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mx_manda's review against another edition
tense
medium-paced
3.0
This is a difficult one to rate.
On the one hand, it really sucks you in and is very engaging. It doesn't take long to take off and then it doesn't stop going. Which usually would make it a high-rated read for me. I wanted to read it and struggled to find places to break and put it down. I wanted to know what's going to happen next.
But.
This felt too borrowed from other sci-fi properties—part Predator, part The Mist, part Annihilation—it didn't feel novel and new to me. And I disliked how one-note and flat both protagonists were, despite being told in their first person POVs. Their only personality traits were trauma and quipping.
If you need to check if animals are harmed in movies, this one is not going to be for you. I was not happy about a lack of content warning for that one.
This read was okay, but I didn't love it.
On the one hand, it really sucks you in and is very engaging. It doesn't take long to take off and then it doesn't stop going. Which usually would make it a high-rated read for me. I wanted to read it and struggled to find places to break and put it down. I wanted to know what's going to happen next.
But.
This felt too borrowed from other sci-fi properties—part Predator, part The Mist, part Annihilation—it didn't feel novel and new to me. And I disliked how one-note and flat both protagonists were, despite being told in their first person POVs. Their only personality traits were trauma and quipping.
If you need to check if animals are harmed in movies, this one is not going to be for you. I was not happy about a lack of content warning for that one.
This read was okay, but I didn't love it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Body horror, Animal death, and Suicidal thoughts
a_novel_craving's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Suicide attempt, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
jls11244's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Alcohol
cathepsut's review
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Beth is a mess, a self-proclaimed „car wreck“. She is a professional house-sitter, sampling other people‘s lives. This time around she also dog-sits Jake, a golden lab, and makes friends with her neighbour Mike. Well, she starts by stalking him with her camera and then…Hello to an alcohol-induced one-night stand! And then the world ends and they end up stuck in a car on a beach, surrounded by something scary…
My recent track record with horror is not great. Psychological horror is lost on me, I usually get bored. And slasher stuff turns me off. Creature features are the most fun. This isn‘t exactly that, but a little. Plus there is plenty of action right from the start. Creepy, scary, sci-fi horror fun. Alien invasion with a twist.
I quite liked the reason for this particular end of the world and wish that it had been explored more.
Unfortunately I did not like Beth. Whiny, sorry for herself and a general failure at life. Bent on making the stupidest choices possible. Mike is self-destructive in another way. Together they make a couple that is potentially quite inept at survival under apocalyptic circumstances.
Don‘t expect deep character development.
The audiobook is told by two narrators, one female and one male, alternating between telling the story from the POVs of Beth or Mike. They do a good job although there is one voice towards the end that doesn‘t really work well for me.
Bottomline, I liked the claustrophobic plot, but disliked Beth quite a bit. Good action, fast plot. Let‘s say 4 of 5 ominous bowling balls for now, I might raise that once I‘ve pondered it a bit longer.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt
Minor: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Animal death
thesaltiestlibrarian's review against another edition
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Thanks to Edelweiss/NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Let's clear something up before I go into this. I didn't think the book was *bad.* Did it drag? Yeah. Could it have been a novella without losing anything? Absolutely. Was the kid at all needed as a character? No.
Was it bad? Also no.
So we have your standard alien invasion: bad signs in the sky just before hell breaks loose, stuff falling from space(?), then creatures showing up and our heroes figuring out how to take them down. The "tide" part of the title is a bit deceptive, as the book takes place on a beach but has little to do with the actual water. Which was pretty disappointing to me. Stuff from space is scary, sure, but what about the things that live just below us? Where they're naturally a part of our world in the first place, then just decide, "You know what? F those people on land. I'mma kill 'em."
The aliens themselves had biological factors that didn't make much sense. There was a lot going on with them that seemed contradictory, but it's an invasion book. I suspended my disbelief long enough to get through and not hate it. It kind of felt like a movie you'd watch on the SyFy network, along the lines of "Lavalantula" or "Piranhaconda." (I have watched both with popcorn in a bowl and a cold soda at my side.) The alien origin also was unclear, and if Beth's dream in the beginning of the book had actually proven true--some kind of weird dimensional overlap--that would have been neat. I wouldn't have expected it to be explainable right away if at all. However, the invaders were rather typical overall.
As for the characters, they were average at best. I didn't like Beth much at the beginning, but by the end she'd grown on me. That said, Mike's voice was definitely the least distinctive. I constantly mixed up his narration with Beth's if her name wasn't in a dialogue tag so often. Natalia was a useless last-act addition, and Jake was my favorite. The little golden good dog who derped his way right into my squishy canine-loving heart. And then K.C. Jones killed him, and the rest of the book was pointless to me.
YES. The dog dies. Sure, it happens off-page technically, but I don't care. You gave me a dog who was fantastic, made him fluffy and beautiful, and then he died. That's such a dick move as an author.
Honestly, Jake's death knocked off a whole star for me. The aliens and Mike did the rest of the damage. If someone needs a popcorn read that's quick and doesn't take much thought, this is a good remedy.
Let's clear something up before I go into this. I didn't think the book was *bad.* Did it drag? Yeah. Could it have been a novella without losing anything? Absolutely. Was the kid at all needed as a character? No.
Was it bad? Also no.
So we have your standard alien invasion: bad signs in the sky just before hell breaks loose, stuff falling from space(?), then creatures showing up and our heroes figuring out how to take them down. The "tide" part of the title is a bit deceptive, as the book takes place on a beach but has little to do with the actual water. Which was pretty disappointing to me. Stuff from space is scary, sure, but what about the things that live just below us? Where they're naturally a part of our world in the first place, then just decide, "You know what? F those people on land. I'mma kill 'em."
The aliens themselves had biological factors that didn't make much sense. There was a lot going on with them that seemed contradictory, but it's an invasion book. I suspended my disbelief long enough to get through and not hate it. It kind of felt like a movie you'd watch on the SyFy network, along the lines of "Lavalantula" or "Piranhaconda." (I have watched both with popcorn in a bowl and a cold soda at my side.) The alien origin also was unclear, and if Beth's dream in the beginning of the book had actually proven true--some kind of weird dimensional overlap--that would have been neat. I wouldn't have expected it to be explainable right away if at all. However, the invaders were rather typical overall.
As for the characters, they were average at best. I didn't like Beth much at the beginning, but by the end she'd grown on me. That said, Mike's voice was definitely the least distinctive. I constantly mixed up his narration with Beth's if her name wasn't in a dialogue tag so often. Natalia was a useless last-act addition, and Jake was my favorite. The little golden good dog who derped his way right into my squishy canine-loving heart. And then K.C. Jones killed him, and the rest of the book was pointless to me.
YES. The dog dies. Sure, it happens off-page technically, but I don't care. You gave me a dog who was fantastic, made him fluffy and beautiful, and then he died. That's such a dick move as an author.
Honestly, Jake's death knocked off a whole star for me. The aliens and Mike did the rest of the damage. If someone needs a popcorn read that's quick and doesn't take much thought, this is a good remedy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Chronic illness, Alcohol, and Violence
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide
Minor: Sexual content
booksthatburn's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
BLACK TIDE features two almost-strangers suddenly trying to survive after a meteor shower that left behind very strange things on the beach.
Early on I realized what it's horror novel treatment of, and I don't really want to spoil it except to say that any of my fellow exvangelicals might find something you recognize. You don’t need to figure it out to understand the book, however, since it’s using that sequence of events as the bones in a wonderfully horrific creation. It's from the perspective of two characters who aren’t already familiar with the shape of what’s to come, who have no way to guess the truly twisted shit that’s going down.
The characters have the kind of communication errors which completely fit people who met yesterday and have very little emotional energy to navigate interpersonal dynamics in addition to trying to stay alive. It's just enough to feel real but doesn't bog down the story. The worldbuilding is very good, with the characters slowly figuring out what's happening and some strategies to deal with immediate dangers, but lacking any ability to fix things more broadly. This is a very good horror novel and I'm quite pleased overall.
Early on I realized what it's horror novel treatment of, and I don't really want to spoil it except to say that any of my fellow exvangelicals might find something you recognize. You don’t need to figure it out to understand the book, however, since it’s using that sequence of events as the bones in a wonderfully horrific creation. It's from the perspective of two characters who aren’t already familiar with the shape of what’s to come, who have no way to guess the truly twisted shit that’s going down.
The characters have the kind of communication errors which completely fit people who met yesterday and have very little emotional energy to navigate interpersonal dynamics in addition to trying to stay alive. It's just enough to feel real but doesn't bog down the story. The worldbuilding is very good, with the characters slowly figuring out what's happening and some strategies to deal with immediate dangers, but lacking any ability to fix things more broadly. This is a very good horror novel and I'm quite pleased overall.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death
Moderate: Animal death, Grief, Cursing, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Violence, Gun violence, Car accident, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent
Minor: Ableism, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, and Sexual content
enchantressreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
"The darkness is coming for me after all. And it has teeth."
Black Tide is unlike any kind of apocalypse novel I've ever read before. Some of them really sound the same at this point--a disease, zombies, warfare. What about perfectly circular meteorites that grow vines, invisible monsters with mouths full of razors, and jellyfish clouds?
Beth is currently house sitting at a beach in Oregon, where she meets the next door neighbor, Mike. After a quick affair, she has a strange dream. Mike, wanting to end it all after losing his wife, sees meteors start to fall from the sky. Beth believes she's had too much to drink, until Mike comes to the house with a perfectly round ball. It burns his hands, so he drops it. They think nothing of it, until they decide to go to the beach, where they see a group of people desperately trying to leave the island. Something strange is happening at Strawberry Dunes.
This book had me hooked from the beginning, lost me a bit in the middle, and got me back at the end. I enjoyed learning more about Beth and Mike, while also watching them try to figure out how to survive this weird event. Both people seem to be notorious for fucking things up, and they don't want this to be their last fuck-up. They both lean on each other to try to survive.
I'd love to see more of this world, or possibly a different location. Is it happening world-wide? How are other people handling it? How is the government handling it? I don't believe this is a series, but I would love to see a spinoff book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Gore
Moderate: Animal death and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Suicide attempt
thebookishbard's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the early ebook to read in exchange for an honest review.
I was really excited to read this one as I’m a big fan of creature features and luckily this one delivered!
I recommend Black Tide to fans of Tremors and The Ruins. This is a one location, 24 hour sci-fi/horror/ creature feature. The author did a good job writing 3 different points of view. I was hooked right away by the characters and they experience internal growth even in that short time. We were given enough backstory but not too much. This is a fun time and I’d watch the movie. Though, I feel like I already watched it inside my head.
I was really excited to read this one as I’m a big fan of creature features and luckily this one delivered!
I recommend Black Tide to fans of Tremors and The Ruins. This is a one location, 24 hour sci-fi/horror/ creature feature. The author did a good job writing 3 different points of view. I was hooked right away by the characters and they experience internal growth even in that short time. We were given enough backstory but not too much. This is a fun time and I’d watch the movie. Though, I feel like I already watched it inside my head.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
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