Finished The Queen’s Knight by Deborah Chester. It’s part of a fantasy series called “The Sword, the Ring, and the Chalice.”

It’s about a queen named Pheresa, a secondary character in the original series, who’s now facing her own problems — including the fact that she’s in love with a man that she can’t marry.

It’s an entertaining enough read if you like epic fantasy, although the plot is very similiar to the previous book, The Queen’s Gambit. Lots of people try to control or kill Pheresa, while Talmor, her true love, comes to her rescue time and time again. That’s pretty much the premise of both books.

The book isn’t really a continuation of the original “Sword, Ring, Chalice” series so much as it is a spin-off — which can be a risky thing to do if you’re an author.

I find that I don’t like most spin-offs as much as I do the original series. The best example of this would be the Star Wars films. The original trilogy — particularly The Empire Strikes Back — is one of the best series. Ever. End of discussion.

But the last three films — or really the first three, depending on your point of view — were disappointing to say the least. Most of the acting was bad, the dialogue was very wooden, and several of the actors seemed miscast for their roles.

In short, they lacked everything that made the originals so great. So much so, that I’m now wary of anything that’s a spin-off.

What about you? Do you like spin-off books or movies with different characters? Inquiring minds want to know ..