Russell Grant is a scientist, a geneticist in fact, and the son of a geneticist who helped create the ‘Aquarians’, a new human subspecies able to live in the water, almost like a fish. That’s important because the polar ice caps have melted and the world is almost completely covered in water.
Russell’s lover of many years is Eric Devlin, one of the first Aquarians. Eric can ‘breath’ under water and has skin that will protect him from some of the problems normal humans experience from being in the water for long periods. Eric and Russell are devoted to each other, sharing their lives on the tiny artificial island of Pacifica.
Let’s address the obvious first, before we get into the story: There’s a huge similarity between the basic premise of this book and a certain box office fiasco from several years back. This book was apparently originally written before the movie was in production. As in the movie, the world is almost inundated. However, while the back-story to Aquamarine does lay most of the blame on fossil fuels and the resulting global warming, it’s a piece of a comet hitting Antarctica that puts the last nail in the coffin. In the movie, dry land is an almost mythical quest, but in Keegan’s book, dry land is still where most of the few remnants of humanity hang on, in the mountains of Nepal, the Rockies of the Western US, etc. Lastly, while the movie had mankind reduced to an almost pre-industrial existence, technology is still very much a factor in the world of Aquamarine. In fact, that’s one of the few red flags that the book’s scenario raises. Keegan never explains where the diesel to run the big ships, or the fuel for Russel’s powerboat, comes from.
Okay, back to this story: Russell and Eric are pretty happy, living and working on the tiny little artificial island of Pacifica, the brainchild of billionaire Gerald Duquesne. But trouble comes looking for the pair one day, in the form of two strangers who want to hire Russell, his submersible, and especially Eric for a little salvage job. Russell is suspicious, especially when the men won’t discuss the details of what they’re salvaging or what the conditions are, and so he turns down the job. A few days later, Eric goes missing, and Russell is pretty sure the two men are behind it. Thus the adventure begins.
The resourceful Russell tracks down Eric and rides to the rescue. But getting his lover away from the bad guys is just the start of the adventure for these two, as the tiny remnants of humanity seem to be teetering on the edge of a new global conflict.
It’s been a while since I read any of Mel Keegan’s work, but Aquamarine is everything I expect from him. There are two likable guys in love, action, adventure, a little sex, mystery and intrigue. This isn’t great literature, it’s more like classic pulp fiction, but Keegan is a good example of why that style of writing remains so popular. Aquamarine is quite a nice little read, despite a number typos. The only real issue I had with the story were the unanswered questions regarding the technology. The genetic alterations to make the Aquarians I just had to take a leap of faith on. The author goes into a lot of details about other technical aspects of how people are surviving - hydroponic vegetables, chickens, rabbit and fish for protein, etc. - but he leaves out things like where the fuel is coming from, or the rare earth minerals needed to keep producing computer chips. These are minor quibbles in the grand scheme of things, and some readers might not even notice them. As with most science fiction, it’s easy to poke holes in it if you try.
For delivering a good read, I’m giving Aquamarine four stars out of five.
You find out more about the book and links to purchase at Mel Keegan Online.
