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THE SILVER TIDE by JEN WILLIAMS

PB, 629 PAGES, Headline

Pre-order The Silver Tide (Copper Cat) on Amazon. Released Feb 2016.

Please be aware this review may contain spoilers for both The Copper Promise and The Iron Ghost.

This is the end, my friends. The final volume in Jen Williams blood-and-thunderous Copper Cat Trilogy, and, as promised right from the start, we’re going out on a high.

I’ve made no secrect of my love for these books. It’s incredibly rare, in fiction as it is in film-making, to stumble across the perfect trilogy, and I’m going to go all-in up front (Wydrin would approve, I think) and say that The Copper Cat Trilogy is as damn-near close to the perfect trilogy as you’re going to get.

It’s hard to write a detailed review of the third book in a series without spoilerizing a little bit the previous books, so please be aware of spoilers ahead.

SilverTide

The Black Feather Three are called together once more to ply their trade as sellswords and adventurers of note, but this time the call comes from rather closer to home. From Wydrin’s obnoxious mother, in fact, notorious pirate captain Devinia the Red. Devinia needs Frith’s skills to sail her ship into the very heart of the notorious cursed isle of Euriale, legendary birthplace of the gods. But when the Poison Chalice is attacked the Three are seperated, and their individual journeys bring them to the heart of the island, to the secret held there. Together they must make a dangerous journey back into the past, to try and secure the future of their whole world.

One of the hallmarks of a good trilogy, and a smart writer, is the ability to bring a story full circle. While it’s no great surprise that at the end of all things the Black Feather Three find themselves back on the very spot where their adventures first began, at the Citidel in Relios, it’s also incredibly satisfying to see elements that were set up in the first and second books finally coming into play here. If there’s a theme to the book, it’s that of the importance of the freedom to make choices, even poor ones, and live with the consequences. Frith, coming face to face in the past with his future nemesis Joah Demonsworn, chooses not to warn the young mage of the dark path he is yet to begin his journey down. Sebastian, nursing a recently broken heart, must choose between his friends and the love of a troubled young god. And Wyrdin has to come to terms with the fact that falling in love means allowing herself to be hurt. But we all knew all along that beneath that boiled leather outer shell lurked a heart as big as the world…

It’s great to read a book where the author is clearly having tremendous fun writing it. That kind of infectious delight sparkles off the pages. There are nods to Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones, and even Labyrinth. The mages even have a secret base hidden inside of a volcano, which is just that little extra touch of genius 😉

A fabulous ending to a wonderful trilogy. Can’t recommend these books highly enough. Read them in order, but do read them, because if you don’t you’ll be missing out on a whirlwind of dragons, pirates, mad gods, tavern brawls, cannibals, true love thwarted and found again, deranged mages, time travel, redemption… a feast of awesome things washed down with copious quanties of mead.

I know I will be revisiting and enjoying the Copper Cat Trilogy for many years to come, and I hope you will too.