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The Ballad of Frindoth #1
Ritual of the Stones
Over the kingdom of Frindoth hangs the shadow of the Gloom, a wraith-like creature that emerges every twelve years, demanding a sacrifice. Twelve individuals are selected by lottery for the Ritual of the Stones and one of them will give their life for their country to keep the people safe.
When Rhact, a candle-maker, learns his daughter has been selected to take part in the Ritual, he takes his family and flees. In doing everything he can to protect his family, Rhact has no idea of the repercussions of his actions.
In the capital city of Lilyon, King Jacquard moves to quell a rebellion. Certain warlords have broken away from his council and threaten his throne. Jacquard must deal with the uprising whilst presiding over the ritual. A ritual that also sees his son selected as a participant. Jacquard must keep his focus on ruling his kingdom even if it means losing his son.
The destiny of the Kingdom relies on the Order, a group of powerful warlocks and witches but even amongst their ranks, deception and betrayal emerges. For the witch Marybeth believes she has discovered a way to defeat the Gloom. Determined to uncover the truth behind her father’s death Marybeth sets out on her own path to free Frindoth from the Gloom - A journey members of the Order are eager to stop.
The choices of these three people will change the nation and begin a battle Frindoth may never recover from.
When Rhact, a candle-maker, learns his daughter has been selected to take part in the Ritual, he takes his family and flees. In doing everything he can to protect his family, Rhact has no idea of the repercussions of his actions.
In the capital city of Lilyon, King Jacquard moves to quell a rebellion. Certain warlords have broken away from his council and threaten his throne. Jacquard must deal with the uprising whilst presiding over the ritual. A ritual that also sees his son selected as a participant. Jacquard must keep his focus on ruling his kingdom even if it means losing his son.
The destiny of the Kingdom relies on the Order, a group of powerful warlocks and witches but even amongst their ranks, deception and betrayal emerges. For the witch Marybeth believes she has discovered a way to defeat the Gloom. Determined to uncover the truth behind her father’s death Marybeth sets out on her own path to free Frindoth from the Gloom - A journey members of the Order are eager to stop.
The choices of these three people will change the nation and begin a battle Frindoth may never recover from.
- GenresFantasy
Kindle Edition
First published July 4, 2013
7 people are currently reading
20 people want to read
About the author
Rob Donovan
9 books7 followersBorn in Essex, I currently reside in Bromley, Kent (UK) where I live with my wife, three sons (no more!) and a King Charles Spaniel called Scout.
After attaining a degree in Ancient History from Kent University in 2000, I held various jobs before joining the Home Office later the same year.
Currently I am a senior manager, heading up a security and recruitment enablers team by day and writer by lunch!
Officially I am also the Lord of Tattingstone - a square metre of grass in a muddle field north of England.
I began writing seriously 8 years ago and have recently published my fifth novel, "Within Stone's Shadow." It is the third book in a planned 4 book series entitled, "The Ballad of Frindoth."
After attaining a degree in Ancient History from Kent University in 2000, I held various jobs before joining the Home Office later the same year.
Currently I am a senior manager, heading up a security and recruitment enablers team by day and writer by lunch!
Officially I am also the Lord of Tattingstone - a square metre of grass in a muddle field north of England.
I began writing seriously 8 years ago and have recently published my fifth novel, "Within Stone's Shadow." It is the third book in a planned 4 book series entitled, "The Ballad of Frindoth."
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 2, 2016
I love the premise here: every twelve years twelve people are chosen for a ritual; they wake one morning to find a coloured stone beside them, or under their pillow. They then have to travel to the capital, throw their stones into a waterfall and one will then be magically selected as a sacrificial victim, to appease something (or someone?) known as the Gloom. This is such an intriguing idea, especially given the variety of people chosen by the stones: a simpleton, a rapist and murderer, an elderly swordsman, a slave woman, a young girl, the king's only son... This is fascinating, not only for the question of how all this works, but also why? Why are things done this way? And what exactly will happen if the ritual fails? There are hints, but no clear answers. Of course, there's a lot more going on below the surface, with conspiracies and deception, and a plot to defeat the Gloom once and for all.
The first point of view character is Marybeth, one of the Order, a group which oversees the process of the ritual, magically empowered to ensure the compliance of the selected twelve. Then there's Rhact, an ordinary man in the village Marybeth is watching, whose daughter Janna is one of the chosen ones, and who isn't about to accept that without a fight. These two points of view give a very nice dual perspective on Marybeth: we see her first as a member of a group working to ensure that the country can continue peaceably by the sacrifice of a single person, a necessary evil that works for the good of all, while also hoping to put an end to the ritual altogether; but we also see her through Rhact's eyes as an evil witch, a terrifying person inflicting untold harm on families and communities. This is nicely done.
There’s also the king, Jacquard, who tries to rule generously and not be a ruthless tyrant, but finds himself at risk of rebellion by his warlords for weakness. His son Althalos is nicely drawn, too. The other characters are less than convincing. Some are complete caricatures, like the rapist or the slave woman's evil master or the simpleton. Some just lack depth. Everyone is either good or bad, with no in between at all. Not that bad means unspeakably evil, necessarily, sometimes it just means silly and feckless, but still, there are few shades of grey. Even when characters change over the course of the book, the switch is absolute: a totally evil person is redeemed to become a hero, while a good person is so overwhelmed by revenge that all normal human feeling is lost, and they become evil. This is less than subtle.
To my mind, the female characters seemed to have less active roles than the men. To start with, the women are largely wenches or nervous mothers or cowed daughters or silly bits of girls who squeal. Or else they are witches, or otherwise evil. There's Marybeth, for a start, ostensibly a very active character, and we see her doing some very courageous things. Why does she do them? Initially because of her father, and latterly because some random dude, more powerful than her, told her to. Doesn't she have a mind of her own? Fortunately, there are also quite a few moments where women stand up and take charge, sometimes to shocking effect, when the men can’t or won’t. For instance, Janna, Rhact's daughter, has a brave moment, doing what needs to be done when the travelling party is attacked by bandits. And I did like the female assassin. I’d happily read a whole book about her.
The world-building is rather good, and clearly a lot of thought has gone into the details. I like the three moons of different colours, which clearly have a big influence on everything, as well as inspiring the various religions. We’re in the standard pre-industrial pseudo-medieval world, with the usual patriarchal overtones, but there are some nice details too. For instance, a woman’s period is known as being visited by the red moon. The magic is largely unexplained, but there are some nice non-human things around, and the Gloom, when we finally get a good look at it, is suitably scary.
The writing style is serviceable rather than ornate, but it lacks polish. In some places clauses are written as if they were sentences, elsewhere sentences are shunted together. There are some anachronistic expressions used, such as the king spending 'quality time' with his son, and Rhact's son having 'teenage' moodiness (the concept of teenagers is very recent; in a pre-industrial age, thirteen-year-olds would be doing the work of an adult, with neither time nor energy for moods). I find these modern colloquialisms jarring, but that’s just me. There there was the horse who was 'saddled' in order to pull a wagon (harnessed would be a better word). Much of the backstory and descriptions of feelings, particularly surrounding the king, are told narratively, which keeps the tone flat. However, there are moments of eloquent description as well. A warning for those sensitive to such things: there’s some earthy language, and some fairly graphic acts of violence and other unpleasantness.
None of it matters too much, however, because the plot is an absolute cracker and gallops along in a breath-taking page-turning manner. The moment of the actual ritual, when the various conspiracies and secrets and deceits all clash together at once, is terrific. I had absolutely no idea what was going to happen, my eyes glued to the pages. After that it’s a mad dash to restore the realm to some kind of stability before everything falls apart, but there are plenty of unexpected and dramatic twists before the final confrontation, which also sets things up nicely for the next book. There were some confusing moments, not helped by the need to give names and backstories to all twelve of the stone-holders, as well as all the king’s knights. So many characters are easy to forget, and I would have liked a little reminder when each one reappeared. This was particularly troublesome at the ritual, when characters were described only as ‘the boy’ or ‘two men’ or ‘the elderly woman’. I’m still not quite sure who was on whose side. And who exactly was that random dude who sent Marybeth off on her little quest?
This is a fun and imaginative story, not subtle but well thought out, with plenty of action and some nicely moving moments too, written in an easy style, marred only by some flatness in the writing and some over-the-top cartoonish characterisations amongst the walk-on parts. For those who aren’t concerned about that, I recommend this book, but for me it was enough to keep it to three stars.
The first point of view character is Marybeth, one of the Order, a group which oversees the process of the ritual, magically empowered to ensure the compliance of the selected twelve. Then there's Rhact, an ordinary man in the village Marybeth is watching, whose daughter Janna is one of the chosen ones, and who isn't about to accept that without a fight. These two points of view give a very nice dual perspective on Marybeth: we see her first as a member of a group working to ensure that the country can continue peaceably by the sacrifice of a single person, a necessary evil that works for the good of all, while also hoping to put an end to the ritual altogether; but we also see her through Rhact's eyes as an evil witch, a terrifying person inflicting untold harm on families and communities. This is nicely done.
There’s also the king, Jacquard, who tries to rule generously and not be a ruthless tyrant, but finds himself at risk of rebellion by his warlords for weakness. His son Althalos is nicely drawn, too. The other characters are less than convincing. Some are complete caricatures, like the rapist or the slave woman's evil master or the simpleton. Some just lack depth. Everyone is either good or bad, with no in between at all. Not that bad means unspeakably evil, necessarily, sometimes it just means silly and feckless, but still, there are few shades of grey. Even when characters change over the course of the book, the switch is absolute: a totally evil person is redeemed to become a hero, while a good person is so overwhelmed by revenge that all normal human feeling is lost, and they become evil. This is less than subtle.
To my mind, the female characters seemed to have less active roles than the men. To start with, the women are largely wenches or nervous mothers or cowed daughters or silly bits of girls who squeal. Or else they are witches, or otherwise evil. There's Marybeth, for a start, ostensibly a very active character, and we see her doing some very courageous things. Why does she do them? Initially because of her father, and latterly because some random dude, more powerful than her, told her to. Doesn't she have a mind of her own? Fortunately, there are also quite a few moments where women stand up and take charge, sometimes to shocking effect, when the men can’t or won’t. For instance, Janna, Rhact's daughter, has a brave moment, doing what needs to be done when the travelling party is attacked by bandits. And I did like the female assassin. I’d happily read a whole book about her.
The world-building is rather good, and clearly a lot of thought has gone into the details. I like the three moons of different colours, which clearly have a big influence on everything, as well as inspiring the various religions. We’re in the standard pre-industrial pseudo-medieval world, with the usual patriarchal overtones, but there are some nice details too. For instance, a woman’s period is known as being visited by the red moon. The magic is largely unexplained, but there are some nice non-human things around, and the Gloom, when we finally get a good look at it, is suitably scary.
The writing style is serviceable rather than ornate, but it lacks polish. In some places clauses are written as if they were sentences, elsewhere sentences are shunted together. There are some anachronistic expressions used, such as the king spending 'quality time' with his son, and Rhact's son having 'teenage' moodiness (the concept of teenagers is very recent; in a pre-industrial age, thirteen-year-olds would be doing the work of an adult, with neither time nor energy for moods). I find these modern colloquialisms jarring, but that’s just me. There there was the horse who was 'saddled' in order to pull a wagon (harnessed would be a better word). Much of the backstory and descriptions of feelings, particularly surrounding the king, are told narratively, which keeps the tone flat. However, there are moments of eloquent description as well. A warning for those sensitive to such things: there’s some earthy language, and some fairly graphic acts of violence and other unpleasantness.
None of it matters too much, however, because the plot is an absolute cracker and gallops along in a breath-taking page-turning manner. The moment of the actual ritual, when the various conspiracies and secrets and deceits all clash together at once, is terrific. I had absolutely no idea what was going to happen, my eyes glued to the pages. After that it’s a mad dash to restore the realm to some kind of stability before everything falls apart, but there are plenty of unexpected and dramatic twists before the final confrontation, which also sets things up nicely for the next book. There were some confusing moments, not helped by the need to give names and backstories to all twelve of the stone-holders, as well as all the king’s knights. So many characters are easy to forget, and I would have liked a little reminder when each one reappeared. This was particularly troublesome at the ritual, when characters were described only as ‘the boy’ or ‘two men’ or ‘the elderly woman’. I’m still not quite sure who was on whose side. And who exactly was that random dude who sent Marybeth off on her little quest?
This is a fun and imaginative story, not subtle but well thought out, with plenty of action and some nicely moving moments too, written in an easy style, marred only by some flatness in the writing and some over-the-top cartoonish characterisations amongst the walk-on parts. For those who aren’t concerned about that, I recommend this book, but for me it was enough to keep it to three stars.
September 12, 2013
Every twelve years in the land of Frindoth twelve random people receive colored stones indicating that they’ve been selected to participate in the Ritual. These twelve are contestants in a lottery of sacrifice to appease the Gloom, a wraith-like creature of immense power. One person is randomly chosen and…eaten (it’s unclear what exactly happens to the ‘winner’) and the rest go home scarred for life. If the Ritual is disrupted in any way the Gloom goes on a good ole rampage across the land. The Ritual itself makes an excellent engine for the plot of the book and is its greatest strength. The plots and subplots related to the Ritual keep you reading along and the central arc of the story is brisk but paced well.
Honestly, one random sacrifice every twelve years to prevent wanton, widespread destruction from an invincible and tireless monster seems like a good deal to me. But the protagonists of the novel disagree! Which is good because otherwise we’d have no story.
Ritual of the Stones is something of an un-heroic fantasy. The protagonists are less paragons of the land and more regular folk. They’re all believably human in that they don’t have a complete (or even a significant fractional) view of the big picture. Sure, they’re kings and princes and witches of the mysterious Order, but also just regular people with the misfortune of being selected for the titular Ritual. Some are attempting to circumvent or stop the Ritual, while others dutifully try to carry out their unlucky role in it. And they make mistakes. Oh boy, do they make mistakes. Because they’re rather uninformed and largely act in the spur of the moment, their actions are often quite shortsighted. Yet this works to the book’s benefit and lends a lot more tension to the plot than the actions of more traditional protagonists would.
There’s a certain off-beat appeal to a fantasy novel with these sort of characters driving the action. It’s a little refreshing even if you’re frustrated that the characters are, frankly, kind of foolish. But it’s a forgivable “Yes I suppose someone in your situation would make that choice” brand of foolishness. On the other hand, you have little sympathy for them and might even celebrate when they receive some well-deserved comeuppance later in the book. This extends to the villains of the story, though in their case they’re simply underwritten and somewhat cartoonish. They do things because plot and not for any rational, stated reason.
The narration is clear with something of a classic, old-school feel to it. It’s not stylish and gets the job done though it could have used another scrub in the editing process to prune out a handful of redundant sentences and strange, if minor, continuity errors. In general everything is well-structured. Donovan gamely juggles a fairly large cast in not-so-many pages, giving most characters full arcs though a few balls do get dropped as sacrifices for setting up a sequel.
The world building is serviceable. A lot of thought clearly went into the setting but the execution follows more of a “mention other places here and there” model. The different parts and peoples of Frindoth are given brief highlights and don’t really stick with you. It’s not that the setting is flavorless it’s that the book’s quick pace doesn’t leave a lot of room to let that flavor shine through.
Overall, Ritual of the Stones is a mixed bag but worth your time if you find the central premise or a cast of flawed but ‘normal’ characters intriguing.
Honestly, one random sacrifice every twelve years to prevent wanton, widespread destruction from an invincible and tireless monster seems like a good deal to me. But the protagonists of the novel disagree! Which is good because otherwise we’d have no story.
Ritual of the Stones is something of an un-heroic fantasy. The protagonists are less paragons of the land and more regular folk. They’re all believably human in that they don’t have a complete (or even a significant fractional) view of the big picture. Sure, they’re kings and princes and witches of the mysterious Order, but also just regular people with the misfortune of being selected for the titular Ritual. Some are attempting to circumvent or stop the Ritual, while others dutifully try to carry out their unlucky role in it. And they make mistakes. Oh boy, do they make mistakes. Because they’re rather uninformed and largely act in the spur of the moment, their actions are often quite shortsighted. Yet this works to the book’s benefit and lends a lot more tension to the plot than the actions of more traditional protagonists would.
There’s a certain off-beat appeal to a fantasy novel with these sort of characters driving the action. It’s a little refreshing even if you’re frustrated that the characters are, frankly, kind of foolish. But it’s a forgivable “Yes I suppose someone in your situation would make that choice” brand of foolishness. On the other hand, you have little sympathy for them and might even celebrate when they receive some well-deserved comeuppance later in the book. This extends to the villains of the story, though in their case they’re simply underwritten and somewhat cartoonish. They do things because plot and not for any rational, stated reason.
The narration is clear with something of a classic, old-school feel to it. It’s not stylish and gets the job done though it could have used another scrub in the editing process to prune out a handful of redundant sentences and strange, if minor, continuity errors. In general everything is well-structured. Donovan gamely juggles a fairly large cast in not-so-many pages, giving most characters full arcs though a few balls do get dropped as sacrifices for setting up a sequel.
The world building is serviceable. A lot of thought clearly went into the setting but the execution follows more of a “mention other places here and there” model. The different parts and peoples of Frindoth are given brief highlights and don’t really stick with you. It’s not that the setting is flavorless it’s that the book’s quick pace doesn’t leave a lot of room to let that flavor shine through.
Overall, Ritual of the Stones is a mixed bag but worth your time if you find the central premise or a cast of flawed but ‘normal’ characters intriguing.
August 1, 2013
The cover on this book is different from many fantasy books you see and is the first thing that catches your attention.
Sometimes this can mean that the content will let you down but not in this case, for a first novel the writing is professional and quite polished.
The idea behind this book is very clever, a mysterious creature that appears every twelve years and to stop wholesale destruction must be allowed a sacrifice from a randomly selected pool of twelve. You also have the sub plot of a rebellion building in the background with all the bloodshed that this will bring.
There are some excellent characters here, to name a few you have: Jacquard the King who wants to do right by his family but also has to protect his Kingdom and his son Althalos. Marybeth the member of the powerful order, who wants to find another way to stop the Gloom- (there, is an excellent scene with her and creatures called the Custodians in the Marshes of the Night). There is also a strong supporting cast of characters who also add to the strength of the book.
The dialogue used is very natural between characters and quite earthy at times, which is good as it makes the characters seem much more real.
There is enough description, but not too much that it slows down the story, which is nicely paced with plenty of intrigue and action.
This is an excellent start to what I think will be a very good series, so would definitely recommend this book; I will definitely be looking out for the next instalment from this author.
Sometimes this can mean that the content will let you down but not in this case, for a first novel the writing is professional and quite polished.
The idea behind this book is very clever, a mysterious creature that appears every twelve years and to stop wholesale destruction must be allowed a sacrifice from a randomly selected pool of twelve. You also have the sub plot of a rebellion building in the background with all the bloodshed that this will bring.
There are some excellent characters here, to name a few you have: Jacquard the King who wants to do right by his family but also has to protect his Kingdom and his son Althalos. Marybeth the member of the powerful order, who wants to find another way to stop the Gloom- (there, is an excellent scene with her and creatures called the Custodians in the Marshes of the Night). There is also a strong supporting cast of characters who also add to the strength of the book.
The dialogue used is very natural between characters and quite earthy at times, which is good as it makes the characters seem much more real.
There is enough description, but not too much that it slows down the story, which is nicely paced with plenty of intrigue and action.
This is an excellent start to what I think will be a very good series, so would definitely recommend this book; I will definitely be looking out for the next instalment from this author.
July 4, 2014
A good read but kinda depressing
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews