Scarlet Tides (The Moontide Quartet, 2) by David Hair

Jo Fletcher Books, 2014

ISBN-13: 978-1-62365-829-8

Available:  Hardback, Paperback, eBooks(Kindle), AudioBook, MP3 CD

The Third Crusade has begun: Rondian Legions are flooding into the East.  The Inquisitors lead the charge in their windships, flying the banner of the Church’s darkest members: The Sacred Heart.  The crimson-clad invaders slaughter and plunder their way across Antiopia in the name of Emperor Constant.  Vast treasure is being collected, but the most precious is still missing: the Scytale of Corineus, the powerful artifact that is the source of all magical power.  Resisting the Rondian invaders are the armies of the peoples of Antiopia.  Mixed in with the masses are a trio of unlikely heroes: Alaron, a failed mage from the West; Cymbellea, a gypsy and renegade friend of Alaron’s from their days at the Mage’s Academy; and Ramita, the once lowly market-girl who now carries the unborn children of the powerful mage, Antonin Meiros.  All of them have made the same pledge– to end the cycle of devastation, and restore peace to their land.

Scarlet Tides  is much better than the first installment in this series, Mage’s Blood.  The tone that was established in Mage’s Blood continues, and is maintained as the war unfolds.  The suspense builds, with plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader turning pages. The plot twists were easier to follow in this volume, and the story flowed much better than in the first book, providing much-needed clarity and making Scarlet Tides a much better read than the Mage’s Blood.  Hair just spent too much time world-building at the beginning of the series, but the payoff here is that he is free to create without having to provide backstory, and he really takes off.

The descriptions were superb and meshed perfectly with the action.  The carnage of the war felt really accurate.  Hair did a fantastic job of  maintaining the characters’ voices were maintained and showing their growth and development as more as the reality of going to war settled in.  This was great read and I am looking forward to reading volume three in the future.  I have previously read Mage’s Blood by this author. Recommended.

Contains:  sexual situations, cursing

Reviewed by Aaron Fletcher