The Tides of Blood is a novel published by the author Fagin Cloudtop. There are few copies, and they have a hard outer cover, while the pages are lightly coated in wax to protect them from water damage.
Description and Plot
The novel alternates viewpoints between: Alan the Steady, a trained fighter and sometimes investigator for the city guard of Galik and Sarandra Copperhill, a cultist of an unnamed dark power who murders dozens of innocent people in rituals designed to capture their souls and later consume them as energy.
The prose is powerful and sweeping, creating both sympathy for Sarandra's objective, to right the wrongs of the slums and institute a new order where she can prevent deaths like that of her father and showing the cost that her actions have on the rest of the city. Alan confronts her on 3 separate occasions, barely surviving the first, causing Sarandra to flee him and the companions he gathers in their second encounter, and simply praying in the third.
There are numerous intricate side plots and deep side characters with personalities that reflect all types of people and inspire a passion to read more.
Aside from the cultist plot, vague threats slowly begin to array themselves against the entire city, causing minor effects throughout the novel as they build toward the potential of continent-spanning threats to Amusa. These add another layer of dramatic tension to the story as uncertainty builds about how these events will affect both Alan and Sarandra's plans.
Ending and Reception
The book is incredibly well-written until it reaches the climax of the story and all the prior events cease to be of importance. As the final confrontation begins, Alan prays to "Goodly God" to make things right, and the god just does it. The rituals are destroyed, Sarandra's mind is changed, and even the threats to the city that Alan wasn't aware of yet are resolved with a wave of the god's hand. Alan and his companions return to their previous lives unchanged except that Alan's love interest in the baker he frequents is divinely blessed, and the two get married. Sarandra, feeling "unimaginable guilt and regret" kills herself in order to break her own rituals and release the souls of those she had slain so they can have rest in Goodly God's care.
This ending is written in the same style and with the same skill of prose as the rest of the novel, but the change in the plot comes from seemingly nowhere.
The ending was so bad that it inspired the following reaction from Sabbatical:
This thing deserves to be burned in the fires of Hell and used as a torment for damned souls.
Copies of the book may most often be found somewhat defaced or damaged, but the covers are remarkably sturdy.
