Blood Ties 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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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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The following review appeared in the 22nd September issue of the Melbourne Herald Sun:

THIS is the author’s first foray into adult fantasy after winning awards writing for young people, and the result is interesting if you like ghosts and a tale of revenge. Travellers are descendants of the old inhabitants of the 11 domains, downtrodden by the invaders who have spread across the land. As an arrogant warlord plans war, some travellers realise they have the power to turn back the clocks. P.J.

Inaword: interesting

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Although I can’t recall reading any of Pamela Freeman’s work before, the biography that accompanies this novel suggests that she has previously written young adult fiction, and this is the first novel she has targeted specifically at adults. She’s made the transition well; this is an interesting and enjoyable novel… more

Review by Lorraine Cormack. Review link

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The following review appeared in the September issue of Good Reading Magazine:

Attention fans of Robin Hobb and Robert Jordan!

Award-winning Australian children’s author Pamela Freeman has turned her hand to writing fantasy for adults, and lovers of traditional fantasy will devour it. Set in the Eleven Domains, lands which were taken in bloody battle from the native people, now known as Travellers, this is the beginning of a story of epic proportions.

The similarities between the Travellers - a dark-skinned, dark-haired people forced into the nomadic lifestyle of crafters, entertainers and fortune-tellers - and the gypsies of our own world are immediately obvious. While allowing for some subtle political and social comment, this doesn’t bog down the engaging story of young Travellers Bramble and Ash, setting out on two different paths that seem destined to meet when the dark history of their ancestry begins to rise to the surface.

Freeman cuts between subplots and characters with ease, never confusing the reader for a moment. While this is obviously a traditional fantasy in which two accidental heroes find themselves on a mission or journey of great significance, there is nothing predictable about Freeman’s storytelling. There are plenty of twists along the way, and by the end of the novel I was completely hooked. Freeman gets top marks for character development, too. I am waiting impatiently for book two.

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