Legacy of the Brightwash

Tainted Dominion, Book 1

De: Krystle Matar

Narrado por: Paul Woodson, Felicity Munroe

SPFBO Finalist

Stabby Nominee—Best Debut 2021

Stabby Nominee—Best Indie Book 2021

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?

©2021 Krystle Matar (P)2022 Podium Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Legacy of the Brightwash is a grounded, realistic, and surprisingly dark book, but it’s a book with a fundamentally moral lead that keeps the darkness from feeling gratuitous."

-Ryan Howse, Grimdark Magazine

A very good fantasy book

This story was different from the other fantasies I have read. The audible telling was great also.

Scandal, tragedy and rumors abound. Does anyone care?

Tashue Blackwood is a decorated military veteran and a veteran of the domains tainted authority. A pseudo military organization with the responsibility of overseeing and managing the gifted citizens of the domain. Tashue comes face to face with the ugliest parts of society, from people wishing to leverage his controversial military career for political capital, to a dead child he can't seem to get anyone else to care about, to his own adult son who refused to register and is now locked in the rift.

The counterpoint to Tashue is Stella Whiterock a fugitive who is much more than she seems but she can't seem to stay away from Tashue, and he's good with her daughter.

A great opening to a series! can't wait to read the next one.

Paul Woodson, Felicity Munroe and the lovely people at podium audio do a great job bringing this piece to life. Especially loved Felicity's Stella voice and Paul's Tashue.

perfect for grimdark fantasy lovers

Tashué has been working as a Regulation Officer for years without issue, even when they arrested his son for non-registration as a talented and locked him in the Rift. He has witnessed his son wither away in the Rift over years, and while he fears Jason will die there, he's accepted the outcome because he sees Jason's continued refusal to register as the cause. Until a dead child washes up on shore of the Brightwash, tattooed similarly to those in the Rift and missing her arms and legs. Suddenly nothing makes sense, and the more Tashué searches for answers the more his faith and trust in the Authority facture.

This is the type of book that will make you think, make you feel, make you rage, make you invested. It's harrowing and deep. Emotional and devastating. Pain, despair, brutality, grief, and a different type of racism than color - it's all there. This book will try to tear at you from the inside out. It's so grimdark, you'd never expect such a strong romance to come out of it, but what a beautiful love story it is, offsetting the darker sides of this tale just enough. This book is unlike any other, especially with how the author delivered wonderfully with very difficult topics that make you stop and think.

Now to the book's best bits: the characterization. This is where the author's writing shined most. The characters bleed their emotions through every page. Honestly, the character work is fantastic. Each one is layered and complex with history and misgivings, each one perfectly flawed that as a reader, you can't help feeling for them.

Stunning Gaslamp Grimdark

My second trip through this story as I read it before listening on Audible. Vivid characters and brilliant world building. It is by turns, both beautiful and horrifying.

What are you waiting for?

If you. haven't read BRIGHTWASH right now, it's time. Sop hesitating. Just do it.

At first, I was intimidated by the book. This is a heftyboi, and it'll take some time to muscle through it, but it's evident that Krystle Matar knows this. Hers is a world lovingly-crafted, and in proper grimdark tradition, we're not just asked to wallow in the grime, but are invited to wade through it too! If you love absolutely astonishing world building in a setting that lingers somewhere between Victorian-era-without-steampunk and Peaky-Blinders-with-Magic, then LEGACY OF BRIGHTWASH is going to be your jam.

The protagonist, Tashue Blackwood -- a cigarillo-sucking Sam Spade -- tasks himself with solving the mystery of a young dead woman, and in the midst of it, struggles with his own personal demons, his family's past, and his dedication to both blood and what he *believes* the law should be. From the cover to the formatting, this is a beautiful book inside and out, but not one that embraces pretty circumstances. It doesn't have to: Matar's dialogue is snappy and authentic, her descriptions are beautifully-worded and memorable, and her fast-paced scenes never linger in the unnecessary.

I particularly loved the honest romance (two people gravitating toward one another in the midst of heinous circumstances), the characters' constant vulnerability, and the thoughtful way that Matar weaves beauty and hope into an awfully ugly world. Also, when Matar describes physical altercations, she does so with a clear eye. No details get lost in the fights, and it's yet again a testament to her constant care with these characters and this world.

You ought to prepare to have your heart punched in.

Of particular note is the *awesome* Podium narration by Munroe and Woodson, whose work is top-notch, and really brings the point-of-view chapters to life. At no point did I find myself confused by the back-and-forth!

What also warms my heart about BRIGHTWASH is the diversity of its world. These are characters of all colors and creeds, of all sexual orientations, and there's a vast backlog of history to this world that is respectfully linked in concept to our own world's history. While this book loves to hang out in the anguish of its characters, it never seeks to base their trauma in their identities.

I could go on about this book forever. I will go on about it in the future. Just do yourself a damn favor and buy it. You won't regret it.