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Thursday 25 May 2017

A review of "Tapasya (The Redemption of Wist Book 1)" by David Gilchrist

⭐⭐⭐⭐

There are certain ingredients that any high-fantasy needs. A grand world, an interesting premise, strange creatures and, most of all, characters that blend together and suck you right into their group so that you accompany them on their great quest. This very accomplished story gets it all right.

The Redemption of Wist isn’t all about Wist though: Gilchrist has more than a fistful of interesting personalities that trek across the desert on a quest which grows and develops as they travel. In fact, Wist himself is perhaps not yet the most fully explored and developed of the characters, but then I think he is necessarily an enigma, and I am sure we will find out more of Wist and his secrets in the next instalments!

I will tell you that I just loved the Lyrat pair; the concept of them always working as a closely bonded unit is matched by the way the author uses them to push and pull the story along, helping to keep the different parts of the plot moving without friction or effort. Amongst the others, Nikka the dwarf is beautifully portrayed and the truly scary thug-priest is drawn with loving detail.

The author keeps his plot tight and he knows what’s happening - which is a lot! But some of the set scenes are wonderful and the journey by sand-whale stirs the imagination of the soul and heart.

This is the first in series and I may be being harsh in only giving it four stars because I certainly thought about giving it the full five. At the end of the day though, it isn’t a book that is meant to stand just on its own and so it has too much left hanging for me to be that generous. It’s an excellent story and there is a better way to judge how much I liked it:  I’m going to have to read the next part.