Bloodtide (Novel)
Encyclopedia
Bloodtide is a youth-fiction
novel
by Melvin Burgess
, first published by Andersen Press
Limited in 1999. It is based upon the first part of the Iceland
ic "Volsunga Saga
".
, since the city was blockaded from the outside world. Val, head of the Volsons wishes for peace between the two and offers his daughter Signy as Conor's wife in order to broker a treaty. His hopes are to unite London and destroy the half-men who occupy the outer rim of London. Once they have been destroyed, he wishes to rise up against the rest of the world and claim it all in the name of the Volson clan. Standing between these dreams are human
s, half-men and even the almighty Gods themselves, who have recently begun to reappear throughout the world. The book is difficult to categorize, with much of it dealing with sci-fi, fantasy
, philosophical and even religious elements.
Conor and Signy are very happy together and everything seems to be perfect. Although she is disappointed at being kept in a tower (which Conor assures her is for her own protection), she is still happy because she loves Conor. During a half-man hunt, Signy makes a shocking discovery. The half-men are not what they are reputed to be. After being cornered by a hyena
-man, she is informed that Conor wishes to kill her family and claim London for his own. The hyena-man surprises her further by giving her a kitten named Cherry (who is said to have more than one shape), before leaping to the ground and meeting his end by Conor's convoy. After over a year within Conor's territory, her family come to visit. They come (as expected) heavily armed but are caught off guard by Conor's surprise attack. He has betrayed them. Val is killed and the three brothers are forced to surrender. The Volsons are taken to Conor's lair, being disrespected by the guards and townspeople as they go. After a few days of torture, Conor has them left out to die in the half-men lands. Their fate is to be dinner of a berserk pig who roams nearby. First Hadrian is eaten, then Ben. Before long only Siggy remains. Siggy wishes for death, but knows somehow that it is not to be. Meanwhile Signy (following being hamstrung under Conor's orders) discovers that her kitten Cherry is a shapeshifter
. She informs her master that Siggy is still alive and in the hopes of pleasing Signy, rushes to his aide. Cherry helps him escape from the pig, before ensuring he is found by Melanie (another pig-woman). Melanie originally intends to sell him as a slave or at worst eat him. But she quickly begins to like Siggy and decides to help him recuperate. She helps his wounds heal and assists in his convalescence. Before long Siggy is back to normal and has struck up a deep friendship with Melanie. Meanwhile Signy has become bitter and twisted and begins to think of nothing but her revenge against Conor. Signy realizes that Conor desperately wants her to have a baby, but she does not want it to be his. Instead, Signy changes shapes with Cherry. She changes into a bird and goes to meet Siggy. She seduces him and has him bear her a child unknowingly. When Signy has the baby, she pretends to have it kidnapped and lets rebel troops clone it. The original baby is named Victor, and the cloned one is named Styr. The cloned one is given special features, making it stronger, faster, and designed for war.
for Pilot Theatre
in 2004.
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Melvin Burgess
Melvin Burgess
Melvin Burgess is a British author of children's fiction. His first book, The Cry of the Wolf, was published in 1990. He gained a certain amount of notoriety in 1996 with the publication of Junk, which was published in the shadow of the film of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting, and dealt with the...
, first published by Andersen Press
Andersen Press
Andersen Press is a British book publishing company. It was founded in 1976 by Klaus Flugge, and was named after Hans Christian Andersen. Random House has a holding in the company and has a strong association with Andersen....
Limited in 1999. It is based upon the first part of the Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
ic "Volsunga Saga
Volsunga saga
The Völsungasaga is a legendary saga, a late 13th century Icelandic prose rendition of the origin and decline of the Völsung clan . It is largely based on epic poetry...
".
Plot introduction
This is the first in the series of two novels based in this universe. The book deals with two warring gangs, named the Volsons and the Connors. Each controls a large portion of LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, since the city was blockaded from the outside world. Val, head of the Volsons wishes for peace between the two and offers his daughter Signy as Conor's wife in order to broker a treaty. His hopes are to unite London and destroy the half-men who occupy the outer rim of London. Once they have been destroyed, he wishes to rise up against the rest of the world and claim it all in the name of the Volson clan. Standing between these dreams are human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
s, half-men and even the almighty Gods themselves, who have recently begun to reappear throughout the world. The book is difficult to categorize, with much of it dealing with sci-fi, fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
, philosophical and even religious elements.
Plot summary
This story takes place in the future, where London is a wasteland where two clans war. The two main characters of this story are Siggy and Signy. The twins of Val Volson, leader of the largest territory that was once London. Val wishes for peace and believes the only way to do so is to unite London under one ruler. He offers his daughter Singy as Conor's wife, in order to show his complete commitment to the Treaty. Conor agrees and shows his trust, by visiting the Volson's territory. The visit goes as planned until a banquet is interrupted by an unusual guest. A believed spy, who was strung up by his ankle returns to life and shows it was not a one time trick, as he crashes down head first from thirty or so feet up. After returning to life for the second time he walks up and down the hall. He acknowledges only Siggy and Signy, before plunging a knife deep into a believed to be unbreakable substance. All others try, but no matter how hard they pull, the knife remains within the wall. But one person knows he is the chosen one. Siggy (who wishes for anything but the responsibility of leadership) removes the knife with ease, as his father acknowledges that it was a gift from Odin himself, blessing the treaty in his own way. Conor wishes to have the knife himself and asks Siggy, claiming that as the guest of honour he is entitled. But Siggy refuses, even going so far as to plunge it into wood. But Conor cannot remove it and laughs it off, before leaving with Signy. Signy is disappointed with Siggy for not giving the knife to Conor and heads to Conor's territory annoyed at her brother.Conor and Signy are very happy together and everything seems to be perfect. Although she is disappointed at being kept in a tower (which Conor assures her is for her own protection), she is still happy because she loves Conor. During a half-man hunt, Signy makes a shocking discovery. The half-men are not what they are reputed to be. After being cornered by a hyena
Hyena
Hyenas or Hyaenas are the animals of the family Hyaenidae of suborder feliforms of the Carnivora. It is the fourth smallest biological family in the Carnivora , and one of the smallest in the mammalia...
-man, she is informed that Conor wishes to kill her family and claim London for his own. The hyena-man surprises her further by giving her a kitten named Cherry (who is said to have more than one shape), before leaping to the ground and meeting his end by Conor's convoy. After over a year within Conor's territory, her family come to visit. They come (as expected) heavily armed but are caught off guard by Conor's surprise attack. He has betrayed them. Val is killed and the three brothers are forced to surrender. The Volsons are taken to Conor's lair, being disrespected by the guards and townspeople as they go. After a few days of torture, Conor has them left out to die in the half-men lands. Their fate is to be dinner of a berserk pig who roams nearby. First Hadrian is eaten, then Ben. Before long only Siggy remains. Siggy wishes for death, but knows somehow that it is not to be. Meanwhile Signy (following being hamstrung under Conor's orders) discovers that her kitten Cherry is a shapeshifter
ShapeShifter
ShapeShifter is an Application Enhancer plugin for Mac OS X developed by Unsanity that allows the user to make system-wide modifications to the appearance of the operating system's graphical interface by applying GUI skins through “injection” into running code and without modifying system files,...
. She informs her master that Siggy is still alive and in the hopes of pleasing Signy, rushes to his aide. Cherry helps him escape from the pig, before ensuring he is found by Melanie (another pig-woman). Melanie originally intends to sell him as a slave or at worst eat him. But she quickly begins to like Siggy and decides to help him recuperate. She helps his wounds heal and assists in his convalescence. Before long Siggy is back to normal and has struck up a deep friendship with Melanie. Meanwhile Signy has become bitter and twisted and begins to think of nothing but her revenge against Conor. Signy realizes that Conor desperately wants her to have a baby, but she does not want it to be his. Instead, Signy changes shapes with Cherry. She changes into a bird and goes to meet Siggy. She seduces him and has him bear her a child unknowingly. When Signy has the baby, she pretends to have it kidnapped and lets rebel troops clone it. The original baby is named Victor, and the cloned one is named Styr. The cloned one is given special features, making it stronger, faster, and designed for war.
Stage adaptation
The novel was adapted for the stage by Marcus RomerMarcus Romer
Marcus Romer is the Artistic Director of Pilot TheatreHe works as a director, writer and actor.He is a published playwright work includes Rumble Fish, , Out of Their Heads, Taken without Consent, , Looking for JJ, Fungus the Bogeyman and BloodtideAs an actor he has...
for Pilot Theatre
Pilot Theatre
Pilot Theatre is an Arts Council England funded Theatre Company based in York, England. It was founded in 1981 by students from Bretton Hall College in Wakefield. The company was based in Wakefield and Castleford before moving to York in 2001....
in 2004.