A malfunctioning STAR drive strands Captain Ales in a new galaxy. Trapped on a dry, dusty red moon where the rains fall only once every forty years, the restless population barely survives on a teardrop ration of water. Now, the rains are years overdue, and the ruling clerics view Ales as a savior—or a devil. Just as Ales and the She-King’s brother discover a secret the clerics have been hiding for far too long, this world is invaded and torn apart from a most unlikely source.

The blue moon is a world covered in water—water that flows over to the red moon as rain every forty years, thereby drying up the domain of King Sarlord. He’s finally had enough and gathers an army to sail into the sky on the waterspout, land on the red moon, and defeat the god who steals his ocean. His son, Prince Malar, will do anything to avoid staying behind, but even he gets much more than he bargained for when the world as he knows it is swept away on altered tides.

Purchase: Amazon.com

Goodreads: Altered Tides (The Galactic Captains #5) by Harry F. Rey

Review

Rating: 4 stars

*I received this novel for free in exchange for an honest review*

When Captain Ales crash lands on a red moon which is in the grips of a drought that has lasted forty years, he finds himself hailed as god and the one who will finally bring the rains to the dying world. Suspicious of the clerics who appear to control even the King, Ales and the King’s brother Suni make a discovery that will challenge the very order of this dry world.

Malar is the Prince of the blue moon, a world covered in water of which the red moon is dependant on for the rains to come. Malar is captive to his father’s desire to rule and conquer the red moon that he claims is stealing their water. When Malar defies his father’s orders to stay behind, he soon finds himself drawn into something much more than Sarlord’s war.

Altered Tides is the fifth novel in The Galactic Captains series. I have not read the previous instalments but I had no problems following the plot as this novel can be read as a standalone.

I really liked the concept of the two moons depending on each other for survival. I thought it was a really unique and interesting concept. It was also explained in a plausible way that made perfect sense without being too heavy or confusing for the reader. This idea contrasted nicely with how different the plants were from each other.
The main characters were interesting and both very likeable. Ales’s character was slightly harder to read as I did not know him from the previous instalments, but he came across as a good man who was determined to help the inhabitants of the red moon. Malar I really liked and could emphasise a lot with. He is somewhat overshadowed by his father when the novel begins but he soon comes into his own and is my favourite of the two.

I really enjoyed reading Altered Tides. It is a gripping, fast paced and enjoyable science fiction novel, and I would definitely like to read the other books in the series.