Unfortunately, I did not enjoy my time reading this. While I was interested by the premise of the book, I was overall bored and found the world and magic system difficult to understand. I don't know if this was a reflection of my own reading, but I would assume so as I have seen that many other people have enjoyed this. Unfortunately, it was just not for me.

Brimming with magic and beautifully written, this novel features a heart-pounding romance and intricately crafted characters.

One thing I loved about this novel is the romance: it was everything I wanted from Allison Saft and from her first sapphic romance. The characters were both infuriating (especially Lorelei) and deeply lovable, and their romance was exquisite. I always love how Allison Saft doesn't shy away from giving them flaws that may appear unappealing at the beginning of the novel but turn out to give them a lot of depth, and some ground for them to connect through the romance.

Now on to the main problem: the plot. In my opinion, Allison Saft bit more than she could chew with this plot. There is the world-building, that lacks a bit of depth, the story aspect (that reminded me of Emily Wilde, though diluted), that could have been more emphasized, and then there was the murder mystery part. I expected way more for the murder mystery and the investigation, but all we had was conversations with every one of the characters. And again, I love how Allison Saft give them all some depth, relationship between each other, goals and dreams and fears, but the fact that the investigation relied so heavily on discussions made it difficult to find interesting, because we, as a reader, knew that some of them could be lying. It is much more amusing to hunt the clues through the narrative than to play guess-work with the characters.

Overall, it was very different from her usual low-stakes books, and I did enjoy the novel (especially the romance, that saved the book for me), but I was a bit disappointed with the way she handled the plot.

A Dark and Drowning tide, while having a promising prose, unfortunately ended up not really being for me.

While there were certain aspects of this book that I thoroughly enjoyed, such as the beautiful folklore imagery, overall the story did end up feeling rather flat. I felt as if there was not enough world building or much of an explanation as to how the magic system worked which left me quite confused at times. And as for the characters, they all felt one dimensional and unremarkable and I just couldn’t fully feel connected to any of them. I also wasn’t really hooked on the murder mystery aspect either.

I really thought I was going to love this one, but it ended up being just okay. I do think that some people will absolutely love this book, but it just wasn’t for me unfortunately.

2.5/5

Allison Saft does it again. Also, whoever chooses Saft's cover artists absolutely nails it every single time. Hats off to you! A sapphic romance within a dark academia setting told with dreamy, lyrical prose that made me want to highlight and annotate the whole god damn thing. Perfect. Beautiful. Will be adding to my list of books to reread

I read 50% of this, but I struggled to understand why if there was a murderer in the group they were just continuing the quest. I decided not to continue reading the story, but I have to review every book or my ratio can't hit 100%.

DNF @10% but I plan on revisiting this book at a different time since the themes appeal to me as a reader.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

i heard someone describe this book as having sapphic dramione vibes, and i ran to read it. admittedlt though, i didnt realise this was a queer love story, more could have been done to signal this on the cover.

3.5/5 Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

A dark and drowning tide is an atmospheric cross-genre story with an eerie setting and queer characters that kept me interested from the star.

The backstory of the main characters was interesting and the pace was overall quite steady, and like the writing style.

Although I overall enjoyed the book, the political intrigue felt convoluted and at times hard to connect with, the side characters felt underdeveloped and I felt that the book was at times trying to cover so much that lacked a bit of depth.

Having said this, I overall enjoyed the read and will definitely be checking future books by this author.

I find it very hard to review this book without spoilers, so this is your warning
*MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD*

I truly enjoyed this book. I loved Lorelei's characters, how she was written and how she grew, and what motivated her decisions and behaviour.

Funny enough, she reminded me of Grinch. All cold and detached until something got under her skin, and suddenly she realised - she's feeling and was disgusted by it. Truly, she's all tough on the outside, but on the inside, Lorelai barely holds herself together and can be a big softie at times.

It's a plot and character motivated story. The seven of them on this huge quest for the King, which will either save or doom their nation, but not even characters themselves are sure which will come to be if they succeed. And pretty much everyone in this groups are characters that you love to hate, except, maybe for one of them. But that is what made the story so appealing to me. No one has just one side to them. No one is perfect or just pure evil, well, except for one of them. They have good and bad in them. Some are too idealistic, some are too scared, and some just feel cornered.

It doesn't have an intense action-packed pace. The story flows steady, and it carries you away. There is tention between characters. There is a lot of fighting for their lives, stepping out of their comfort zones, saving each other, and a one funny marriage proposal. It's fascinating and mysterious and full of love when you care to look for it 🖤

Sadly, I couldn't finish this book in its entirety. I got myself through the first 20% before ultimately skipping to the end to see where the book took me. The main issue for me were both of our main characters, I couldn't relate to either of them thus ultimately found it hard to keep my interest in the overall story. As I read the ending, I found myself with little regrets at my choice. Sadly, this just wasn't the book for me!

I had such high hopes for this one based on the description however it was overwhelmingly pretentious and not in a good dark academia way. It was very unenjoyable.

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me.

I had really high hopes for this book. The concept of the book really drew me in along with the success of the authors previous work. I made it 30% in and still didn’t feel attached to the characters or plot.

Hopefully others will enjoy the book more than I did.

Thank you for this opportunity to read in advance of the release.

DNF

This book just wasn't for me, unfortuantely. It wasn't really what I expected, with dark academia you expect actual academia for starters and that wasn't there. It was also just... boring...
I just wasn't engaged enough to even want to keep going, most of it just wasn't there for me.

I don’t know what’s more beautiful, the cover or the lyrical writing within these pages.

Things my first book by Saft but will not be my last. This had such a haunting and beautiful vibe that transported me into this gothic tale. I cannot recommend this enough for lovers of beautiful writing

A Dark and Drowning Tide 🌊 ✒️

This book started off really well with folktales and fairytale creatures and the promise of a thrilling adventure! But having read other reviews before getting to this I didn't have super high expectations, which I actually think helped me enjoy the story more. It had a lot of really good ideas and a wonderful atmosphere but unfortunately fell flat on delivery.

My main issue was the main character 😬 Now, I love an unlikeable main character but Lorelai was just downright unpleasant for 90% of this book. We are told she absolutely loathes her academic rival by the name of Sylvia Von Wolff. We are told how annoying and irritating and rude Sylvia is but we never see a hint of this for ourselves. Throughout the whole book I was struggling to understand how this was considered enemies-to-lovers? Sylvia appears polite and kind to Lorelai throughout most of the novel. Due to this, Lorelai unfortunately came across unfairly mean-spirited. I think I know what the novel was trying to do but it needed to play up the cultural differences, misunderstandings, and rivalry which would cause constant friction between the two.
With her culture being continually persecuted, Lorelai has justifiable reasons to dislike the main group of characters in this novel but I felt we were thrown into the novel too late to quite grasp this. The war was over, the group dynamics already decided, and their time studying together nearly completed. I wonder if it would've made more sense to delve further into these relationships within the novel rather than reveal most things through large sections of backstory.

By the end of the novel I was overcome by the sheer amount of 'miscommunication' trope going on. I absolutely could not stand this. Lorelai, a smart, quick thinking character, was reduced to levels of stupidity I didn't know were possible, all for the sake of a cheap plot line. This was the one completely unforgivable part of the novel for me 😬

Enough whining from me! I loved how Lorelai viewed the world through the lens of a folklorist collecting stories and weaved them in and out of the narrative.

A Dark and Drowning Tide is a dark academia fantasy with a murder mystery thrown in the mix. This sapphic novel was written well and the characters and their relationships were carved out well. The pacing at times felt a little off and the info dump was a little much but the story overall was great and the developments really carved out a great novel.

I was very excited to receive this before i got the special edition from illumicrate. Fairly well written, and easy to follow along.

* Sapphic
* Rivals to lovers
* Folkloric expedition
* Murder mystery

*A Dark and Drowning Tide* is a sapphic, academic rival fantasy that blends dark academia with a thrilling murder mystery. Initially, the whimsical vibe and the world-building left me a bit disoriented, as the author introduces many characters and details without much context. It took a little while to get my bearings, but once I did, I was completely hooked.

The relationship between Lorelei and Sylvia, the sunshine and grumpy duo, was so beautifully developed. Their chemistry, paired with the unfolding mystery, made for a captivating experience. The blend of folklore, magical elements, and complex histories kept me engaged from start to finish.

The twists, especially the betrayal and murder, kept me on my toes, and the romance was a sweet addition to the story. Allison Saft’s writing had me hooked, and I can’t wait to see what she does next! If you love fantasy with mystery, this is a must-read.

This sapphic back-back adventure story sounded right up my alley and for the most part it was definitely that. I had some issues with the writing style, at times they feel clunky and overwritten but with such a whimsical setting I could see why they were chosen.

I would recommend this book if you enjoyed Emily Wildest Encyclopedia of Fairies, The Hobbit & some of T.Kingfishers work. It's whimsy, it's adventurous, I would even say it borders on 'cozy fantasy', it features an academic rivals quest story, fantastical creatures, romance and a murder mystery!

DNF at around 50%

I wanted a sapphic fantasy murder-mystery but all I got was this lousy headache.

I could not tell you how many times I have started and restarted this book over the last few months. I finally made it past the first chapter, but I continued to have the same problem. This book just did not grip me at all. I constantly felt like I was missing something, going back to try to glean whatever information I was missing but it just wasn't there. Simultaneously, it info dumped and set the scene/atmosphere very poorly. Another reviewer said "it almost felt like i needed to keep up but it was purposefully leaving me behind" which summarised things well. How dare the blurb sound so COOL and it turn out to be this??

The main character is described as sharp tongued and god I love me a bitch, but she was just boring? The romance equally so, and it felt like Lorelai was just trying to convince herself not to like Sylvia. There are multiple reviews that touch on the Jewish and Nazi influences that can explore this topic more eloquently than I. Frankly, I didn't care about anyone or anything. I should've taken my difficulty starting as a sign of things to come and given up whilst I was ahead. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.