Take a photo of a barcode or cover
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book took me quite some time and some mental gymnastics to finish. The mystery and the magic system is very unique and overall a great concept, but the pacing of the book really dragged it down. The plot took too long to build up, and didn’t pick up until around 40% into the book. The two main characters could be insufferable at times, but they grew on me. Though I did not feel any chemistry between them until the 75% mark. The plot twist on the villain is… unsurprising to say the least. Especially when this book is duo pov making it too certain about who is the love interest for the FMC (That’s why sometimes I don’t like duo pov, it takes away the joy of speculating.) The writing also didn’t help, a lot of the dialogue are painfully obvious to be just worldbuilding and juvenile.
With all that being said, the journey towards revealing the mystery is quite interesting, that’s why I stuck with reading the book. The world is also really interesting. And I love Romie! She barely appears in the plot timeline but still occupies such a great presence, rightfully so. I can’t wait to see her and Emory interacting in the next book.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-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
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
slow-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-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:
Complicated
I was a little intimidated by this book when I picked it up. I thought it sounded amazing, but it looked long. I shouldn’t have been that worried, though, because I absolutely loved this book, I was intrigued from the first page, and it didn’t take long before I was totally hooked.
The magic system in this book is marvellous, their power is both connected to the tide and the lunar alignment of their birth, and they are grouped in houses dependent on that. I thought that the eclipse students being so unique and having powers that the other houses fear was a brilliant touch.
I think dark academia works so well because the setting can be both insular and alluring, and Aldryn College is no exception. With a secret society and the mysterious Dovermere Caves close by, there is a lot for a reader to sink their teeth into. This book is not a quick read; it has a steady pace, but I appreciated this because there was so much to learn about what happened to Emory and so much to discover about the events leading to Romie’s drowning.
The legends of the Tides was also fascinating, as was their story, which was told through a book called the Song of the Drowned Gods. I loved the inclusion of this book in the story, as it parallels Emory's journey to control her magic and find Romie in some ways, but also because of how differently the characters interpret it and how that affects their actions.
The story is told from two POV, both Emory and Baz, and whilst I enjoyed getting to experience it from both of their perspectives, I will admit that I much preferred Baz; he was just such a wonderful character, patient and considerate. Emory did wind me up at points, she would never be entirely honest with Baz, even though he was going out of his way to help her, and her falling for Kieran, but still kind of stringing Baz along.
There was so much that happened in this story, and I adored every moment of it. I feel like with certain aspects, we only just got to skim the surface of what was happening, and I am very much looking forward to picking up the next book in the series to discover more.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
I love the magic of this world, but I didn't care for the FMC. The writing is very good, but the character development for our main leads is lacking too much for me to give it 4 stars.
The story has only just begun
This cannot be a simple review. This novel has hit me in the most surprising way and I feel I need to put MY feelings into words…if that is possible.
Full transparency, even though I am ranking this 4 stars, it was a 2 for an embarrassingly long time. I was close to putting this book down, purely based on the fact that I struggled to like Emory and even Baz at times.
But… Here are the things that kept me coming back to this story, and there are a few things, and I would love this review to grab someone maybe feeling similar to me when maybe struggling to flick the pages, persevere…
Pascale Lacelle has the most beautiful way of writing a story that is immersive, detailed in an easily digestible way that you are gently taken through a unique, complex and magical world. You hardly notice the information dumping, you simply feel like you are a part of the world. That's incredible writing.
Beyond Baz and Emory, who are our MC (I will be coming back to these two eventually) we have a large amount of ‘side characters’ and be prepared for the most incredible character, Kai…the Nightmare Weaver.His voice was conjured night. It was darkwood at midnight, the chilling howl of a beast; it was the quiet of dreams and the pull of nightmares, lovely and frightening all at once. I want MORE MORE MORE!!! Just the most joyous, fearless, impulsive, passionate, caring and fiercely loyal character in this entire book. He was the name I longed to see… I refuse to believe that one slipup equates eternal damnation.
We had a non binary character, I have no one in my life (that I know of) who is non binary and always fumble in my mind how to navigate the terminology without offending in my ignorance. So to read it so seamlessly, it was nothing noteworthy, nothing offensive, nothing deterring from the story… like in life! Easy, they were easy to read about, their story was remarkable and significant and wouldn’t be a great story about a found family without them.
The world was fascinating, heavily revolving around the Tides and Moon cycles, that quickly became understandable and was easy to grasp, thanks to the already mentioned author's ability to communicate her wonderful imagination to us as the reader.
Here is a good place to bring back our MC, I will try to prevent spoilers, maybe a warning…
I will tell you how I view Emory, and how I ended up accepting her and eventually loving her.
Emory is young, Naive and uses people around her as a crutch, emotionally manipulative and crippled, I feel, with complex anxiety and deep depression.
Her anxiety puts these mental blocks in place where she is preventing herself from achieving anything beyond ‘mediocre’, allowing others to either outshine her or tell her how to feel/behave etc. ”Fear of failure’s the bitch that holds you back from success” Quick to blame others when things do not go her way, neglectful of her friends and utterly self absorbed in her own grief, whether it be the new grief of losing her best friend or old, of feeling abandoned by her mother. Emory made some terrible choices, made awful friends (You will NOT like her choices, one male character in particular was repulsive from the word go, and it was hard to stomach him) but do you know what she did not do? Give up.
After a while, I really started to realise what it was I disliked about her, she reminded me of myself. Me as a silly teenager, desperate to be part of something, keen to be something, and losing myself in these pursuits. Emory has a darkness to her, a depression and the world she lives in is filled with looming danger, looming collapsing, looming greed and a real magical ‘class’ divide… similar to our world in more ways than one.
Give Emory a chance, actually read her POV and hear her over thinking, the depression taking hold of her life and sensibilities. Imagine having loved ones taken away from you, having questions unanswered when you KNOW the answer is in reach, seeing the world carry on as normal, learning world changing things that you have to keep secret and try maintaining balance, normality and likeability? Yeah… unlikely right? So yes, Emoy is hard to stomach, she is emotionally manipulative, but please know, she becomes self aware… like we all do eventually. Emory may be faster than most. I cannot forgive some of the things she did…particularly to Baz and quick to judge and trust certain people… but, we all make mistakes in life. Approach her with sympathetic hearts. Forgive her youth. She grows very very fast.
”Lets just say I know what it is like to lose a friend to Dovemere. To want answers so badly you risk losing yourself”
Baz, He is also like Emory. But more of a sensitive rule follower, cautious to life and a most patient friend. He is a quiet soul, had a difficult life when his Father and then his sister had incidents…his traumas are extensive and his magical being makes him lonely. There is a love triangle here that I hope gets explored further, one Baz seems very much in the dark about… you will see if you read this novel.
I am incredibly cross with Baz, I love this floppy haired, spectacle wearing, storm deep eyed boy so so so much, but I hated how he neglected Kai in his moment of need… even Jea did, and they didn’t even know Kai…halfway across the world i also need to mention… I was furious with him for a long time. Terrible friend.
There are plot moments/tropes that made me deeply uncomfortable… the love triangle made me sick to the stomach (not the one I mentioned above!!!) I struggled reading these parts because this character was disgusting and I saw right through him too quickly, so it was lost on me. He was nearly the cause to DNF… it was a strong feeling.
Plot is heavy with lies, deceit and half truths. This is a personal dislike and hard to read, so I had to take breaks.
This story reminds me of one of my all time favourite songs by Papa Roach: Leave a light on. When you finish this story, listen to the song. I wonder if you will see what I mean?
This story really is about young adults entering a world away from the safe clutches of our family, ones we love or things we know and trust, about the harsh realities of the world shattering our dreams and changing our whole trajectories in life…if you let it.
Don't let the collapse take you, do not allow anyone, anything or yourself take away your dreams. They are yours and you're alone, find the strength to not give up or give in and be your destiny. Dreams can change, but do NOT give up or follow in others' shadows.
The ending made this a 4 star, I was so glad I persevered and allowed myself to be patient with Emory and grow to love her courage, self exploration and to allow herself to realise her mistakes and accept them in the way we all should, by the throat and dealt with it to right the wrongs for less selfish means. She was willing to die for what she believed in, could you say the same? Baz is possibly one character that I think will be in my heart for some time. His POV was honest, reflective and beautifully poetic at times. I really felt for him.
I wasn’t planning on going into book 2 straight away, but I feel like I don't want to take a break… jump straight into their world again and see what's in store for the characters left..
This is a complex story, and in my humble opinion which you are very welcome to scoff at, this is a story for those who understand the darkness we all possess, for those who have patience and emotional awareness. I was so close to being someone critical of this story, I can understand others opinions that are less than positive, but I do not agree, I actually feel empowered by this story. Medicinal. Made me reflect. Powerful author indeed.
I think this is the first book to ever make me U turn as fast as I did and completely disregard my displeasure when I started.
She was the sea, moving in and out of his life, between this world and the next. But what was the sea if it had no shore to return to?
The romance in this book is beautiful when you finally see it, when they finally see it, when they finally feel it.
Pre- read
This cannot be a simple review. This novel has hit me in the most surprising way and I feel I need to put MY feelings into words…if that is possible.
Full transparency, even though I am ranking this 4 stars, it was a 2 for an embarrassingly long time. I was close to putting this book down, purely based on the fact that I struggled to like Emory and even Baz at times.
But… Here are the things that kept me coming back to this story, and there are a few things, and I would love this review to grab someone maybe feeling similar to me when maybe struggling to flick the pages, persevere…
Pascale Lacelle has the most beautiful way of writing a story that is immersive, detailed in an easily digestible way that you are gently taken through a unique, complex and magical world. You hardly notice the information dumping, you simply feel like you are a part of the world. That's incredible writing.
Beyond Baz and Emory, who are our MC (I will be coming back to these two eventually) we have a large amount of ‘side characters’ and be prepared for the most incredible character, Kai…the Nightmare Weaver.His voice was conjured night. It was darkwood at midnight, the chilling howl of a beast; it was the quiet of dreams and the pull of nightmares, lovely and frightening all at once. I want MORE MORE MORE!!! Just the most joyous, fearless, impulsive, passionate, caring and fiercely loyal character in this entire book. He was the name I longed to see… I refuse to believe that one slipup equates eternal damnation.
We had a non binary character, I have no one in my life (that I know of) who is non binary and always fumble in my mind how to navigate the terminology without offending in my ignorance. So to read it so seamlessly, it was nothing noteworthy, nothing offensive, nothing deterring from the story… like in life! Easy, they were easy to read about, their story was remarkable and significant and wouldn’t be a great story about a found family without them.
The world was fascinating, heavily revolving around the Tides and Moon cycles, that quickly became understandable and was easy to grasp, thanks to the already mentioned author's ability to communicate her wonderful imagination to us as the reader.
Here is a good place to bring back our MC, I will try to prevent spoilers, maybe a warning…
I will tell you how I view Emory, and how I ended up accepting her and eventually loving her.
Emory is young, Naive and uses people around her as a crutch, emotionally manipulative and crippled, I feel, with complex anxiety and deep depression.
Her anxiety puts these mental blocks in place where she is preventing herself from achieving anything beyond ‘mediocre’, allowing others to either outshine her or tell her how to feel/behave etc. ”Fear of failure’s the bitch that holds you back from success” Quick to blame others when things do not go her way, neglectful of her friends and utterly self absorbed in her own grief, whether it be the new grief of losing her best friend or old, of feeling abandoned by her mother. Emory made some terrible choices, made awful friends (You will NOT like her choices, one male character in particular was repulsive from the word go, and it was hard to stomach him) but do you know what she did not do? Give up.
After a while, I really started to realise what it was I disliked about her, she reminded me of myself. Me as a silly teenager, desperate to be part of something, keen to be something, and losing myself in these pursuits. Emory has a darkness to her, a depression and the world she lives in is filled with looming danger, looming collapsing, looming greed and a real magical ‘class’ divide… similar to our world in more ways than one.
Give Emory a chance, actually read her POV and hear her over thinking, the depression taking hold of her life and sensibilities. Imagine having loved ones taken away from you, having questions unanswered when you KNOW the answer is in reach, seeing the world carry on as normal, learning world changing things that you have to keep secret and try maintaining balance, normality and likeability? Yeah… unlikely right? So yes, Emoy is hard to stomach, she is emotionally manipulative, but please know, she becomes self aware… like we all do eventually. Emory may be faster than most. I cannot forgive some of the things she did…particularly to Baz and quick to judge and trust certain people… but, we all make mistakes in life. Approach her with sympathetic hearts. Forgive her youth. She grows very very fast.
”Lets just say I know what it is like to lose a friend to Dovemere. To want answers so badly you risk losing yourself”
Baz, He is also like Emory. But more of a sensitive rule follower, cautious to life and a most patient friend. He is a quiet soul, had a difficult life when his Father and then his sister had incidents…his traumas are extensive and his magical being makes him lonely. There is a love triangle here that I hope gets explored further, one Baz seems very much in the dark about… you will see if you read this novel.
I am incredibly cross with Baz, I love this floppy haired, spectacle wearing, storm deep eyed boy so so so much, but I hated how he neglected Kai in his moment of need… even Jea did, and they didn’t even know Kai…halfway across the world i also need to mention… I was furious with him for a long time. Terrible friend.
There are plot moments/tropes that made me deeply uncomfortable… the love triangle made me sick to the stomach (not the one I mentioned above!!!) I struggled reading these parts because this character was disgusting and I saw right through him too quickly, so it was lost on me. He was nearly the cause to DNF… it was a strong feeling.
Plot is heavy with lies, deceit and half truths. This is a personal dislike and hard to read, so I had to take breaks.
This story reminds me of one of my all time favourite songs by Papa Roach: Leave a light on. When you finish this story, listen to the song. I wonder if you will see what I mean?
This story really is about young adults entering a world away from the safe clutches of our family, ones we love or things we know and trust, about the harsh realities of the world shattering our dreams and changing our whole trajectories in life…if you let it.
Don't let the collapse take you, do not allow anyone, anything or yourself take away your dreams. They are yours and you're alone, find the strength to not give up or give in and be your destiny. Dreams can change, but do NOT give up or follow in others' shadows.
The ending made this a 4 star, I was so glad I persevered and allowed myself to be patient with Emory and grow to love her courage, self exploration and to allow herself to realise her mistakes and accept them in the way we all should, by the throat and dealt with it to right the wrongs for less selfish means. She was willing to die for what she believed in, could you say the same? Baz is possibly one character that I think will be in my heart for some time. His POV was honest, reflective and beautifully poetic at times. I really felt for him.
I wasn’t planning on going into book 2 straight away, but I feel like I don't want to take a break… jump straight into their world again and see what's in store for the characters left..
This is a complex story, and in my humble opinion which you are very welcome to scoff at, this is a story for those who understand the darkness we all possess, for those who have patience and emotional awareness. I was so close to being someone critical of this story, I can understand others opinions that are less than positive, but I do not agree, I actually feel empowered by this story. Medicinal. Made me reflect. Powerful author indeed.
I think this is the first book to ever make me U turn as fast as I did and completely disregard my displeasure when I started.
She was the sea, moving in and out of his life, between this world and the next. But what was the sea if it had no shore to return to?
The romance in this book is beautiful when you finally see it, when they finally see it, when they finally feel it.
Pre- read
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
EDIT:
After finishing the book, I’ve given it a 4 star. As suspected in my original review, the story really came together and the speed of the book picked up a lot. I fell in love with the characters and I’m excited to jump into book 2 to see the rest of the story unfold; I just wish the book wasn’t so slow and difficult for me to get into during the first half . I would recommend reading , especially if you enjoy lunar magick .
__________
Firstly, I’m currently at the halfway point as I write this review, and considering how I’m feeling about it thus far, I think half way is a generous point for a first impression.
3 stars because I’m conflicted. The writing is slow. The world building is barely scratching the surface.
To break it down without providing too much spoiler:
You are thrown into an already open investigation of a tragedy that took place the year before , I was convinced there was a book 1 that I was missing that provided the insight I needed.
Turns out, the story was written in a “lost in confusion, learn along with the character” - but the character already knew more than we did upon the start of the novel? So the reader is left trying to catch up the first handful of chapters.
It wasn’t until the halfway point where I finally started feeling a sense of excitement for the plot (generously worded).
The POV style writing is something I typically DEVOUR. But the way it’s laid out: one POV is more action based, the other POV is academic based. So I’m dragging my feet trying to get through every other chapter. Not to mention the chapters are long (for being single setting POV) - on average 15 pages long.
There’s a lot of unnecessary filler content, I find myself skipping over paragraphs of senseless banter and still having no issue understanding the story.
I’m giving this novel 3 stars at the halfway point because it leaving hope that the final half of this novel will blow me away .
The reason I picked up this book was because I originally had started book 2 (Stranger Skies) - not realizing it was a sequel. Stranger Skies was captivating. So I’m not sure if the author had time to refine her writing before starting the second novel, but time will tell.
If I remember to come back and provide a final review of curious tides, I will.
After finishing the book, I’ve given it a 4 star. As suspected in my original review, the story really came together and the speed of the book picked up a lot. I fell in love with the characters and I’m excited to jump into book 2 to see the rest of the story unfold; I just wish the book wasn’t so slow and difficult for me to get into during the first half . I would recommend reading , especially if you enjoy lunar magick .
__________
Firstly, I’m currently at the halfway point as I write this review, and considering how I’m feeling about it thus far, I think half way is a generous point for a first impression.
3 stars because I’m conflicted. The writing is slow. The world building is barely scratching the surface.
To break it down without providing too much spoiler:
You are thrown into an already open investigation of a tragedy that took place the year before , I was convinced there was a book 1 that I was missing that provided the insight I needed.
Turns out, the story was written in a “lost in confusion, learn along with the character” - but the character already knew more than we did upon the start of the novel? So the reader is left trying to catch up the first handful of chapters.
It wasn’t until the halfway point where I finally started feeling a sense of excitement for the plot (generously worded).
The POV style writing is something I typically DEVOUR. But the way it’s laid out: one POV is more action based, the other POV is academic based. So I’m dragging my feet trying to get through every other chapter. Not to mention the chapters are long (for being single setting POV) - on average 15 pages long.
There’s a lot of unnecessary filler content, I find myself skipping over paragraphs of senseless banter and still having no issue understanding the story.
I’m giving this novel 3 stars at the halfway point because it leaving hope that the final half of this novel will blow me away .
The reason I picked up this book was because I originally had started book 2 (Stranger Skies) - not realizing it was a sequel. Stranger Skies was captivating. So I’m not sure if the author had time to refine her writing before starting the second novel, but time will tell.
If I remember to come back and provide a final review of curious tides, I will.