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{{infobox infobox1
|title= Blood Ties (Castings Trilogy)
|author= Pamela Freeman
|buy= Maybe
|borrow= Yes
|pages=400
|publisher= Orbit
|date= June 2008
|isbn=978-1841497013
|amazonukcover=<amazonuk>1841497010</amazonuk> |amazonusaznuk=1841497010|aznus=<amazonus>0316033464</amazonus>
}}
The one place where this was a little lacking was with Saker, who potentially had the more fascinating story, but who didn't get a lot of time, although his story may be covered in more depth in the other parts of the trilogy. Given that Ash and Bramble were more or less heading in the same direction and their stories were both largely about their journeys, I felt that more about Saker would have provided something different; given his aims, perhaps this would have been a little dark relief?
This way of telling the story did enable me to keep track of all of the main characters, but it did make the book a little patchy. On several occasions, it seemed that just as I was really starting to get involved with one character, their part ended and the story moved on to one of the others, or went off on a tangent with one of the minor characters. I can see the advantages in this approach, but I felt it interrupted the flow of the book in some places. The other problem was that some of these minor characters didn't feature again, so whilst their stories were often interesting, they didn't seem entirely relevant and felt a bit like space fillers.
The other problem I had was the issue of time. For most of the book , I was never entirely sure if the characters were likely to meet, as there was no idea of what part of the year they were starting their journey and the passing of time was rarely discussed. Their paths crossed at different points, but I was never sure how much time had elapsed. Unfortunately, this meant that by the time they were close enough that it seemed likely they would meet, Freeman had to use a rather disappointing trick to allow their time frames to coincide. I've always disliked novels where strange events are explained away as magic and so this was a huge let down for me, especially as Freeman had proved up to this point to be a good enough writer not to have to resort to tricks like this.
This was a particular shame, as the book is otherwise pretty good. The character's lives and their motivations are well thought out, to the point that I had sympathy for the Travellers. As the story was more about the journey than any real trials they faced, however, it was tough to get too involved in things; I ended up wanting them to succeed, but lacking the compulsion to actively will them along as I have done with other novels. The story itself is an interesting one, even allowing for what I thought was potentially the most interesting part being slightly skimmed over and I liked the idea of the future being seen through stone castings and that of ghosts rising at a set point after death.
As an opening part to a trilogy , this did succeed in parts, as it was good enough to keep me reading and I'm interested in how things may go from here, although in a similar way to Kate Elliott's [[Shadow Gate (Crossroads) by Kate Elliott|Shadow Gate]], I wouldn't feel too badly about it if I failed to find out. It was a decent story, but unfortunately , the writing style wasn't quite right for it, although it may well have succeeded better had the breaks been in different places. It's not the perfect read, but it's not at all bad and I've read far worse in the genre.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag. Wee also have a review of [[Deep Water (Castings Trilogy) by Pamela Freeman|part two]] of the trilogy.
If this book appeals to you then you might also enjoy [[The Innocent Mage by Karen Miller]].
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