A review by clockworkstars
A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
“Until they returned to Ruhigburg, there was no one to turn to, no one to trust, but Sylvia von Wolff.” 
 
I do not believe that I can objectively rate this book, even more that I don't believe that I can truly rate any book. My reading experience was… particular, and I am afraid that it would play a bit too much on the rating. This book was hard to start for me, even though it sounded perfect. 
 
We are talking about a murder mystery, a scientific expedition with a lot of folklore inspired by German folklore, magical creatures, dark academia vibes (perfect for this start of autumn), and a lesbian rivals to lovers that is kind of slow burning. As I said, it sounds perfect to my eyes. And it became nearly perfect when I reached the middle of the book and finally got into it. And yet, the first half isn’t bad. I just believe that this author has a particular style and that it didn’t suit me for a long time. But that depends purely on me, for once. 
 
The story, however, and its resolution were extraordinary. Once I was in the book, I couldn’t really put it down and ended in 3 days what I had been dragging for 2 weeks. I do believe that when you can get inside of it, this is an excellent book. The murder mystery part was really nice, even though I felt like it was lacking a bit in some parts before the middle. But every time Lorelei, our main character, was suspecting someone from the crew or investigating, I was invested. But I think that the best part of this book was the folklore. There were a lot of stories told across the pages of this novel, and it gave this very peculiar vibe to the story that was really lovely and nearly bewitching, maybe. 
 
And last but not least, the characters. They are the people with whom we spend the novel, so they are, in my eyes, one of the most important parts of the book. And here, it's a hit. Lorelei, our main character, is a bit hard to like at first, she's quite tempered, and she doesn’t really trust people. But that makes her story interesting! She has been an outsider all her life, as she is Yevani (which seems to be the Jewish community equivalent in this fictional country inspired by Germany), she has no reason to trust the crew, especially when some of them are straight up horrible, and she needs to investigate the murder of her captain. So, it took me some chapters to get attached to her, yes, but once I was attached, I liked her very much. And Sylvia!! I do like her very much. She is forced to make an alliance with Lorelei as they are the only two who couldn’t have done it, and she is the other person in our rivals-to-lovers subplot. And listen. I am not the biggest fan of enemies/rivals to lovers. It needs to be really well done in order for me to like it. And here it was really well done. I love them, I love their relationship, and in fact, I started to get more involved in the book when the slow burn started to burn a bit more. As if I was falling for the story at the same time Lorelei fell for Sylvia. As for the other characters, I really liked Ludwig and the relationships between the crew in general. 
 
So I do believe that this is a great book if you want an atmospheric read with folklore, murder, lesbians, and great characters. I would like to thank Netgalley and Daphne Press for sending me this ARC, it goes out today! 
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