A Dark and Drowning Tide” begins at a slow pace, which might be challenging for some readers. The characters are generally unlikeable and irritating, and the overly descriptive text can make it difficult to stay engaged. I had really high hopes for this book. Unfortunately this one just wasn't for me.

I had high hopes for this book based on its description, but was let down by the characters and the plot. There was some nice prose in places, but it wasn’t enough to carry the book for me. The enemies-to-lovers dynamic fell flat for me as they were never truly enemies, and despite Lorelai "loathing" Sylvia for most of the book, she changed her mind in a few seconds. I also found it difficult to connect with any of the main characters. It felt like a lot of political info was dumped at the start of the book just for it to be mostly irrelevant later on, and while the book mirrored many real political and moral issues, it didn't offer new commentary or attempt to tackle any of them. The magic system had a lot of potential but didn't feel fully fleshed out to the reader, as the only magic we saw in depth was Lorelai's, which was clearly quite different to other characters' power.

I dived into A Dark and Drowning Tide with certain expectations which was my mistake, however I quite enjoyed this book, it’s a beautiful story with complicated and complex characters that go on this quest by order of their King but all of them have their own motivations and convictions which puts them all at odds.

Lorelei is driven and has high stakes depending on this quest, but what really made an impression is on how little she really understands of herself and especially of her feeling towards Sylvia (Let’s say that denial is quite more than a river in Egypt).

The writing is beautiful, but I would have appreciated more detail to world building as a lot of the time I simply didn’t fully understand the context and the way that magic worked in this world. The mystery of who killed Lorelei mentor did satisfied the mystery/crime fan in me. The climax of Lorelei and Sylvia come together was slightly less satisfying as part of delay was due to misunderstanding which is quite an overused crunch for the romance aspect.

Overall, it was an enjoyable read and I will probably pick it up to reread it at a later date.

Thank you Daphne Press for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft
1/5 stars

First Impressions:
I was genuinely excited to receive an ARC of A Dark and Drowning Tide. The premise sounded rich and full of promise, and I am new to dark academia, I was eager to dive into the genre. Now, after finishing, I’m left wondering if it’s the genre that didn’t resonate with me, or if this particular story just wasn’t for me.

Characters:
Unfortunately, the characters were a big part of what made this book challenging for me. Lorelei, our main character, is one of the most consistently miserable and unchanging protagonists I’ve encountered. I can understand that some of her behavior might stem from her circumstances, but throughout the story, she often came across as a bully with very little growth or self-awareness. By the end, she seemed as bitter and closed-off as she was at the beginning, which left me feeling disconnected from her journey.

Most of the other characters were also hard to connect with, as they didn’t feel particularly likable or fully developed. The one exception was Sylvia, who became the main reason I continued reading. She had a warmth and complexity that felt refreshing compared to the rest of the cast. I found myself wishing Sylvia was the protagonist or that we could have had a split POV to get more time with her.

Romance & Relationships:
The romantic elements, unfortunately, didn’t make much sense to me. The enemies-to-lovers dynamic felt very one-sided on the “enemy” front, with motives that seemed inconsistent and contradictory, making it hard to buy into the tension. The grumpy x sunshine trope also fell flat; it felt more like a genuinely kind person being drawn to her bully, which was difficult to root for. Overall, most of the relationships felt hollow. We were often told characters cared for one another, but it wasn’t shown in meaningful ways, leaving these connections feeling shallow.

Pacing & Writing Style:
The pacing was another struggle. Key moments that needed space to breathe were glossed over, while random details stretched on for pages. I know Lorelei is a folklorist, so the folklore elements make sense, but they often felt clunky, underdeveloped, and inserted in ways that slowed the story without adding much depth. The prose, metaphors, and similes often came across as clunky, which disrupted the flow of the story.

As a reader with dyslexia, this made it especially challenging. The font style, size, and spacing in the ARC version also didn’t help, making the reading experience even slower and more difficult. I’m not sure if this is a formatting issue specific to the ARC, but it significantly affected my experience.

Plot & World-Building:
The plot had a lot of moving parts, but they never seemed to fully come together or develop naturally. By the end, many plot points felt rushed or unresolved, leaving me with more questions than answers. The world itself also didn’t feel truly immersive—it felt like it only existed to serve the story, rather than as a lived-in place with depth. Since it’s based on our own world, this felt especially jarring and frequently took me out of the story.

Final Thoughts:
I wanted to love this book. The summary promised so much, and Sylvia’s character gave me a glimmer of hope. But beyond that, I found it difficult to stay engaged. Maybe dark academia isn’t for me, or maybe this particular story just didn’t deliver what I was looking for. Either way, A Dark and Drowning Tide ended up being a 1-star read for me.

On a positive note, I have to say the cover art is absolutely gorgeous—both versions are stunning.

I had the wonderful opportunity to read this book as an ARC reader through NetGalley, for which I want to express my gratitude! This review is my honest and voluntary opinion, and I am thrilled to share my thoughts.

Sapphic yearning and sentient forests you will always be famous.

I love how Saft constructed atmosphere in A Dark and Drowning Tide. Maybe controversially, I'm a fan of ornate, flowery prose and this book is dripping with it. Lorelei's narrative voice is strong and assertively cold, which offers an interesting perspective on the novel's secondary characters. I do think some characters are more interesting and developed than others and the magic system is a little bit barren for my tastes, but Saft is clearly confident in how she's portraying every element that surrounds the narrative at play here.

But most of all, A Dark and Drowning Tide was at it's peak every time Lorelei and Sylvia spat venom at one another. I will never be disappointed by sapphic tension, even if I was screaming at them to get over themselves and just kiss barely thirty pages in. In reality, pacing-wise I thought the romance of this novel was timed splendidly, and interwove with the narrative very well.

I have a couple of issues with the ending that I ponder could even be fixed by a sequel. Not that I think this book necessarily needs one, but <spoiler>I'm apprehensive at how this book ends without much criticism of the colonial structure the characters inevitably end up participating in.</spoiler>

Nevertheless, I liked the atmosphere and writing style of A Dark and Drowning Tide very much, and would be interested to read some of Saft's other work, now.

This was sold to me as sapphic, enemies-to-lovers, dark academia... and it lived up to the hype!

I didn't love the writing style initially and found it quite slow to get into but I went with it. The was so much yearning and the romance was very, very slow-burn which won't be some people's cup of tea, and unfortunately it wasn't mine either. I don't want insta-love from main characters but it felt quite abrupt from one-side of the pairing.

The worldbuilding lost me at times but it was so intricate and detailed that it really paid off in the end. I can see this being a bit of a struggle for people that don't want to dive into complex fantasy worlds.

Overall, while I loved the premise of this, it felt a little predictable at times and I wanted a little more from the romance. I can only handle slow-burn if there's pay off at the end!

Uhm, yes! Yes to everything!

I loved it!
Sapphic academic rivals and beautiful folklore!

I adored our protagonists, Lorelai and Sylvia were amazing and somehow they were both so relatable to me. Usually I have a fave, but not in this case. I love some grumpy and cynic founding her sunshine optimistic opposite side of the coin **
Even supporting character are lovely in this book and what I loved most was the presence of female friendship as well, beside the obv love story.
The worldbuilding was deep, whimsical and full of magic as I expected and I don't know how the author gave us so many information without slowing the pace and info dumping as usual.
The story itself developed well, with clever twists. We even got some political scheming going on, mainly hinted, but I loved it.

I found the writing style similar to Ava Reid which is perfect for me.
Oh, the magic system was everything, the creatures...I loved it all.

Do I recommend it? YES YES YES! READ IT!

I'm honestly not too sure how I felt about this book. I think I didn't feel much. It wasn't bad at all but I wasn't as enthralled as I thought I would be. The world was pretty interesting and the characters too. I honestly don't know why I didn't love it. I truly feel like I should have. It just didn't grab me. I still want to read more books by Alison Saft though.

Excellent book, loved it! Looking forward to more from this author! Apologies for the lateness of my review

I had high hopes for this one as the book cover is so hauntingly beautiful. I loved the sound of the academia, folklore and gothic vibes but it fell flat for me.

The writing style is very hard to get used to if you aren't used to it. It's beautiful and artistic but for me I felt out of my depth. The world building was confusing and I never felt like I knew what was going on. The main characters are interesting but I felt like they acted immature for adults.

Overall it was okay but I wouldn't recommend it to my friends and I kind of felt like I wasted my time trying to understand it when I could have been reading something amazing.

Thank you to NetGalley and Daphne Press for this Arc. This did not influence my review.

3.5 stars rounded down. I will explain later why I rounded it down.

This novel follows Lorelai, a folklorist as she navigates the fantasy world in which she lives in as someone underestimated, and as a minority. Rivalling her is the enthralling, beautiful and privileged Sylvia who is friends with everyone, including their King. Together with their mentor, Ziegler and other specialised crew, they embark on an important expedition ordered by the King to increase his power. Sylvia is special because of where she comes from, another land persecuted and taken over by the King. However, while Lorelai feels the discrimination in everyday life from everyone around her, Sylvia is loved and fawned upon due to her aristocratic status.

Sylvia is an interesting study of the privileged minority. and Lorelai, whose people are an allusion of Jewish people, has a lot of obvious parallels to experiencing antisemitism. This can be seen from a clear excerpt from the book.

“How can you all sit idly by?” Johann slammed his palm flat on the table. “Yevani commanding the nobility—­and soon we’ll have an Albisch queen! What next? What will be left for us? Wilhelm is leading this kingdom into degeneracy.”

I think this book does itself a disservice by having a sort of mild attitude to its serious issues. Clearly, it parallels real world issues and while I think that is great, there needs to be a greater purpose for it. This tries to be an allegory to politics but fails to do so (or maybe does but I am unsure if I want to pick up what Saft is putting down). This is more abundantly clear near the end, where I think some of the centrist take goes straight to pro-Brunnestaad. If you want to make political commentary maybe do not also end the book in an underwhelming way? I am trying not to spoil and honestly I can’t say what I want without spoiling so I’ll leave it at that.

I originally requested to read this book because of the mystery element. And while I think it generally did a good job building tension, it did not work out at the end. The mystery was just not well thought out or well executed. I basically figured out the murderer after the first real clue and I think the main problem was the lack of suspects. It also hurt that Lorelai was disliked by the majority of the side characters and this is obviously due to prejudice, but it didn’t help that Lorelai was an extremely unlikeable character. This is why I rounded it down, otherwise this would be a solid 4 star read.

I absolutely loved this book! It beautifully blends fantasy, murder mystery, and a sapphic love story—everything I adore!

The writing is whimsical yet accessible, and the pacing kept me engaged without feeling rushed. The characters are well-developed, and Lorelei, while not the easiest to love, felt real and relatable with her complexity and flaws.

The enemies-to-lovers and slow-burn romance are executed wonderfully. At first, Lorelei sees Sylvia as just a rich girl, but as the story unfolds, her perspective shifts to reveal Sylvia’s true depth.

The world-building is fantastic, drawing inspiration from 1940s Europe with a respectful touch. While the magic system could have used more clarity, it didn't detract from my enjoyment.

Overall, this book was a whimsical and magical experience that quickly became one of my favorites of the year. By the end, I was hoping for a cliffhanger just to get a sequel!

A big thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for this ARC! It was a joy to read and review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc of this!
This book had a very entertaining and promising start, the dynamic between Lorelei and Sylvia was instantly enjoyable, the world-building was strong and very whimsical. The folklore in this book was so interesting and really helped flesh out this universe and the author's prose is gorgeous. The murder mystery plot started off as rather exciting, but it unfortunately fell a little flat in the second half. As did the rest of the novel. I think I was just hoping for more. Lorelei and Sylvia's relationship remained quite lovely and developed nicely throughout but I was left wanting with their personal developments and felt like too many things were just left.
Overall I did enjoy this but I can't help but feel that it fell a little short.
3.5 stars

Thank you Netgalley, publisher and author Allison Saft for providing an ARC in exchange for a review! All thoughts and opinions are my own. 3 stars

I really enjoyed reading this book. Highly atmospheric and eerie, perfect for this time of year. I adored the slow-burn sapphic romance and the folklore elements, but I the world building felt a bit flat for me.

Sapphic dark academia folklore. Give me twenty!
At the beginning, I wasn't sure how to feel about the characters and the story but the more I got them together, the more I couldn't stop reading.
It feels like there's magic in every line, woven into the story

2.5 stars

The main characters sucked so much that why was I even reading this book?
In general, the main idea gave me a mixture of Emily Wilde and Voyage of the Damned. While I enjoyed the second one, Emily was an Ok book for me. This one here, however, was not good. The main character was so unlikable that I'm not even certain how she got the girl at the end. And I am all about morally grey and bad characters. Also, in the other two, the humour mixed in was a good balance. This one had no humour. Even the gothic vibes were meh.

There is something about the way Allison Saft writes that is so deliciously poetic fuelled, giving her narratives that lush magical feel that I personally adore. In terms of themes, A Dark and Drowning Tide felt very whimsical to me, and I think that's exactly the vibe it was going for. I'd argue that this book is more focused on the side of Folklore, coming of age, and identity alongside the sub-plot of a murder whodunnit mystery. The atmospherics and prose gives it slightly gothic undertones but I'd say they are driven by the eerienes of the Folklore, rather than the actual 'gothic' category. I would not go as far as to call this Dark Academia, and I think many presumed it would be more heavy on the dark academia side with the 'rivals to lovers' trope. Unfortunately, it was missing very key elements that would make it a 'dark academia' read for me.

That did not deter it from being a good read, I just felt I wanted more from it.

This story was so interesting to me. I am always a sucker for rivals to lovers and Allison Saft delivered it.
This book is whimsical and gothic and gripped me from the beggining. The character arcs are so well done as well.
Truly a great read

A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft is a hauntingly beautiful journey through secrets and storms, where danger and desire ebb and flow like the tide itself. Saft’s prose is atmospheric and lush, pulling you into a world that’s darkly enchanting, alive with whispered promises and hidden depths. The story balances romance and suspense with ease, each page steeped in tension that feels as inevitable as the coming tide. It’s a tale of resilience and love set against a backdrop as wild and unforgiving as the sea—a deeply evocative read that lingers like the memory of salt on the breeze.

Disclaimer: review copy was provided by Netgalley. All opinions and experiences are my own.

I have a very unstable experience with fantasy romances. The current trend of sexy elf new adult book don't cut it for me and so I started avoiding them. However, I keep trying and I still have this idea in my mind on how I would still like to find a fantasy romance of a different kind. A book where fantasy and romance share the attention or maybe where romance is secondary but not a lesser plot line and the one without sexy elf dudes who are fated enemy to lovers. And if you are also looking for something similar and don't mind sapphic as well, then this is perfect for you.
On top of what I have just said this has a wiff of murder mystery and dark academia, since few days into this important expedition someone is getting killed and all others, who are supposed to be friends and colleagues since childhood, suddenly are all suspects.
The world building seem to be inspired by some German folk tales, or at least thats what I picked up from certain creature names. Magic is fuelled by aether and many folk tales creatures exist in this world. Other than that it is a soft magic system and serves as a means to tell this story of broken friendships and betrayals.
The ending did not dissapoint as well - it wasn't cheesy albeit a bit convenient. But I believed it and that is good enough.
Even though the book failed to get my emotional investment into romance and so I can't call this ideal fantasy romance (for me), all other aspects were greatly enjoyable. I liked the prose, loved all the dictinct characters, enjoyed the mystery and drama, and generally had a great time reading this.
Overall, 3.75/5