The Silver Tide is the third and final part of Jen Williams’ Copper Cat series, which began with the copper promise. The previous two books delivered flat out fun fantasy fiction. Rather than overly long shoe-gazing grimdark misery, Jen’s books are filled with magic, dragons, daring duels and all those other things that made us fall in love with fantasy in the first place.
The Silver Tide brings together the core team of heroes from the first book, the Black Feather Three, for one last grand adventure. At this point, the team has hit what surely must be the zenith of their careers. Hard-as-nails gutter-fighter Wydrin has a reputation as an indomitable adventurer and Lord Frith is still the greatest (and possibly only) magus in all the land. Their friend and human siege weapon, Sebastian, is the only one who is miserable, for reasons that will be predictable to regular readers of the series.
The call to adventure comes in the form of Wydrin’s mother, who happens to be a pirate queen, but the journey they take is far from a tale of piracy. Williams uses this final adventure to take us on a tour on the history of the world, as well as unveiling the secrets behind the long dead gods that form the backbone of the setting.
The result is more action, more adventure, more unlikely rescues, and more fun. The Silver Tide does
everything you expect the end of a series to do; it ties off existing storylines in a sufficient (if not entirely neat) way, whilst delivering the same sort of action the reader expects. It complements the preceding books, bringing previous character development and world building into sharp focus, and the result is very, very satisfying.
As usual style is quick paced and clear, with plenty of stopping off points for the busy commuter. We heartily advise that you start from the beginning, with The Copper Promise, but the entire series is a delight.
THE SILVER TIDE / AUTHOR: JEN WILLIAMS / PUBLISHER: HEADLINE / RELEASE DATE: JULY 14TH (PAPERBACK), FEB 25TH (KINDLE)
