The Heresy Within (The Ties That Bind) (Volume 1)

Review<br/><br/>One of the surprise announcements of 2014's "Best Independent Fantasy Novel" was Ragnarok Publication’s The Heresy Within. "Without a doubt [this] award goes to Rob J. Hayes for The Heresy Within, a dark and violent fantasy that definitely rings some of the same bells that Abercrombie rings. It is a story filled with plenty of action, grit, and heroes who are complete bastards." —BestFantasyBooks.com<br/><br/>Product Description<br/><br/>Jezzet Vel'urn is a trained swordswoman. She has rightfully earned the title Blademaster, and she knows that for a woman like her there are generally just two ways out of most hostile situations; fight or fornicate. All too often for Jezzet's liking, it comes down to some gods-be-damned combination of the two. In The Heresy Within, Jezzet is chased into The Wilds by a vengeful warlord until she finally makes it to the sovereign city-state of Chade. Instead of sanctuary there, she finds only more opportunistic bastards waiting to turn her over to her enemies. Also figuring majorly in the story is Thanquil Darkheart, a sorcerer hunter called an Arbiter, tasked with hunting down and purging heretics for the Inquisition. Thanquil is given a task by the God Emperor of Sarth from which he has no escape. Lastly, there’s the brutal outlaw called Black Thorn, best known perhaps for the killing of several Arbiters and possibly being one of the biggest names in The Wilds for his proclivities. All three of their fates seem to be converging on the Free City of Chade and, before long, Jezzet, Thanquil, and the Black Thorn will have to confront each other as they find themselves facing The Heresy Within. This is book one of the epic grimdark trilogy, The Ties That Bind.<br/><br/>About the Author<br/><br/>Having served in a hundred different offices as a keyboard monkey, Rob J. Hayes finally decided to follow his life long passion of daydreaming. After writing a small hoard's worth of short stories (many of which can be found on his website), he released his debut trilogy The Ties that Bind in 2013 as an indie publication. He signed a deal with Ragnarok later that year to bring The Ties that Bind to traditional publication, and he recently finished a follow-up series, entitled Best Laid Plans and set in the same world of First Earth. When not writing Rob is usually found card gaming, computer gaming, board gaming, dice gaming, airsoft gaming, or pretending to be a Viking.