Farren is a cabinetmaker but from being a small child he has had the ability to see and converse with the dead. This was never something he had wanted but sometimes you don't get a choice. Anyway, this rather dubious gift ensured he was always treated as somewhat an outsider.

As a child Princess Mericia was loved by everyone but in recent years she has become withdrawn and cold. The people around her just think she is becoming arrogant and considers herself superior to everyone else. What they don't realise is that Mericia believes she has been cursed. Everyone she loves seems to die or suffer terribly. Her mother has withdrawn into a world of her own, not communicating with anyone, content to just sit and stitch.

So when it becomes apparent that someone has been plotting to overthrow the Royal family and destroy the peace in their kingdom no one seems able to discover who is responsible. Will Farren be able to use his ability to communicate with the dead to find out the truth before more people need to die?

The Shadebinder's Oath is a wonderfully lyrical story from the pen of Jeanette Cottrell. One the face of it the story is a simple one revolving around a plot to overthrow the Ailsandian royal family but this novel has an interesting twist – a number of the main characters are spirits. This gives them the ability to go places and do things that the living cannot.

The main character, Farren has been written with many layers. It would have been easy to make him a simple cabinetmaker who happens to find himself in the middle of a conspiracy but Cottrell has given him more. His ability to see and communicate with the spirits of the dead is a central theme of the story and has been written with a certain amount of humour.

I really enjoyed this book. Cottrell has managed to mix magic, knights, ancient secrets and the dead in an original and entertaining story. She initially writes each of the threads as separate sections but as the story continues the various plotlines become more and more entwined until they become one single finale.

Superb!

Synopsis
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.