Jeanette Cottrell, The Shadebinder's Oath

The Shadebinder's Oath

Jeanette Cottrell

Dragon Moon, 2005, $19.95

ISBN: 1896944310

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 are 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 storyline 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.