. That bugged me a little, as it is somewhat confusing.
Flaw No. 3: Our hero rises to high status in various steps. Each step he makes by saving the life of his respective superior: A huntsman to begin with, then a lord, then a prince, then the king. When there's no one else to save, cause there's no one above the king, it turns out our hero's of royal blood himself (which the reader assumed all along but that's a different story). It's somewhat too simple cause one quickly figures out that soon the next situation in which he'll save a life will come up in order to push the story along. Most of these live-saving-situations are quite unlikely, so if one prefers stuff that is thought through, logically sound and "thick" story-telling (like Tolkien), this is not your series. It's comparable to Goodkind's books: Extremely grave danger and a way too simple solution.

Although I agree with some other reviews that the ending seemed rather rushed,this is one of the best Trilogies I've read.I couldn't put it down.Needless to say ,at three in the morning that can be a problem! Deborah Chester has the ability to draw the reader into the story and feel a kinship to her characters.You feel their losses,triumphs,and,yes,sometimes you wanted to slap some sense into Dain,or Alexeika.Pure Fantasy,but with all the human foibles and emotions that make you feel that you are living the story.I want more! If you read The Sword,The Ring and The Chalice,you would love Ann Marston's Rune Blade Trilogy,and the followup Trilogy,The Sword in Exile.Some of the best.

Everything about this book is amazing. The characters are well developped and realistic. The scenes are well described and the descripions do not carry on for pages on end. You can easily picture the scene taking place, something I have rarely found in books. You can imagine the Gantese city and the dwarf village. You can see Alexeika in the river and Dain in the hall of the believers. The characters seem real and you feel annoyed at them when, like Gavril, they are pompous and self centered. You feel embarassed for them when they do something stupid. You feel frustrated when they do and sorry for them when they die or when their companions die. It's not like reading a book it's like beeing part of it.