To Sail a Darkling Sea
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15
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Average rating4
Book 2 of the Dark Tide Rising series.
This is the continuing story of rebuilding the US military (mainly Navy/Marines/Coast Guard) after the release of a bio-weapon turns people into "zombies". They are not zombies, though. They are dangerous, infected people with damaged minds who have turned animal. The main characters are Faith "Shewolf" Smith, a 13 year old girl who is provisionally granted a commission as Marine 3rd lieutenant and her 15 year old sister, Sophia "Seawolf" Smith, a provisionally commissioned ensign who captains a small navy vessel.
Series
5 primary books7 released booksBlack Tide Rising is a 7-book series with 5 primary works first released in 2013 with contributions by John Ringo, Mike Massa, and 15 others.
Reviews with the most likes.
I've tried writing this a few times, but it doesn't come out right. Fuck it, I don't care.
I don't like John Ringo. His views on just about everything seem to be in direct opposition to mine. He's welcome to them, but it gives me a knee-jerk reaction to anything associated with him.
Even with that I thought this was a fantastic book. Once I started it I couldn't focus on anything else until it was done.
There are a few problems though.
Halfway through to book I thought maybe the wife (Stacey) died in the first book because she hadn't made an appearance. There was only one reference to her too. I understand he's giving her her own chapter in the dead tree version. Maybe that will help some, or maybe it will feel shoehorned in.
The Faith (Shewolf) Smith character is a kind of Mary Sue, or maybe she is an actual Mary Sue (idealized representation of the author). Whatever she is, she's just unbelievable as a character. If the character was a little older, say 17 instead of 13, she would feel more real for me. From the first book to this one she's seemed unbelievably mature. Sophia (Seawolf) is actually a much more realistic character. I can more easily buy into her, although it would be better if she were a few years older too. Maybe there's someone out there that's met 13 and 15 year old girls that have that kind of maturity; anything's possible.
The biggest issue and the one thing that really kept this from being a 5-star book is the lack of any real climax. I'm sure that this is just the second in a long series, but that's not a good excuse. There were any number of places in this book that could have made for an effective climax, John just decided not to go there. So the “climax” we were given was effectively... a medal ceremony? Speaking of, how bored are the people stuck in the hole that they have time to design medals?
