DNF at between 50-60% - While the premise of this novel was absolutely lovely, something about the characters' dispositions just was not resonating with me. It's pretty clear what sort of social mythology the author is trying to take on and unravel, and I do admire the intention behind the crafting of this plot. Separately, there are elements of mystery, beauty and grandeur that should lend themselves to a spellbinding combination, but the characters just read as entirely too flat and unrelatable for me to feel like I had any investment in the development of this plot.

First of all, wonderful adult debut from Allison Saft. I have yet to read Saft’s YA works but will definitely be looking forward to reading her other works as A Dark and Drowning Tide was a wonderfully eerie, fantastical romantasy novel.

I found the writing to be so beautiful, and incredibly immersive and honestly just very fun. There are great bits of action, court politics and mystery alongside the romance. Which I found was balanced really nicely. The magical world she created seemed really fleshed out, and also gave some excellent commentary on human emotion and flaws: “When you had nothing left to lose, you could afford to be recklessly, violently unpredictable.”

As for the cast of characters I found what drove them and their own personal goals to be the best part of the story. Following Lorelei and Sylvia as the main leads was truly some of my favorite moments. True rivals to lovers, lots of tension and the banter they have with one another is brilliant.

Overall a super fun read, and thank you to Random House Publishing Group for this arc.

I enjoyed this fantasy surgery mystery/quest. It was a good book and I enjoyed the story. It was a very good book that kept me entertained and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed Lorelei's character as well as Sylvia.
I just reviewed A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft. #ADarkandDrowningTide #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

2.5 rating!

it pains me to rate this lower than 3 bc the characters are amazing and their relationship is complicated and messy and lovely. it’s everything i want!!

the other aspects of this book however disappoint me so much. granted, it took me 3 months to finish this so maybe i took so long to be invested that it made the world and politics nonsensical to me. but i doubt it?? i have no idea but i am so grieved by the way the politics was handled here, and it was concluded. maybe that’s just me.

the pacing is also wonky. it was if saft knew this book should be short but wanted it to be a novel so they put so many unnecessary long scenes in between. it was frustrating.

it’s truly a good thing the characters were so interesting i stayed until the end

“𝘽𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙙 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧…”

Sapphic, academic rivals, on an adventure, solving a murder mystery, and there’s MAGIC!

Lorelei has been put in charge of an expedition for the King. She is an outsider among a group of longtime friends, among them the bane of her existence over the past five years, Sylvia. When there’s a murder on board their ship, the culprit must be found, but the goal of their expedition cannot wait.

This one definitely had whimsey from the very start. And the animosity and rivalry between the two romantic leads was very strong. The romance was a VERY slow burn, but when truths came out, the passion and longing finally broke through, leading to an emotional ending.

Lorelei’s experience as a Javenish women (this fantasy world’s equivalent of Jewish) is also a large part of this story. Feelings of outsiderhood, past feelings of guilt, and a protectiveness over her people shape much of her actions throughout.

The group of characters in this book reminded me a bit of the characters from 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘵𝘭𝘢𝘴 𝘚𝘪𝘹; you get to know them, and you’re not sure you really like and/or trust them, but deal with them you must. 😂

The atmosphere and the world were definitely my favorite part of the book. From the wildeleute, to the rivers, to the mountains and springs, the magic was definitely felt throughout this book.

This was a beautifully written, magical book with a sapphic romance at its center for when you’re looking for a whimsical story to take you on an adventure.

What this book is giving:
✅ Fantasy Romance
✅ Sapphic
✅ Murder Mystery
✅ A Quest/Adventure
✅ Mythical Creatures
✅ German Folklore
✅ Fantasy-Jewish Protagonist

Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5

Sapphic romance, slow burn, dark academia vibes. What more can you ask for? So much lore and fantasy I was hooked from the first few chapters. Def recommend!

I loved the romance. Very well done. I loved the MC emotional journey.

Hated the political resolution. Was sort of on the "big bad's" side at the end. Yikes.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a free eARC in return for an honest review.

Allison Saft's debut into the Adult age category is a natural transition from the evocative prose, emotionally driven character arcs, and atmospheric world building of her previous YA novels. A DARK AND DROWNING TIDE delivers with twisting academic mysteries, morally grey characters, and a slow burn rivals-to-lovers central romance. Five stars.

I absolutely loved this book - I'm such a sucker for dark academia. The writing tone was perfect, there were very serious moments and the characters really felt real to me because there were a lot of bright spots of humor. I thought the ending was especially adept in balancing that. I feel like so often I pick up a book that's dark academia/romantasy and it's so heavy, no moments of levity. This was a perfect mix of that for me. I feel again that the author was very affective in making the characters feel real. A true enemies to lovers tale, IMO.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. This book was INCREDIBLE! This story was intoxicating, I was hooked from the first chapter. The plot was intense and the writing crafted a brooding and grim atmosphere with a backdrop of fantasy and fantastical creatures. I really enjoyed the main plot of a doomed expedition with such a dysfunctional crew who all have something to prove, who all would do anything even if it meant putting their morals aside to accomplish it. Lorelei was a brilliant MC and I enjoyed her perspective and her slow morph and growth throughout the story. This story held some of my absolute favorite tropes; one bed, enemies to lovers, grumpy x sunshine, and slow burn. SUCH INTENSE SLOW BURN!! I literally felt MYSELF yearning, I adore when an author and a book has me feeling every emotion the characters do. This book discussed a lot of difficult topics such as political strife, antisemitism, and had detailed descriptions of death and war. I also wanted to note that Saft did an incredibly job writing the characters panic attacks and PTSD.

I'm not sure what it is, but this book didn't hit me as much as I thought it would. I enjoyed it a lot in some parts and completely despised it in others. A Far Wilder Magic was a similar situation for me, so I'm unsure if it's the writing style or just my preferences. The book sounds right up my alley, but unfortunately didn't quite hit the mark for me.

This was a solid 3.75 out of 5 stars for me (rounded up to 4 stars). I really wanted to love it since the actual plot was so interesting, but I greatly disliked how often both Lorelei and Sylvia were brought up name wise. It felt over done and at a certain point we should understand the main pov, especially since it was just predominantly one pov with little bits here and there from other characters but still from the main pov.

The breakdown of the three parts of the book was nice. Felt like each section had a start and an end. The twist though of who killed their mentor I honestly I did not see coming. It very much was like "oh whoa, what?! I didn't expect that character". It was a nice little twist.

The end I was meh about. I get the HEA but it was whiny in the sense of miscommunication and I hate that in books.

Lovely! I am always delighted to find a well done f/f romance/ fantasy read. Alison Saft does a wonderful job fitting interesting characters, an adventure/romance plot and unique world building into a shorter book. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for 400+ when it’s necessary, but sometimes it’s not. I found this to be well written, engaging and I was rooting for the two FMC’s the whole time. Solid book, would definitely recommend.

This book is whimsical, beautiful and everything I wanted. It was sapphic, academic rivals and I want to kiss them both. The atmosphere and tension is unmatched. Allison saft is a genius.

I loved this book so much. Sapphic academic rivals to lovers, dark fairytales, and a murder mystery?? It was immediately on my radar. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me an arc.

Lorelei, along with her peers and her mentor/leader of the team, go on an expedition to find a magic source for the king, which goes a bit off course when her mentor is murdered on the ship. Most of her peers hate her so it just gets more awkward when they all know one of them killed her. So of course the best course of action is to work with her rival to figure out what’s going on. It truly was though, they’re both brilliant. I love them.

The slow-burn romance had me squealing, Loreilie and Sylvia are so perfect for each other, and their chemistry…Ugh, I’m obsessed. Everyone felt so real and compelling, I understood everyone. The atmosphere was one of my favorite parts with there sentient forests that move at night and rivers with dragons swimming beneath them and shapeshifting beasts just randomly popping up and coming at you ? love it. The beautiful writing just puts everything together. Anyways, read it when it comes out you won’t regret it.

Thank you Netgalley, Del Rey and Allison Saft for allowing me to read an arc of A Dark and Drowning Tide in exchange for my honest review..

This one hurts a little. As soon as I read the synopsis for this book I knew I had to get my hands on it as soon as I could. I loved the way Allison Saft weaved folklore into the plot, often using these stories to mirror what was happening to the characters on the page. Those were some of my favorite moments.

However, I just wanted more. I wanted more backstory to better understand the characters and their motives (which is a huge part of the plot and we only get crumbs). I wanted more action, more tension, just more! I would have loved to see the plot of this book fleshed out into more than one volume, I feel like it would have given it more time with flush out some of the pacing issues.

I was engrossed in the book and did manage to get teary eyed in a few moments between Lorelei and Slyvia but I just wanted more!

I’ll definitely be checking out Allison’s other work as I was truly engrossed in the book when I was reading it and enjoyed her writing style very much.

Was not for me sadly, I think I’ll give the audiobook a go, but this was not it for me. Maybe I don’t like academia much these days.

Despite having two other books by Allison Saft on my TBR, both of which are already published, this ARC of A Dark and Drowning Tide is the first of her books that I've read. (Also, quick shout to NetGalley, Del Rey, and Allison Saft for making it possible for me to read this book before its publication!!) I am even more anticipatory of when I can read her other books now that I've gotten a taste of her work.

A Dark and Drowning Tide is many things--full of a cast of incredibly interesting characters, a peek into a world that is both like ours and also so different, a story that left me gasping, groaning, and grinning in turn--but what it is not is a disappointment. It took me a bit of time to get into this book (fanfiction related hyperfixations will almost always come out on top when I'm trying to decide what to read during my lunch break no matter how excited I am about the other book I'm planning to read), but by the time I finally sat down and made myself read the first chapter, I was hooked. I finished about half the book that day and the other half the next. Part of what drew me in was that cast of characters I mentioned before--not only are Lorelei and Sylvia intriguing (both as individuals and in their interactions with each other), but so are the group of other characters that surround them. Each is rich in backstory and detail, and, though we only scratch at their true depths, I found myself as attached to some of them as I did our main characters.

The thing that most firmly drew me into this book was the world in which it is set. There are familiar parts to this world--Lorelei's religion is a clear allusion to Judaism, and the empire in which our characters live gave me some pretty strong vibes of Austria-Hungary--and other parts are unfamiliar in their fantastical nature. (Vanishing islands that only appear at a certain time in the moon's cycle, the ability to control water magically, the wildeleute...) Seeing these things interplay was a joy within itself. And then there are the folktales. As a folklorist, Lorelei is full of them, and she's constantly bringing them up in her mind. I truly believe some of the best ways to understand people are through their folklore, and the folktales Lorelei tells in her own mind are wonderful windows into the world in which she lives. It is also so much fun to see what bits of the folktales are from folktales we have in our own world, and which ones are changed to fit the world in which the characters live.

I highly enjoyed A Dark and Drowning Tide. I can almost guarantee that this is a book I will be buying a print copy of when it releases so that I can have it on my shelf and return to it whenever I want. If you enjoy folkloric fantasy, dark academia, mystery, and sapphic love stories, then this book is definitely for you. If you can't get your hands on an ARC, make sure you watch out for it in libraries and bookstores this September. Or get ahead of the game and preorder it now!

This was beautiful, I had a very good time in this magical book. I like the way it was written. It was done good. I like the characters also.

The folklore in this book was absolutely beautiful and the gothic dark atmosphere built into the fantasy of this world was even better. I truly loved every second of this, and I love Allison Saft’s writing style even more. The way she describes everything helps immerse you into the world/story more than you could possibly imagine and it keeps you wanting more and more. The worldbuilding was amazing, and confusing at first but once I reread some parts I understood everything. The magic system in this book was fun to read and experience also.
Lorelei and Sylvia are the main characters in this story and I love both of them immensely. Lorelei is a folklorist and Sylvia is her academic rival. Their romance that unfolded throughout the story was wonderful to read and I loved the yearning they had for each other at certain points. They both also had good character development and I was never disappointed with either of their actions. Everything made sense for both characters.
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballentine for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.