Blood Ties, Book One of The Castings Trilogy by Pamela Freeman . . . Posted 19 February, 2009

Blood Ties, Book One of The Castings Trilogy by Pamela Freeman Hachette Australia, 2007. ISBN 9760733522113 $24.95 Reviewed by TBA Book reviews index

    Pamela Freeman has established a name for herself as a children's author, though Blood Ties is her first novel for adults.

    I found Blood Ties a very easy book to read. Freeman's writing is refreshingly simple and straight-forward. Though occasionally I felt she perhaps paid too much attention to descriptions, this attention to detail didn't complicate the telling of a good story. The book itself seems to be many stories, all plaited together like the strands of a rope. Each chapter is named after the protagonist of that story strand. The three primary characters are Bramble, Ash and Saker

    Bramble, keen to follow her Traveller heritage finds herself taking to the Road in a way she could never had imagined: mounted on a roan horse. Horses become an integral part of her destiny. As I like horses, I particularly liked reading Bramble's story, even if I did wonder if the author was inspired by National Velvet when penning Bramble's tale.

    Ash is also of Traveller heritage, and on a separate journey from Bramble's. As a young man his parents find him an apprenticeship with a town mercenary as he is not really suited to the Traveller life his parents lead. Like Bramble, Ash finds himself taking to the Road in a way he couldn't have imagined.

    Saker is more mysterious. His is a story of remorse and bloody revenge. The chapters devoted to Saker aren't particularly long as his story is unfolding.

    While I got used to the idea of chapters being organised by characters, I'm puzzled why Freeman giving some apparently minor characters a chapter of their own where they address the reader directly and tell their story. This usually happens after the character has entered the story via another thread. It reminds me of a medieval play, but my curiosity is piqued, and I'm interested to see where it leads.

    I really enjoyed immersing myself into the world Freeman has created, where people consult stone-casters to know their future as a matter of course, where the gods stick close to the people who believe in them, often whispering in their ear, where ghosts hang around on street corners, and where the dead rise again after the third day.

    Deep Water, the second volume of this fantasy trilogy, will be published in 2008, with the third instalment, Full Circle, being published in 2009. I can hardly wait!