Blood Ties

I absolutely LOVED this book. At first I didn't think that I would enjoy the use of multple stories to advance the book, but it really worked. Each piece told from the character's POV advanced the storyline and gives the reader a different perspective to what otherwise would could have been a 'they're evil-we're good story. The writing was awesome and the world-building complete. The magic was believable and the characters fully-formed. I cannot wait for the 2nd book in this trilogy to be available for the Kindle and I highly recommend this book to YA thru adult. MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD There were some times that I felt situations could have been further explored--Bramble's redemption from her 'half-life', Thegan's POV not included--but I those omissions in no way lessen the rating of this book.

The lands of the Eleven Domains were conquered a thousand years ago. The original inhabitants were disenfranchised; despised and outcast, they are forced to live on the fringes of society, most roaming homeless, and are now only known as Travelers. We follow the adventures of several point-of-view characters and a number of minor characters, all separate or meeting briefly, and only heading towards each other at the end of this first book in a trilogy. There is Saker, an enchanter who aims to raise the dead to avenge his people--those recently lost and those a thousand years gone. There is young Bramble whose Traveler blood makes her long for the road, even though she's grown up to respectable village parents. There is Ash, who is apprenticed to the only person who will take him; a person who wants to train him as an assassin and use him for his hidden abilities to see and talk to ghosts. What unifies them is their difficult experience as Travelers, but each personality is distinct with very different things happening to them. They are all fascinating--from the main characters to the minor ones, and although the lack of a central plot is odd, the tales are all worth reading. The format also lends a little freshness to what might have been just another typical fantasy. It took a little while to really get involved with this book, but it definitely kept me interested. There is the revenge plot, escaping the nasty all-powerful warlords, horse-training and racing, fortune-telling, body-guarding and intrigue, ghosts and necromancy. The end wasn't much of an ending, however. It would have been a bit nicer if there was a story arc that was concluded, but oh, well. Since it says "Book One" right on the cover, I was prepared for the story to be somewhat unfinished, so it wasn't that bad (some books don't even warn you!). I will be looking forward to the next book.

The first installment of Pamela Freeman's "Castings" trilogy may seem at first like a typical fantasy novel, with swords as everyone's weapon of choice, horses as everyone's mode of transportation, and copious amounts of ale and stew making up everyone's diet. But it doesn't take long before "Blood Ties" reveals itself to be quite different from the usual swords-and-sorcery realm: in its setting and atmosphere, in its plot and story-structure, and in its myriad of themes and ideas. For starters, there is no supernatural evil "Dark Lord" out to destroy the world, just a number of squabbling and greedy warlords who have divided the land into a number of Domains, having invaded and conquered the original inhabitants. Now known as "Travelers", due to their wandering lifestyles, these dark-haired people are harassed and despised by those that forcibly took their lands. Such prejudice naturally leads to various crimes of murder, rape and theft against the Travelers, with little consequences for the perpetrators. Even though the invasion of their lands took place hundreds of years ago, the injustice still rankles amongst the Travelers, and the massacres of their people are remembered in song, passed on from generation to generation. Two other notable features to this fantasy world are Freeman's portrayal of death and the presence of "stonecasters". In this world, the spirits of the dead linger on earth for a fixed period of time before moving on to (what they hope) is rebirth. Stonecasters are those that can read fate in the throw of a collection of small engraved stones, most of whom also seem to be able to communicate with the spirits of the dead - though some are better at this than others. Into such a world are born our two main protagonists: Bramble and Ash, both with Traveler blood. Bramble is a wild young woman of the countryside who likes nothing better to roam the woods all day, whereas Ash is a young assassin's apprentice in the city, just coming to terms with the reality of killing. Most of the attention is on these two as they struggle through various obstacles in life, and both are interesting and three-dimensional characters: sympathetic without being too good to be true. But it is the plot itself which makes "Blood Ties" so unique in the fantasy genre, for the story (such as it is) moves at a languid and meandering pace, spans a number of years, and bears no resemblance whatsoever to the typical aspects of what we deem "fantasy". There are no quests for magical items, no dragons that need slaying, no long-lost heirs to the throne or innocent farm boys with great destinies. Instead, Freeman explores the world through the eyes of her two characters, focusing on the day-to-day struggles of survival in a harsh world. It is so removed from the clichés of fantasy literature, that a segment involving Bramble would read (if taken out of context) more like a girl-training-wild-horse story, as she teaches herself how to ride. And that's wh

Took a little bit to get into and to understand all the different domains/characters. But once the story unfolds and you get a glimps of what happened and how these characters are so important it was easy to get caught up in their world. Overall was a great read and I cant wait for the other two books to come out.

The Domains are ruled by warlords, cruel and powerful men. But the Travelers are a unique people who choose not to make a home in any one domain. Instead, they follow their own path; and because of prejudice, they are hated by most settlements. This epic fantasy follows the story of many characters whose lives begin to slowly intersect. Narrated by first person from the different characters' points of view, the jumping from person-to-person can be tedious to follow. But the first-person view did give greater depth to each person. I actually preferred this to a normal "flashback" style of giving backstory. The characters are vivid and interesting, each with completely different stories to tell. As the overall tale begins to intertwine the characters, the novel ends on a minor cliffhanger. This first book was almost just an origin/backstory for everyone. And the next in the trilogy will pick up with a more centralized story. I'll be interested to see where the story goes now that most of the characters' backgrounds have been given and now can delve deeper. With magic, murder, adventure, and mystery, Blood Ties is an exciting beginning to a brand new fantasy epic.