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courtsport3000's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
5.0
An absolutely addictive read that delivers on everything it promises.
It's got:
-dark academia vibes featuring a big old school on a cliff by the sea (with multiple libraries!)
-secret societies with eerie initiation practices
-a unique magic system boasting a diverse array of abilities, each influenced by phases of the moon
-a creepy sanitorium type facility where something sinister is happening
-family secrets on family secrets on family secrets
-dual POVs where both characters are actually equally engaging
-New Adult energy with YA grade romance (not in a bad way)
-betrayals, cover ups, murders, rescues - alll the drama
This is everything I want from a dark academia fantasy. It was thrill to experience and I cannot overstate how eagerly I'm anticipating the sequel later this year. I want to lose myself in this mysterious world again as soon as possible. Highly recommend.
Special thanks to Margaret K. McElderry Books for an ARC in exchange for review.
It's got:
-dark academia vibes featuring a big old school on a cliff by the sea (with multiple libraries!)
-secret societies with eerie initiation practices
-a unique magic system boasting a diverse array of abilities, each influenced by phases of the moon
-a creepy sanitorium type facility where something sinister is happening
-family secrets on family secrets on family secrets
-dual POVs where both characters are actually equally engaging
-New Adult energy with YA grade romance (not in a bad way)
-betrayals, cover ups, murders, rescues - alll the drama
This is everything I want from a dark academia fantasy. It was thrill to experience and I cannot overstate how eagerly I'm anticipating the sequel later this year. I want to lose myself in this mysterious world again as soon as possible. Highly recommend.
Special thanks to Margaret K. McElderry Books for an ARC in exchange for review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Forced institutionalization, Body horror, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Minor: Death of parent and Drug use
deussaxmachina's review against another edition
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? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Death
Moderate: Self harm
gardens_and_dragons's review against another edition
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? It's complicated
4.5
I was swept away with the magic, the mystery of Dovermere Caves and the drowned students, the secret societies and the delicious DRAMA between the main cast.
This is what a dark academia fantasy should be. Honestly, what a good set of two tats you see coming and some you don’t.
Emory is frustrating but I understand why she makes the decisions she slides in the name of a chance to save her best friend Romie. And Romeo’s brother Baz is so sweet and wholesome and I want to give him a big hug with all he goes through.
The prose is magnetic.
Lots to say here: it’s a dense fantasy, leans a little older on the YA scale (honestly I would have thought it was solidly New Adult), and had a lot if very good concepts and characters to sink into.
This is what a dark academia fantasy should be. Honestly, what a good set of two tats you see coming and some you don’t.
Emory is frustrating but I understand why she makes the decisions she slides in the name of a chance to save her best friend Romie. And Romeo’s brother Baz is so sweet and wholesome and I want to give him a big hug with all he goes through.
The prose is magnetic.
Lots to say here: it’s a dense fantasy, leans a little older on the YA scale (honestly I would have thought it was solidly New Adult), and had a lot if very good concepts and characters to sink into.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm
Moderate: Death and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Gaslighting
Self harm was the applicable tag, but with a caveat: magic in this world works by bloodletting when once’s lunar alignment is not in the sky. It’s not done with self-hatred in mind, but it is prevalent in the storykatewheels13's review against another edition
177 pages and I feel like I’ve only read about a magic system. I barely know or care about the characters and felt like I was taking a class.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
ladypalutena's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
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? Yes
4.5
THIS IS NOT A STAND-ALONE STORY. I foolishly picked up this book thinking it was a single novel, since nothing indicated that it was going to be either a duology or a series. In fact, if the author wanted to torture us, she could just leave it here. It does wrap up well enough that it could be a "hopeful look to the future" and another book not be published, but that would be rude.
Of course, now that I've said all that, I've done my due diligence with Googling the book and it's going to be a duology. Great. And I read it way too long before the next book could even conceivably be written. Excellent.
Anyway.
The magic system in this book is phenomenal. Everything is hooked to the lunar cycle, and your magic is tied to the specific phase of the moon you were born under. You can only use your magic during that phase of the moon, unless you do some bloodletting and "borrow" some of your future magic. It's the most interesting magic system I've seen in a long time, and I am looking forward to reading more about it in the future.
The characters - you can sort of tell that everyone has shifty secrets and something isn't going to go as planned from about 1/3 of the way through the book, but when it hits, it really hits.I saw it coming, and still felt the breath knocked out of me when Keiran ended up revealing his entire plan to Emory.
The plot had me guessing almost the entire time, and towards the ending of the book, I was literally checking how much longer I had left because "There's no way they can wrap it up in that many pages, can they?" And no, they can't.
If you're looking for a dark academia setting, mysterious deaths, people with mysterious secrets, and the most interesting magic system I've seen in a while, this is the book for you. I will be waiting for the next one to come out.
Of course, now that I've said all that, I've done my due diligence with Googling the book and it's going to be a duology. Great. And I read it way too long before the next book could even conceivably be written. Excellent.
Anyway.
The magic system in this book is phenomenal. Everything is hooked to the lunar cycle, and your magic is tied to the specific phase of the moon you were born under. You can only use your magic during that phase of the moon, unless you do some bloodletting and "borrow" some of your future magic. It's the most interesting magic system I've seen in a long time, and I am looking forward to reading more about it in the future.
The characters - you can sort of tell that everyone has shifty secrets and something isn't going to go as planned from about 1/3 of the way through the book, but when it hits, it really hits.
The plot had me guessing almost the entire time, and towards the ending of the book, I was literally checking how much longer I had left because "There's no way they can wrap it up in that many pages, can they?" And no, they can't.
If you're looking for a dark academia setting, mysterious deaths, people with mysterious secrets, and the most interesting magic system I've seen in a while, this is the book for you. I will be waiting for the next one to come out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Blood and Alcohol
booksemmahasread's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Blood, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Violence and Drug use
Minor: Physical abuse and Police brutality
piperclover's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This was so painful to listen to. I very quickly became resentful listening to it and every 2-3 minutes would convince myself that I needed to quit reading because I was disliking it so much. And then I would convince myself that I needed to listen to a little bit more just to see and I ended up listening to the whole thing out of sheer stubborn will. I took 3 pages of notes on my phone's note app bc I needed someone to yell at at so I just had to yell back at myself.
The most notable thing is that I think this is a case of an author who fell victim to having too many ideas and not understanding how to sort through them and pick the best ones for this book. There's 2 main plots going on and while they do intersect, I think they should have been 2 separate books. I think the first book should have been about Emory and Romi and the second book should've been about Baz, Kai, and Jay. I think having an entire book dedicated to Baz, Kai, and Jay's plot line would make it less rushed and shallow. I really only want to read this book about these 3 characters because I find this plot line so fascinating and I absolutely adore Baz and Kai as characters.
I found myself listening to Emory's plot and povs at 2.5x- 3x times speed but would slow down Baz's. I think splitting it into 2 separate books with Romi and Emory in the first book would give you context and understanding for Baz's plotline while also giving each plot its own space without making a book so long that it was nearly unbearable. I just think that there were better ways for this author to handle the amount of story that they wrote into the single book.
There's so much you have to remember and understand in order to even decently understand this book. So incredibly dense with context and lore and you're listening to chapter exerpts from an in story inside the story that is important to the plot so there's a ton of moving pieces. I swear it took 10 minutes to listen to a single percent of this audiobook because of how dense it is. I just could not outright enjoy it. I was intrigued in the overall plot line and I was super intrigued in anything to do with Baz and Kai but anything to do with Emory or Romi bored me.
I was really excited when I first started listening to realize that it's dual POV but then I realized that I would honestly rather it be just Baz's because I hate Emory with a burning passion. I just cannot stand this character. There was one side character in her plotline that I would have loved to have a POV from and would have even loved to read everything happening to Emory through this side character's eyes because that's how much I hated our main character. I think the characterization is completely intended and I don't think you're supposed to think that she is a good person or a lovable person but because of that I could not care about her and honestly I just wanted her to die. And everything she touched and she ruined every person that she interacted with and I just hate her. It's hard to enjoy a story when you downright hate one of the main characters especially when you're in their head so much. She's such a greedy power hungry selfish person eve and sheltered and doesn't understand how anything works and doesn't research or figure out anything for her own. She discovers she has these incredibly rare powers that are mythologized and feared and so she immediately outs herself to an entire room full of people who are terrified of the type of magic she has. She has no idea who these people are and has been thrust in front of this group in the secret order and has no idea if they're going to kill her for having this magic but she does it anyway because she's so blinded by her own insecurity and what's to be fanned over. She does stuff like this all the time and trusts people with no proof that they're not going to hurt her and everything she does is to further her own gain and her own power but in such a naive way that I genuinely think she's just a stupid person. She's mean and manipulative and heartless to Baz, using his lingering childhood crush and trust in her to get him to help her hurt people unknowingly. And then Baz is left to pick up the pieces. I also don't like Romi and she's the entire reason for Emory's motivationsnbut I don't thinks she deserved it .
I've seen people say that they enjoyed the way that queer relationships are alluded to in this book, how this book handles the complexity of queer relationships and crushing on people when you're queer. I don't want to undermine the people who believe that but personally I don't think that's what this book does. It frustrates me that there are 2 same-sex relationships in this book and both of them are off screen with dead or perceived dead characters. I don't think that's representation, I think that's a tragic form of queer baiting or something adjacent to it and it bothers me a lot. It's also implied that Kai has a romantic interest in Baz but is never confirmed with words or actions but I desperately want Kai and Baz to get together. They have such a fascinating dynamic as friends and as the last of their house. </Spoilers> when the second book comes out and if these 2 characters do not get together I'm not going to bother listening to it. This book is very plot-driven and not so much character-driven and I need intense character-driven stories in order to care about the plot.
I could go into such detail about all the things that bothered me or disappointed me or liked but wasn't given enough of. The last things that I'm going to mention is that this book has so much blood in it. I'm absolutely horrified by descriptions of blood so when blood letting magic and taking blood became progressively more present, I was getting worried. There are entire scenes that feature blood being drawn or injecting into blood etc. This alone nearly made me dnf at 28%.
There are 3 narrators and I think all 3 narrators did fantastic jobs, particularly Gary Furlong.
The most notable thing is that I think this is a case of an author who fell victim to having too many ideas and not understanding how to sort through them and pick the best ones for this book. There's 2 main plots going on and while they do intersect, I think they should have been 2 separate books. I think the first book should have been about Emory and Romi and the second book should've been about Baz, Kai, and Jay. I think having an entire book dedicated to Baz, Kai, and Jay's plot line would make it less rushed and shallow. I really only want to read this book about these 3 characters because I find this plot line so fascinating and I absolutely adore Baz and Kai as characters.
I found myself listening to Emory's plot and povs at 2.5x- 3x times speed but would slow down Baz's. I think splitting it into 2 separate books with Romi and Emory in the first book would give you context and understanding for Baz's plotline while also giving each plot its own space without making a book so long that it was nearly unbearable. I just think that there were better ways for this author to handle the amount of story that they wrote into the single book.
There's so much you have to remember and understand in order to even decently understand this book. So incredibly dense with context and lore and you're listening to chapter exerpts from an in story inside the story that is important to the plot so there's a ton of moving pieces. I swear it took 10 minutes to listen to a single percent of this audiobook because of how dense it is. I just could not outright enjoy it. I was intrigued in the overall plot line and I was super intrigued in anything to do with Baz and Kai but anything to do with Emory or Romi bored me.
I was really excited when I first started listening to realize that it's dual POV but then I realized that I would honestly rather it be just Baz's because I hate Emory with a burning passion. I just cannot stand this character. There was one side character in her plotline that I would have loved to have a POV from and would have even loved to read everything happening to Emory through this side character's eyes because that's how much I hated our main character. I think the characterization is completely intended and I don't think you're supposed to think that she is a good person or a lovable person but because of that I could not care about her and honestly I just wanted her to die. And everything she touched and she ruined every person that she interacted with and I just hate her. It's hard to enjoy a story when you downright hate one of the main characters especially when you're in their head so much.
I've seen people say that they enjoyed the way that queer relationships are alluded to in this book, how this book handles the complexity of queer relationships and crushing on people when you're queer. I don't want to undermine the people who believe that but personally I don't think that's what this book does. It frustrates me that there are 2 same-sex relationships in this book and both of them are off screen with dead or perceived dead characters. I don't think that's representation, I think that's a tragic form of queer baiting or something adjacent to it and it bothers me a lot. It's also implied that Kai has a romantic interest in Baz but is never confirmed with words or actions but I desperately want Kai and Baz to get together. They have such a fascinating dynamic as friends and as the last of their house. </Spoilers> when the second book comes out and if these 2 characters do not get together I'm not going to bother listening to it. This book is very plot-driven and not so much character-driven and I need intense character-driven stories in order to care about the plot.
I could go into such detail about all the things that bothered me or disappointed me or liked but wasn't given enough of. The last things that I'm going to mention is that this book has so much blood in it. I'm absolutely horrified by descriptions of blood so when blood letting magic and taking blood became progressively more present, I was getting worried. There are entire scenes that feature blood being drawn or injecting into blood etc. This alone nearly made me dnf at 28%.
There are 3 narrators and I think all 3 narrators did fantastic jobs, particularly Gary Furlong.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Medical trauma, and Murder
Moderate: Medical content and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Death of parent
batmayne_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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? Yes
5.0
I loved this book so much! It took awhile to get through but has an amazing storyline and magic system. Its a dual pov everyother chapter changing between Emory and Baz. I feel inlove with alot of side characters, Kai and Jae were in my top 5. After 8 students die, 4 washing up on shores, 4 missing, Emory is the only survivor that night. After a summer away, emory returns to college to try and find the mystery of the Dovermere Caves and ends up unlocking secrets and mysterys beyond what she expected. The magic system revolve around the Tides and Sun and Moon and Darkness(the Gods and Godesses) perfect story for the moon, space and water witches!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Alcohol, Body horror, Drug abuse, Blood, and Self harm
boomwormbrittany's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Curious Tides is the first book in a new fantasy series that follows Emory, a student of house New Moon who finds herself caught in a secret societies plans after she is branded during a tragic mistake.
I really wanted to love this book because I am such a huge moon, stars, nighttime fan and the idea of how the moon affects the magic in this world really interested me. Unfortunately, this just fell flat for me.
The biggest complaint I had was that this book did a lot of telling but not showing of things. They told us that Emery's good friend was one of the ones caught in the high tide but we never got to see it, they told us that Baz liked Emery but we never got to really see it and so on and so forth. I was also a bit put off by the fact taht Emery seems to use a certain character to try to learn more and she "feels bad" about it but continues doing it and not showing really any remorse.
I found I didn't really care for any of the characters as well. I thought they were all pretty two dimensional and easy to switch out. I wasn't connected to any of them or quite frankly, cared what happened to them. The plot of this wasn't super engaging and, although I did like the idea of the magic system, it just wasn't explained enough or shown enough for me.
If the synopsis of this book interest you, please do read it, I encourage you to give it a try and I hope you love it. It just wasn't for me.
I really wanted to love this book because I am such a huge moon, stars, nighttime fan and the idea of how the moon affects the magic in this world really interested me. Unfortunately, this just fell flat for me.
The biggest complaint I had was that this book did a lot of telling but not showing of things. They told us that Emery's good friend was one of the ones caught in the high tide but we never got to see it, they told us that Baz liked Emery but we never got to really see it and so on and so forth. I was also a bit put off by the fact taht Emery seems to use a certain character to try to learn more and she "feels bad" about it but continues doing it and not showing really any remorse.
I found I didn't really care for any of the characters as well. I thought they were all pretty two dimensional and easy to switch out. I wasn't connected to any of them or quite frankly, cared what happened to them. The plot of this wasn't super engaging and, although I did like the idea of the magic system, it just wasn't explained enough or shown enough for me.
If the synopsis of this book interest you, please do read it, I encourage you to give it a try and I hope you love it. It just wasn't for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Abandonment
sandwiiche's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-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? No
3.25
SIGH... i so badly wanted to love this book, but the characters were bland and flat and i just didn't like them at all. i didn't care about them, i didn't care about the love triangle, and i saw the betrayal coming too. at times i wanted to give the main character a good old smack, because what a dumb decision that was!!!! *releases heavy sigh*
however, the magic system was extremely cool, and i loved the eeriness of the atmosphere. there are many twists along the way, which definitely added to my interest (and confusion at times). pascale lacelle's writing is also really dreamy, mystical and atmospheric.
in terms of the sequel, well... i may pick it up when it comes out-- if i feel like it.
however, the magic system was extremely cool, and i loved the eeriness of the atmosphere. there are many twists along the way, which definitely added to my interest (and confusion at times). pascale lacelle's writing is also really dreamy, mystical and atmospheric.
in terms of the sequel, well... i may pick it up when it comes out-- if i feel like it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Medical content