Monday, 15 July 2024

Legacy of the Brightwash (Tainted Dominion Book 1) by Krystle Matar

Book Details


 



Length: 662 pages

Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fiction

Age Category: Adult

Date Published: 18 February 2021

Amazon Links:

Canada


U.S.A.


U.K.


Goodreads


The StoryGraph


Blurb


Follow the law and you’ll stay safe. But what if the law is wrong?


Tashué’s faith in the law is beginning to crack.


Three years ago, he stood by when the Authority condemned Jason to the brutality of the Rift for non-compliance. When Tashué’s son refused to register as tainted, the laws had to be upheld. He’d never doubted his job as a Regulation Officer before, but three years of watching your son wither away can break down even the strongest convictions.


Then a dead girl washed up on the bank of the Brightwash, tattooed and mutilated. Where had she come from? Who would tattoo a child? Was it the same person who killed her?


Why was he the only one who cared?


Will Tashué be able to stand against everything he thought he believed in to get the answers he’s looking for?



Legacy of the Brightwash was the title I was most excited to read for the Novel of the Year Awards 2023.
The opening chapter with the discovery of a murdered and mutilated child sucked me into the story straight away and I couldn't wait to find out what Tashué would discover about her.

Legacy of the Brightwash is a character-driven story. It is well-written and tense. The mystery of the murdered girl is only one element of the overall story. She represents everything that has gone wrong with the controlling and regulated society in which they live. However, I was disappointed that the book turned out to be less of a detective or murder mystery story than the blurb implied. There is a heavy focus on political intrigue in which Tashué gets mixed up. 

This is quite a dark story and I felt unease for the characters who were imprisoned for being tainted and unregistered. Tashué's son being one of them. Tashué's job of enforcing the law has a massive impact on their relationship. But, as Tashué slowly digs around in political circles he discovers that the leaders are the bad guys rather than the tainted and that changes are needed in society. Tashué grapples with these new realisations and he feels guilty for upholding an oppressive regime and causing the loss of his family.

At 662 pages this is a whopper of a book and it ends on a cliffhanger. It's also a slow burn with the pacing staying relatively the same all the way through. But, with a mix of dark fantasy, mystery and romance there is something here for everybody.

About the Author


Krystle Matar has been writing for a long time, but things got serious when Tashué Blackwood walked into her life, an amber-eyed whirlwind. Her debut, Legacy of the Brightwash, is a SPFBO Finalist, an r/Fantasy nominee for Best Debut and Best Indie.


When she isn’t arguing with Tashué or any of his friends, she parents full time. She has a lot of children, too many hobbies, and one very excellent husband.


She is currently working on lots of stories set in the Dominion, is 1/4 of the Swords & Corsets Podcast, and is probably obsessively rewatching BBC’s Ripper Street and/or anything that Dennis Lehane worked on like Apple TV's Blackbird.





No comments:

Post a Comment