“It wasn’t wise to take your eyes off a dying thing.”

“A Dark and Drowning Tide,” by Allison Saft

Lorelei, a folklorist, is on an expedition with six royals to find the magical spring holding untold power. When her mentor is mysteriously murder onboard the ship, she must find out who the culprit is. Each of them has their own motives to want to murder the mentor and all point fingers at everyone else.

I liked this book a lot. It reminded me of the game clue but on a ship and with magic powers and magic creatures. The vibe of the book was dark academia and whimsy which added to the period of the murder mystery era. The academic rivals’ slow burn situation was alluring and sucked me into the story the entire time. The way Allison Saft wrote the book is very poetic. 4 out of 5 stars.

-Magic
-F/F
-Academic Rivals
-Murder Mystery
-Slow Burn

Thank you for the ARC, Netgalley.

I really enjoyed the. magic system in this story and wish it got fleshed out more! Same with the different creatures. They were so cool! I enjoyed the characters and plot but feel like I may have enjoyed everything more if it was a duology.

Good book, rating lower because I just could not connect with the characters. A lot of it felt surface level, and I was hoping for more depth in the characters and the story. Not a bad book, just not for me

I had a good feeling about this book when I requested the ARC from Netgalley (what can I say, I love a good cover) but I had no idea it was going to be this good.

Lorelei is a breath of fresh air as a protagonist. She's clever, she's relatable, she misses every cue that Sylvia might possibly not hate her as much as she assumes, and best of all, and this is terribly underrated in a mystery novel - we get to read about her thinking. There is nothing more deserving of an eyeroll to me than a detective character that suddenly clicks the entire plot together, who solves everything off screen and quietly, leaving the reader a clueless Watson, trailing behind. Lorelei is smart. She considers all of the angles. And more importantly, sometimes she is wrong. She corrects herself, and starts again, letting the reader follow along without feeling stupid for missing a clue. Instead we're beside her, nodding along in a "That feels wrong, but she's got a GOOD point there...". We're right there with Lorelei, scrambling for it to all make sense, and its so good!

And her chemistry with her counterpart, Slyvia is a wonderful rivals-to-lovers. As obviously besotted they are with each other (Lorelei PLEASE no one thinks about their rival like that) the tension was drawn out perfectly throughout the story, and better yet they still bickered all through the end! They lost no personality into their slide from rivals to lovers, making the two a very believable and delightful pair.

I would highly recommend this novel to fans of Emily Wilde based on folklore and tone, which is written beautifully into the lore of the world. My most highlighted passages were mostly prose on the scenery, our heroines just existing in the space, in the world they belonged to. The perfect beginning-of-fall read to kick off the autumn season.

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC of this novel! And thank you Allison Saft for writing it <3

Sapphic academic rivals and a murder mystery? I was super excited to obtain this ARC especially after enjoying Saft's A Fragile Enchantment.
This book, however, didn't deliver as I hoped it would. I found myself skimming quite a bit and had to refocus myself several times. I felt lost and disconnected from the characters. I really struggled with the enemies to lovers aspect of the book. I just didn't feel like they were believable as love interests. I love side characters and I wish there was more depth to them. I also was expecting more to the murder mystery side of things and that kind of fell flat for me.

The descriptions of the world were lovely and I didn't have trouble envisioning the setting. The author does a wonderful job with her writing there. I did like the mythical creatures in the book!

This book just wasn't for me. I do think that fans of Saft will enjoy her adult debut.

4.5/5

This book had a bit of everything. Magic, whimsy, pining and longing, sweet romance, grumpy/sunshine, rivals to lovers, adventure, action, murder mystery. It touched on how trauma can impact someone’s every move and thought, and how to overcome the weight of it. I enjoyed this novel a lot - the only thing that could have made it a full 5 stars for me was more atmosphere and more romance. It felt like we were getting bits and pieces, but not enough to make me FEEL what I was reading. That said, it was a wonderful novel and I’d recommend it to anyone who asked.

What can I say I’m a sucker for rivals to lovers and add a murder mystery, I’m a goner!
The beginning of the story felt a bit slow, but afterwards it kicks off. I loved every interaction between Lorelei and Sylvia, Allison Saft KNOWS how to write banter and charm into a story!
It’s a slow burn that builds up to such a tender love story. I wish we would’ve had at least a snippet of Sylvia’s pov, that would have just been a perfect addition to this book.

Thank you NetGalley for an early e-copy to review!

Lorelei Kaskel is a folklorist on an expedition with six eccentric nobles in search of a fabled spring. The king wants to harness its magical power to secure his reign in Brunnestaad. Lorelei wants to prove herself, but her mentor is murdered on their ship. The remaining expedition members have motive, and the only one Lorelei knows must be innocent is her rival Sylvia von Wolff. Now in charge of the expedition, Lorelei must find the spring. Even without the threat of a coup, there are dangers to contend with. The forest can rearrange itself at night, dragons are hiding in the river, and shapeshifting beasts are out for blood.

The different nations rapidly conquered by Brunnestaad all have a sort of magic, which here is the ability to manipulate water and its properties. The spring they are all looking for is the source of magic, and using it will give untold power. The king wants this to cement his rule and is far more ruthless about it than he appears. The different regions can be compared to European countries, and Lorelei is Jewish coded for how her people are talked about and derided and the traditions mentioned. She's motivated to prove herself and her people, and the others on the expedition are all representatives of different regions. They each have the expertise to help find the spring, as well as motives to stop its discovery.

The book is a murder mystery as well as a travelogue for a fantasy nation. Most of the characters don't all trust each other despite growing up together, given their different backgrounds. Lorelai is aware of her differences from them, the precarious position she's in, and that her life would be forfeit if she doesn't present a solution to the king. The travels were dangerous due to magical creatures, their own mistrust, and difficulty finding the spring. The story took a few turns I didn't expect as well as a few that I could. It kept me riveted the entire time, and I thoroughly enjoyed this story.

Thank you netgalley and publisher for the ARC in exchange for a honest review.

I really wanted to love this book. The story and book cover really drew me in however I found that I could not connect with the characters or story. I love a sapphic fantasy and this was a good start but I felt like it could have been better with a little more time.

Dark and twisty! Interesting folklore and very atmospheric. This was a really good sapphic fantasy story. There is also a lot of mystery and intrigue. I rated this a solid 4 stars

If you’re looking for a tall woman to be mean to you, this is the book for you. Excellent world building, compelling central mystery, engaging lead characters - what more could you want!

A special thanks to Netgally and the publisher’s for the arc.

Wow, I had really high hopes for this book because the cover is gorgeous and the storyline sounded interesting. Sapphic rivals to lovers who have to solve a murder mystery while dealing with mystical creatures?? SIGN ME UP.

I however could not get behind the message this book presented. I’m supposed to root for the guy that wants to unify entire nations under one rule and basically kill any culture that does not match his views??? I’m supposed to support colonization???

No, thank you. That is all.

Welcome to a world steeped within the world of German folklore and bits of German history. "A Dark and Drowning Tide" by Allison Saft is a sapphic, dark academic rivals-to-lovers romance steeped in the slowest of burns. Our FMC is the Folklorist Lorelei Kaskel, a Yevani (heavily implied fantasy version of Jewish) who has spent her academic career fighting against Sylvia Von Wolff (and prejudice) for an esteemed roll under her mentor Zeigler. As a team led by Zeigler, Lorelei, Sylvia and their 4 companions head out on an expedition to find the Ursprung - a lake believed to be the source of all magic and said to harbor untold power. That is, until Ziegler is found murdered and the only people who could be responsible are the 6 remaining academic counterparts. But that is just the start of their tragedies as one thing after another starts to fall apart on their quest, the possibility of any of them surviving quickly starts to become a dream.

I don't know if how "A Dark and Drowning Tide" is how Allison Saft typically writes her stories but I unfortunately just did not connect as fully as I wanted to. I unfortunately just felt like every element was just scratched at the surface and never fully dove into and explored. The murder mystery aspect of the story never became a real investigation, Lorelei simply seemed to just be throwing darts at a wall hoping to get a bullseye. The expedition I had hoped to be filled with folklore and explore the fantasy aspect of this fantasy romance book felt awkwardly crammed in with brief explanations that just didn't fully land. Unfortunately with our narrator Lorelei, she spent so much of her time not wanting to feel anything, I ended up not really caring for the characters. She hated them, they were cruel and indifferent to her, therefore I was indifferent to them. I felt almost as if we had entered an already existing story toward the end of it and never really got the context that connected it together. I wanted to care, I wanted to get engrossed in the story and the characters and the complicated relationships that existed but it was just missing some deeper factor that could pull me fully in.

I enjoyed the premise, the information we were given of the characters and how Saft handled the antisemitism and hatred that exists in our reality and brought it to this world, especially since we are existing in a German influenced world.

None of this is to say this is a bad book, perhaps I had different expectations when one of the main advertisers is rivals-to-lovers when I entered this story. It just didn't wow me or pull me in as much as I wanted it to. I just wish there was more, more to give time to connect with the characters, more to let the fantasy to sink in.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for the arc of this book.

At first, I thought the beginning was a little slow, but once the expedition started the story picked up. I loved the mystery between these 5 noble friends who are friends of the King... one of them had to have killed the head leader of the expedition on the first night. Lorelei, the main leading character, is viewed as a lower-than-low being, but she is the leading scholar of this expedition to find the Ursprung magical spring, which contains the main source of magic. If she succeeds in finding the spring, then she will have a place in court and be safe. Lorelei has to now find the murderer on this trip so that she isn't accused of murder. It's life or death for her and to top things off, her rival Sylvia von Wolf is one of the 5 nobles on the trip. It doesn't help that she somehow is also attracted to Sylvia. The two end up having to work together to solve this murder and find the spring. I enjoyed their banters and tension. I liked the magic in this book and the different creatures. Sylvia reminds me of Luna Lovegood. You can't hate her and she carries a sabor with her. I gave this book a 3.5 stars. I liked the story and enjoyed reading it, but it wasn't grabbing me at the very beginning.

Thank you Random House Publishing for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I can’t I’m in love with these two, I’m absolutely obsessed with Allison Saft’s writing, and even though I’ve only read two of her books my point still stands. I was so excited when I got a digital ARC of this that I might have shed some tears... This became a top three of my most anticipated books of this year after reading A Far Wilder Magic by her earlier this year (which I also loved and still think about), and it was so worth it omg. Thank you thank you thank you so much to NetGalley for the ARC

The rivalry between Lorelei and Sylvia was too good! I mean the bickering!!! And then them having to team up together even though Lorelai has such a strong “dislike” for Sylvia? I lived for it! Lorelei is such a complex character, which honestly I kind of dig, but it was nice seeing her open herself up more after being guarded for so long. And Sylvia coming to be that person for her that Lorelai could trust, the pining, was just lovely.
It was pretty magical, it had similar vibes to the Emily Wilde books, which I loved! I enjoyed the way it was written and the building of it was captivating.

Moody, atmospheric, and memorable. An engaging and twisty read that sticks with you. Also, the cover is gorgeous and draws you in, which doesn't hurt at all.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
Having read and enjoyed all of Allison Saft’s previous YA titles, I was excited to hear she was writing an adult book, not to mention that it would be a sapphic fantasy! While there has been danger with me hyping books in the past, I ended up really enjoying this one. I loved the blend of the fairytale and folktale themes.
The world building isn’t the most obvious, especially at first, and I admit I was a little lost, especially being thrown in as I was. But it definitely suits the vibe Saft is going for, with the fairytale thing, and as I came to grips with everything, I ended up liking it.
Lorelei and Sylvia are intriguing characters, and while I did feel that there was a sense of…distance (if that makes sense?) in how the text depicts them, as you get a sense of what they feel, but it’s not a true emotional connection. The prose style likely played a role in this slight distance. However, I still more or less empathized with them, and loved their developing romance, with them starting off at odds and growing into more amid the dangers on their expedition.
There’s a lot going on, with not just the romance and the incorporation of the world’s politics and external dangers, but the murder mystery, which kept me consistently turning pages to find out what would happen next.
While this is (as far as I can tell) a standalone, and Saft mainly writes standalones, I am not opposed to her writing more in this vein or in this world. Fans of Saft’s prior work, especially those looking to cross over and try more adult fantasy won’t be disappointed with this book, and I’d also recommend it to readers interested in a sapphic fantasy with a fairytale vibe.

I was anticipating this book so highly. Unfortunately, it fell flat for me. I am currently over 30% through the book, about 100 pages in, and I feel I have no connection to the characters. There also seems to be too many characters, it’s hard to keep track of who is who and who did what to who. It’s a murder mystery, but I don’t really care about who did it.

I wish so badly that this book worked for me. It had so many things I love, a sapphic relationship, a mystery, and dark academia. However, it just didn’t click with me.

Thank you so much for the ARC!

3.5 stars

Sapphic dark academia folklore with a murder mystery is something I would devour. While the writing is beautiful and the world seems really interesting, there are a lot of elements that I think needed some more polishing to bring together more cohesively. Once I started looking at Lorelei and Sylvia as a Wednesday x Enid reimagining, I was a lot more invested. I wish the investigation had more evidence searching earlier on. Why would you not search the compartments immediately after a murder?

There were lots of info dumping parts that were really offputting and random folklore bits that were lovely, but the way they were integrated was jarring, though that could be a result of the formatting. I wanted more interaction with the creatures like the mara and nixies. I wasn't blown away by this one, but I'd be willing to try another of the author's work.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review.