hazelnutpie 's review for:

A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft
2.0
dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
This book was a complete letdown. You can tell that the author came up with the premise of "dark academia gothic sapphic rivals to lovers" first and added the other very extraneous-feeling elements later to add to the vibes. The vibes were certainly there, but everything else fell so flat that I was just left disappointed in the end.

The extraneous stuff added for the vibes:
  • First of all, this book shouldn't be classified as dark academia because the university is irrelevant as a setting and none of the characters actually use their specialties for anything. No studying, no research, nothing. Any mentions of collecting data and research feel like set dressing.

  • The folklore aspects. The mc Lorelei is a folklorist (except she actually wanted to be a naturalist, but that was never shown in her interactions with the natural world) and will recount the obligatory folk tale every once in a while, but it all felt very shoehorned in. We only meet a few creatures who tend to blend together and don't learn much about Lorelei's work, nor see her use her academic skills very much. This ain't no Emily Wilde that's for sure

  • The murder mystery. I'm honestly not sure why this plot was even included in the first place considering Lorelei, a supposedly sharp and analytical person, is so terrible at investigating (she found a clue in her room and completely forgot about it) that the killer (who she never suspected bc she never bothered investigating) had to reveal themselves to get that plot wrapped up

  • The side characters' relationships. Idk why but the author made the other members of the expedition group childhood friends with the emperor and each other and also war veterans and also former nobility of their colonized nations. They also had some sort of polycule thing going on idk. You'd think this would be delved into deeper but it isn't and most of these characters disappear for large parts of the book anyways. We're also seeing them from Lorelei's pov, and she hates them all, so you're not exactly endeared to them

  • The politics. Why would you put in anticolonial messages throughout your entire book and have the mcs discuss how bad it would be if the emperor got more power...only to have them serve him in the end for the sake of "stability" and make the character who rebels against colonialism the bad guy? And have the mcs get married and go "ooh maybe our love will solve prejudice". It honestly feels like the author just wanted to finish the book and ended things quickly

It's a shame bc the romance is sweet, the writing is beautiful, and Lorelei's character was well explored. Unfortunately this book was just a mess