A review by 8amtrain
Floodtide by Heather Rose Jones

5.0

heather rose jones is DOING IT – working class lesbians, women intellectuals in middle europe, fully fleshed out jewish and black characters on top of what's already a spectacular bit of just-realistic-enough fantasy worldbuilding... in contrast to the previous alpennia books, which focus largely on romances between older women, floodtide is told first person from the pov of a teenage girl named roz who works in the saveze household with her own little crew of younger friends – particularly celeste if you remember her! background characters and relationships make appearances that are super rewarding for readers of the previous books, but i think this book could very effectively be read as an intro to the series as well (as jones meant for it to be). it's testament to jones' incredible versatility in jumping from the regency romance register of daughter of mystery to the domestic fiction-esque mother of souls to what is really a delightful romp of a bildungsroman.

also it features an epidemic plot where roz, celeste, and their teenage friends struggle to stop the spread of river fever in the poorer quarters of rotenek. as if this book did not ALREADY hit all the right notes for me!!!!! i'm spoiled by heather rose jones.