A dark academia, sapphic, murder mystery with vibes similar to Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries???? Sign me up ASAP! A Dark and Drowning Tide has lots of different elements that are perfectly woven together. It explores betrayal by those closest to you, what people will do in the name of heroism, and how greed can corrupt. I thought I knew the twist in the murder mystery, but I didn't! I was pleasantly surprised that my theory was incorrect. I found Lorelei and Sylvia's relationship very intriguing because of its slow burn (if you're a 'a hate her, but actually, maybe I like her and I've mistaken rivalry for pining, oh my god what do I do now?!' girlie, this one's for you).

Thank you for giving me the chance to review this Arc!

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this book. I got 16% (4 chapters) of the way through, maybe I was a little rash in this decision, but I at least expected something to jump out at me and grab my attention. For the main plot being set on a great expedition searching for a spring with untold magic and solving a murder; I expected something a little more fast paced. Nothing happened and it couldn't keep me interested even though I knew that the murder was coming up! I c0udn't even stand the extra side characters; they were just introduced by the King, and they had a small expedition group meeting on the boat, and I just found them all annoying. If it was more fast paced, I might have overlooked it, but the writing is slow and not my cup of tea. I did not like Lorelei from the beginning, she seemed angsty and mean to herself and all those around her. No wonder why no one likes her; even if the root part of everyone's animosity was because Lorelei was from an undesirable part of town who were not openly welcome by the King or community. If she was nice-ish maybe her colleagues would at least respect her.

Sylvia seems off. She's hiding something I know it and trying desperately to throw everyone off her scent. Especially Lorelei, since it's easy to distract her since she's so self-absorbed by hatred toward herself and others. That's just my theory, it seems odd to make two unlikeable main characters right off the bat.

I might give this another shot. I loved the premise and the summary had me WANTING to love this. I already took a huge step back from this (I had this Arc since April I believe) and I couldn't force myself to pick it back up. Probably going to wait for more reviews and reevaluate next year.

I loved the story, the vibe, the characters. However, once the romance kicked into gear, I lost some of my interest. I didn't buy Lorelei and Sylvia together. The romance didn't seem to have much basis outside of attraction. I kind of wish books had more guts to deal with solely physical attraction vs making it an all consuming love when there isn't a solid basis for that. I also found the weaving of the Jewish metaphor to be a little clunky. Conceptually, muah chef's kiss. But I think if you're going to have a fantasy Jewish population and give them a fantasy Jewish name, etc. it needs to be consistent. Lorelei was Yevani but then everything about Yevani culture is referred to with Jewish terms. Just call them Jewish. You're not doing a metaphor anymore. Felt like a misstep in the worldbuilding.

This book wasn't quite it. I adored Lorelei but I don't think A Dark and Drowning Tide did her story justice. This book was marketed as dark academia, a fantasy murder mystery with sapphic enemies to lovers. This book gives us all of that, but, at the same time, I also felt like none of it was done as well as I'd hoped for.

We were given an atmospheric, moody dark setting, which I enjoyed. We were also given a fantasy world, but I wanted more focus on world building. I enjoyed the heavy focus on water as a source of power, but I wanted to learn more about the magical critters and the limits and reaches of the world's magic.

Our main plot follows the characters on an expedition to find a magical body of water, but that felt slow. And the murder mystery investigation and interrogation of characters was kind of boring. I wanted more action! It wasn't until the second half where I felt things took off. Including the sapphic enemies to lovers romance.

Ultimately, this book fell short for me. But if you like fantasy and you're okay with more of a focus on atmosphere and less on world building and plot (and you love a grumpy, sapphic academic (don't we all?)), this one is still worth a try. Maybe just read it on a moody grey day to really let yourself get lost in it. :)

this was very enjoyable! it was a lot going on in the book and i just wish it was paced a bit better but other than that i liked it!

Dark academia rivals -to-lovers sapphic romance full of folklore, pining, self loathing, a wild cast of characters, and a dash of whodunnit. With major themes of antisemitism and war, nationalism and unification, this book was beautifully written and packed a major punch. Saft’s lush prose hits again and the atmospheric writing is simply gorgeous. Lorelei’s grumpy to Sylvia’s sunshine was ✨chef’s kiss✨ and I could not love them more. The slow burn, the angst, the pining - so good!! The whoddunit plotline worked well in pushing the story forward and the elements of German and Jewish folklore were really intriguing. The cover art is STUNNING and I will definitely need a physical copy for my shelves. Allison Saft is never a miss for me. 4.5 stars rounding up to five!

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. This is all of the dark academia-ish vibes I want rolled up in one book. It's an adventure, it's atmospheric, there's a dash of romance, it's PERFECT. I had such a fun time reading this one, I can't wait to get my hands on a physical copy for my shelf. I love Ms. Saft's writing style. It varies so much, but is always consistently amazing and knows how to keep the readers engaged.

A stunningly written gothic romance with beautiful imagery and well developped characters.
Lorelei and Sylvia are fascinating characters and their dynamic had me hooked.
I love the folkloristic element because it never fails to amaze me.

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got an eGalley of this from NetGalley to review.

Thoughts: This was okay. The characters were hard for me to really engage with throughout, and I expected more adventure from the description. This has some adventure but is more of a who-dun-it mystery with a lot of politics going on in the background. I almost stopped reading this a of couple times because I just didn't enjoy the story or the characters all that much. The second half of the book was better than the first.

The story follows Lorelei, a folklorist from a religious group that's been prosecuted often. She is hoping to help lead an expedition with her mentor on a search for a magical spring that will provide unlimited power. When her mentor is murdered early on in the expedition, the only person she thinks she can trust is her academic rival, Sylvia. The other five expedition members are all, like Sylvia, in competition either for or in support of the king's throne in one way or another, and all of them have reasons to want the expedition to succeed but the people around them to fail. As Sylvia and Lorelei are forced to work together, they realize that they may be closer to each other than they realized.

I really loved some of the adventuring parts here. There is a lot of awesome adventuring, fantastic creatures, and tough situations to survive. However, that is entwined with this odd "who-dun-it" mystery and a lot of political turmoil in the background. I didn't really like any of the characters in this book. Lorelei was too aggressively angry all the time, Sylvia was too dense, and the other expedition members had equally off-putting personalities. The story just wasn't well-balanced and wandered a bit too much for me.

The ending feels very abrupt (I feel like I have said that a lot about books lately). I just wish the story had focused more on the journey and the magic and less on a bunch of back stabbing characters with historical issues with each other trying to destabilize the kingdom. There is just too much going on here; some parts are very dense and some are very lyrical.

My Summary (3/5): Overall this was okay but not great. There was too much back-stabbing and political maneuvering for me, and I didn't like any of the characters. If we could have focused on the adventure, the magic, and the journey more, I would have liked this. Itfeels like there is too much going on here; a magical journey, cut throat politics, a who-dun-it mystery, a romance, and a search for a mythological truth. I liked "A Far Wilder Magic" better. However, even in that book, Saft's writing felt a bit unbalanced to me. I am on the fence about reading books by her in the future. I sucked into reading this one by the stunning cover and the intriguing synopsis.

Another excellent work from Allison Saft (and my favorite one so far)—*A Dark and Drowning Tide* is a gorgeously written fantasy romance.

The story follows folklorist Lorelei Kaskel as she beats the odds and is appointed by the King to lead an expedition of 6 magical nobles (including her lifelong academic and magical rival, Sylvia) to find a mysterious spring that will help the King attain the power to secure peace in the newly formed kingdom of Brunnestaad. When her mentor co-leading the expedition is suddenly murdered shortly after they embark on the quest, Lorelei has to not only guide the group of arrogant nobles, but also figure out which one of them is the murderer. As their expedition continues, Lorelei needs to rely on the only person she knows can’t have done it—her rival, Sylvia—to figure out what happened to their mentor. The closer they get to finding the magical spring, however, the more questions arise about whether or not the power it provides will be their country’s salvation, or its doom.

>> ❤️ What I loved: This story really had it all for me—compelling characters, engaging plot, and fantastical setting! Saft has crafted a really unique fantasy full of adventure, political intrigue, and mystery to drive the story forward. The romance subplot was an excellent enemies-to-lovers, slow burn that was just sensuous and luscious and everything I could have wanted from a queer sapphic story.
>> 💔 What I didn’t love: Like Saft’s other novel I’ve read, *A Fragile Enchantment,* I felt that the ending of *A Dark and Drowning Tide* was a little too rushed. I would have loved a little more of a wind-down from the major climax of the novel, with a little more time for the aftermath of what would happen in the political situation and in the romance.

I highly recommend *A Dark and Drowning Tide* to fantasy readers, especially lovers of queer fantasy with a strong dash of romance.

**Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 (4.5-5)**

**Acknowledgments & Disclaimers**
✨ Thank you to NetGalley, Allison Saft, and Random House Publishing/Ballentine/Del Rey, for providing an ARC and the opportunity to share an honest review of this book.
✨ All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.
✨ My reviews and ratings strive to evaluate books within their own age-demographic and genre.

An entertaining sapphic fantasy rich in folklore, A Dark and Drowning Tide is Allison Saft's adult fantasy debut. I was so excited to read this since I've loved all of the author's books. Saft has a distinct and gorgeously enchanting and immersive, writing style, and it was no surprise that I found myself easily pulled into this magical story.

The story includes a murder mystery, a variety of settings, dark academia vibes, political intrigue, and a fabulous rivals-to-lovers love story. It's an interesting combination, and there are many twists and turns as Lorelei, a folklorist, teams up with her rival Sylvia to figure out who killed their mentor and professor. On an expedition with several others, they all have their own motives for murder, and it makes for a layered and intriguing adventure.

Lorelie and Sylvie's slow-burning rivals-to-lovers relationship is my favorite part of the story. I just loved these two and how their feelings slowly changed over the course of the story. There's so much pining and angst, and the perfect amount of groveling. Plus, the chemistry between the two is fantastic - sharp and humorous and filled with tension.

The setting is rich and atmospheric, and the world-building and magic are well constructed, though some parts did feel like a lot of information was given at once. That didn't detract from the story though and made sense when reading. The plot is interesting, too, with a lot of suspense and an intriguing murder mystery. All of the crew had plausible reasons to commit the crime, and I liked how they slowly unraveled what happened.

Something I really like about Saft's writing is the way she weaves everything together. The folklore, worldbuilding, characters, politics, and relationships are nuanced and well crafted, which makes for a seamless read. This book is no exception. It's a dark, dangerous, and exciting adventure with great characters and a wonderfully romantic subplot.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of the book. All thoughts are my own.

If you love the cover, you’ll love the book. It truly is a clear representation of the mood and longing saturating every page of this sapphic romance. It’s such a relief to read an actual, on the page, slow-dawning love affair between two people who couldn’t be more different.

Lorelai is a bitter and wary Yevani folklorist who fits in neither the world of her marginalized people nor the noble class of the academy where she works. Sylvia is a vulnerable and trusting princess who loves her land and the magic that inhabits it, but she’s seen some trauma during the war. They are rivals on the best of days, and when they’re both chosen for an expedition by the King, they become embroiled in a murder mystery and a race to prevent more deaths.

I found Lorelai almost impossible to like, despite the concentrated effort that Saft does with explaining why she is the way she is. I loved how Saft used the internal biases we all carry to exaggerate the interpersonal misunderstandings caused by past hurts and assumptions. There’s also a fair amount of worldbuilding for a political plot driving these two misfits together. Whether they can ever get through a conversation without an argument is only part of the fun.

There were a few times I felt Lorelai’s behavior was inconsistent for plot-only purposes, and this did pull me out of the story. While I loved the little folktale excerpts as a way of showing Lorelai’s understanding of the world, I didn’t quite understand her role in the expedition itself. The idea that stories matter and shape our reality was a strong theme throughout. These tale breaks were enchanting, and lent a softness to Lorelai’s otherwise hard and depressing worldview.

I found myself much more interested in the unfolding politics, and would love to read more set in this world. There’s a lot to unpack here, and it reminded me a bit of the layered and intriguing worldbuilding of something like Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone series, so if you liked those, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this.

Thank you to NetGalley and DelRay for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much to Random House and NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review!

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4,25 stars

My reading year started off with me falling head over heels in love with Allison Saft’s novel A Fragile Enchantment, so when I heard she was writing a darker sapphic story with folklore and rivals to lovers I was hooked from the start. And this book did not let me down. From the very first page I knew this would be a hit for me.

“Tell me a story, then.”

I love stories that are about stories, and this is exactly that. Stories, fairytales and folklore have all shaped the character’s lives and trajectories. This is a world where fairytales have more than just a hint of truth to them, and the clues to survival lie between the lines told around bonfires. The world is dark, bloody and magical, and the writing itself sets the scene well with vivid imagery throughout.

“The folklorist, the naturalist, the botanist, the medic, the thaumatologist, and the astronomer. It sounded like the setup of an elaborate fairy tale— or else a terrible joke.”

The main group of characters is intriguing, but at times incredibly frustrating. They all have complicated relationships with each other, and messy political backstories that tie them together. War, prejudice and oppression has traumatised them all, and they take it out on each other throughout the story. It was intriguing to read, but certain characters were so hateable and awful it brought the atmosphere down and made me look forward to the end of any scene they were present in.
I think my only real criticism of the book is that I wish a certain character had been left back home. Their views and behaviour make a point about the world and the state of things, and certainly brings tension, but I wish it was less prominent and present in so many scenes. But, writing this, I also realise that that is an incredibly privileged take, and that the painful weight of said character’s prejudices might have been lessened if I as the reader had been more able to move past it faster for my own comfort.

“All those years spent watching Sylvia, dissecting her, envying her . . . It left a window open for something else to slip through.”

The main character and her rival had delicious tension, and I loved seeing them have to work together. The sapphics were really sapphicing in this one, and it was frustrating and delightful to read in the best way.
The main character is dark, broody and tries to be unapproachable, while her rival is a ray of sunshine with near unending enthusiasm and optimism. They are both skilled and intelligent, and despite their rivalry they also have respect and care for each other from the start. I loved it!

“Lorelei knew the shape of a fairy tale: a prison. She had transcribed hundreds of them herself, written down her sordid end in her own tidy hand.”

This book is part mystery and part journey through fairytales, with a red thread of sapphic pining through it all. Folklore, exploration, politics and trauma are all big themes and I highly recommend this - especially if you, like me, loved both Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett and An Education In Malice by S.T. Gibson.

3.75 ⭐️

this is a dark sapphic fantasy but murder mystery. This was such a fun book. I’m such a sucker for anything sapphic so I enjoyed this book a good bit.

It did feel a touch slow for personal preference. The plot was solid and good but at times I was bored and i wished it was over already. But after the 60% mark things really picked up and it made it slow beginning worth it. I am glad I made myself push through because it pay off but man that first half was rough to get into for me.

Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Allison Saft’s A DARK AND DROWNING TIDE
Grumpy, sarcastic folklorist x sunshiny academic rival with important status? With pining? AND it’s sapphic? This surely was meant for me.

But unfortunately I could not get into it:( I didn’t vibe with the writing.

This just wasn’t for me. I really liked the premise of this story and the writing is great but overall I was just bored.

I started this months ago but I could not for the life of me finish it until recently. It didn’t make me feel like I couldn’t put it down. It was a lot of info dumping with the world building and I didn’t know how I felt about the main characters.

I can see why people would enjoy this and it may not be for everyone.

A Dark and Drowning Tide is a mysterious, atmospheric book full of action, drama, and romance. It’s an easy sell for anyone interested in a dark, wlw version of The Emily Wilde series.

While I absolutely adored the first 2/3 of this book, it suffers from some pacing issues towards the end. Had this been fleshed into a duology, I think it would have been an overwhelming five star read. That said, I would still highly recommend it to romantasy readers (especially though by no means only to those interested in lgbtq+ reads).

I look forward to reading the next book by Allison Saft.

I loved this book! I became a recent fan of Allison Saft after I read A Fragile Enchantment. Once again her writing really shown in this novel. I loved the relationship where Lorelei was saying she didn't care about Sylvia but also couldn't stop thinking about her. I loved the expedition part of this book! It reminded my of What the River Knows by Isabel Ibanez. Altogether it was a really good read!

This was really good. Lorelei and Sylvia team up to uncover the truth of their leader and find out their leader had secrets. Lorelei must find spring before the murderer strikes again.

A sapphic academic rivalry???? yes please!
this was everything I was hoping for (and look at that cover!! unreal.)

thank you net galley, allison saft, & the publisher for the arc!