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Let’s recap with some info about the book:

AIK WILL NEVER BE THE SAME… AND NEITHER WILL HIS WORLD

War is coming. Aik has become the Progenitor, and the Seed Mother has released him to transform the world for her alien brood. Silya and Raven, Aik’s former friends, are the only ones who can save him and the world. But what if the cure is worse than the invasion?

As Silya rushes to prepare Gullton for the battle to come, she’s determined to save as many people as she can. But new crises emerge that demand her attention.

Raven has his own hands full, keeping the dragon-like verent in line, while helping Silya to save the world. But what if the only way to do so is to sacrifice Aik, the man that he loves?

It’s the end of the world … or could it be the start of something new?

Publishing Company: OWI
Cover Artist: Kelley York
Main Genre(s): Sci-Fantasy, Young Adult | Sub-Genres: MM Romance SubArc
Word Count: 93700
LGBTQ+ Identities: Gay, Bi, Lesbian, Non-Binary, Intersex

Position (Number) in Series: 4
Necessary to Read Previous Books: Yes

The Tharassas Cycle: A four book sci-fantasy series set on the recently colonized world of Tharassas. When humans first arrived on planet, they thought they were alone until the hencha mind made itself known. But now a new threat has arisen to challenge both humankind and their new allies on this alien world.
0 – Tales From Tharassas | 1 – The Dragon Eater | 2 – The Gauntlet Runner | 3 – The Hencha Queen | 4 – The Death Bringer

Click on the link you want in the snazzy graphic below:

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Well, I just powered through the series, so I could review the latest one as part of its release tour. And, you know? I loved it.

It’s a bit of an odd beastie, to be sure. Fantasy? Sci-fi? Some blend of the two?

Scott’s created a world, a colony of a long-gone Earth left to its own devices, to develop its own society in a place that was once connected to something bigger, and is now insular and inward-looking, cut off from the rest of the universe because there are no interstellar transports any longer. No more are coming from Earth, and never will. So the world of Tharassas has its own history, economy, societies, etc, and none of that has any remaining connection to Earth. So far, so SciFi.

But then, Tharassas has its sentient plants and animals. It has sentient plants in the hencha, that can not only talk with chosen (female) humans, one of whom becomes known as the hencha queen, but can move around and have a direct influence over events. It has dragon-like verent who quite literally merge with ‘their’ human, their chosen ones. And it has alien invaders in the form of the spore mother and her creations, desperate to overcome Tharassas, which is the last chance of survival for her people. So far, so Fantasy.

Merging the two so they’re seamless and, well, logical despite the illogic, is where Scott excels. One thing I’ve always known about him is that his world-building is solid. That sort of stuff is, seriously, my jam. I love doing it, I love reading it. One of the delights of writing speculative fiction not set on Earth is that the worlds, the culture and society, the government, the geography and the weather are all entirely up to the author, who can happily make it up. Scott does that very well indeed.

So. We have a world that isn’t like ours, but which Scott makes accessible to us through the experiences of his main characters: Raven the thief who swallows a ‘dragon’ to become the chosen one of a verent; his lover, Aik the guard, who puts on a gauntlet from a set of armour found just lying around somewhere – never a good idea, really – and who is swallowed up by the Spore Mother’s spawn as a result; Silya, once involved with Aik, but now the head of the temple and acknowledged as hencha queen; and Spin, the AI intelligence once seen as Raven’s familiar, but who takes on a wonderful life and story of its – his? – own. Torn apart by the actions of verent, Spore Mother and hencha, the three (plus Spin) must find a way to save Tharassas from destruction.

Well, basically, I liked the series so much, I binged-read it in two days. Really good stuff, I promise you.

Which brings me on to the point of this post….

The Death Bringer

This is the fourth book of the series (fifth if you count the pre-series collection of short stories), where everything comes to a crashing climax despite the main characters being separated by the various events of the previous books: Raven kidnapped by dragons (I can’t believe I wrote that line) to learn to bond and merge with the one who chose him; Aik has been absorbed and transformed into the Progenitor, the Death Bringer sent by the Spore Mother to destroy everything to make room for her fungoid progeny; Silya is fighting against bureaucratic inertia to protect and save humanity. When the only way to save Tharassas means Aik (or what’s left of him) has to die… well. Drama ensues.

All the mains are good, well fleshed-out characters, but I have to admit to a sneaking liking for Silya and her indomitable mother. Strong female characters written well are a rarity. For too many authors, strong = loud/aggressive/exaggerated physicality/female warrior/crushes her femaleness in order to judo kick men in the face. Luckily, Scott doesn’t fall into that trap, and instead creates female characters who challenge gender stereotypes (both Silya and her mother Triya are acknowledged leaders in their society, not merely passive supporters of their men), who are allowed character flaws yet think and act strategically for the betterment of humans and to save Tharassas, and are positive role models for other women to emulate. Neither Silya nor Triya end up being stifled in order to play up the male characters’ arcs. That’s encouraging.

Another, rather heartwarming character arc is Spin’s. The realisation of who he is, and his back story was quite a punch to the gut – a creative, unexpected element that oddly was the most human story of all, and featuring a bit of metal infused with AI. A clever and well done aspect to the overall story arc.

As to how they all get on, succeed or not… no spoilers here, I’m afraid. I’ll only say that the resolution played to all of Silya’s strengths, and reinforced what I said earlier about strategic leadership. Strong characters come from inner complexity of personality, thought, compassion, judgement… Scott creates them here.

All in all, well done.

Scott lives with his husband Mark in a yellow bungalow in Sacramento. He was indoctrinated into fantasy and sci fi by his mother at the tender age of nine. He devoured her library, but as he grew up, he wondered where all the people like him were.

He decided that if there weren’t queer characters in his favorite genres, he would remake them to his own ends.

A Rainbow Award winning author, he runs Queer Sci Fi, QueeRomance Ink, Liminal Fiction, and Other Worlds Ink with Mark, sites that celebrate fiction reflecting queer reality, and was the committee chair for the Indie Authors Committee at the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) for almost three years..

Author Website: https://www.jscottcoatsworth.com

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