Beck

The Ties That Bind #3.6

by Rob J. Hayes

Arbiter Beck finds herself coerced into a job working with a treacherous crew of pirates. Can she survive the adventure long enough for them to betray her?

Short story set in the same world as the critically acclaimed epic fantasy trilogy, The Ties that Bind.

12 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Winner of Mark Lawrence's 3rd Self Published Fantasy Blog Off (SPFBO) with Where Loyalties Lie

Rob J. Hayes has been a student, a banker, a marine research assistant, a chef, and a keyboard monkey more times than he cares to count. But eventually his love of fantasy and reading drew him to the life of a writer. He’s the author of the Amazon Best Selling The Heresy Within, the SPFBO-winning piratical swashbuckler Where Loyalties Lie, and the critically acclaimed Never Die.

Reviews

[Mihir · Rating 5 out of 5]

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Black Blood is an 8000-plus word story that is set before the events of Where Loyalties Lie and focuses upon Captain Elaina Black and Arbiter Black. Ideally (& chronologically) it is a prequel to Where Loyalties Lie but I would recommend you read it after finishing Where Loyalties Lie and just before The Fifth Empire of Man so a particular sequence in the second book will make a lot of sense.

The story begins with Arbiter Beck finding herself in a scrap with a certain group of pirates when she gets rescued by Elaina Black and in exchange for travel to a particular island, agrees to help her find a particular treasure. That’s all that I can reveal about the gist of the story without spoiling it further. This short story was written by the author to get himself into the head of the characters and to get a feel of the world before plunging in (see Q.7).

This story while being entirely from Beck’s viewpoint also affords a small yet intriguing look into Elaina Black. In this story, we get to see why Arbiters are so feared and yet treasured amidst the world of First Earth. Beck has to employ all her powers and tricks to locate a journal that potentially has some black magic ties which is exactly the sort of heresy that Arbiters like Beck love to stamp out.

This story is a fun adventure story (plus it's FREE to read on the author's website) and I would recommend it to one and all for those interested to know more about the world of pirates introduced in the Best Laid Plans duology. This novellete will be an excellent stepping stone to see whether these books are for you as well as get a strong taste of Rob J. Hayes as well. Now that’s a win-win scenario if I ever saw one.

[Shawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great read from Mr. Hayes. He's really hitting all areas with this world of his -- pirates! At times I thought I was reading an old Forgotten Realms book the way certain magical attributes or items are described. Everything is well realized and fleshed out in a way that just flows naturally from page to page. I'm a fan of Beck, the main character, and look forward to reading more about her in the future...

[Lukasz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solis short story about Beck. I think it's better to read it after finishing Where Loyalties Lie to appreciate it fully.