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

Unfortunately this book was not for me but I am sure others will love this. The premise sounded promising but after reading the first couple of chapters i found that it did not capture me as i would have hoped.


Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with this e-copy.

Dark Sapphic fairytale. Love the academic rivalry, the dark atmosphere and the folklore elements. Romance was sweet, but seemed rushed at times. And would have loved more interactions between the whole group. Overall a fun read.

This review has taken me a while to get to but i’m here now!

First of all I adored the characters in this book and I ended up loving Sylvia and Lorelais relationship. I did find the side characters slighty confusing as they all started to blend together.

Unfortunately the plot itself was a let down for me, I found it hard to picture anything that was happening and the lore was really lacking. I was also confused on the location and the journey taken, it just didn’t make sense to me (a map really would have helped!).

Overall I did enjoy myself with the characters but the plot was a bit lacking, I may try and re read via the audiobook as it might of just not been the right time for me.

This was an enchanting tale with a dark undertone. I loved the politics of the realm and the complicated group dynamic. The folklore and the sinister creatures that popped up throughout the story really fired my imagination. The developing relationship between Lorelei and Sylvia was heart felt and the mystery kept me on my toes. I enjoyed it so much I couldn't resist a finished copy when I saw the gorgeous Waterstones edition.

2.5 stars rounded down.

This is the second Allison Saft book I've read, and I think it will be the last.

Let's start with the things I liked.

Sylvia was great, just a really likeable character, and you can see why Lorelei falls in love with her. I was on board with the idea of a grumpy, irascible protagonist in theory, but Lorelei was mean to the point that I was doubting her when she said she put survival ahead of all other goals. Someone so bent on surviving would try to make herself liked, or at least useful. I also found her a very inactive protagonist - she spends most of the story acting reactively, and a lot of times things would work out for her based purely on luck.

I appreciated that the romance was actually somewhat slow-burn, at least as much as is possible in a book this short. I did think Sylvia <spoiler>forgave Lorelei for her betrayal too quickly</spoiler> though.

Some of the supernatural creatures were interesting or cute. I especially liked the coffee craving Alp.

Things I didn't like:

The way the expedition is setup and introduced makes no sense. At first it seems like finding the Ursprung was a collaborative effort between all the expedition members, but then as they are leaving, Ziegler, their mentor and leader, just announces the location. First of all it's weird that she waited until they were leaving to tell them - didn't they want to know how far they were going, at the very least? - but also while everyone is surprised at the actual location, no one asks how she came to her conclusion. I get that she's the leader and they must obey her, but no one seems to have any intellectual curiosity even, which is strange for academics. Lorelei does bring up that it doesn't fit with what she knows (without telling us why), but Ziegler just mentions "the data" and that shuts her up. In general there is not a lot of academia in this supposedly dark academia book, which I found disappointing.

The murder mystery plotline was the one I was most interested in, but it was half-assed. Lorelei does basically no investigating, assumes who the murderer is based mostly on her own dislike, then accidentally finds out the real culprit about two thirds through the book. What a waste.

Like Saft's other book <i>A Fragile Enchantment</i>, the setting is very obviously based on historical real world countries with the names changed. This isn't the worst thing ever but it seems lazy and kind of boring. I would rather have either a completely new world or for it to actually just be set in a real country, with no pretending otherwise. The few changes Saft makes to the setting often don't make sense either. Here we have a society with nobility and royalty, where bloodlines matter, but there is also gay marriage somehow. This bothered me in <i>A Day of Fallen Night</i> too.

I didn't care about any of the characters apart from Lorelei and Sylvia.

The writing was fine, I guess? I didn't hate it but didn't love it either. A few times Saft uses the word "evidently" where "apparently" or "supposedly" would make much more sense.

Not recommended.

I used up every ounce of willpower to finish this book, and even now, I can’t decide if it was worth the effort. From the start, this book struggled to hold my attention, with pacing so slow it felt like slogging through mud. Every scene dragged on, and no amount of lyrical prose could disguise how little was actually happening.

One of the biggest letdowns was the so-called "murder mystery" at the story’s centre. In theory, having a murderer among you should create a sense of fear or urgency, but there’s absolutely none of that here. The main character, Lorelei, responds with indifference to multiple life-threatening situations and misses every chance to investigate or show any real interest in the danger around her. At one point, Lorelei finds a button in her room—a potentially critical clue—but her lacklustre response (asking one person about it and never revisiting it) reveals how truly low-stakes the entire situation felt.

The plot twists were similarly disappointing, failing to add depth or excitement. Likewise, the romance fell flat, with hardly any chemistry between the characters. Identifying the characters and understanding the world they inhabit felt unnecessarily difficult. The worldbuilding was overcomplicated, with confusing details and unexplained terminology that left me genuinely lost for the first third of the book. The lore and world felt convoluted rather than immersive.

Overall, A Dark and Drowning Tide ended up being a frustratingly monotonous read. Despite it's intriguing premise, it ultimately failed to deliver on suspense, romance, or even basic character agency. If you’re looking for a murder mystery with real stakes and tension, keep looking—this one isn't worth your time.

A fantastic enemies to lovers slow burn romance. The worldbuilding is great and the character growth is well done. If you enjoyed her other books then you'll love this one too!

3.5⭐️

Rather slow and Lorelei annoyed the hell out of me with how insistent she was on being awful to everyone for seemingly no reason (even when she acknowledged to herself she liked them). Infuriating!! Maybe if this wasn’t set in Lorelei’s pov I would have liked it more. The concept and the folklore was so interesting!