Rightly seen on its hardback publication as being at the cutting edge of fiction for young adults, Burgess's Bloodtide is, indeed, a challenging read. Deriving from the ancient Icelandic Volsunga saga and set in a distinctly dystopian London two centuries or so into the future, it creates a world where, with the demise of democratic institutions, rival thuggish gangs struggle for dominance. Savagery, brutality and betrayal are the defining characteristics of the relationships between the Volsons and the Conors, whose bloody encounters and inter-familial dealings take us into many murky domains, including those of sexual ambiguity and incest. With well over 300 pages of text, this is a book which will reward the persevering reader with numerous questions about what one of its narrators calls "the plans of the gods, the twists of fate" and about the extent to which these direct our social, sexual and spiritual drives.