excerpts:
Lesley --
'The Blood That Binds' has all the aspects I most love in a fantasy tale: enchanting characters, lyrical writing style, intriguing story line and a feeling of excitement and anticipation.
8 out of 10
Colin --
...Rie Sheridan has the ability to evoke a sense of magic with her prose and whilst I know comparisons are generally odious, I have to confess that at certain points in the tale I was drawn into the world created by her in the same way I was when I first read about Middle Earth. To me this is the essence of fantasy, to create a world that draws you into it....
6 out of 10
excerpt:
Danielle Naibert --
I just fell in love with this book from the very first page. Sheridan knows how to attract her readers with a beginning that starts the heart pumping and continues to the very end. I was totally caught up in this story that it was hard to walk away from it without knowing what was going to happen next.
excerpt:
Detra Fitch --
...the story was rich in magic, romance, duty, battles, and legends!
Steavil was a strong character that I liked immediately and readers will easily relate to him and all he must go through. A great story well worth the time to read! ***3 stars
excerpt:
Barry Hunter --
Sheridan has written an interesting, smooth flowing novel of elven-human relations and the problems and desires of all people in a charming and delightful manner. It’s not the common story we have read before and that makes it that much more enjoyable.
Bob Yosco--
The Blood That Binds, by Rie Sheridan. Release date is early December, and we’re sure the author will grace our message board in telling everyone from whence to obtain this wonderful novel.
Okay there, I gave it away already, I enjoyed this book. The Prologue to this tale begins with the misadventure of a young boy, royal in blood and torn from his Mother’s side by evil usurpers who kill all save the lad who escapes to the terrible sounds of his Mother’s death.
Years pass and the body of the book begins with an introduction to Prince Roland and his Page/Best Friend Stefan. The King reluctantly sends Prince and Page to witness and partake of a fur trading venture, all the better to allow Roland to sate his appetite for some sort of adventure as well as learning some of the craft necessary for him to eventually ascend the throne.
Okay, here’s where I digress for a moment or so. Singing. Stefan sings to cheer and amuse the sailors as they are araft in their journey, said songs are elaborated upon in detail as part of the narrative, and my first knee-jerk reaction was to dismiss such inclusions as fodder for they who need filler, but Ms Sheridan gets away with including a song or two and it meshes seamlessly with the characterizations and story. Now, there’s a lot of pretentiousness out there; writers who seem to feel that such designs are necessary to attain a certain degree of literacy. They are, of course wrong, and the end result is most often a strained agglomeration of action and literary merriment resembling a camel when the author is attempting to describe a swan. Ah, but good Lady Rie escapes unscathed from such doting for two pure and simple reasons; she can write the heck out of a story and it all feels real, not forced. I did feel that the temper of Prince Roland was a tad overdone…at times the young man is homicidal in his thoughts and deeds and it nearly became an unwelcome diversion from appreciating the boys’ travails. But that’s just me, I like to keep the heroes perhaps more heroic than most, so I’ll end the picayune squibble and get on with the story.
The relatively short trip upon the traders raft becomes a nightmare as brigands dispatched to kill the Prince waylay the craft when it becomes embedded upon a sand bar. Collyn Silverbrook…nice name Rie…is the single rafter alive to help them escape this deadly ambush, and the three men must venture through a forest to the nearest town, not only to flee the assassins but also to fetch Stefan a Doctor as the young man has been severely wounded in the melee. They arrive at the town, and a mysterious, wizened Doctor meets them in the local Inn. Stefan cannot be lost again, the curmudgeonly healer avows, and while it is not that much of a strain to begin realizing whom Stefan might be, I’ll simply call your attention to the Prologue and say no more.
This is good stuff. The characters are alive, the settings are easy on the mind, the evil is palpable, and the style, the sort of style necessary to craft such a complete piece of work as this, is flawless and seems effortless. The action is gritty without sinking to the level of gore for gores sake…a precarious balance that can overcome even experienced pros from the telling of a tale to the murmurs of a pathologist describing an autopsy. Balance. Easy reading, impressive work, and delightful.
In the not too distant future, Ms Sheridan will grace the ShadowKeep pages with some of her shorter tales of wonder, and we should all welcome aboard our latest Keeper. Oh yeah, and I want a copy of the book because I’d like to read the thing nice and slow and in my favorite easy chair.
Five Shadowstars.
What other people are saying about THE
BLOOD THAT BINDS: "Rie Sheridan's THE BLOOD THAT BINDS introduces an engaging cast of characters. A promising debut novel." Lynn Flewelling, author of Luck in the Shadows,
Stalking Darkness, Traitor's Moon, The Bone Doll's Twin
"Rie Sheridan's cast of characters is an intriguing lot, each of them three dimensional and unique. They portray loyalties, frailties, inner strength and heroic measures. My biggest impression of her book was 'Wow, what a group of unlikely heroes!' All of them have a touch of self-esteem issues because life has kicked them in the pants. But Rie continuously shows that their hearts are in the right place, where heroism begins. I kept turning the pages wondering what the next twist of events would reveal around the bend. Rie Sheridan came through with a rewarding end showing unity of both fae and human spirit to put a closure to evil, and in the process she united two worlds. Excellent read."
Savannah Michaels, author of Heirs to Love, The Scent of Stone
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