The Ties That Bind Trilogy

First Earth Saga

By: Rob J. Hayes

Narrated by: Jaret Ross

Length: 43 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

The complete The Ties that Bind trilogy.

For generations, the Inquisition has stood between humanity and the forces of darkness. It has failed.

Thanquil Darkheart is a witch hunter for the Inquisition, on a holy crusade to rid the world of heresy. He’s also something else...expendable. When the God Emperor gives Thanquil an impossible task, he knows he has no choice but to venture deep into the Wilds to hunt down a fallen Inquisitor.

Even the best swordswoman is one bad day away from a corpse. It’s a lesson Blademaster Jezzet Vel’urn isn’t keen to learn. Chased into the Wilds by a vengeful warlord, Jezzet makes it to the free city of Chade. But instead of sanctuary all she finds are more enemies from her past.

The Black Thorn is a cheat, a thief, a murderer and worse. He’s best known for the killing of several Inquisitors and every town in the Wilds has a WANTED poster with his name on it. Thorn knows it’s often best to lie low and let the dust settle, but some jobs pay too well to pass up.

As their fates converge, Jezzet, Thanquil, and the Black Thorn will need to forge an uneasy alliance in order to face the truth the Inquisition has been hiding from them all.
A dark epic fantasy full of zealous witch hunters, roving warlords, dark magic, and demons. Perfect for fans of Joe Abercrombie and Brent Weeks.

©2013, 2017 Rob J Hayes (P)2022 Rob J Hayes

A treat

Couldn't get enough of this! Can't wait for the next audible release. The characters have so much depth.

Top notch fantasy

Loved the crusty characters and would love to hear more. Fun listen for grimdark fans.

A great anti-hero story.

It's a good read with characters and a story that draws you in. Very clever use of a magic system and the super natural. I can't wait for more of this world.

great story great narrator!!!

I was hooked right away it was so good I was afraid to finish because I knew that I might not be able to find another book like this for a while!( spend the credit )

Wasn’t all bad

I enjoyed the overall concept and characters. The story was good and well paced. The dialogue was cringe. Didn’t seem to fit the characters and it often seemed like someone edited the book and found plot holes and the author wrote in some dialogue to explain and cover it up. Was worth the ear-read, just had to ignore the characters talking.

Fun characters, great fantasy world

i really enjoyed the set. the narration was good characters were good sorry was solid.

A lot to say.

So, to start. This story premise is very interesting and the narrator does pretty well.

Like Hayes other trilogy, this title is in desperate need of a proof listen before release. There’s no less than 20 repeated lines or other corrections that need to be made.

Back on topic. The characters are interesting and feel unique. The story itself is also conceptually really neat.

My issue is the morals of the.. well.. everything. It’s pretty well established that none of these people are supposed to be “good”. But they’re all over the place. The constant rape and murder, and the casual tone that it’s talked about and accepted is gross.

One of the main characters is essentially bought at the age of 9 and raped daily for her entire early life, until she is an adult. She then gets betrayed by her friend and a new guy uses her as a toy for a while, until she wins her freedom and decides to stay with that guy and continue to sleep with him, only it’s willingly now.
Then later, a pirate allows his entire crew to try and assault her, she avoids it and then very nearly sleeps with that captain willingly in the same chapter.

It is gross and makes no sense.

If you can get past the above grievances. You may enjoy this book. If that kind of thing bothers or triggers you. I highly suggest avoiding it, as it’s present in some form or another, in nearly every chapter of the trilogy.

Very clear and well done voice acting... great s&s

Great sword and sorcery story... characters were highly unique and I wanted to keep going. Voice acting was well done, but I don't like when I can't decently easy tell when a man or woman is talking, and that came up a bit.

Teenager writing.

The narrator is amazing. He has a wonderful voice and has a hypnotic way about him. The female characterization is shallow. The author has no real understanding of how a person with sexual trauma would function. The writing is pedantic and vulgar for no reason. Their focus on sexual vocabulary and characterization is laughable. Cringes and eye rolling abound. The author bashes you over the head with reoccurring phrases to try and make you understand they are speaking from a certain character’s point of view. I much preferred this author’s other works. The author’s world building is lacking but commendable. The most interesting character was Black Thorn, by far. The author’s pet characters outside of this individual miss their intended audience. I recommend this work if you are getting it for free (credits).

Absolutely worth the credit if dark fantasy/grim dark is your thing!

I think this trilogy has been the rare occasion where targeted book social media ads have brought me to an amazing series. Such well written, sometimes brutal, and always interesting worldbuilding is unmatched in the few times I’ve been drawn from social ads and this one is a home run. Especially with all of the trilogy for ONE CREDIT! I’m going to grab everything this writer has on the platform I am THAT impressed with this trilogy.