Rating: 
Summary: A pleasureable read!
Review: What a great book this was. In this book we learn the plot, and are introduced to two characters, Dain and Alexeika. Their different lives are explained, and you learn the differences between the old "pagan" views and the new "church" views, which play a part in the whole good and evil throughout. A delightful book, and I'm reading the 2nd to this right now!
Rating: 
Summary: An awsome story, well worth reading
Review: The Sword was an awesome book! It was fun and engrossing- I could hardly put it down. The characters were great, and the book had one of the most original plots I've seen in a long time. It quickly won its way to the top of my list with its well-developed characters, spellbinding plot and suspense that kept me glued to the page for hours. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a new, exciting story!I also recommend The Price of Immortality, it is a great and original story.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent fantasy read
Review: This series of books is excellent. The plot, at first blush, seems fairly straightforward. However, it rapidly gains in complexity and in hues of brilliance. There are scenes in each of the three books that are excellently written, funny, witty, thought provoking, and which make you laugh out loud or exclaim in frustation. This is what the best fantasy books are about! Having read a lot of other fantasy recently, this series of books stood out high above them. Definitely worth the purchase. Here are some things that I enjoyed: - the witty parlay between conflicting characters is great - the character's point of view are well wrought - the characters motivations are well designed and executed - the world is a fine place to reside in while your read of the adventures within Please write more books!! This is the type of book which keeps me going to the book store. Make some more!
Rating:
Summary: great book, great writer
Review: I bought this book because I read the excerpt on amazon and found the writing good and the storyline interesting. I was so satisfied with my purchase that I ended up running out to the local bookstore after I finished this one to buy the other two in the series. I loved the characters, though they could have used a little more complexity and the plot, while somewhat predictable was very good. I have recently discovered a number of excellent women fantasy writers, Ms. Chester being one of those. Others include Lynn Flewelling and Kate Elliot.
Rating:
Summary: Truly excellent
Review: Dain, the part-eldin (elvin) boy, has spent his life living with a dwarf, hiding in the forest from enemy dwarven clans, and running from the evil Nonkind. When he obtains a place at Thirst Hold, he continues to be treated as an outsider pagan and is often abused. But Dain is the son of a king, and he has a destiny to fulfill. I thought this would be another cliche novel, same story we've read time and time again. But as I found to my delight, it's not, and, after finishing it, I'm eagerly looking forward to "The Ring." "The Sword" is very unique, with a wonderfully defined protagonist (Dain) whom you'll admire and want to yell at during many parts of the story. The characters are all believable; each one has many facets to him or herself. You also get a nice look at Alexeika, a strong young woman, who is mentioned on the back of the book. I'd hoped to read more about her, but the brief peeks are enough to make anyone want to know more about her and Dain. Anyone who enjoys such authors as Tolkein, Robert Jordan, Terry Goodkind, Terry Brooks, or George R R Martin will enjoy this book.
Rating:
Summary: a nice escape for a fantasy lover
Review: When you're in the mood for some traditional fantasy, pick up Deborah Chester's "The Sword". I have just finished the first book in the trilogy, and enjoyed it thoroughly. Although the story sticks to some of the most basic tenets of fantastic literature - orphan boy of royalty, teeming undead forces, and spoiled prince - it manages to make these themes interesting again.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Start
Review: "The Sword" is a wonderful start to an awesome trilogy! Debroah Chester brings her fantasy world alive, with lovable character, magic, and well developed plot. Characters are well-devloped, and you feel everything they do, and sometimes want to yell at them for making the wrong decision or being too naive. The Sword starts out tell you the story of King Tobeszijian of Nether, and how, after his wife Queen Nariesse dies, is forced to abandon his two children, Princess Thia (4 years old)and Prince Faldain (2 years old), to live with the dwarves after his 1/2 brother Muncel takes Tobeszijian's throne. 15 years later, you meet you with a teenage boy named Dain, and learn all the things he has to go through being 3/4 eld (like an elf). He must face a lot of prejudice, and prove that eld are the same as any other human. Along the way he makes friends and enemies, and learns to weild a sword, and to become a knight. The book will then change to a different character named Alexieka. You are told the story of how her father dies in a battle against the King Muncel, trying to take the throne form him so he will stop decimating the land of Nether, and until the lost Prince Faldian of Nether can be found. As the book continues you learn of the terrifying creatures called Nonkind, and the Believers who control them in the city of Gant. You learn abou the history of this fasinating land, and how religion controls a lot of what people do. This is not, by any means, a religious book, the people's religion is totally made up, but it is interesting to see how their religion affects the people. Example: People don't like eld because they have a pagan regligion, and are cabable of performing magic, both of which are against the Writ of the Circle.
I would recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy, or just a good story. The two sequels are just as good, if not better than the first, and the end of The Sword will leave you wanting to know what happens to Dain, and all the other characters.
Rating: 
Summary: Okay but kind of simple
Review: I read it in a day but not because I could not put it down, but because I had a free afternoon and it was that short. The plot is interesting but is fast forwarded a great deal. The characters are kind of two-dimensional and one is left with a feeling that this could have been a really good book if only the plot had been expanded more. The action scenes are well-written, but on the whole reading this book is like looking at a card board cut-out, you can read alot into it but you're left feeling like something important is missing.
Rating: 
Summary: Fan Fiction?
Review: ...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...
Rating:
Summary: Predictable, Moderately Entertaining Fantasy
Review: When I first picked this book up it seemed like a fairly interesting, if somewhat typical, medieval-esque fantasy novel. By the time I was half way through, I could have had a score card of how many fantasy novel cliches had been incorporated. We have elves, of course and some bonus dwarves. Our hero is a half elf prince who is torn by his conflicted heritage. There is a conflict between paganism and thinly veiled Christianity. As a bonus, there is a thinly veiled holy grail. The good noble king is lost through magical misfortune. The woman raised as a son must lead an army. A debauched king and his corrupt son. blah blah blah. We've seen these elements a bazillion times before, and Chester does little that is interesting with them. While this book is not actually bad, it's really not worth the money. It's a rehash of half the fantasy novels you already have on your shelf.
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