The Sword, The Ring, and The Chalice by Deborah Chester

The Sword, The Ring, and The Chalice by Deborah Chester

This is a three book high fantasy series. High fantasy concerns kings and nobles in a fantasy setting. The book is in the older tradition of writing. There are no gaming references in the book and the author tries to use older names for different groups like elddin for elves. The book has a classic formula which has been used many different times.

The rightful king is driven from his realm by his usurping brother. He must hide the three keys to the kingdom, the sword, the ring, and the chalice so that they later can be reclaimed. He also hides his son, Dain from prying eyes.

Dain does not know who he is and must through various trials reclaim his birthright and his kingdom. This is the story of how he becomes a squire, then a baron, then reclaims his kingdom. There are all the elements of a good fantasy series, poison, intrigue, kidnapping, swordplay, court politics, evil magic, and a reformed church that no longer follows the old ways. On the good side there are the humans, eld, and dwarves, on the bad side, there are the bad humans, nonkind and soul eaters, and evil sorcery.

Each book is about the process of reacquiring the three keys to the kingdom. First Faldain must become knighted and have a sword, then he must become royalty and have a ring, and then he must seek out the chalice and get a kingdom. Each book is a self contained quest.

The writing is solid, predictable, and enjoyable. There is very little that is new. It is a nice escape to read these books. They have a nice mix of heady battles and courtly intrigue and romance. The reading is light and quick. The kind of book where you can read it on the train without missing anything. I could only find images for The Sword and The Ring on Amazon, but not the chalice.

Daily Thoughts 3/10/2009

Colored engraving created in about the 19th century. Artist unknown.

Daily Thoughts 3/10/2009

I have my poetry program today. I have been working on making sure everything works for the program. I made sure the room was setup, the snacks were bought, asked about the microphone, and got some poetry books to bring in to show. I have the poetry I am going to read ready. Already, one person has shown up to read. I will make the announcement soon.

I feel a tiny bit embarrassed. One person showed up to the poetry open microphone initially. Then there were nine people at the end. I was hoping for more people. We have a new assistant director. She came and listened to a few poems. I have to work on getting more people. She is looking at ways to increase our attendance.

Sometimes I think I am writing anti-poetry, or poetry that defies normal conventions but still has forms, but not the forms that match with tradition. This is a link to a short essay on anti-poetry. http://www.nicanorparra.uchile.cl/english/technique.html Some people might call it non-poetry.

This morning, I read another of Deborah Chester's books, The Ring, on the train to work. This is the second book in the series. I am enjoying it very much.