Customer Reviews

The Ring (The Sword, the Ring, and the Chalice, Book 2)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Okay, fantasy fans, what are we going to do? The Robert Jordan series is absolutely creaking. Goodkind hasn't had a surprise in the last 3,000 pages. G. R. R. Martin takes a long time between books. Weis and Hickman are in rewrite, although still good. We've all read "Rhapsody" three times. This series is an excellent option for solving our problems. The battle scenes are superb, there are twists and surprises, and lots of conflict. Aside from the fact that every character seems to "flush red in the face" (or words to that effect) on every page, I thought this one was as great as "The Sword," which is unusual for the middle book of a trilogy. Recommended.

The Ring, the second book of Deborah Chester's The Sword, the Ring and the Chalice trilogy is an excelent book, expecially considering that is a middle book. The development of (Fal)Dain as he grows is excelent, and you really care about what happens to him. Gavril and the cardinal Noncire make excellent villains. The girls in the story however are not as fully drawn as the boys. Alexeika is still a sketch of a character, although a very cool one, and Princess Pheresa comes across as a spoiled, power hungry brat, except for the scene with her mother. You aren't sure whether you should like her or not, with me leaning toward not, especially after her ambitions are so clearly outlined in book one. Still, she doesn't deserve Prince Gavril. King Varence is another of those either or characters. Obviously, he has done a miserable job with his son, and I just can't like someone who lets their child get away with murder. Especailly when said child will one day be king.

The two protaganists, Dain and Alexeika, lead pretty miserable lives in their various places, and you want to cheer them on, even when they make poor decisions. - Dain makes more than his fair share. - By the end of book one, you really care about these two, and by the end of this book, you want them to finally meet, and why does it have to take so long? Alexeika is a much more likable character than Pheresa. Unfortunately, Dain hasn't met her yet, and he had the misfortune to fall in lust at first sight with Pheresa, which you know will cause yet more problems in book three.

I recomend this book, but read book one (The Sword) first.

I was pleasantly surprised by the first book in this trilogy (The Sword), so I had high hopes for the second. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a let-down. This isn't to say that it wasn't a good book--which it was--but I didn't think it was up to the same standards as The Sword.

The Ring is a good follow-up to its predecessor in that it expands on many of the characters, Gavril & Pheresa in particular. Chester creates very vivid characters, and succeeds in forcing the reader to re-think their initial reactions. A good example of this is Pheresa, whom you may not like as much by the end (of course, that's assuming you liked her to begin with!). I still wanted to smack Gavril, but even with him there are times when I was undecided about his motives and real feelings. Dain & Alexeika continue to be likeable heroes, though I thought Dain seemed a little overly naive at times. Besides the characters, Ms Chester's action scenes continue to be excellent in pace and description.

So what exactly made me rate this book four stars? Well, partly because the story just wasn't long enough. The amount of character development and action just doesn't quite fit into the narrow span of time the story actually covers. Sometimes the characters' changes of feeling seemed a bit rushed, as if the author was trying to cram it all in an allowed word count. I wish that Ms Chester had written a longer book and extended the amount of time within the novel's world.

It's the subtle, almost intangible things in the book which made me rate it lower than The Sword, but still I lost myself in the world of Mandria and Nether. This is an enjoyable book, and I recommend it to anyone who likes fast-paced action fantasy.

This is the second book in Deborah Chester's trilogy: The Sword, The Ring, and The Chalice (following THE SWORD). Again, just as in the first book, she is brilliant in developing her characters and making the reader care for the protagonists. Not only are her characters vivid and interesting, but their reactions to their surroundings and the situations they find themselves in are realistic. What makes things truly enjoyable are the characters' interactions with one another. Their emotions are rendered beautifully and the dialogue is a joy to read.

On top of this, the storytelling is quite intelligent. The reader never knows what's going to happen next because Chester doesn't have her protagonists overcoming every obstacle with ease. They are truly challenged at every turn, thus providing the reader with a sense of suspense and urgency. In some fantasy, the choices that the characters make are obvious and the reader can immediately discern what will occur because of them. Not so in this case. The reader has a general idea of where the author is taking them, but can never really predict the path the characters will take along the way. This makes for some very engaging reading. Once the reader has come to care for the characters, they cannot help but keep reading to find out what happens to them.

What seems unjust to me is that Chester is not as widely recognized (yet) as such authors as Raymond E. Feist or Robin Hobb, despite the fact that her writing is as good as, if not better than, theirs. She's not quite up to the level of Jordan, Brooks, or Martin, but her books are still fascinating reads. If you haven't read anything by her yet, I highly recommend this series (I can't wait to get to the third book, THE CHALICE).

...The Ring is more of a three-and-a-half star book than either a four or three. The Ring is as engrossing a read as its predecessor, The Sword. However, once the last page is read, you can't help but think that not very much happened after the first hundred pages (almost the exact opposite of The Sword, where not very much happened *during* the first hundred pages). There are many bright spots here, nevertheless. The secondary plot involving Alexeika becomes more interesting. Prince Gavril's character becomes more complex and less an object of loathing. And the hero Dain comes into his own in a way that leaves the reader on the edge of the seat. The series remains very much worthwhile.

In, The Sword, we were introduced to many characters including; Gavril, the spoiled prince with dark ambitions; Alexeika, the strong princesses with hopes and dreams to overthrow an evil usurper King; Pheresa, the tentative bride-to-be of prince Gavril who is not used to courtly life; and Dain, the part eldin boy destined to things greater than he could ever imagine. The second thrilling, but flawed, book picks up pretty much exactly where The Sword Left off.

Dain is now the Chevards adoptive son, although the adoption won't be considered legal until Dain gets permission from the King. To fulfill this quest Dain travels to the city with the spoiled Prince Gavril and his new and beloved farther. Unfortunately tragedy strikes on the way to the castle and Dain realizes that only he can meet the King and ask for his signature. Dain travels to the castle and immediately finds himself facing culture shock. Life in the city is not the same as his simple country life. People are both fascinated and fearful because of his eldin blood and alien ways. Just when Dain thinks he may eventually fit into court and be able to handle life as a chevard, he gets a message in the form of a dream. This one is from his real father, the former half-eldin King of Nether whose thrown was usurped by his own brother and Dain's uncle. Dain now knows that he is Faldain, and it's his duty to reclaim his throne. Unfortunately it's not that easy.

Meanwhile Princess and warrior Alexeika's only hope for a rebellion is shattered when her camp is attacked by nonkind. She is kidnapped and tortured as a prisoner to the nonkind. She knows she must escape. More than her own life depends on it. At court Princess Pheresa faces a much different trouble. Princess Gavril is her betrothed but it appears he'll never officially propose to her. And Prince Gavril ... he's up to something dark and dangerous that he could never really control.

I actually enjoyed this a little more than the last book but I still couldn't give it a 5 star rating. It's more of a 4.5 star rating than anything. The book was great, the characters are developing quite nicely, and the plot is surprisingly original for such a common story line. The only thing I have a problem is that the book is almost unbalanced. You hear a lot about Dain's story but not so much about everyone else. Gavril gets his fair share of screen time but Alexeika, who is supposed to be the big female hero of the series, kind of disappears part way through the book. Pheresa gets a very small part considering she is a very important character. That can all be amended though in the final book of the series, The Chalice. I can't wait to get my hands on it and finish this entertaining trilogy.

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 second. Book 2 continues the storyline the day it ends in the first 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.

The first novel in this trilogy, The Sword was excellent. Ms. Chester developed her characters extremely well and in the introduction set the stage for the rest of novel. You got caught up in Dain's life and always cheered when he managed to overcome a particularly difficult situation. Alexeika also had the makings of a heroine. I had hoped that the relationship between the two would have been developed in The Ring. I ws disappointed, Instead Dain fell in love with another girl, Pheresa, whom i did not in the least sympathize with. A second disappointment was the fact that the sword Truthseeker was barely evn mentioned in this novel. After such an awesome display of power when Dain handled it in the first novel, i wanted to see its use again. And I also wished that Dain would have started his journey back to Nether in the hopes of recovering the chalice for some other reason, not the one the author supplied. However oddly enough i believe that Ms. Chester did all this on purpose and in her third novel she would resolve all the loose ends and bring it to a spectacular finish. She did a good job with everything else in this novel particularly the characters and the situations they found themselves in. Alexeika is maturing and learning to reign in her temper, Dain is growing up to have the character of the King that we saw in the first novel and Prince Gavril is more evil than ever. I am looking forward to the release of the third novel with interest.

I enjoyed the first book in this series. The primary characters were young and energetic, irresponsible, but maturing. This book (The Ring), though, and the final book (The Chalice) were a dissapointment to me. The leading character, a maturing king, never seem to mature at all except in size, and I was confused to why others in the story would support his rise to power. Many of the emotions were lost to me as I watched powerful leaders of armys follow, what I considered to be, a relatively shallow and petty "would be king" with powerful weapons.
I do believe the author is a gifted writer. In many ways, though, this series gave me the same feeling as the Clan of the Cave Bears series, where I lost touch with the rational of the characters after the first book and started skipping pages just to get through.

It has been a while since I have read a book as good as this. Although there are a few annoying habbits (someone mentioned how everyone turned red with anger), I find these to be minor. She keeps the plot running and suprised me at many times with the outcome of situations. She painted her scenes well without going into mind numbing detail which seems to be fad of late with many authors. I would say this is so far one of the best series I have read in a long time (I am half way

through book three at the moment).