First there was A Plague of Angels published in 1983 and then there was – finally – The Waters Rising. That’s a goodly long time to wait for a sequel. Not that it was really necessary; Plague was a very good story that stood on its own. I suspect that Abasio had been lurking in Ms. Tepper’s head for some time and she just wanted to finish his story.
This world is a very different place; the population has sunk to a very few after man left for the stars and left behind….the rest. One of the questions of Plague was why some were left behind and why them. An intriguing answer but I’ll leave it to you to read the first book to discover it. One other thing about Plague is that, unlike a lot of Tepper’s stories, the main bad guy is a woman; although all of mankind is really to blame. Pretty typical Tepper fare.
In Waters, much time has passed but our protagonist from Plague, Abasio, still lives and travels through the world with his talking horse, Blue. Everywhere he goes, he sees civilization being changed dramatically by the rising waters in the world. The waters are coming from the very rock of the earth and they are unrelenting. One of the rules of the contemporary civilization is the ban on all ‘ease-machines.’ That is, anything mechanical or electronic that was a labor or time-saving device for our ancestors. It was the totality of all the ‘ease-machines’ that brought down the older society. And, of course, the terrible weapons of destruction, as well.
One of the weapons still exists and now has a mind of its own. It breeds a certain type of human to continue its existence. And these humans are ruthless and brutal. A Princess lies dying from the efforts of one of these evil women, using outlawed technology. A young girl has to hide the Princess’ secret and survive the waters rising, the hunter looking for her, and the great Sea King to return to the land of her people with the secret of mankind’s survival. Abasio is her guide, protector and possibly her love.
You do need the first book to thoroughly enjoy this one. But you won’t regret it; the two books, while separate stories, are a very satisfying epic. The writing is, of course, top-notch. Despite Ms. Tepper’s advancing years, the woman can still turn out superb writing. The plot is tight, the characters are fully realized, even the supporting ones; plus a really inventive conclusion all contribute to a really good story. ~~ Catherine Book.
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