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"Terrific fantasy"

Caprio the Being, who looks like a goat, takes pleasure, if that is the right word to describe the emotions of a Caprine apparition, in causing troubles for the living. He lives to interfere with the human comedy though that frustrates his companion the Shadebinder, who wants rumors about them stopped.

The cabinetmaker Farren knows first hand much about ghosts, shades, and spirits including his late Aunt Nan who nags him all the time about "living" conditions and surviving relatives. While most of his neighbors fear he is either insane or a Shadebinder, the enslaver of the dead, Farren refuses to hide.

Anyone who Princess Mericia of Ailsandia cares about is lucky to die; worse is those who survive her kindness as they suffer unbearably. Feeling despondent she considers hiding from human contact.

In the King's Stable, Caprio begins his latest game ignoring the concerns of the Shadebinder. Using human greed as a tool, he sets in motion his ingenious plot to cause troubles as high as the King and as low as the stable boy. Only the two "outcasts", Farren and Mericia, if they merge their talents, might see the true eyes of the world and stop the Being's nefarious scheme.

THE SHADEBINDER'S OATH is a terrific fantasy that grips the audience from the moment a young lad shows courage while on a dare to visit the Shadebinder in the King's stable and never slows down until the final contest occurs. The story line is action-packed as Caprio does his Machiavellian machinations while two unlikely allies, the cabinetmaker and the princess, join forces to save the Kingdom of Ailsandia from the Being's mischievousness and that of human foibles and follies. Jeanette Cottrell provides a wonderful tale.

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted July 18, 2006

Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted January 25, 2007

Farren, a journeyman cabinetmaker, sees the dead. He can't help it: they walk, they talk, they nag and complain. His neighbors view him with dark suspicion. Is he a Shadebinder, a sorcerer who enslaves the souls of the dead for evil purposes? Mericia, Princess of Ailsandia, is cursed. Everyone she loves, or treats kindly, either dies or suffers horribly. And then there's Caprio, the Goat apparition, who has a hobby. He dips his cloven forehoof into serious affairs of mortals and stirs them up, just to see what happens. In a tale of ancient secrets, knights and pirates, suspense and madness, the three strive to deliver their nation and their families from the consequences of a generations-old sin. Farren and Mericia must turn their curses into strengths if they are to protect those dear to them. Once Caprio sticks his nose into their affairs, they are thrown together to solve an intricate web of deceit and treachery, which can only be solved through The Shadebinder's Oath.

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