Tides

Scott MacKay's TIDES tells of a golden land of myth and fantasy which is taught to kids in Paras as a nursery rhyme and accepted by adults as a real world. But a court scientist's discovery challenges a world where truth is a way of life, and sets off a journey of adventure where a mariner's adventure may change his world.

The two moons make the water rich planet seem like two different worlds as tidal conditions does not allow travel beyond the imaginary barrier, the equator that divides the orb in half. On both sides of the watery "line" lie great continents with each containing an intelligent species unbeknownst to one another. Renowned sea captain Hab Miquay has made it to the "edge" of the world and returned safely. He has recently learned of a theory from a volcanologist studying ash that there must be another great land mass besides Paras on the other side of the giant tides. Miquay is euphoric as he plans an expedition to crash through the great tides to the other side. Called foolhardy with few backers, he risks his fortune to fund the quest. Miquay and a few courageous yet foolish souls survive the perilous trek crossing the impregnable barrier and indeed find the other continent, Ortok, a volcanic pocked wasteland inhabited by intelligent devious reptiles. One of them drillmaster Ortok uses the naive Miquay to help him with his plans to hop the tidal barrier to the Golden Land beyond. Though the action is non-stop and fast-paced, it is the planet and its two dominant species that make for a stupendous science fiction thriller. Hab is a fabulous protagonist who enjoys exploring the unknown, but will learn some things are best left alone once he understands how deceitfully wily Ortok and his species are. Scott Mackay provides a strong science fiction thriller in which his age of reason humans and his sentient reptile race seem real perhaps the latter because of the stereotyping starting with Genesis but more likely due to the actions of the star performers. Harriet Klausner

Tides tells the story of Hab, a sailor who lives in Paras, a lush, fertile continent. He is plagued by curiosity and an inventive drive, so much that he is willing to go against the Parassian philosophy of honesty. When he stumbles upon a scientist who has found proof of a continent other than Paras on the other side of the world, he is bested by his own nature. He embezzles his family fortune and builds state of the art ships to help him avoid the monster tides. He finds a rocky, bleak continent infested with hoppers, an amphibian race of warriors. I loved the way Hab had to go against the honesty religion and how he discovered that he was being lied to by the hoppers, how he was being tricked. The voyage parts were good, and not too drawn out. All the little details make it an excellent read.