A decade after the Big Storm climatic conditions improved gradually in Iceapelago. The third generation of survivors faced a different set of challenges as improving temperate weather prevailed. The sea ice melted. Crops thrived. Food was plentiful. The ageing island communities were more settled and self-sufficient but isolated.
Word spread abroad that Iceapelogo had recovered well unlike other less-fortunate regions affected by the extremes of Mother Nature.
The leaders of the Principality of Ria Formosa in Portugal target Malahide Castle Island and the other communities around Dublin Bay as their new home. Rory, the Iceapelago Commander, has to confront the climate refugees. An assault and a defence define the future of Iceapelago.
This is the final part of the Iceapelago trilogy.
A decade after the Big Storm climatic conditions improved gradually in Iceapelago. The third generation of survivors faced a different set of challenges as improving temperate weather prevailed. The sea ice melted. Crops thrived. Food was plentiful. The ageing island communities were more settled and self-sufficient but isolated.
Word spread abroad that Iceapelogo had recovered well unlike other less-fortunate regions affected by the extremes of Mother Nature.
The leaders of the Principality of Ria Formosa in Portugal target Malahide Castle Island and the other communities around Dublin Bay as their new home. Rory, the Iceapelago Commander, has to confront the climate refugees. An assault and a defence define the future of Iceapelago.
This is the final part of the Iceapelago trilogy.
The combined impact of the tsunamis from La Palma in the Canaries and the Eriador Ridge off the Continental Shelf, and the complete collapse of the Gulf Stream, created Iceapelago – thirty ice-covered islands that were once Ireland. This climate episode was known as the Eriador Event. The widespread flooding and the sharp rise in sea levels killed millions, shattered the landscape, and destroyed critical infrastructure across the Northern Hemisphere.
In the early years, the Iceapelago survivors eked out an existence in pre-medieval conditions. The priority was to secure basic essentials such as shelter, food, water and medicine ahead of the arrival of Winter Day when severe arctic conditions locked down Iceapelago for months until the spring thaw.
An order of sorts was put in place with the appointment of the Commander of Iceapelago who ruled from Dundrum Island. Individual communities elected a leader known as the Six and also a sheriff to maintain law and order. Shortwave radio was the only means of communication. A fleet of refurbished river cruisers provided transport between the islands.
As resources grew scarce, the commander over-stepped his authority. He brought in mercenaries from Cymru to impose his wishes on fractious communities. He was not successful, and was overthrown. Ruth Henry from Cork Airport Island was appointed by the Iceapelago Sixes to replace him.Â
In 2091, thirty years after the Eriador Event, the Big Storm arrived. Ruth Henry received a radio message from her Canadian contacts of two catastrophic storms that would arrive within days of each other – a cyclone direct from the tropics of offshore Africa and a deep low depression from the high Arctic. At that stage, the Canadians had access to weather satellites. The meeting of these two extreme weather systems was unprecedented. Armed with this stark warning, Ruth Henry arranged transport for her family and some friends from Cork Airport Island to the safety of the Old Head of Kinsale.Â
The Big Storm started with the arrival of monsoon-type rain, hurricane force winds and dramatic thunderstorms. The sea crashed inland morning, noon and night destroying most buildings. All coastal areas across Iceapelago were under water. Days later, the weather switched as an arctic storm combination of force twelve gales, driving ice, snow and sleet lashed onshore. Severe arctic conditions prevailed, and everything was frozen solid for months. Then, without warning, a deep thaw started as high pressure built up from Southern Europe. Within months everything had defrosted, rapidly melting the sea ice.Â
In the decade after the Big Storm, conditions improved as Iceapelago benefitted from more temperate conditions. The few remaining communities were self-sufficient and none more so than the twenty-strong ageing population of Malahide Castle Island. Led by Rory, the erstwhile Commander of Iceapelago. The residents were settled in their ways. There was food on the table, and their accommodation was safe and secure. While they had no means of transport to get to other islands, being insular had become their culture, the new way of life.
The status quo would not last long. Other regions which had also suffered from Mother Nature’s excesses needed to find a new home for their beleaguered citizens. Despite the grim conditions, Iceapelago became the target for climate refugees seeking a better future.
In this third book in the Iceapelago saga the former harsh climactic conditions have improved. The sea ice has melted, crops thrive so food  is plentiful and the thirty island communities are settled and self-sufficient.  A strong group of some twenty or so survivors live on Malahide Castle Island, led by Rory the new Iceapelago Commander, now an older man. Rory is a talented engineer but he and his community face the challenge of an aging population. On the nearby island of Old Head of Kinsale, meanwhile, Kate and Tony, grandchildren of Ruth Henry, the original leader of the survivors, pine to see other worlds. They don’t know that raiders are about to arrive from the south, fighting ships from Portugal. To escape their own drought-parched lands the Duke of the Principality of Ria Formosa there has decided to install his people on the more climate-friendly Iceapelago islands as their new home, including that of Malahide Castle. Captain Vasco da Gama, has spied out the area for him while pretending to be an innocent trader and has noted the islands’ lack of defences and the aging populace. Suspicious of da Gama’s motives Rory and the youngsters Tony and Kate, along with  Orla and Jack from Malahide Castle, must work together to confront the raiders and save their communities.
As the third book in the series the tale suffers from the difficulties common to many series books, in that there is a lot of background information to be filled in so that the reader can relate to the characters and understand the present situation. Rory, Tony and Kate are skilfully drawn, and although the youngsters don't always act wisely we sympathise with their desire to spread their wings and admire the way they support Rory against the invaders. The dialogue is natural and the various challenges and dangers they undergo are plausible and exciting. But it takes a longish time to get to the excitement. Investigation of Ruth Henry’s Healing Hamper and her tablet doing duty as a history lesson takes up too many pages at the start instead of the information being filtered in gradually throughout. Thereafter the action proceeds well but the death of one of the major characters is almost brushed over when It should have received much much more emphasis. However, people who have read the first two books will undoubtedly enjoy this one