'Orphans of the Tide' review: An exceptional read bursting with creativity
- This dystopian adventure tells the story of the last city in existence and how its people protect it from the Enemy
- Struan Murray, a lecturer at Britain’s Oxford University, shines in his debut novel
Struan Murray is a lecturer at Oxford University. 'Orphans of the Tide' is his debut novel.Orphans of the Tide
By Struan Murray
Published by Puffin
ISBN 978 0 2413 8443 5
A writer who creates a plausible imaginary world and keeps a tight rein on the place so readers don't get lost as the story proceeds is always very welcome. The action of Struan Murray’s Orphans of the Tide plays out in one place, and stays there.
We are in the last city left in civilisation. Its name is, simply, The City.
In the old world, the gods were tricked by one of their own kind who wanted supreme power. The resulting chaos ended with the drowning of both the gods and the world.
A single city built on the top of one of the highest mountains was all that remained of human civilisation.
The City rises up above the sea, and the people who live there depend on the ocean to stay alive. They also live in fear of the deity that drowned the world, which floats invisibly and harmlessly in the air, until it is time to attack. The people in The City know the deity as the Enemy, and when it manifests itself in their midst, it must be destroyed.
The Pure Heart will keep you hooked
But, of course, the Enemy is clever. Before launching an attack, it chooses a Vessel from among the ordinary citizens. It lives inside the Vessel, growing stronger and stronger until it bursts out in physical form to wreak death and destruction. The City has a team of Inquisitors set up to seek out any possible Vessel and destroy him or her before the Enemy can act.
The author presents his setting and his plot driver with great confidence and economy. Once these are in place, the story can take off.
The opening chapter is a gripping page-turner of the highest order. A dead whale washes up in The City, and a young whale gutter begins to cut up the creature. Much to her horror, a frail, blood-covered boy crawls out of the whale's belly.
A mesmerising retelling of Romeo and Juliet
Ellie, the whale gutter, is the orphan daughter of The City’s greatest inventor, and the weird boy she releases is Seth. The terrified folk who have witnessed Seth’s somewhat unusual arrival assume he is the Vessel for the Enemy.
But Ellie senses he is innocent, and when the boy is dragged off by the Inquisitors, she and her best friend Anna spring into action to rescue Seth and discover his true story.
Their adventure is interrupted with excerpts from the Diary of Claude Hestermeyer, the Enemy’s last Vessel whose murder ruined the evil god’s plans 20 years ago.
The Ghost of Gosswater is a page-turning gothic mystery
The three young people must work out who the latest Vessel really is, and what secrets Hestermeyer was hiding before he was killed.
Murray, a lecturer at Britain’s Oxford University, has an exceptional imagination, and his debut novel is bursting with inventiveness.
Is the end of the story the beginning of a new adventure? Readers will certainly hope so as they reach the final pages of this exciting thriller.