Orphans of the Tide

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What a glorious conclusion to a thrilling trilogy! Struan Murray has done it again with Eternity Engine. Building upon the phenomenal world building of the previous two novels, the final instalment ramps up the excitement immensely and delivers exactly what I hoped and expected to read (given how good the others were!) Eternity Engine was filled with twists and turns and I was left guessing all the way – just how I like it. Orphans of the Tide is a truly outstanding trilogy, perfect for year 6 and beyond. A sumptuously atmospheric adventure . . . Murray is a tirelessly inventive storyteller -- Emily Bearn - The Daily Telegraph

Desde que el mundo se inundó, solamente queda La Ciudad, el último refugio, donde gobiernan los señores de las ballenas, y la Inquisición controla a la población, cuidando de que no vuelva El Enemigo, siempre en busca de un cuerpo que poseer para regresar y destruirlos a todos. En ese mundo vive Ellie, una joven inventora, siempre rodeada de extraños objetos, y en cuyas manos está el poder de salvarlos a todos. Cuando la marea trae a un misterioso chico, todos creen que se trata de la reencarnación del Enemigo, y solamente Ellie defiende su inocencia. Así, juntos, huirán de la Inquisición mientras intentan descubrir quién es él, y lo que eso puede significar para Ellie, y para todos los demás. The diary extracts interspersed throughout the book gave us a great opportunity to compare the grammar and other linguistic devices used to create tone and perspective. Energetic and inventive . . . and with some startling surprises, this is also touching about friendship, siblings, loss and courage -- Nicolette Jones - The Sunday Times I would recommend this to anyone from about 10 years onwards because it’s a bit scary and might frighten young children.

But the Enemy can take possession of any human body and the ruthless Inquisition are determined to destroy it forever. When a mysterious boy turns up in the body of a washed up whale, inventor Ellie ends up embroiled in The City's murky past. It's a past scattered with stories about murdered Gods, a lost civilization and the return of a vengeful Enemy who takes a vessel to give him power.

For me, it was too big and too epic. It let go of that Middle Grade feeling. There are several Gods, a spirit realm, a war… and a lot of suffering. It has that dark tone that made the first book so good but left no space for anything else. There is no joy in it at all. The City is a mishmash of the last surviving people, living on a jagged mountain that just about made it through the flood. But they all live in perpetual fear of The Enemy, who still very much exists and wishes to cause havoc. This is the third book in the Orphans of the Tide series, and an epic conclusion at that. This series revolves around the presence of the Enemy. The Enemy of a kind of God, who resides in a Vessel. He can fulfil wishes for the Vessel, but in return gains some power to do as he wishes. He can for example save someone for the Vessel, but then himself gets the power to also save, or kill, someone. And as his name suggests, he does not want to do nice things with those powers. The town is obviously terrified of this Enemy and has installed an Inquisition to find the Vessel. If you are thought to be a Vessel, you are very likely to be killed… because then the Enemy also disappears for 10 years. Ellie, an orphan, no longer lives in the orphanage but makes a living building steampunk type machines and repairing those made by her mother. She is tormented by the death of her brother plus being messy and good-hearted. Her best friend is Anna, still living in the orphanage and in charge of a motley crew of Baker Street irregulars. Seth, the boy pulled from the whale, is mysterious with no memory of his past other than his brothers and sisters are missing. Only Ellie, a fearless young inventor living in a workshop crammed with curiosities, believes he's innocent.The energetic steampunk vibe overlies a thoughtful fable about compassion and justice New Statesman I loved it! Dark and thrilling. Great characters to root for. Perilous plot. Extraordinary, vivid world building . . . brilliant! - Eloise Williams, Children's Laureate Wales Five years younger than Lisa in Carol Matas' Lisa's War (1989), Annemarie Johansen has, at 10, known three years of Nazi occupation. Though ever cautious and fearful of the ubiquitous soldiers, she is largely unaware of the extent of the danger around her; the Resistance kept even its participants safer by telling them as little as possible, and Annemarie has never been told that her older sister Lise died in its service. When the Germans plan to round up the Jews, the Johansens take in Annemarie's friend, Ellen Rosen, and pretend she is their daughter; later, they travel to Uncle Hendrik's house on the coast, where the Rosens and other Jews are transported by fishing boat to Sweden. Apart from Lise's offstage death, there is little violence here; like Annemarie, the reader is protected from the full implications of events—but will be caught up in the suspense and menace of several encounters with soldiers and in Annemarie's courageous run as courier on the night of the escape. The book concludes with the Jews' return, after the war, to homes well kept for them by their neighbors. Personally, it takes me about two weeks to finish a book. But, because of the enticing story, I finished this one in around five days. At breaktime at school, this book has a gift for making its way into any fun conversation for its amazing storyline. El worldbuilding, con su mundo inundado, el toque steampunk, la organización de la sociedad, y una trama así de emocionante, llena de acción, aventuras, y tantísimo misterio... No he podido separarme de esta novela desde que la abrí, por los secretos, por el peligro al que se enfrentan Ellie y Seth, y lo estupenda que es también Anna, la mejor amiga de Ellie, y la única capaz de poner orden entre tanta aventura descabellada y plan sinsentido.

I loved it! Dark and thrilling. Great characters to root for. Perilous plot. Extraordinary, vivid world building . . . brilliant! Eloise Williams, Children's Laureate Wales The children in my class who read this book couldn’t stop telling me about it. They really were hooked from the get-go and would be desperate to talk about the plot with me at break and lunchtimes. Ellie is also at the scene when this boy is discovered. She's convinced he's not the Vessel, and that they're about to kill an innocent boy as a mistake. She just needs to work out how she, 13 years old and extremely disorganised, can save this boy and work out who he really is, instead.

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the start of the book, however, again, not so great. This is, though, because one of the characters I really REALLY liked didn't appear for around the first half, which I found frustrating and annoying. This character was a main character in the first and second books and I thought they should have got much more recognition. Not if Ellie gets her chance to save the boy first; she is determined to prove that he is innocent. There must be something in one of her workshops, one of her inventions, that she can use to offer up proof. She doesn't have to tell everyone all of her secrets, as long as her inventions are there to protect her. The past cannot harm her if she won't speak it. Besides, she doesn't have time for friendship right now anyway. Saving the boy might be the only thing that can save the City from itself.

Struan Murray . . . effortlessly joins the ranks of the most skilled world-creators . . . Unpredictable, filled with plot twists and shades of moral grey, Orphans of the Tide is both gripping and original. Kitty Empire, The ObserverBeing as I'm 22 and would normally not read something meant for children, I decided to give this book a try because I wanted to read something short and simple. I full-heartedly believe my 12-year old self would have been in love with this book. The people believed what they were told to believe. They feared what they could not understand. The Enemy was effective because they did not understand what it was or how to over come it. It seems like human nature to fear the unknown. But to live in fear because of ignorance or because of herd mentality is dangerous. Ellie Lancaster is a feisty young inventor who lives in the last city to survive in a world that has been almost entirely drowned by a fear-inducing god known as the Enemy. The city sits upon a steep mountain that juts out above sea level, and one day washed up on one of its rooftops appears a whale, out of which emerges a mysterious boy whose origins are unknown. It doesn’t take long for rumours to accrue - rumours that suggest the boy is the Enemy himself returning to the city to cause destruction. Only Ellie seems convinced of his innocence and when the boy is caught and sentenced to death by the city's Inquisitors, Ellie finds herself on a whirlwind of an adventure to keep the boy from being wrongly harmed. I found it took a little time to warm to the characters of Ellie and Anna and the ending felt left-open, making it not completely satisfying. However, for anyone who fancies immersing themselves in a murky, gritty fantastical world which will throw you around more ferociously than the waves in a stormy sea then this is the book for you. It is a novel which will leave you gasping for air and will stay in your memory long after reading. Orphans of the Tide is set on the last city on Earth - everywhere has been drowned by the Enemy, and for years The City has been terrified of the Enemy returning to use someone as a Vessel to bring about more destruction. When a whale is cut open and a boy falls from inside, everyone thinks he's the Enemy returned - everyone except Ellie that is, and she's determined to save him!