Bestselling author Katee Robert’s Crimson Sails series returns with Blood on the Tide, which picks up right where its predecessor, Hunt on Dark Waters, left off. In another sexy, seafaring adventure, a vampire teams up with a selkie in order to recover her family heirlooms and find a way back home.
In Hunt on Dark Waters, readers met Evelyn, a witch who stole from her vampire ex, Lizzie, and tumbled through a magical portal into the purgatorial Threshold, a watery world between realms full of enormous monsters. In Blood on the Tide, Lizzie is hot on Evelyn’s tail, but unsure of how she’ll get back to her own world and in desperate need of a guide through the Threshold. After Lizzie rescues a selkie named Maeve, the two women form a shaky partnership. Maeve will guide Lizzie through the horrors of the Threshold in search of Evelyn and the Crimson Hag, the infamous ship that picked her up. In return, Lizzie will help Maeve recover her stolen seal skin, which allows her to shift forms.
Calling all lovers of villains and morally gray characters—this one’s for you! As you might expect, Lizzie has real bite, and she truly lets nothing stand in the way of finding Evelyn. Maeve is a match for Lizzie thanks to her own supernatural strength, and watching the women battle against their environment and the cunning of the Crimson Hag crew is nothing short of thrilling. Action drives the plot, with sexual tension and lustful stares placed amid high-octane adventure.
Robert uses the murky morality of her heroines to up the stakes of their relationship. Both Lizzie and Maeve have not only been betrayed and have had precious things taken from them, but also known and dispensed cruelty. Trusting each other doesn’t come easily, but they’re faced with few other options. Blood on the Tide emphasizes the danger that comes with trust and the vulnerability it requires, which creates potential for both betrayal and rewards.
Robert deepens the world building of her series, exploring the Threshold through the eyes of both an inhabitant and an outsider just as she did in Hunt on Dark Waters. There’s a heady mix of genres here, from fantasy adventure, to sizzling romance and a dash of horror, as Lizzie and Maeve face downright frightening baddies. It’s over all too soon, thanks to Robert’s compulsively page-turning storytelling, and readers will be left eagerly wondering where the Crimson Sails series will take us next.
Read our review of the first Crimson Sails novel, ‘Hunt on Dark Waters.’
