Blood Tide

Aquarius Rising Book 2

Fiction - Science Fiction
272 Pages
Reviewed on 03/05/2016
Buy on Amazon

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Author Biography

Brian Burt writes both short and novel-length speculative fiction. He has published more than twenty science fiction and fantasy stories in various magazines and anthologies. His short story "The Last Indian War" won the Writers of the Future Gold Award and was anthologized in Writers of the Future Volume VIII. His debut novel, "Aquarius Rising Book 1: In the Tears of God," won EPIC's 2014 eBook Award for Science Fiction. "Aquarius Rising Book 2: Blood Tide" won the 2016 Readers' Favorite Gold Medal for Science Fiction. Book 3 in the trilogy, "The Price of Eden," will be released in 2017 from Double Dragon Publishing.

Brian works as a cybersecurity engineer and lives with his wife, three sons, a corn snake, and an aging white German shepherd in idyllic Plainwell, Michigan. The dog, in particular, remains unimpressed with his literary efforts unless they come with bacon.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Tracy A. Fischer for Readers' Favorite

In a highly inventive second installment of the Aquarius Rising series, Blood Tide by Brian Burt certainly will not disappoint readers who have been anxiously waiting for a follow up on the excellent In the Tears of God. Follow the story of Megalops, an Aquarian - a human/dolphin hybrid. Earth has been decimated by climate change, but the reef cities found under the sea are thriving. Angry humans released a plague on the Aquarians, and Megalops' wife and daughter were affected and entombed in stone. Set on revenge, he releases the Vendetta plague on humankind, turning them into Aquarian corpses. Ocypode, an Aquarian and one of the group of both humans and Aquarians that had stopped the original Medusa plague, must direct his group once again to try to stop Megalops from an act that may be the end of them all. Will they be able to do it? You'll need to read the book to find out!

I so enjoyed Blood Tide. Author Brian Burt has done a stellar job in creating characters that his readers will be able to relate to, connect with, and care about. If that isn't a hallmark of a great author, I'm not sure what is. His world creation abilities are simply second to none, and that's saying a lot in the highly congested genre of science fiction. Any reader who enjoys science fiction, or simply an adventurous and exciting story of any type, should absolutely pick up Blood Tide. I highly recommend this book, and look forward to more from the talented author, Brian Burt, as soon as I possibly can!

Charles Remington

Blood Tide by Brian Burt is the second book in the Aquarius Rising series, an astounding feat of imagination set mainly under the waves of the Pacific Ocean. In this future world where advanced genetic engineering has produced more than one humanoid species, the sea-dwelling Aquarians have survived an attempt by the dirt-swimmers (the land-dwelling humans) to wipe them out completely. The Aquarian bio-sculptor Megalops has lost his beloved wife and daughter to the dirt-swimmers’ biological attack. Desolate with grief and desperate for revenge, he plans to rid the world of the land dwellers, believing that this is the only way that the Aquarian race will ever be safe. A brilliant strategist and genetic engineer, he weaves a complex strategy, a web of intrigue, peopled with genetically engineered smart-sharks, animals and plants, along with terrifying viruses capable of changing the entire structure of a human body in minutes. But even in the beleaguered Aquarian community there are those who oppose him and who are sworn to protect all the inhabitants of planet Earth. Helped in their efforts by ancient communities of whales, dolphins and bio-engineered orcans who share their DNA with killer whales, they struggle to bring an end to what is becoming an increasingly desperate and bloody conflict.

In Blood Tide, Brian Burt has created sunken cities, strange electric kelp forests, sea witches, cognitive reefs and sea dwelling humanoids that seem to leap from the pages. A fast paced adventure where beautifully drawn creatures inhabit a strangely alien landscape, a world in which it is possible to communicate with conscious reefs, whales and dolphins. A world of submarines and gill suits, of underwater castles and crystal domes. A world that will live in your imagination and will certainly leave you wondering what happens next...

Kathryn Bennett

Blood Tide: Aquarius Rising Book 2 by Brian Burt is the sequel to Aquarius Rising: In the Tears of God and takes us back into the world of Aquarius. Megalops is a hybrid of human and dolphin who lives in one of the reef cities of Aquarius. The cities thrive below the earth ravaged by climate change, but even still there some some humans who manage to survive on land and those humans blame the Aquarians for the problems they face. They blame the Aquarians for releasing the Medusa Plague. but the humans were not the only ones who suffered. Megalops had his wife and daughter entombed in stone and he will avenge his family, no matter what it takes.

It is not often I read a book that both amazes me and keeps me glued to it from the first page to the last page. Blood Tide managed to do both and while I can understand why Megalops is pushed to do what he does, I don't agree with what he does. Ocypode and his heroes remind me of many of the comic book greats on their way to stop the bad guys, and I enjoyed picturing them as they set out to stop Megalops. If you are a reader who enjoys good against bad and a true adventure story, this is a great one to read. It is unique and entertaining and can stand alone on its own even though it is a part of a series.