Man, I remember when The Blue Sword came out. I was juuuust exiting the period in my life when those sorts of stories spoke to me directly (as opposed to reacting to them at a remove), and I remember liking it very much, but nothing particular about it. I even wrote the author! And she wrote back... but I found that interaction less satisfying than I had with other writers... maybe I was just closer to her, by that time, in age, or maybe it was a personality thing, or who knows....

The Crystal Cave! I remember liking that too--I drew fan art for it. But really I only liked the beginning parts. When they got to be grownups and doing grownup things, my interest flagged.

The Spike Carlsen book sounds very cool.