December 2022 Indie Book Review

by Joseph Poopinski

Bastion: Saga of the Freewilds, Book #3
By Michael Paul Scott
Ferreting Out the Cult
4 stars

I encourage readers to tackle the Saga of the Freewilds books sequentially, however, what makes Bastion the great story it is, is within these pages of the third installment.  That factor, for me, was a theme of scrappy do-gooders & their new boss Lukarde Alfans, the hardboiled detective turned savvy warden, using Sherlock Holmesian conjecture & device to investigate, fool, pursue, confront & eliminate corruption.  The wicked cultists involved weren’t the source (that’s villainous Elrick & his master the Black Lion demon, who we’ll see more of in the forthcoming books) of the murders just henchmen & executors, however, they had formidable tools at their disposal & were rather entrenched in the community.  Suppose you’re patrolling the neighborhood when a werewolf brutally attacks your partner!  Or imagine hauling a wounded colleague to the best healer in town, the priest, who instead of mending her injuries will surreptitiously finish her off!  So things are looking up, right?  Wrong; wait until you hear about the shadowy Duskreign!

Some of my favorite elements of Bastion were the creative, colorful asides of Michael Paul Scott’s fantasy world including his characters’ names (Emalia Fenwycke!) & dates (“the Day of Patience,…of the Month of Seas”), the magical statue-paralysis spell, the defenestration through stained glass imagery, my beloved cackling Ymp, the telepathic knight’s inquisition scene & all the werebeast-combinations (crocodiles, bears, bison…).  Despite an uptick in minor editing misses & a tad bit much dream-or-prophecy-or-reality struggles, I thoroughly enjoyed & heartily recommend this adventuresome tale of vindication & comeuppance.