Reviews - A Dark and Drowning Tide

3.82k reviews for:

A Dark and Drowning Tide

Allison Saft

3.62 AVERAGE

mariebrunelm's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

In a world that considers her either a threat or a liability, Lorelei is gifted the opportunity of a lifetime as the head of an expedition charged with finding the source of all magic. Except her nemesis is joining the group, conflicting loyalties clash, and tragedy strikes early on, upending Lorelei’s world and shattering her certainties. To survive, she will have to find allies where she once saw rivals and perhaps discover even more in the process.

This adventure meets mystery meets slow-burn romance was fun to read and implied a lot more plot than the previous book I'd read by Allison Saft — A Far Wilder Magic (which was enjoyable but suffered from its blurb).

Here, the world-building was kept to a minimum, but there was still a lot of room to explore religious prejudices (as in AFWM) and character studies. The blend of real-world-inspired beliefs worked really well alongside fictional folklore, our main character being a folklorist joining forces with a naturalist. I loved the variety of female characters depicted in this novel and the utter absence of sexism. That was quite refreshing and didn't mean less drama, far from it. But I agree with the author that if we can have magical creatures and water-based magic, we can have a world in which same-sex unions work as diplomatic marriages and in which women aren’t considered second-grade citizens.

This quest narrative bringing together ill-assorted people could have benefitted from a map, but to make up for it I had the pleasure of reading it in this stunning Illumicrate edition which was a gift from me to me last December. I recommend it for those of you who enjoy a slow pace, complex characters, and a whole lot of yearning.

Rep: sapphic characters.

Content Warnings

samthesunrise's review against another edition

2.75

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

amiascah's review against another edition

3.0

dark mysterious tense

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I have mixed feelings, it was weird but not, the pages melted away but I didnt feel the need to know what happens, I that makes sense.

'A Dark and Drowning Tide' by Allison Saft is a sapphic fantasy stand alone. Lorelei is completely out of her element. For her even getting the education she got and becoming a Folklorist seemed out of reach for someone of her background. But now shes not only part of an expedition with five nobles but leading it. But this is just a stepping stone because she dreams of becoming a naturalist and this expedition could help her get there.

But things start off more than a little rocky. After a surprising murder the only suspects can be one of the six of them but who? Lorelei takes a gamble and decides to trust her long time rival, but the others shes not sure who is capable of murder and who isn't.

spoilers

There was something off about this book that I didnt just fall in love. I wanted to at times. It wasn't boring, it was just maybe too wordy at times? Which was sad because a folklorist on an expedition dealing with entitled nobles, including one she sees are her arch rival? That is so on point for me, it just fell off somewhere.

At times it felt like there was too much yet not enough, there was lots of interesting creatures that were featured but they were in and out so fast, I think I would have preferred less in the different ones and more time spent delving into a few. Then you add in all the characters, there's a lot but we don't care about any of them because Lorelei doesnt, it's hard to care about any of them. When their instructor dies I felt like I should care more, Lorelei seems to care about it but shes so stand offish that all the emotions seemed wrapped around just that there is a dead body finding a dead body. There was nothing further, no great loss of an important person. And then in the end Sylvia is being betrayed by someone she thinks of as one of her closest friends, someone she has spent parts of every year with since she was very young. Did I miss the pat where shes impacted, hurt, broke a little bit by this? I didnt feel anything there. There was a disconnect, all this stuff is happening but theres so much emotion missing.

What I loved was Lorelei's back story and the beginning of the world that I could fall in love with. I loved seeing the Yevani people. I love that it put a spotlight on the people and their very real problems. Theres a moment when Lorelei must betray Sylvia, even though she doesnt want to but because it allows her people to maybe gain some freedom. Lorelei knows that sometimes it's not about her, theres a bigger picture and shes willing to sacrifice her heart for that. Forget the expedition, if we had just focused on the trials of the Yevani people I think I would have liked the book more. Putting a spot light on marginalized people, ones that mirror our own from this world, is my favourite fantasy book.

This isn't my first Allison Saft book, and it probably won't be my last.

tooshay's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I really enjoyed this book. Towards the end though some continuity errors definitely popped up; not enough to throw the whole story off, but enough to make you say “Well, that wouldn’t necessarily happen like that.” Overall, a good, easy read with interesting vocabulary!