Reviews with content warning for Blood - Curious Tides

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.

Content Warnings

deussaxmachina's review against another edition

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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

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emblazedwords's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-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

Curious Tides is an excellent dark academia fantasy, with a well-built world, unique magic system, and secret society intrigue. I enjoyed the dual POV chapters, as well as the character development we see in Emory and Baz.

This book has some really pretty prose in it, although I did find sections that drawled on for a little too long. This is a slow-paced read, but once you get past the first few chapters, you find yourself entranced by the story and the characters!

Content Warnings

h_scharff's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

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ladypalutena's review against another edition

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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.

Content Warnings

booksemmahasread's review against another edition

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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

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piperclover's review against another edition

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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.

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batmayne_reads's review against another edition

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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!

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