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...

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.