It has been a century since humanity surfaced in the wake of The Cleansing, a catastrophic apocalyptic event. War clings to the land like a red stain as the outlying settlements try to enact revenge on the centralized Hive, who’d all but left the settlements for dead when mankind dwelled beneath the earth. <br> <br>A boy finishes up his final days serving as an escort to the settlements' fallen soldiers. With no immediate family and no money, Micah Noble’s sixteenth birthday marks his transfer to the allied settlements’ main military compound, the Churchyard. Here, he will train to enact revenge in a war of which he holds no stakes. <br> <br>Meanwhile, a girl’s settlement, Eta, is overthrown by the incredible force of the Hive. In her escape, her father, Eta’s brightest computer technician, bestows upon her a digital device that harbors undisclosed information that could potentially prolong the survival of the settlements and even bring an end to the war. Enovia Harper escapes the turmoil with the precious cargo in tow, with the help of an eccentric and motherly trader. <br> <br>Manar Christoff, a bounty hunter, and her partner, Fain Alp, receive word from the Hive’s top officials that, despite the army’s successful invasion of Eta, their assistance is required in tracking down and procuring the device in Enovia’s possession. They viciously stalk their prey, forming destruction in their wake. <br> <br>While Micah fights a losing war against the well-equipped, genetically enhanced soldiers of the Hive and Enovia tries to outrun the onslaught of vicious predators, Manar Christoff and Fain Alp, an even more frightening enemy looms in the shadows. The black sands had become nothing but a blemish on the environment to both the Hive and settlements, ignored as a nuisance seeking to distract their attention from their revenge-fueled war. However, the perpetual dense cloak of haze over the black sands conceals something of which neither side has prepared. <br> <br>Chaos in Tides is Book One of the Singed Wick Saga. It is a science-fiction novel that takes place in a post-apocalyptic Northeastern United States. It is recommended for those who not only enjoy military fiction but those who wish to delve into its minds of the participants.