Legacy of the Brightwash

The Legacy of the Brightwash (Tainted Dominion #1), authored by Krystle Matar, cover illustration and design by Brad Bergman, edited by Trinica Sampson, and maps by Soraya Corcoran, published from Imburleigh Book Company, was a personal read for me by way of the Kindle. What follows below is my honest review, freely given. I rated this novel 5 stars. This is the type of novel you could read the back and say it has a little bit of everything going on, right, a blend of the genres to keep everyone happy. Big too, lots of words. Getting your money worth, words coming out the back end, words for days, may even repeat a few, no extra charge. I wasn’t too sure what to expect going in reading this other than the premise was promising, giving me a little Captain Mal charm from Firefly with our male MC, Tashué, too. The scene by the river, the discovery of the body that really sets the whole novel on it’s main path, reminded me of the opening scenes of The Frankenstein Chronicles (2015-2017), with Sean Bean, which had its own Victorian style and feel to much of the show, especially the medical aspects. That Victorian style became bound with the early western design for the world that the author, I think, created in Brightwash. I’m still somewhat new to the fantasy genres, but I really like the blended time periods feeling that I’ve gotten when reading novels that fall under Gaslamp Fantasy, I’m not fully sure how to describe it, yet. As I said, this is a chonk of a book, but I would say stay the course, this is worth it, even if you think it may not be your cup of tea. You would think after finding a body and having a good idea how it came to be there, things would move quickly to finding out who and why, right? So did Tashué, and I love that the chapters are titled by different characters names and my favorite are always his, because he will be your spirit animal on the quest that is reading The Legacy of the Brightwash. He has survived war, personal loss; bureaucratic red tape and political schmoozing may be his line in the sand. We the reader are seeing things move in real time for Tashué and it is a glacial pace, not to say things are not happening – just not the things that would make Tashué happier. He is getting tied up in intrigue that he has no interest in, just to try and get movement on the things like less murder of innocent lives. He must be protected at all costs. Then you have the tainted, the regulated or the locked up, used for their talent but looked upon as less, always less by those that use and abuse, those in power. The depth of pain and anger this novel will stir in you for the hurt, the marginalized, the herded, the colonized, the misused of society – you’ve seen those memes asking what radicalized you? People reading this book is going to be one of the answers, and that’s a compliment. I said at the beginning I went into this not knowing what to expect, I came to the end knowing I am going to read the heck out of the sequel, and however many other books end up being in this series. It’s well written, the story kept me drawn in, I am extremely impressed with this novel.