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Ten Ruby Trick (Pirates of Estovan #1)

by Julia Knight (Goodreads Author)

4.18 of 5 stars 4.18 · rating details · 28 ratings · 13 reviews

Privateer Van Gast thrills in capturing treasure; delights in pulling off elaborate scams; and has an outrageous reputation with the ladies. But there is only one woman for him: fellow privateer Josieseductive, brave and unpredictable. He's hoping to make their relationship permanent, until he raids the wrong ship. Now slavers are stalking him, his crew is verging on muti

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Published (first published December 15th 2010)

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May 16, 2011 Jan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, z-2011, fantasy-romance

I loved this book. It was the perfect mix between fantasy, romance and swashbuckling, and has three very fine protagonists. Before my actual review however, I want to take a minute to tell the tale of how I got this book. I've put it in a spoiler tag, because it's fairly long, so people who only want to read about the book can get to it.

(view spoiler)...more

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Jul 28, 2012 Romancing the Book rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, romance

Posted on Romancing the Book's blog
Reviewed By Robin
Review Copy Provided by the Author

I found this intriguing book to be a very nice blend of fantasy, romance and swashbuckling adventures. Ms. Knight does a really good job of mixing this all together and still making her characters very strong and believable. She weaves a very complex/complicated storyline around three main characters.

This alternate universe that she brings to life has us on a fast paced adventure, although grim at times, it lea...more Posted on Romancing the Book's blog
Reviewed By Robin
Review Copy Provided by the Author

I found this intriguing book to be a very nice blend of fantasy, romance and swashbuckling adventures. Ms. Knight does a really good job of mixing this all together and still making her characters very strong and believable. She weaves a very complex/complicated storyline around three main characters.

This alternate universe that she brings to life has us on a fast paced adventure, although grim at times, it leaves you wanting to turn the page because you lose yourself to the story.

Amidst the typhoons, bar fights and explosions, we find a romance between Van Gast and Josie. Both are pirates involved in racketeering. For public consumption only they fight acting as if they can’t stand each other so that it helps to save them both from becoming grasped in the hands of the evil Master who uses magic to control his subjects.

I think that secretly Van Gast and Josie enjoy the bickering back and forth it adds excitement. Maybe they should have opted for a quieter romance. I guess they both enjoyed the thrill of the fight, never ones to be boring.

Always one step ahead of the Master, until he sends Holden after Van Gast. Holden is a mage who is controlled by the Master with these silver worms that are slimy. The mage’s have crystal’s that form on their skin along with these worms it is really hard to fight the black poison that eventually consumes you.

Anyways Holden is requested to capture Van Gast. Holden finds himself glimpsing some of his past as he finds through these glimpses that he once loved Josie. Somehow he captures the elusive Josie, who until now has evaded being captured. Bonding her to him he wants/needs her help in capturing the equally elusive Van Gast, the racketeer his Master wants captured.

Having already said too much I feel I had better stop and let you pick up this fun mind controlling story that tells the tale of a deceitful web of alternate universes, piracy/racketeering, plundered treasures and romance. I really enjoyed this and I think you will too.
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Feb 22, 2011 Kate L rated it 4 of 5 stars

Are you looking for a book with mages who's magic manifests itself in the form of crystals growing out of the mage's skin who enslaves his people with a little wiggly silver worm that attaches itself to the bone controlling the enslaved's mind and body and if the enslaved tries to fight it black lines of poison spread out all over the body thus killing the person? What's that you say? You weren't looking for something quite that specific? Oh. Well...you need to check this book out anyway :) It's...more

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Sep 03, 2011 Ni_kii rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: received, alternative-reality, dreamy-men, magic, pirates, anti-hero

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Posted on Http://scorchingbookreviews.blogspot.com on 3/9/11

Van Gast has done something stupid; he has stolen a ship that carried the future bride of the Master of all Mages. These Magical creatures have the ability to bind army’s of men to them, to create unquestioning, willing servants, to see to do all their bidding. However, they have no need to create unwilling servants, the entire Remorian race is happy to carry their bonds. Now the Master has his Remorian army, led by his Commander Holden...more Posted on Http://scorchingbookreviews.blogspot.com on 3/9/11

Van Gast has done something stupid; he has stolen a ship that carried the future bride of the Master of all Mages. These Magical creatures have the ability to bind army’s of men to them, to create unquestioning, willing servants, to see to do all their bidding. However, they have no need to create unwilling servants, the entire Remorian race is happy to carry their bonds. Now the Master has his Remorian army, led by his Commander Holden, searching for Van Gast to exact revenge. They kidnap his archenemy, Josie, knowing that she knows his tricks better than most. But, she isn’t Van Gast’s enemy, she is his lover and their apparent conflict has been a ruse to earn more cash. Josie is also the lover that Holden took before his bond to his Master was strengthened. She represents a freedom that exists only in his dreams, can ¬he really break her, taker her freedom, to do his maters bidding? If he tries, will she give up Van Gast? A man that adores the very ground she walks on. When she reappears after a few days absence with a Remorian man, Van Gast has to trust that the Ten Ruby Trick she set’s up won’t get him killed or, worse, bonded and destined to become a mindless drone.

I once read an article where a blogger argued that she could never love a Pirate hero because pirates are murderers and thieves by nature. I tend to agree, there is nothing nice about a true pirate. However, I would argue than Van Gast is not a typical pirate, because he quite clearly has redeemable features. Although he steals the ship at the start of the tale, he leaves everyone alive, with enough food and water to last until they are rescued. These are not the actions of a baddie. When the author contacted me, she said that other people had compared him to Captain Jack Sparrow but I can’t see any resemblance bar the occupation! Whereas Captain Jack is kooky, unpredictable and fearless to the point of stupidity, Van Gast struck me as the opposite. He is smooth, suave, careful (as long as it doesn’t involve Josie!) and quite successful. His magic is a sixth sense for trouble that manifests as an itchy breastbone; he isn’t likely to get himself into random trouble. Although he isn’t a perfect hero, he is still a likeable character. His trust in Josie has been unwavering, even though she gave him nothing in return, and I didn’t blame him when he had a little wobble...I would have given that relationship up as a bad job years before. The problem I did have was that there wasn’t a lot of time to see them together as a couple. I wanted her to get out of the clutches of the Master for him, not for them as a couple because, quite honestly, I didn’t know them as a couple.

Holden’s situation tore me apart. He is one of the most fabulously written Anti-hero’s I’ve ever met. If I’m honest, I was more interested in his story than his Van Gast (I’m sorry!) From the day he was born, his destiny was to carry the bond. He wasn’t born to be an idealist or have dreams; his path was not his to choose. His affair with Josie had been the highlight of his life, had given him hope that he could be something more. When they parted, he accepted his bond to the Master and became one of his henchmen. He did horrible things, but that was the price he was willing to be pay for the complete lack of control. He didn’t want to make decisions for himself, he wanted only to exist. My heart broke for him; that he would do this willingly was completely inconceivable to me. When he is ordered to take Josie, to break her spirit, he truly struggles. I wanted him to break free, I wanted him to become an individual who could do the good things....really, it was heart wrenching watching his inner turmoil.

Aside from the characters, I found this book challenging for the first couple of pages. I have never enjoyed classic fantasy, and I think that that influenced my opinion. Once I stopped being such a snob, I lost myself in the author’s imaginary realm. I was taken aback at just how evil the magic in this world is! The Mage’s cannot move for themselves, as their power exists as crystals on their skin that makes them a little bit like immovable rocks, so they create slaves. The bond takes over their victims and forces out any individual thoughts, creating an empty vessel that exists only to serve the Mage. It is truly terrifying, and what was even more terrifying was that an entire race of people were willing to take the bond, to do something else’s bidding, rather than have the uncertainly of individuality. If Julia Knight wanted her readers unsettled, she did a good job.

Overall, a fantastic romp with characters that draw you in and get themselves into situations that leave your heart in your throat. I’d like to see a sequel; I really can’t give a book any more kudos than that
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Aug 29, 2011 Anne Lyle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

Black into white into blue into grey into black. Order and pattern are the way of Holden’s life, buffering his mind from the reality that he is mage-bonded to the Master of the Archipelago, with no choice but to obey his every whim or die in agony. So when the Master commands him to capture the notorious privateer Andor Van Gast, Holden has no qualms about using his former lover Josie to do it. Josie, herself a pirate captain of no mean repute, is well known to be Van Gast’s worst enemy, so sure...more Black into white into blue into grey into black. Order and pattern are the way of Holden’s life, buffering his mind from the reality that he is mage-bonded to the Master of the Archipelago, with no choice but to obey his every whim or die in agony. So when the Master commands him to capture the notorious privateer Andor Van Gast, Holden has no qualms about using his former lover Josie to do it. Josie, herself a pirate captain of no mean repute, is well known to be Van Gast’s worst enemy, so surely she will be happy to help Holden? In fact Josie and Van Gast are secret lovers, using their famed rivalry to fool their victims into siding with one or the other in elaborate confidence tricks–and Josie intends Holden to be next. This time, though, the stakes are higher than money or treasure. If anything goes wrong, both she and Van Gast could end up dead–or worse.

Ten Ruby Trick is in many ways the perfect swashbuckling romance. Van Gast is the quintessential rogue-with-a-heart-of-gold, always ready to do the stupid-but-exciting thing; Josie is cunning as a bag of foxes and stubborn as all hell. There are sea battles, storms, chases (lots of chases!) and a really nasty villain to boo – what’s not to like?

This is no bland medieval fantasy world, however. The majority of the inhabitants are dark-skinned, apart from the Viking-like Gan, and gunpowder weapons sit comfortably alongside magic that can quell storms or erect forcefields against cannonades. Most intriguing of all is the magic of the Archipelago, which crystallises on its users’ skins, turning them into helpless grotesques, barely able to move and reliant on their slaves for everything. This is nasty, dark magic at its most imaginative.

I began my review with Holden, as does the book, because although Van Gast is undeniably the hero of the story, Holden is the anti-hero. He’s the guy we want to fail – and yet whose struggles against the vile magics that hold him in thrall cannot help but engage the reader’s sympathy. The theme of this book is freedom, and no character embodies that theme better than Holden.

If you enjoyed Pirates of the Caribbean or Fritz Leiber’s Lankhmar books and don’t mind a dash of unsoppy romance with your fantasy, I recommend you give Ten Ruby Trick a whirl!(less)

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Nov 24, 2012 Rhea Rhodan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: cliff-hanger, fantasy, premise, reviewed, romantic-element

This swashbuckling fantasy adventure contains a sweet romantic element (and a bit of bawdy language). Each of the three main characters is fully-drawn and sympathetic, though we know less of the heroine since we hear only from the two male leads--both of whom are far from perfect. The world-building is vivid, the concept of magic, novel. The pace is relentless with tons of action, little romance, and no love scenes worth mentioning. The resolution is satisfying, the ending upbeat, but incomplete...more

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May 06, 2011 Christine Bell rated it 5 of 5 stars

LOVED. THIS. BOOK. This is the best fantasy/adventure novel I've read in I don't know how many years. Just super solid world building, awesomely taut action, visceral descriptions, I cannot say enough. I actually have to go back a reread the last few chapters because I couldn't contain myself and skipped over some of the lush detail in my panic to find out what happened at the end. I hope there's a sequel, because I'm hooked.

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Feb 27, 2011 Wendy Soliman rated it 5 of 5 stars

I don't read fantasy and bought this book thinking it was a mystery. What a happy accident! I absolutely adored it. Tight, witty writing, fast moving, lots of excitement and I DIDN'T figure out how it was going to end. This lady has an ingenious imagination and a unique way of bringing her characters to life. I shall look out for more of hers. Really satisfying stuff.

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Jun 07, 2012 Nicole Luiken rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebook, sfantasy

Swordfights, magic, pirates, romance, scams... This one had it all. Van Gast and Josie were enormously appealing characters, and Holden as the unwilling antagonist was very well-developed. Oodles of plot twists. Can't wait for the sequel.

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Apr 02, 2012 Dawn rated it 3 of 5 stars

3 1/2 stars
I liked the story, I liked the characters, I liked how the story progressed but something about it all just didn't allow me to get fully absorbed into the book. The writing was good, very descriptive but not overly done, there was romance, action, adventure - everything I normally like. The characters were done well, but somehone I just couldn't get myself invested in them. All in all a good book, but maybe just didn't suit my personal preferences.

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Dec 27, 2012 Sara Hemenway rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-in-series, fantasy, magic, romance

I feel like the whole time I was reading this I really was actively wanting to like it. And it's not that I didn't like it... but something was missing. The characters were mostly interesting, and there was lots of swashbuckling action, but somehow it just didn't WOW me!

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Sep 07, 2012 J.L. Hilton rated it 4 of 5 stars

I interview Julia Knight and talk about this book on my blog:

http://jlhilton.com/2012/09/juliaknight/

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Apr 03, 2012 Shona rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, romance

Brilliant!

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Shelves: ps

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Shelves: novels

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About Julia Knight

Oooh let's see. Um, loved fantasy since that first King Arthur book when I was about 8. I love all fantasy but particularly Epic, and I like a strong romance element too ( which is probably why that's what I write!)

I love Pratchett, Cherryh, Gaimen to name but a few, but heck I'll give anyone a go.

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The Pirate's Lady (Pirates of Estovan, #2)

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