A review by spellvexit7
Curious Tides by Pascale Lacelle

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

While I thought the prose was well-written, and even quite beautiful in places, my chief complaint was all of the table setting in the first third of the book, which hamstrung forward progress.  There were so many pauses in conversations and actions where the reader was taken aside for a giant lore dump -- as a result, the pacing was fitful and a bit frustrating.  I'm also discovering that I need to like my protagonists to truly enjoy stories, yet Emory was a sullen, uninteresting drip for the most part, misplacing her trust in painfully and obviously misguided ways.  As another reviewer noted, I'm also tired of love triangles.  I realize this is a YA novel and it comes with the territory, but having an unlovable main character made the triangle even more grating.