Review by nekoprankster218 - A Dark and Drowning Tide

nekoprankster218 's review for:

A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft

2.75

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The last few chapters of this book felt like a betrayal. I was so onboard and enjoying the romance, and the ending just shot all that joy at the back of the barn. I can't look at the couple of this book and not want to shout, "you stupid sluts!" (context: with the emotion of that tumblr meme, "there's not gonna be _, you stupid slut).

But to start with the positives that carried most of the star rating - and if not for the ending, would've had this be rated even higher: the setting of the story was so enchanting. It's so rich in both mundane and mythical worldbuilding. I enjoyed the recurring theme of folktales and how they'd keep coming back into the story - from being used to help describe characters or situations to becoming actual plot points both supportive and antagonistic. This is, in my opinion, the best part of the book.

The mystery was well done. Despite all my guesses of who were red herrings and who were likely to be wolves in sheep's clothing, I still couldn't have predicted the final twist - and once it was on the page, everything clicked into place. If I weren't so furious about the ending, I'd wonder how much would pop out to me on a re-reading. I will say that the pacing is a bit weird; the synopsis mentions secrets from the mentor, but it took a long time to actually reach that part, and once the story did it didn't seem to have as much bearing on the plot or character as the synopsis led me to believe. There were times when progression in one plot (I'd break this book down into three plots: the expedition, the murder mystery, and the romance) would suddenly ramp up in a way that it felt like the end of the story, despite the plethora of remaining pages. I think some of this has to do with the short size of the book and a little bit of not marrying the three simultaneous plots together - it felt more like they would take turns in the spotlight, until around the end when it all came together.

I have a love-hate relationship with the romance of this book. One thing I will say is that I don't think this could be classified as enemies-to-lovers - some might consider this spoilers:

In truth, the "hate" was not really mutual and Sylvia always had a crush on Lorelei, so the romance was really Lorelei beginning to realize this fact, get over her own self, and accept a happy ending with Sylvia.

However, I actually eat this shit up, so I was still satisfied in that department! Although I will say that I think this still fits as rivals-to-lovers, since they still bicker and have an academic rivalry; it's just not as spicy as some labels would suggest. Now, the third-act break-up was mercifully short - and accidentally something I rooted for. There was a change I wanted to happen in one of the characters before I was willing to fully ride the ship, and until then I actually thought the "break-up" (spoilers:

betrayal

) was justified. And to my disappointment and horror, that change not only did not occur, but it felt like this character in question was just enabled and rewarded for her very pressing flaws! Which I just feel heartbroken about, because besides the ending of this story (and by extension, how this relationship finalizes), I actually really enjoyed these two! I loved their dynamic, I loved the look of their designs together, I loved their dialogue with each other and the way their relationship developed (up to a certain point) - the ending is just really what's holding this whole book back.

So now to address it:

The ending of this book just straight up sucks and is infuriating. After being terrified that King Wilhelm would scapegoat her, after acknowledging her people are a target he'd slaughter the moment he felt it necessary, after discovering and - while being hurt - not blaming her mentor's selfish decision to save her own self from Wilhelm's clutches - Lorelei still fucking accepts a position in his court, saying she'd be a fool to decline! The man who she knows would kill her without a shred of remorse if it ever became politically convenient! And Sylvia repeatedly values her own grief against violence than actually taking a stance towards the values of justice she claims to have, always finding excuses for the unjust and making compromises with them! She repeatedly sets herself up to get backstabbed and the only reason she's not dead yet is because Lorelei recognizes when the betrayal is coming and saves her, but it still doesn't clue Sylvia in when she just has to cut her losses and accept when someone has chosen to be a violent thorn in her side and will never not choose to be a violent thorn in her side! Right after nearly getting killed by the murderer by offering mercy, she goes on to argue a punishment of exile to another secret villain of the story instead of just executing her - and it's like, hello??? She's clearly going to come back and scheme a revenge?? More people are gonna die in the long run??? And at the end of the book, they finally admit that - they finally admit there is no path forward that doesn't involve violence and war, but they still choose the one where they personally get to have stability (for as long as the king allows it for them - a king they both spent this whole book believing would definitely scapegoat them for the murder because it makes more political sense for him to!!) and keep themselves comfortable. Fuck the fact this man immediately ordered for Sylvia to be seized the moment he heard the Ursprung's power wouldn't be his and was only placated when Sylvia promised to be uber-obedient, fuck the fact the Yevani are still oppressed and held hostage and only Lorelei got a rise in station, fuck the fact that people's cultures will be erased for the sake of unity and livelihoods thrown away for whatever the king wants in the moment - the poor traumatized princess only had to do four months of quashing rebellion, which is somehow better than any amount of time fighting against tyranny and oppression and selfish power consolidation?? I cannot state enough, the conclusion this book has on oppression and injustice is so shitty: murdering a violent enemy is being just as bad as them no matter how many times your mercy is used to manipulate and betray you, defying a ruthless ruler is worse than bending the knee and giving them everything they want because war bad except in the case of quashing uprisings in which case that's just the unfortunate sacrifice, and it causes more trouble to speak out against racism publicly than it is to just quietly keep your oppressed friends away and assure them you think that stuff is just awful - even though you still will keep your mouth shut when it happens in front of you and make excuses for why you still hang out with racist friends. I was so upset about the ending that I almost forgot until now: in the middle of the book, Sylvia just lets people burn an effigy of a Yeva unchallenged! Not to mention how, despite Johann's clear supremacist personality and repeated examples of that in his dialogue, she still tries to insist he's not that bad and is her dear friend!

Overall, be very careful when reading this book so you don't get heartbroken like I did, because it's not even about if you already have the opposing politics in your head already - the dissonance between what the main couple think and say, but then go on to do and how they justify those choices, will still probably get to people that genuinely do believe war is bad in all contexts and nonviolence is the only valid resistance.

Content Warnings