A review by thebalancedbookshelf
The Dark Tide by Alicia Jasinska

adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The Dark Tide is a story about an island that must make a human sacrifice every year to sedate the tide willing to consume them. A witch must fall in love with a human boy from the island and make him the sacrifice for the year. 

I loved the concept of this story. Witches and magic in a seaside town is such a desirable setting. While their were aspects to love about this there were also some that fell flat. The main one being I wish there was more time in between when the person is picked and when they are sacrificed. It’s hard for me to believe that they would grow such a deep connection after only one month and without having a lot of interactions. I think the relationships in all of the characters needed more development but I still like the path that they end up on. 

Another complaint I had was Linas relationship with her brother. His actions are very abusive and are portrayed in this manner but the author never really addresses it and in the end let’s him off the hook. I thought there was going to be a deeper dive into their relationship and why he is like this but she forgives him and jokes about it. I think his actions of grabbing her and making her break her ankle would have been passed off as a mistake if the author didn’t layer in all of these other abusive tendencies such as yelling, controlling who she likes and physically hitting things when he was upset. It seemed extreme to go into these details and not give him any fault. I’m disappointed in the way that panned out. 

What I did like about the story is that while it is a standalone the pacing wasn’t bad and we get a nice conclusion. The concept of witches sacrificing humans to the tide is very interesting and I liked that we learned about past sacrifices as well. I enjoyed the history behind all of the sacrifices and the threat of the mainlanders. I wish we could have learned more about the magical system and more detail about the spell work involved in the sacrifices. I also would have loved to learn more about Natalia and the town itself.

I think that there were some hits and misses but overall this wasn’t bad for a standalone novel. We got clear resolutions, some character development and a a lot of magical scenes. I do wish there was a little bit more expansion on the relationships, both romantic and sibling.
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