Marian Perera is the author of The Eden Series, a shark-punk series in which some people have the ability to communicate and work with ocean animals (mostly sharks, although I’m thrilled to say that orcas, kraken, and a megalodon have also made appearances). The series works as a set of stand-alone romance novels which, taken together, create a larger picture of a complex fantasy world in which various countries are constantly at war or on the brink of war. So far, all romances have been human/human. If you are looking for shark erotica, I won’t judge you, but you won’t find it here.

In the latest installment, The Highest Tide, a health inspector (Jason) meets a sea captain (Lera) at a brothel. They immediately have fantastic sex. I’m not used to novels opening with a sex scene but I must say it worked quite well – it cleverly got the will they/won’t they out of the way, and it’s a scene that is both sexy and very character oriented – we learn a great deal about these people and what their relationship will be like.

Lera and Jason wind up on the same warship, along with a character from the last book, The Farthest Shore, Kovir, who works with a tiger shark. I totally adore Kovir and I hope he gets his own book soon. Their mission is to find a crazy bad guy and stop him from creating a deadly tidal wave. Along the way there is shark stuff, the invention of an underwater respirator, killer kelp (it’s scarier than it sounds) and many tragic backstories.

I enjoyed the romance between Lera and Jason. For two people who met under deceptive terms, they are pretty direct, and I like the fact that Lera is much more of an action person than Jason. I liked it that they worked well together, and that Jason never questions or is threatened by Lera’s fighting or sea-faring abilities. Lera is an incredibly engaging heroine and as for Jason, well, a man who can make a bed out of moss when you are trapped in a cave on an island is not a man to lightly toss aside.

As pleasant as the romance is, the real draw of these books is the vivid portrayal of life at sea. I feel like these books are getting better and better in terms of capturing life on a ship. This book is much less crazed than the delightfully zany book, The Deepest Ocean, which featured a guy who had his brain replaced by, wait for it…brain coral. It’s also less dark than The Farthest Shore, which featured a little girl who was forced to brain-meld with a kraken (don’t piss off the kraken pilot, guys).  In The Highest Tide, there’s a lot of action against forces human, animal, plant, and supernatural.  But there’s also a lot of down time on the ship, which is fun.  I enjoyed the quieter moments as much as I enjoyed the action scenes.

The most terrifying sequence involves what I like to refer to as killer kelp – it’s terrifying because in real life a ship being becalmed, or stuck due to lack of wind, was a life-threatening event, and seaweed really can foul a boat. The peril of the supernaturally driven seaweed in the book that attacks the ship in every possible way including wiggling through any tiny gaps in the wood is much scarier than seaweed has any right to be.

Near the end of the book, Jason, Lera, and Kovir go to a party in Jason’s home country, Dagre. It’s a great deal of fun to see these characters in a new setting. Kovir is annoyed because the party food comes in such small portions (he’s a teenager). Lera and Jason have a very direct conversation about their future. It’s so not romantic that it sort of circles right back around to being incredibly romantic. It’s adorable. It’s a lovely touch of lightness in a series that has specialized in angst, intrigue, and action.

Even though these books work as stand alones, they are full of characters that appeared in previous books, or who are related to previous characters. We are now four books into the series and frankly my memory is not that great. I’d love to have a chart or list of characters at the beginning of the books, or at least on the author’s website. Also, these books need maps, and a timeline wouldn’t hurt either. While the stories are self-contained romances, the series is hitting epic fantasy notes and it could use some of the common accessories.  The next book involves the northern regions and there are icebergs, so you know I’ll be all over that.  Even if there aren’t any maps.