Instruct: Classify Amazon reviews into positive or negative sentiment
Query: Fails to get the ball rolling

I made the mistake of reading Brokks's second novel before this one. Elfstones was incredibly paced and wrought with excitement. Sword, which is refrenced several times in Elfstones, really begins at a plodding pace. The book is slow beyond words and shows no signs of picking up the pace. I was seriously disappointed after I started reading it. In fact I actually put the novel down for a year before going back and trying to get through it. Once you get beyond the half way point things do pick up, they do become exciting, and it all becomes worthwhile. It just takes a little too long to do so. At 700 + pages I really want a tale, what you get is a primer for the tales to come. In truth, that is probably what made the Elfstones so fun, the world was fleshed out and Brooks had a plan. Read this more as an afterthought, get Elfstones first and then move into the rest of the series. You will get more out of the Sword in that manner.