Rating: 
Summary: Could not put any of the 3 books down!
Review: 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!
Rating: 
Summary: Starts slow but ends strong
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty average. 2 1/2 stars if I could
Review: Hmmm. Eh. Nothing special, but not terrible. My biggest pet peeve in all of fantasy is that the writer not use the all together too familiar plot of device of the orphan boy and the foster/guardian. Sadly, Chester uses that same plot device. Although she tries to make up for writing the same fantasy as 1000 other books, the best I can say is that the book was marginal. The men where whiny and the chicks were like men, except they didn't like to have sex. Imagine that--a feminist movement in fantasy where the writer is empowering the women and swiping away the manhood of her characters. The main character, Dain, is a whiner and a malcontent, and I didn't like him. Dain's friend acts like a high school girl, constantly feeling insecure. Did I mention the evil prince who is the same age as Dain that is opposing Dain's interests? Yup. Actually, the evil prince is a pretty well done character, although a familiar one, that adds far more to the mix than does the protaganist Dain. Even given the foregoing, there was a story to tell here, but just not by Chester, or at least through her portrayal of whiny me.
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