When reading the synopsis behind the book, I wasn't able to get myself to read this due to the fact of the sapphic telling within the book. That is something that I don't read on a usual basis.

Unfortunately I have come to determine that Allison Saft's writing is just not for me. While I enjoyed one of her other books, this one along with others I have read just drag along and don't provide a lot of satisfaction in the end. I am sure there are people who will love this, but it just wasn't for me.

I was really excited for this one as I’m a fan of dark academia, however this one missed the mark for me. I struggled to get into it, and while I enjoyed the lyrical quality of the prose, I didn’t feel fully invested in the story.

I did love the rivals to lovers aspect! Their banter was fun and entertaining, and the witty responses had me smiling as I read! The protagonists were engaging and likable, albeit felt younger than their age.

I also really enjoyed the setting and atmosphere. It was dark and gothic and dripping with those dark academic vibes! Saft’s writing is beautiful to read and

I think where this fell short for me was the plot and world building. It wasn’t easy for me to immerse in and I struggled to understand the world itself.

Overall it was enjoyable and well-written, however not one I would gravitate towards reading again.

3.5 stars

A Dark and Drowning Tide is a Sapphic academic rivals to lovers dark academia book, and it does all of these things pretty well.

This is one of the best sapphic relationships I’ve ever read in a book. The pining and passion between our two main characters was potent and addictive to read. It was so obvious that Sylvia was in love with Lorelei, and Lorelei being oblivious the entire time was so on brand for that character.

Enemies to lovers is fine, but when they hate each other because of academics, it just hits different. I love when a dark academia book turns into a murder mystery. There’s something about that combination of themes that makes for an enticing read.

I liked the dynamic between our cast of characters. I enjoyed learning about their relationship as a group, as well as their dynamics with other characters individually. Our main character not being in the group allows for us as the reader to see the dynamics from the outside looking in. I thought this added to the murder/mystery subplot well.

I thought the world was described well, but could have been developed more. There are a lot of areas that make up this world, and more context would have helped further the plot. Also, I wish the magic system was better explained. Outside of the fact that people have access to magic, we only have a surface level understanding of how it works.

Thank you to netgalley, Del Rey, and Random House for gifting me this arc in exchange for an honest review.

A Dark and Drowning Tide is a tale riddled with murder, mystery, and romance— a winning combination. A folklorist, Lorelei, is forced to step up to lead an expedition when her mentor is murdered. From there it is a journey of twists and turns, betrayals, and magic. The work put into the world and its characters shines through in the writing. Saft kept me on my toes the whole time, there was never a dull moment while reading.

Thank you to net galley and Random House Publishing Group for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

A Dark and Drowning Tide is a moody and atmospheric story that has an interesting mix of folk tales and fantasy.

Lorelei is a folklorist who, along with six other scientists, embarks on a mission to locate a mythical spring that promises powers to those who drink of it. The team is working on behalf of the king of Brunnestaad and hope to secure his power in order to maintain the peace in the tumultuous land. As the journey begins, Lorelei's mentor and idol is mysteriously killed, leading Lorelei in charge of the expedition. Run ins with magical creatures, conflict among the team members, and deceit from those in power soon reveal that this plan may not be all that it seems and that Lorelei will have to examine her own feelings and motivations along the way.

Saft's novel was a very unique approach to the fantasy genre, with many of the references coming from Germanic and Jewish sources. Antisemitism is explored (Lorelei is a member of an oft-persecuted minority group knows as Yevani) and this enhances many of Lorelei's motivations throughout the story. I also enjoyed the slow-burn romance between Lorelei and her academic rival, Sylvia. Same sex relationships in this story did not carry any stigma and were handled as a natural progression with none of the "forbidden love" aspects often seen. Saft also did a great job of bringing brief folk tales into the plot without devoting entire chapters. However, some aspects of the plot were confusing or never fully fleshed out. For one, some of the characters possessed magical powers (i.e. manipulating water) but ,how these worked, how they were viewed, and their impact on daily life, were not explained. I also had some trouble understanding the politics of Brunnestaad and the potential threats and rebellion that were hinted at but again not fully explained. Lastly, while I love an enemies-to-lovers romance, Lorelei was quite unlikeable for a decent portion of this book. I had definitely changed my opinion on her by the end but there were points where I found myself becoming exasperated by how negative and callous she came off. This is in part explained by the persecution and trauma she suffered as a child but it made the first half of the book a bit challenging to get through at times.

This is the first novel I have read by Saft and while aspects of this book left me wanting, I can absolutely appreciate her research and dedication to folk fantasy and the lyrical way that she creates her worlds. Also WOW that cover 😍 3.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

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.