Aquarius Rising: The Complete Trilogy by Brian Burt is a post-apocalyptic tale of survival two hundred years after global warming has catastrophically changed planet Earth. Told from the perspectives of the Humans, non-Humans, hybrids, and genetically modified creatures that now inhabit Earth’s ecosystems, the interplay between the diverse populations is complex and challenging to follow.

The prologue introduces multiple characters from different species living in the ocean off the coast of Oregon. Aquarians, human-dolphin hybrids genetically engineered to create a new species capable of living underwater, have reclaimed the submerged cities abandoned by Humans. The Aquarians interact with living brain reefs which store their memories. Humans are divided between the Guardians who work with the Aquarians and the Redeemers who are willing to sacrifice the Aquarians if necessary to restore the land they once inhabited. Atavisms are a hybrid species, a bridge between Humans and Aquarians.

This futuristic world is very Hobbesian with many of its inhabitants expending vast amounts of energy developing inventive ways to destroy entire communities while seeking to either “redeem” the world or simply control it. Brian Burt has constructed a fascinating framework to explore a future where humanity has devolved back into a brutish state of nature now equipped with a terrifying assortment of technological wonders that threaten to destroy everyone left on planet Earth.

Throughout the trilogy, Ocypode, an Atavism, and his fellow creatures must navigate uncharted waters and develop strategic alliances to try and save Mother Ocean, their undersea world, from those who continually seek to destroy it. Countless generations of whales have sung ballads about a Storm-Slayer who will restore the balance on land and sea and bring peace. Is Ocypode the one who will finally fulfill the prophecy? Only the tides will tell. ( )

Review of eBook

Ocypode, an Aquarian-Human Atavism serving as a lorekeeper, lives in the reef-cities that were once Human towns before they turned into undersea gardens following humanity’s disastrous attempt to reverse global warming on Earth. He, like other Atavists, finds no acceptance with either group.

When an unexplained attack against Astoria Reef turns the reef-city to stone, it is the beginning of a planned attack against the Aquarians by an unknown enemy.

Can Ocypode and the others find a way to bring peace between Humans and Aquarians? Can they find a way to stop the destruction of the reef-cities? Is there a way to restore the world?

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This volume contains all three books in the trilogy, making it easy for readers to happily binge-read!

The world-building here is first-rate; well-developed; the aftermath of the apocalypse created by the humans is both credible and intriguing. With the land having become dry and barren, scientists labor to find a way to restore the planet’s climate.

The characters well-drawn, believable, and relatable. The backstory concerning how the Aquarians and their water-world home came to be gives readers the necessary context to understand the underlying issues faced by the characters. While some humans serve as Guardians for the Aquarians, others, such as the Redeemers, want only to destroy the Aquarians.

An undercurrent of tension flows beneath the telling of this impressive tale; the typing of the issues in the narrative to climate change makes it particularly relevant to the reader. Unexpected plot twists keep readers guessing in this unputdownable tale.

Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of this book through the LibraryThing Early Readers program ( )

A deeply immersive scifi novel set in the future after a human created apocalypse nearly destroys the planet. In this future, most of the land becomes a barren wasteland, but the oceans are populated by Aquarians, a race of human-dolphin hybrids, and Guardians, the human scientists that live with and protect them. Ocypode is an atavism, closer to human than Aquarian, and starts out the story being largely shunned by his fellows because of this. However, when several of their cities fall to a plague that is created by a group of human Redeemers (a group that hates the Aquarians), Ocypode and his compatriots may just be the world's saviors. They will have to fight many other battles before lasting peace can be found and the world can be restored.

I loved the well developed lore of this post apocalyptic world. The idea of demi-humans like the Aquarians, as well as the other humanoid races that are explored, is different than anything I've read. The set up to the apocalypse is realistic and quite scary. The underwater world is fully fleshed out and beautifully described. There are high stakes in this fight, and the characters know it. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this series. ( )

I thought this book to be rather long and confusing. There are so many characters and places that some introduction with a list of characters and places would have been helpful. I made it all through the end but it was difficult to do as I was still confused up until the end. Despite this, I found the authors use of words intriguing and the way he wrote the story did keep my interest. ( )

Disclaimer: An electronic copy of this book was provided in exchange for review by the author, via Library Thing.

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Burt sets things up quickly here for a dystopian science-fiction trilogy that weighs in at nearly 800 pages in e-format, but he has a lot of territory to cover.

In a future where global warming and climate change have rendered most of the Earth’s landmass uninhabitable, there now exist multiple humanoid races – original humans clinging to life in the polar regions, and genetically altered races taking up other niches. Some have devolved into lizard-like primitives, some live underground, and some live as aquatic mammals courtesy of a designer virus that randomly mutated roughly ten percent of the human population and equipped them to become ocean-dwellers. Now an embittered land-dweller, head of a splinter group called the Redeemers, thinks he has found a way to scrub excess carbon dioxide from the air, but it involves releasing gas-trapping nanomechs into the ocean. The resulting chemical reaction appears efficient, but it is deadly to the ocean-dwelling Aquarians.

Thus the conflict is set in motion, with characters from Human, Aquarian, and Talpidian societies joining forces to stop a “cure” that may ultimately be worse than the disease. Some of the motivations are a bit hazy here – one wonders why the underground-dwelling Talpidians choose to assist the Aquarians – but their solution is spectacular.

It’s not a spoiler to say that the immediate threat is dealt with in Book One, In the Tears of God. This is a trilogy, after all, so readers familiar with the form know that happy-ever-after isn’t in the cards quite yet.

The second book, Blood Tide, chronicles attempts by an Aquarian faction to reach accord with the Redeemers and alter the nanomechs to do their job without endangering ocean life. Not everyone on the reef wants to make nice with the Redeemers, and the chief obstacle is embodied in a grief-maddened Aquarian bent on revenge. Burt does a great job of avoiding the middle-section-slump that so often besets trilogies. Blood Tide is far more than just the bridging segment between problem and resolution and stands well on its own, bringing additional characters and genetically-modified species into play.

There are some very original ideas here, including that of semi-sentient “living reefs”, and the casting of Orcans as the veritable Hell’s Angels of the Pacific. On the downside, the issue that set the whole trilogy off – a terrestrial cure that would destroy life in the oceans -- seems to be so ecologically unsound that not even the raging megalomania attributed to the villain can make it sound like a good idea to anybody. In addition, the breakneck pace of the first two segments can create a reader fatigue so intense that one may have to put the work aside for a while, just to let the story elements settle in.

Burt then pulls an about-face with the final volume, The Price of Eden, essentially changing the game plan from field hockey to chess, as his characters strive for a resolution with equal parts diplomacy, espionage, and blood-letting. (Okay, maybe it’s not totally chess.) It can sometimes be tricky to figure out who is going to double-cross whom, but the smart money is on … everybody.

Fans of dystopian tales looking for a culture that is not merely a clone of the world we know will fall on this trilogy with great relish. Just be aware that it’s not meant to be devoured all in one gulp. Not even the Orcans are capable of that. ( )