A review by ainsleym
Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys

3.0

Extremely slow with no plot and little character development. I liked the relationship between Aphra and Charlie. It seemed the most fleshed out and convincing. I wish the book had focused more on strengthening that rather than adding so many other characters that weren't developed. It was interesting to see how the author developed Innsmouth and its culture. There weren't any stakes to this or anything that the plot seemed to be building towards and while I was ready to go with it at first, not enough changed to make the directionless plot worth it. I also wish that there was more mystery. The Yith acted like a human who just didn't always pick up on social cues/follow social conventions, which like relatable, and I don't want to relate to the Yith, I want them to be alien and unknowable! So much of this story was about understanding other people and researching magic which didn't mesh well for me with what I like about cosmic horror, which is facing the unknowable and exploring how people react to facing something incomprehensible. The writing was decent and there were some parts of this that I liked but it didn't do special anything for me. I won't be reading more in this world but I'm not mad that I read it, if only for curiosity about the gorgeous cover.