I’ve just finished The Death Bringer, the final book in J. Scott Coatsworth’s Tharassas Cycle series. I’m willing to wait a day, possibly two, before I’ll start demanding a never-ending supply of short stories set on Tharassas. There is a prequel available, but I want more. I haven’t immersed in a series this satisfying in a long time, and I really don’t want to leave this amazing and complicated world.

A short, one page prologue starts the book off with a bang and you should pay close attention to it. If you are a habitual prologue-skipper (I was horrified when I learned such people existed), you need to go against your habit and read this one. And as long as I’ve telling you what to do, if you haven’t read the previous three books in this four book series, set aside The Death Bringer until you are caught up. It’s one continuous story.

For those readers that have been fretting over the fates of Raven, Aik, Silya, and Spin, that’s about to change. You’ll soon be worried about so many more souls, not all of them human, as the big picture of what’s really going on is finally revealed. At long last, you’ll grok the entire canvas that Coatsworth has been painting a picture for us on since the beginning. For me, it came in a flash — a simple phrase popped into my mind that described what was happening on Tharassas. That was exciting. I can’t recall experiencing such a crystal clear epiphany while reading a book before this.

I won’t write a synopsis of the story. The joy is in the turning of the pages as you take the journey. There are so many twists and surprises along the way. Every decision made by our four friends and those within their circles affects the outcome.

Speaking of twists, this adventure started out purely as fantasy, complete with a medieval-age culture, dragons, sentient plants, and seemingly magical objects — but it evolved into a hybrid genre as the science fiction aspects of life on the world of Tharassas are revealed.

Coatsworth has done his homework. The worldbuilding is impressive. Developing the plotline had to be a consuming passion for him. His characters include formidable women with excellent skills and more than a modicum of emotional self-control. The men are strong, but not in an “I’ll save you, little lady” sort of way. In fact, it’s the men that seem to show the strongest emotional turmoil. There are a couple of love stories that play out realistically (and inclusively) with Raven and Aik’s longing for each other in the lead. The more I became invested in the characters, the more I cared about how their relationships with family, friends, and lovers grew, matured, and settled into their final forms.

The four-book Tharassas Cycle is a story that will stay alive in my mind for a good while to come. The depth of the worldbuilding is breathtaking and inspiring. As a writer myself, I’ll think about this story often. Its set a high standard that not everyone puts the work in to achieve. I can’t help wondering what J. Scott Coatsworth is planning to spring on us next?