A MelanieM Review: The Rising Tide (Liminal Sky #2) by J. Scott Coatsworth

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Liminal Sky: Book Two

Earth is dead.

 

Five years later, the remnants of humanity travel through the stars inside Forever, a living, ever-evolving, self-contained generation ship. When Eddy Tremaine and Andy Hammond find a hidden world-within-a-world under the mountains, the discovery triggers a chain of events that could fundamentally alter or extinguish life as they know it, culminate in the takeover of the world mind, and end free will for humankind.

 

Control the AI, control the people.

 

Eddy, Andy, and a handful of other unlikely heroes—people of every race and identity, and some who aren’t even human—must find the courage and ingenuity to stand against the rising tide.

 

Otherwise they might be living through the end days of human history.

When I finished The Stark Divide, the first novel in J. Scott Coatsworth’s science fiction trilogy, I knew I was into something extraordinary.  Not only was it highly imaginative, but the science was there as well as the emotional, mental, and physical elements from the characters (and  pulled from the readers) that went along with the death of a home world and the launching of a vessel for space exploration and the saving of the human race.  That story has it all.  Intrigue, AIs, a magnificent space vessel  called Forever that was home to the remnants of humanity and at the end the introduction of a familiar villainy.   I was hopelessly lost  and hopelessly addicted.  There was  romance in a place where gender plays an increasingly lesser role. But romance is not the main factor here.  It’s the survival of Forever and humanity that’s at stake and that’s where we pick up in The Rising Tide.

As I have stated before, I’m prone to reading author’s introductions so you all know that I started with J. Scott Coatsworth’s here.  He tells the story of the titles of the novels, how they came about as well as the overall one for the trilogy, Liminal Sky.  In The Rising Tide we dive into the true meaning of that in epic proportions!

There is not any way to discuss individual characters within this novel in a review, especially for The Rising Tide.  There are simply far too many important main characters, scads of them really.  Each and every one has a different, startling role to play within this mind boggling science fiction tale.  How do you highlight Andy and leave out Marissa?  You don’t.  To discuss how beautifully each character is created would take up gobs up space and quite frankly I’d rather you all read the book.  There are simply no throwaway characters here, even ones that make brief appearances are used to high emotional impact.

There are also some very dark moments for the people here and that comes through science and it’s misuse, something they thought they had left back on Earth.

There are moments when I wept, pages of high anxiety and suspense, times when I went as limp as a noodle when momentarily the action went slack, and yes, sniffled again when it all came back together in an astonishing climax!  What a wild narrative ride this was!  I loved every word of it.  The author did an immaculate job here and I applaud him.

The Rising Tide is the middle or transitioning story of the Liminal Sky trilogy.  The term liminal can mean occupying both sides of a boundary or a threshold, the initial stages of transitioning which is what is happening here.  The people are transitioning away from the Old Earth ways and heading finally towards whatever future lies ahead, what they find, what they make as they voyage through space on Forever.  Through a journey of adventure, horror, love, sacrifice, science, even death,  J. Scott Coatsworth delivers an epic tale of transition.

There’s one book left to go.  I cannot wait to read it.

Earth is dead.   Let’s find out what J. Scott Coatsworth has in store for humanity in the last story in the Liminal Sky trilogy.    What a magnificent two novels to date!  I highly recommend them both.  They must be read in the order they are written.  Then meet me here as we eagerly await the release of the third.

Cover Artist: Aaron Anderson.  I love these cover.  This  one is absolutely gorgeous and is a great representation of an element of the story.

Sales Links: DSP Publications | Amazon | iBooks | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | QueeRomance Ink | Goodreads

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 388 pages
Published October 30th 2018 by DSP Publications (first published October 16th 2018)
ASINB07D8GFSJW
Series Liminal Sky :

The Stark Divide

The Rising Tide

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