I am going to preface this with I have not read the Sword, the Ring or the Chalice, but this book stands up pretty well on its own, even without that context. This book is fantasy in the vein of Tolkein; the society seems to be pretty explicitly based on a medieval Europe, but everything has a weird fantasy name. This is the story of Pheresa, an ambitious woman who aspires to be queen in a society that is so patriarchal that the people plotting against her do not want her to be queen because she is not a man, even if the other candidate doesn't have the temperament, moral compass, or qualifications to be king (remind you of someone?), and at the peril of the entire country. Everybody underestimates her because she is a woman, even the people who like her. Pheresa has character flaws and she has a lot to learn about being queen, but she is not condemned by the author for her ambition. This is a plus, because I think that in another book she could've been the villain, especially if that book were written by a man. The other important character in this book is Talmor. Talmor is in love with Pheresa, but that romance takes a back seat. This courtly love, like in medieval chivalric romances. Talmor expresses his love through nobility and heroism. It is like Guinevere and Lancelot, but with less cuckoldry (and trust me her husband deserved to be cuckolded, but one of Pheresa's character traits is a strong moral compass). ( )