Fiction Reviews
The Transcendent Tide
(2025) Doug Johnston, Orenda Books, £9.99, pbk, 283pp, ISBN 978-1-916-78862-6
This is the concluding novel in a trilogy exploring the fortunes of a group of marine creatures from one of Saturn’s moons: Enceladus, who have come to Earth fleeing from dangerous enemies. In the previous two novels (The Space Between Us and The Collapsing Wave) they are hunted to near extinction by humans who see them as threatening and inferior. This time around the humans want to exploit them – and again, the future looks bleak.
The Enceladons have bonded with some humans who helped them in previous novels and have developed telepathic links. These links now extend between humans, with wide ranging potential for a more interconnected world. But Norwegian billionaire Karl Jensen’s not interested in that, and as the story unfolds his company’s true malign intentions become apparent.
Previous novels were set in Scotland but now we are in Greenland for the finale, with the Enceladons seeing a peaceful place to live. Nowhere is safe, though. A human tragedy – protagonist Ava has an ill daughter who only the Enceladons can save – leads to a unique collaboration, and (to varying degrees) humans and Enceladons begin to integrate, with some actually becoming Enceladons (who are like giant octopi). The transition isn’t always smooth.
There are some broad themes about refugees, migration and the human tendency to shoot anything it doesn’t understand (or which gets on the way). Nobody in authority is really interested in the Enceladons, other than to exploit or eradicate them. but the Greenlander Inuits are far more welcoming and accommodating. And the Enceladon’s long standing friends (Lennox, Amy and Vonnie) find their compassion and acceptance rewarded with warmth and insights.
There are warnings, though. By the end, the humans are questioning whether they really know what the Enceladon’s true intentions are: the more they discover about their influence on life all around them, the more questions are raised. And we still don’t know anything about the danger they’re fleeing from. Perhaps that doesn’t matter, that the only important thing is that they need help and we, as fellow intelligent creatures should give it freely. But what if that danger is now heading our way?
Scotsman Doug Johnson is primarily a crime writer and at times his thriller instincts shine through here. That probably contributes, too, to this book not having the feel of contemporary science fiction. Rather, it feels gently old fashioned, with two dimensional bad guys and some not quite credible plot threads. I found it readable, but not as thought provoking or narratively satisfying as I would have liked, and I found it really hard to properly engage with the characters. The whole trilogy has felt episodic rather than complete, and it doesn’t feel like the story is over yet…
Mark Bilsborough
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