E-Book, 662 Pages
Adult/ Fantasy/ Mystery
By: Krystle Matar
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 1/2
“It’s easy to say ‘should have’ once it’s already too late, isn’t it?”
It is my first time ever as a judge for SPFBO. I am not new to self published books as I have been reading them for the last few years. This was the last book I read for the competition so I feel I should say something about this whole thing. (Stick with me, I promise to get to the book eventually.)
When I first got into the reading world. I was one of those people who thought that self published books aren’t that good. A fact that I learned is very wrong since then and in fact, my favorite book of all time is a self published one! Nowadays the borders between self published and traditionally published books are disappearing. Sanderson’s latest kick-starter is just a huge proof of that.
I think there is a vehement risk taking that the author did with this book. It was a breath of fresh air. There is not anything typical about this book. I kept it for last because it is a chonky book (Some would argue it serves as a coaster too) and I heard mixed things about it. The book is just a mishmash of genres including fantasy, romance, mystery thriller and even politics and the author does her best to commit to all of these genres!
The prose is great. I found myself stopping at sentences and just wishing I could write as eloquently as Matar does. The writing is poetic but without overdoing it. The book is a big one but it was so easy to get into. There was a small part around 30-40% where things slowed down and I felt things needed to pick up soon or I would be bored but fortunately they did after that and I wasn’t bored at all. Actually, when I was reading the last chapter, I wanted more and did not want the book to really end.
“Some orders— some laws— aren’t worth the paper they’re written on, or the men and women who have to pay the price for them.”
I think what makes this book glow is really the characterization and the situations the chaarcters are put into. There is always a dilemma that reflects real life situation specially when it comes to the politics. Tashué is a very unique protagonist, he is a bit older than your typical hero, he is flawed and made a lot of mistakes in the past that he is willing to pay for. And it doesn’t stop at Tashué because the secondary characters are all fleshed out, from his broken son to the chaotic Ishamel and his addicted wife. There was a plethora of awesome characters throughout this book.
The book does have multiple plot threads and it sometimes jumps between them but I think it is all important to weave the final product and some of the acts seemed excessive until all it came together at a later point and gave me that “Aha” moment and thought it is just brilliant!
“Ishmael was so ridiculous. Were it not for the fact that he’d seen the deep well of darkness in the man himself, he would have thought that Ishmael didn’t take anything seriously. But he took everything seriously, and the charm and the jokes and the endless snacks were just his way to protect himself from his own anger.“
Summary: Is the Brightwash a good book? It is an absolute yes from me. I liked the writing, the characters and the plot lines and even that damned cliffhanger. I am happy -and perhaps this is a great thing about the competition- that we can always give points for trying new things!
Note: Read this as a guest judge (With FanFiAddict) for SPFBO 7.
The book prescription 