The Incredible Tide
| Author | Alexander Key |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Westminster Press |
|
Publication date
|
1970 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 159 p. |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 70517 |
| LC Class | PZ7.K51 In |
The Incredible Tide is a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel for young adults written by Alexander Key, published in 1970. It was the inspiration for the Japanese anime television series Future Boy Conan, directed by Hayao Miyazaki.
The Incredible Tide tells the story of Conan, a boy who lives alone on a small island on Earth ravaged by World War III. The world was knocked off its axis and the continents have sunk into the ocean, with only small islets remaining. Conan is rescued but finds that the new society is very different from the world he knew before.
Conan, Lanna and Teacher are survivors of a land called the West, or the Western World, that now no longer exists, as a result of the cataclysmic destruction caused by the war. The West is described as having been a generally peaceful place.
Although the reasons behind the war are not clear, a global superpower known as the Peace Union waged war against the West, finally using a doomsday weapon that destroyed their enemies, but destroyed themselves as well. The Peace Union does not exist anymore, but its leftover artifacts are everywhere.
The doomsday weapon that the Peace Union used was somehow magnetic in nature and caused a disruption in the Earth's core, causing massive worldwide earthquakes that changed the shape of land and sea alike. Huge tsunamis inundated all the world's coastlines; this was the "incredible tide" mentioned in the book's title. People now refer to this time as the Change.
A group of people have recolonized a surviving Peace Union city, which they call Industria, and call themselves the New Order. They are trying to unite the survivors of the world under their banner and recreate the former civilization's technological glory. Of course, they consider themselves to be doing everyone a favor and expect everyone to be grateful and help them ... or else.
The Western survivors made their way to an island and created High Harbor, a place of refuge, where they live peacefully, but it is a hard life, without many technological comforts.
Once Conan of Orme, a place in the West that no longer exists, Conan is 17 years old when the story begins. The incredible tide of the title caused the fleeing helicopter he was in to crash on its way to the island refuge that would become High Harbor, marooning him on a tiny island as the sole survivor, where he learned to survive on his own and has been living for five years. As a result of the hardship he has grown very strong.
Lanna is described as a small, birdlike girl, and indeed she has several friends who are birds, including a tern named Tikki. She seems to have an empathic connection with birds that lets her communicate with them on a rudimentary level. She is a friend of Conan's who hasn't seen him since the cataclysm. Mazal is her aunt, Shann is her uncle, and Teacher is her grandfather. She has a deep-seated fear of the ocean since the tsunamis swept across the world.
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