Bloodtide

Melvin Burgess

In the year 2300 London is in ruins and in the hands of two warring families of ganglords, the Volsons and the Conors. To cement a truce Val Volson offers Conor the hand of his daughter Silivia, to her horror. The wedding is disrupted a msterious one-eyed prisoner who has been hanging upside down in a glass elevator shaft overlooking the banquet. The superstitious people are in no doubt that he is the god Odin and they watch in terror as he challenges themto see who can remove the special knife from the lift shaft. It is Silvia's twin brother who claims the knife and then returns to Conor. Val is killed and the three sons perish but Siggy is saved by Melanie, a pigwoman, though he has lsot Odin's knife to Conor in battle. In order to stop Silvia avenging her family's death, Conor has her legs broken to keep her prisoner, But Silvia has an ally in Cherry, a cat and shape-changer devoted to her mistress and together they plan the downfall of Conor, a plan that will also involve Siggy in taking a terrible revenge. . . .

Reviews

"An epic tale of treachery, deceit, sex, torture, violence, revenge and retribution."
Independent on Sunday

"Bloodtide and Bloodsong make The Hunger Games and its clones seem like drippy entertainments for bed-wetters and pillow-huggers."
Anthony McGowan, Guardian

"A scary but compelling view of a possible world to come."
Kids Out

"A story to curdle the blood and capture the imagination. . .(Burgess) has a fantastic imagination and draws out adolescent strong emotions very effectively."
Kit Spring - Observer

"As mythology collides with sci-fi, you're dragged into a world of treachery and double-dealing as savage and bloody as that in any gangland saga."
Daily Telegraph