Reviews

Simon Appleby, over at Bookgeeks, has read Blood Ties and reviewed it favourably.

Pamela Freeman’s fantasy debut, Book One of the Castings Trilogy, has lots of great ideas and interesting themes, and was a very enjoyable holiday read.

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Thank you Simon.  Keep an eye out for the upcoming panel on Bookgeeks:  Stephen Baxter, Patrick Rothfuss, Sean Williams and I discuss creating believable science and magic in speculative fiction.  It was a fascinating exercise for me and makes great reading.

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Iain Wear has reviewed Deep Water over at The Bookbag.

He has some reservations which is fair enough but gives it four stars so thank you, Iain.

My favourite part was
"Quite a way before the end of Deep Water, I knew I have to see how things turn out when it all comes together."

Way to go! I’ve finished the first draft of the final book (Full Circle) and it will be the bookshops in September 2009.

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A thank you to Stuart Mayne for his aurealisXpress review of Deep Water, reproduced here with his permission:

I’m a fan of Pamela Freeman’s fantasy series, The Castings Trilogy. I’m sick of epic fantasy that deals with kings and the powerful and The Castings Trilogy gives me exactly what I want: ordinary people thrust into circumstances that are bewildering and unsettling. It is in these circumstances that we all change and it is reassuring that there are writers such as Pamela out there who want to write about the ordinary lives that are extraordinary.

The second book begins directly where the first ends, and I struggled for a time to remember what had befallen Ash, Martine and Bramble in Blood Ties. But Freeman deftly inserts any back-story explanations that are needed.

The middle novel in a trilogy can sometimes fail from lack of dramatic impetus. It can take on the aspect of the middle half of a standalone novel, developing character and plot without thought for the reader. Freeman shows her mastery of her craft by giving the reader a fully developed standalone story inside the wider work. The reader is given their fill of dramatic story and left panting, watching the author’s website (castingstrilogy.com) expectantly for the Full Circle to be completed.

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Niki Bruce
The Cairns Post
18th September 2008

Finally the next instalment in The Castings trilogy is available.

Readers return to the world of Bramble and Ash, two people fighting against the “norms” of their society, trying to find a way of stopping the mad mage Saker.

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Blood Ties is now out in the US - the UK edition will be coming soon. This is very exciting and rather strange - there are now two slightly different versions of the book on my shelves, which is unusual, as different countries usually have different covers.

In a nice synchronicity, Robert over at www.fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com has just posted a terrific review of Blood Ties which ends “In short, Pamela Freeman’s Blood Ties will probably be one of my favorite fantasy novels of the year and I absolutely can’t wait to finish reading the trilogy “. Read the rest of the review here. Robert is also giving away copies of Blood Ties. Click here for details.

I’m also glad to announce that the manuscript of Deep Water, Book 2 of the trilogy, has gone to copy edit, so for better or worse it’s mostly finished and will be out August/September. I am now grappling with the third book, Full Circle…

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We’ve had some great reviews already in anticipation of Blood Ties’ launch in the US. Publishers Weekly was kind: I like the bit about ‘elegantly rounded characters’… (See the full text here - you have to scroll down a fair way.)

www.romantictimes.com thought the book had ‘a wide range of intriguing characters…Freeman has crafted a rich and magical world where insurgency is definitely brewing.’

My favourite, however, is a thoughtful and insightful review by John on Grasping for the Wind, which also features an interview with me.

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The following review of Blood Ties appeared in Specusphere:

Blood Ties is the first book in an adult fantasy trilogy by Pamela Freeman, who has previously written young adult novels. The world Freeman constructs is essentially adult in nature, although her two main protagonists, Ash and Bramble, are young. The writing is crisp and clean, making reading easy. more…

Review by Donna Maree Hanson Review link

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The following review of Blood Ties appeared in the October issue of Aurealis Xpress:

This gentle road novel alternately follows the main characters, Ash and Bramble and other significant characters.

Bramble is one of the despised original folk of the Domains - a Traveller. Forced by a deadly confrontation to run for her life, she takes to the Road. Her travels challenge her sense of self and goodness and lead her along a tortuous road.

In ghost-haunted Turvite, Ash leaves the Road to begin an uncomfortable apprenticeship as a safeguarder - part strongman, part assassin. In Turvite Ash finds motivations are hidden behind layers of deception too thick for his naive ways.

Blood Ties has the feel of Ursula le Guin’s fantasy novels, where Taoist elements pervade the day-to-day lives of characters. The overall effect is of a novel driven by the stories of well-crafted, believable people, who face and react to life’s challenges without first thinking of running their opponent through with a sword. I felt myself drawn to the plight of all the characters, even the ostensibly ‘evil’ one whose desire for revenge warps his being.

If you are weary of sword battles with sorcerers and intrigued by dark motivations, this is a wonderfully satisfying series to read.

Review by Stuart Mayne

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The following review appeared in the the Sydney Morning Herald on 20th October 2007.

Democracy in action for the dispossessed

HERE IS AN impressively different fantasy novel, challenging one of the most deep-seated and inappropriate fantasy conventions. Why is the monarchy the political default mode of contemporary fantasy? Why do fantasy heroes and heroines risk all to restore the rightful king? What happened to democracy in the mass-market field?

Blood Ties doesn’t try to answer those questions - it disdainfully sweeps them aside and seeks to democratise itself from the core.

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Review by Van Iken.

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The following review appeared in the Adelaide Advertiser on 20th October 2007:

Every so often, a fantasy author dares, like many of the genre’s heroes, to step off well-worn paths. That’s what Sydney’s Pamela Freeman has done in this first book of the Castings trilogy. The result is a satisfying diversion from formula-based fantasy. Freeman’s characters have real depth - and not just the main players. Even those with cameo roles are each given a short chapter, establishing a back story and explaining how they became what they are.

People aren’t just intrinsically bad - they are products of their past, acting in context. The story is set in a land where the indigenous people have been invaded, subjugated and stripped of their homes and rights. Yet the “Travellers” are the ones distrusted by the majority.

But the vengeful ghosts of the wronged are rising. And two strangely gifted young Travellers are more important than they know if disaster is to be averted.

Review by Scott Moore.

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