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_pipreads_ 's review for:
A Dark and Drowning Tide
by Allison Saft
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Loved the romance, hated the politics.
At absolute best, this book is incredibly confusing and a little boring. At worst, this book is telling the reader that imperialism is okay and putting down an entire class of people is fine so long as you can girlboss your way into a position of power.
Why bother creating a main character from a class of people who are Jewish-coded, point out all the ways they are treated like monsters by every other person in the book, point out how bad the king of this empire is at ruling fairly, and then have the main character become the right hand man for the king and never mention her people again? It really does feel like the message of the story is "you can make your own life slightly better if you stop fighting for the equal rights of your own people and become subservient to the man who puts them down."
Also, the villians of this book are just two women who are trying to use violent means to free their own kingdoms from the rule of an imperalist. They're evil, not because they want freedom, but because they use violence?
The only saving grace for this book is the romance, and even that is affected by the shitty politics. If you ignore that, it's a very good sapphic romance. It was the only thing that kept me reading to the end.
Probably won't be picking up another Allison Saft book, which is sad cause they are all very pretty.
At absolute best, this book is incredibly confusing and a little boring. At worst, this book is telling the reader that imperialism is okay and putting down an entire class of people is fine so long as you can girlboss your way into a position of power.
Why bother creating a main character from a class of people who are Jewish-coded, point out all the ways they are treated like monsters by every other person in the book, point out how bad the king of this empire is at ruling fairly, and then have the main character become the right hand man for the king and never mention her people again? It really does feel like the message of the story is "you can make your own life slightly better if you stop fighting for the equal rights of your own people and become subservient to the man who puts them down."
Also, the villians of this book are just two women who are trying to use violent means to free their own kingdoms from the rule of an imperalist. They're evil, not because they want freedom, but because they use violence?
The only saving grace for this book is the romance, and even that is affected by the shitty politics. If you ignore that, it's a very good sapphic romance. It was the only thing that kept me reading to the end.
Probably won't be picking up another Allison Saft book, which is sad cause they are all very pretty.