A dark, gothic fantasy with murder mystery and romance sub plots. I loved the folklore elements!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc! Opinions are my own.

The writing was not bad but the story has been done, repeatedly. It felt like a poor imitation and mash up of so many other stories I’ve read - like Emily Wilde crossed with A Study in Drowning but not as good as either. The folkloric elements could have been developed so much more, but they often felt tacked on, even though that was the point of the story. It just felt like it had so much potential in that area, but it was skimmed over. The rivals to lovers storyline and the mystery became the only focus and it was exceedingly predictable. The characters didn’t feel fully fleshed out and this made me not care about them. I wanted to like Lorelei but her POV was so hateful at times and just thoughtless. There were obvious messages about anti-semitism and colonialism and I think that it’s great that the author explored this. The end obviously was meant to demonstrate that evil does sometimes win, I guess? Or at least that in real life things don’t always turn out how you want them to and tied up with a bow. And I get that not every situation ends with good conquering evil, but then I wasn’t sure what message that was supposed to send. I was really excited for this book but it really let me down. I skim read the last half and read the end to complete it, as I’ve had it for some time and had set it aside for quite awhile, but I wanted to go ahead and get it out of my pile. I didn’t want to DNF as I had hoped it would get better, but it, sadly, did not for me.

NOTE: I procrastinated on writing this review, so many of my opinions weren't fresh enough in my brain to word them well. But this book was amazing, one of the best I read this year!!

Lorelei, a grumpy folklorist out of place among her noble peers, is selected to lead a group of talented, tight-knit scholars on a quest for the king. But the mission quickly goes awry when their mentor is found dead. Lorelei and her academic rival, Sylvia, must team up to solve the mystery, even as they are caught in webs of politics and hindered by both their peers and the magical creatures of their world.

I absolutely loved this book. The first thing that came to mind when trying to describe it was The Atlas Six meets The Cruel Prince. The beginning, especially, has all the elements of a good dark academic fantasy, featuring a group of scholars with wildly different personalities and complicated relationships. You will hate and love pretty much all of them. Except Sylvia, who is an angel. But it also strongly reminded me of The Cruel Prince, with fae-like creatures, complex politics, and a BEAUTIFUL enemies-to-lovers romance. But this one is sapphic. Which obviously makes it better. I haven’t fangirled over characters like this in a while.

The plot of this book was very well constructed, incorporating elements of high fantasy, adventure, and mystery. I thought I was actually onto something with the whole murder, but I was completely off! The addition of political intrigue made it even more fascinating, and the water-based magic system was super cool. I do wish we could have seen more of the worldbuilding, and the author definitely likes using big words that make my brain hurt. But this book was pretty exceptional overall, and I highly recommend it!

This was an A++++ romance and a B- political allegory, but the political allegory could have been scrapped and it would still be great. The dynamic between the main couple is absolutely perfect, and telling the story through the grumpy, short-sighted, stubborn one was such a wonderful choice. The tension between the two women is electric and their arc is so beautifully done, with all the perfect beats. I love Lorelei so very much and the happy ending is so lovely and deserved. That said, it’s burdened with the evergreen problem where the villain is kind of right and has to be made grotesquely monstrous to hide the fact that the romantic opposite has extremely suspect politics re: colonization. The fact that Lorelei is Jewish and experiencing true-to-life antisemitism makes the parallels for Sylvia all the sketchier- if the Yeva are a stand in for a real people, Sylvia capitulating to a colonizing force and being a hero for it also reads as a stand in for real geopolitics. All that said, it still gets five stars bc it’s mostly a romance and the genuinely evil colonization element just could and should have been cut and replaced with a more generic geopolitical conflict where the romantic opposite isn’t pretty clearly in the wrong but presented as the most honorable for it.

I love Allison Saft and about died when I saw the gorgeous cover for A Dark and Drowning Tide, but unfortunately I just didn't love this as much as I was hoping :(

A Dark and Drowning Tide is a beautiful and enthralling fairy tale adventure. Saft does such an incredible job building the lore of her worlds- from politics, religion, to the magical creatures. I was fascinated with the creatures and the magic the group possessed. The locked-room murder mystery at the heart of the story was extremely compelling. I love Saft’s writing style and how descriptive it is, yet every word feels like it was chosen with care.

I really enjoyed the relationship and banter between Lorelei and Sylvia. While Lorelei initially feels like they’re closer to enemies, Sylvia is relentless in her optimism. Lorelei is not the easiest character to like, especially at first. I appreciated the reveal of how she has hidden depth and traumatic experiences that influence how she interacts with the team. One of my favorite parts was when Sylvia and Lorelei must work together and their true feelings gradually surface.

Readers who enjoy slow-burn sapphic romance, magical creatures, and locked-room mysteries will devour A Dark and Drowning Tide.

Thank you to Allison Saft, Del Rey, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on Goodreads, Amazon, Storygraph, and Barnes & Noble etc.

A Dark and Drowning Tide
by Allison Saft
Fantasy Mystery
NetGalley eARC
Pub Date: Sept 17, 2024
Random House Publishing-Ballantine/Del Rey
Ages: 16+

Lorelei Kaskel, a folklorist, is a bitter woman so she has a temper and a sharp tongue. She is accompanying her mentor, along with six eccentric nobles, on a quest to search for a fabled spring that will give power to those found unwanting. Their king wants this power to secure his reign across the lands.

But also on the trip is Lorelei's rival, the beautiful Sylvia von Wolff.

Within only days of the start of their trip, Lorelei's mentor is murdered, leaving Lorelei in charge of the quest and solving who killed her mentor, because if she doesn't find the killer, the king would sacrifice who he saw fit, and Lorelei is on the top of that list.

To find the murderer, Lorelei continues with the quest, having to watch her back from not only the murderer but the creatures in their way.


This story's blurb sounded great, but it was boring. I understand that the MC is a folklorist, but the telling of these folklores within the storyline was telling, not showing, and slowed down the book. Also, the MC's constant whining about her 'people' being hated by everyone got irritating because I didn't know why the MC and her 'people' were hated. I have no idea why they are different. If it was told, in detail, somewhere in the story, I missed it, and the not knowing brought the story down a star.

Also on the lame side was the romance part of the story. While I get 'enemies to lovers', I just didn't see it in this book. I feel they would have just made better friends, and they would have been the best of friends. I think it's because they are too opposite, and I just don't see how they connect.

2 Stars

First off I wanted to thank NetGalley and Del Rey for an ARC of this book!
I thoroughly enjoyed this whimsical sapphic fantasy! If you’re a fan of dark academia, fantastical folklore, complex character dynamics, and a menagerie of magical creatures then I highly suggest giving this one a shot. This book delightfully combines the tensions of political intrigue with the slow burn romance of two academic rivals and I truly could not get enough.

🌹Spoiler-Free Review of A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft🌹

🌹Sapphic Fantasy, LGBTQIA+ Romance, Dark Academia Fantasy

🌹Review:

A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft is a dark fantasy and sapphic romance novel featuring academic rivals, Lorelei Kaskel and Sylvia von Wolff. The story centers around their participation in a group expedition to find a magical spring for their King. When the quest turns into a dangerous and deadly venture, Lorelei and Sylvia are forced to join forces to solve a murder and survive the journey.

The world building in the first half of this book is fairly extensive when Saft introduces us to the various territories within the country of Brunnestaad. There is a lot to learn about each of the expedition participants, which area in Brunnestaad they hail from, and how that impacts their motives in the plot.

The main characters of the story are the seven academics completing the exploration, and each one brings a unique and distinct set of skills and magic to the tale. Overall, the ensemble of characters is well balanced and intriguing. Lorelei and Sylvia in particular are extremely well-developed and are complementary opposites. The balance of dark and light between these two characters creates a beautiful and dynamic relationship.

A Dark and Drowning Tide is a sapphic fantasy, and the theme of queer romance is an intrinsic part of both the storyline and the characters’ essence. The romantic relationship between the rivals has undertones of the enemies to lovers, grumpy/sunshine, and forbidden love tropes.

This book contains clear references to Jewish heritage and tackles the issue of antisemitism. It also has themes of colonization. Saft has a very unique way of weaving history and heavy topics into her stories through the way she sets up the folklore and traditions of the societies she creates. Her books aim to inform readers in between the entertaining layers of magic and mystery.

The plot of the book gains momentum and intensity the further you read, and there are a few creative twists and turns to keep readers hanging on to see what happens. Overall, this is another Allison Saft novel that I am happy to recommend.

As a side note, this is also one of my favorite cover art depictions I have seen to date. It is beautiful and captures the heart of A Dark and Drowning Tide perfectly.

Thank you so much to Allison Saft, NetGalley, and Del Rey for allowing me to read this in advance.

🌹TW: death and murder, antisemitism, colonization, sibling loss

🌹Tropes: Enemies to Lovers, Grumpy/ Sunshine, Forbidden Love, Forced Proximity

#Adarkanddrowningtide #Allisonsaft #Sapphic #Fantasyromance #queerromance #LGBTQIA+ #bookreview #readers #enemiestolovers #grumpysunshine #forbiddenlove #netgalley #delreybooks

A big thank you to Netgalley and Del Rey for an ebook arc of this book in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.

I absolutely adored this book and it had me gripped early on. This was such a beautiful mix of Jewish folklore and fantasy. From the first few pages you are promised to be taken on an incredible adventure and this book does not disappoint.

What can I say that I'm sure other people haven't said in their own reviews. I have never been a fan of romance/romantasy novels and I always thought they just weren't for me, but I guess I was reading the wrong ones. This is also very niche, but I always laugh when people describe a book as 'lush', but this is the best way for me to describe this book. Saft has this way with words. Her prose is so poetic and pretty, without veering too far into purple prose. The pages feel like they come to life as you read them.

The romance was so good. I could tell early on that there were feelings on both sides, but it was hidden behind that "she's so pretty and well spoken and talented, ugh such a try hard I hate her guts" kind of thinking. It was maddening to watch them dance around each other and it was very cathartic to finally see them admit their feelings to each other. They were also just really cute and I was rooting for them so hard.

The only con I have is that there are certain thoughts that are expressed multiple times or rehashed. Lorelei will think about something and then two chapters later she thinks about it again in almost the exact same wording as if it's a new revelation. It just felt like the author had forgotten that she had written this 20 pages ago.

I definitely recommend this book to people who love mythology, romance, fantasy, or a mixture of all of them. It's a fun tale set in a backdrop that feels like 1920s Europe (with all the cons and prejudices to boot). I think Saft did a great job at portraying the experience that her Jewish character would have had in that time period. Lorelei is a deeply flawed and angry mc, but it's beautiful to see her walls slowly come down as she realizes that the world isn't so black and white.

Leveraging shards of details from historical events, Saft weaves whispers of our real-world past into her fantasy tale about two scholastic competitors falling for subtle lies, vicious traps, and each other as they seek to unravel the circumstances of their mentor's death.

There’s plenty of angst for fans of melodramas, oodles of folklore and magical creatures, and a scheme for power that proves repeatedly fatal to those even marginally involved.

If you like a budding sapphic romance, political conspiracy, fairytale adventures, and a murder mystery all curled up into a single volume, A Dark and Drowning Tide fits the bill.

A Dark and Drowning Tide is a gothic tale about an expedition involving a group of scholars in search of a fabled spring. It is told that it possesses unlimited power, which the king wants to harness to secure his position with the citizens of Brunnestaad. The trip is off to a bad start when on the first night of the expedition professor Ziegler is killed and it's up to her students to find out which one of them committed a murder. At the centre of it all is Lorelei Kaskel, a Yeva who is an unwelcome outsider, the only one who is not part of the friend group aboard the ship. She is snarky and is not afraid to express your opinions especially when she gets head to head with her rival - goody two shoes, ethereally beautiful Sylvia von Wolff. As they try to find the magical spring, they also encounter a lot of different and dangerous creatures, but they might not be as scary as secrets they uncover along the way.

I really liked the gothic atmosphere and the darkness that tagged along with the reader every step of the way. The old folklore tales told throughout the book also added a lot to it, especially when it came to Lorelei's believes and her view of the world surrounding it. The characters are quite distinguished in general, each of them having different qualities that they've shown throughout. It seems that author wanted to make a clear difference between Lorelei and Sylvia, one being tall, the other short, one having long blond hair, the other - short dark hair. Their personalities are very different as well, Sylvia clearly being softer than Lorelei. Other characters are also quite important and help move the plot, although, obviously, they get way less attention on them than the two girls. Politics take quite a big role in this as at some point characters think what it would mean to have this unlimited power and if king deserves to be in such position. It wasn't a huge surprise when it was finally revealed who killed the professor and attempted to injure others, but it was done well. I liked the 'final battle' and I think that at the end everything was wrapped very nicely.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinions!

Let’s take a moment to talk about how stunning the cover art is. Honestly breathtaking. Sadly that’s where it ends for me. This book took me two months to read on and off because I just couldn’t get into it. Which makes me disappointed because I was very much looking forward to this. I just feel like the first half the pacing was slow and dragged on for me that it couldn’t hold my attention. I do think many readers will love this book it just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

The cover for this is absolutely beautiful. The promise of sapphic academic rivals to lovers made me want to read this right away. Unfortunately, most of it didn’t hit for me. Honestly Lorelei was so frustrating 95% of the book. She is so emotionally closed off and self sabotaging you want to shake her. I understand why she acts the way she does a little. The way everyone treated her made my blood boiI. I also hated everyone except for Sylvia and Ludwig. I especially hated Johann. He was so openly racist and cruel. I do not know how anyone was “friends” with him.

I got a bit confused on the roles of this fantasy world after chapter 4. I wasn’t sure who everyone was and what their points were. After a while it got easier to read but it was still a little confusing. I enjoyed the magical creatures in this world. It was interesting to see how they interacted with them.

The romance here was strange. I didn’t really see big chemistry with Lorelei and Sylvia. A few people said it didn’t seem believable and I saw that a bit. The ending was super cute though even though I didn’t understand why she disappeared? Was I missing something?

I do enjoy this author’s writing but maybe this just wasn’t the book for me.

You had me hooked at Allison Saft and Sapphic rivals to lovers. I enjoyed the atmosphere and folklore aspects of this so much. I liked the dynamic between Sylvia and Lorelai and their quippy remarks at one another. I did feel like the first 50% of this book dragged and was paced very slowly. While enjoying the folklore of this, I did not like all the stopping that was happening to talk about the folklore of certain things.

Captivating and immersive, this a dark and drowning tide intertwines academia and magic flawlessly. The sapphic romance adds depth to the intense 'enemies to lovers' dynamic, making every interaction crackle with tension. The world-building is rich, drawing you deeper into a realm where secrets lurk in shadows and alliances are as fragile as trust. A must-read for fans of complex characters and atmospheric storytelling.

This is the sapphic dark academia rivals-to-lovers fantasy novel I've been waiting for! Lorelei is a hotheaded folklorist who is on an expedition with five colleagues who neither like nor respect her. Things get out of control fast when her mentor is murdered, leaving her in charge of the expedition. The only one Lorelei is sure must be innocent is her lovely and frustrating academic rival, Sylvia, with whom she must work to uncover the truth. This is a dark and winding story, with a richly woven magical world and a lot of dark secrets. If the description alone doesn't sell the book I'm sure the stunning cover art by Audrey Benjaminsen will.

This book was AMAZING! Everything about this book was soo good and characters were great. The writing was so amazing and I already miss the world and the characters!

I really enjoyed this book! I have enjoyed all of this author’s books. I would love to see this book adapted to film and would love to read more but it’s like this one.

rom the outset the description for this book had me hooked- sapphic academic rivals to lovers, including folklore and a murder mystery. I enjoyed the setting of an almost 19th century Germany vibes, it added nuance to the world building, and made the main characters feel more fleshed out. The commentary on class differences and the parallels we can draw to our own world were well done.

The expedition read like failed expedition stories, where everything went wrong, which is oddly one of my favorite niche topics. And I mean, I don’t read a ton of of mystery, and I’m terrible at Clue, but I didn’t guess the murderer, so that made it more fun.

The problem for me was pacing and side characters, the first 60% of the book felt slow and I found it difficult to discern the personalities of the murder suspects on the expedition. But somewhere around 2/3 in the mystery starts to really flow and I really started to enjoy the romance between the two FMCs. I don’t often find F/F relationships in books that feel genuine (and believe me I try), but I felt it in this book.

Overall an enjoyable standalone that I would have liked more of, actually.