Tochwyatis

Tochwyatis, Frej Wasastjerna, Amazon Digital Services, 2012

The two-thousand-year sleep of the Sky Father is scheduled to end in a few years, so Kumulhan, High Priest of the Sky Father, decides to honor him by making the whole world worship him through a brutal war of conquest. Ugude, the military leader of the Tagaiashaian people, cuts a swath through the planet of murder, pillaging and desecrating temples of the Cat People and Bird People. Tochwyatis, a young and untrained sorcerer of the people of Maimo, seems to be the only one who can stop him.

The Maimonese gain allies in the Cat People, who are tired of Kumulhan's tyranny. Tochwyatis falls for Niariti, one of the Cat people. The attraction is mutual. There is a long journey to a certain mountain where, it is thought, Ugude will pass in his travels. Tochwyatis kills Ugude with sorcery, but that is hardly the end of the story. There are many battles, with a very high body count.

The end of the book finds Tochwyatis and Niariti in the central Temple of the Sky Father. Kumulhan knows that things have fallen apart, so, as a last resort, he awakens the Sky Father early. What is the Sky Father's reaction?

The overall story may be a bit simplistic, but the author does a very good job. Everything feels very believable, from the romance to the battle scenes to the reality of how to use a crossbow. This easily gets four stars, maybe even four-and-ahalf stars.