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A review by crownedaimee
A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Sapphic academic rivals with a murder mystery subplot... what's not to love? I think a lot of people will be eating this up.
A Dark and Drowning Tide follows folklorist, Lorelei who is tasked to go on a expedition to find the Ursprung, which is said to give powers to those deemed worthy, with her mentor and some peers but to make matters worse, one of the peers is her her rival Sylvia. However nothing goes smooth sailing when Lorelei found her professor murdered one night and now she is on a mission to find the killer whilst trying to locate the Ursprung. And the only one that knows that Lorelei is innocent, is Sylvia.
I absolutely loved Saft's writing, it's so lyrical and descriptive that you immediately get sucked in. While this book is described as a "sapphic fantasy romance" don't let it fool you, there's no actually that much romance in this book. However, the amount that we got delivered! It was literally everything, had me kicking and screaming. I couldn't get enough of these two like their constant bickering but yet Lorelei couldn't stop thinking about Sylvia, chefs kiss. Their grumpy and sunshine vibes fit together so well.
I do wish that maybe we could've gotten a dual pov or perhaps a multi pov because I would've loved to know what Sylvia was thinking during some moments and I think it would've given us a better insight on some character's motives. I would've loved to have seen the murder mystery aspect a little more as well.
Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for a honest review.
A Dark and Drowning Tide follows folklorist, Lorelei who is tasked to go on a expedition to find the Ursprung, which is said to give powers to those deemed worthy, with her mentor and some peers but to make matters worse, one of the peers is her her rival Sylvia. However nothing goes smooth sailing when Lorelei found her professor murdered one night and now she is on a mission to find the killer whilst trying to locate the Ursprung. And the only one that knows that Lorelei is innocent, is Sylvia.
I absolutely loved Saft's writing, it's so lyrical and descriptive that you immediately get sucked in. While this book is described as a "sapphic fantasy romance" don't let it fool you, there's no actually that much romance in this book. However, the amount that we got delivered! It was literally everything, had me kicking and screaming. I couldn't get enough of these two like their constant bickering but yet Lorelei couldn't stop thinking about Sylvia, chefs kiss. Their grumpy and sunshine vibes fit together so well.
I do wish that maybe we could've gotten a dual pov or perhaps a multi pov because I would've loved to know what Sylvia was thinking during some moments and I think it would've given us a better insight on some character's motives. I would've loved to have seen the murder mystery aspect a little more as well.
Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for a honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism