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. Freeman has followed George R.R. Martin’s multiple protagonist approach, but with a nice addition: she sometimes breaks off from the main cast to let some of the other characters we encounter tell their own stories, in their own words. It’s a great device, both for fleshing out the world of the Eleven Domains where the action takes place, and for giving us new perspectives on our key characters. It’s clearly a deliberate attempt to try something a bit different structurally, and it’s very effective.

Such structural cleverness would be nothing without an engaging plot though – and the omens for this are good too. The original inhabitants of the Eleven Domains were displaced by the invasion of Acton’s People, hundreds of years ago – most were killed out of hand. The majority of the population of the Domains now are descended from Acton’s People; but our three central characters are all descended from the original inhabitants, who now, thanks to the peripatetic life forced on them, are known as Travellers. Travellers are reviled and discriminated against, treated as second-class citizens, so the issue of discrimination runs throughout the book, but Freeman does not take any simplistic moral positions. For our central characters, we have Ash, who was unable to follow his parents in to the music trade, and makes his living as a bodyguard; we have Saker, an enchanter on a mission to reclaim the land for his people; and we have Bramble, a teenage tearaway more at home in the forests than in the towns. This being epic fantasy, you know from the start their destinies are intertwined, in a world where stonecasters can predict the future.

The fantasy elements of the book are interesting and original too: when someone dies, their ghost appears in the same spot three days later and has to be ritually told it’s dead, otherwise it might linger. This Quickening is a key ceremonial aspect of life in the Eleven Domains, but not everyone can clearly perceive the dead – Ash, however, can see them very clearly indeed, and communicate with them, which will no doubt be a vital ability at some point. Saker’s plans for revenge, too, revolve around the ability to empower the ghosts of his long-dead people. Bramble, meanwhile, seems to specialise in communicating with every kind of living creature, from horses to wolves – oh yes, and the gods talk to her too.

By the end of Blood Ties, we are getting the first hints of what threats may await our key characters (I hesitate to call them heroes as Saker has the potential to be driven to some fairly unpleasant acts), and there are many: a warlord with designs on ruling all of the Eleven Domains; the threat of the Ice King, ancient enemy over the mountains; and a darker, more nebulous danger relating to the world of the dead. This is a very effective fantasy debut – Pamela Freeman is obviously not afraid to do things a bit differently, and she can write too. I look forward to picking up the series with Book Two, Deep Water, where the title suggests difficult times ahead for the Eleven Kingdoms.

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