Reviews

Curious Tides; ARC by Pascale Lacelle

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archercm's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

lostinbookswithmel's review against another edition

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By the time I was finished reading Iron Flame, I didn’t have enough time to read/finish this book.

So far, the magic system sounds like it’s cool. The setting sounds like Harry Potter, but moon phase Houses that people belong too. Obviously, I didn’t get too far, but I’ll be re-borrowing it from the library to come back to it later.

otterkitty's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

lit_laugh_luv's review against another edition

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5.0

If I was going to think up my perfect fantasy book, it would probably look nearly identical to this. Absolutely would recommend this to anyone who is even remotely interested in fantasy - it's accessible and interesting and has some really great non-binary and queer representation.

This book absolutely gripped me - you have dual POVs, each with interesting sub-plots that have a super satisfying crossover in the later stages of the book, multiple twists that have the ideal amount of foreshadowing, and a super interesting and layered magic system. The magic system is a bit overwhelming at first (given there's 16+ types), but it's explained again multiple times that I didn't find myself confused by any particular scenes.

Every character is interesting and charming, and there is excellent pacing and suspense in this throughout. Several of the twists caught me off guard, and by the 80% mark I was torn between wanting to find out where everything would lead, and not wanting things to end. Some twists are certainly predictable, but the additional background information you learn adds some surprising elements and set things up so nicely for subsequent entries. Even the villains are sympathetic and understandable, which I appreciated since it's not a strict 'good versus evil' narrative you often see in this genre.

This ends on such a big cliffhanger I know I'll be waiting impatiently for the sequel to come out. This is easily going to be my favourite fantasy of the year, and despite receiving the e-ARC from Simon & Schuster, I've already pre-ordered the physical copy on release date.