this book has basically everything i personally look for in a book and i ate it up. there's magic, fantastical creatures, politics, and a rivals to lovers romance that is *chef's kiss*. all the characters were well written and had an impact on me, whether i fell in love with them, or they creeped me out to no end. my only issue is that i wish the ending was longer and there was more of an opportunity to see how the characters' plans work in practice. i had such a blast reading this and can't wait to talk about it more.

A Dark and Drowning Tide
by Allison Saft
Pub Date: 17 Sep 2024

Lorelei Kaskel, a folklorist with a quick temper and an even quicker wit, is on an expedition with six eccentric nobles in search of a fabled spring. The magical spring promises untold power, which the king wants to harness in order to secure his reign over the embattled country of Brunnestaad. Lorelei is determined to use this opportunity to prove herself and make her wildest, most impossible dream come true: to become a naturalist, able to travel freely to lands she’s only read about.

The expedition gets off to a harrowing start when its leader—Lorelei’s beloved mentor—is murdered in her quarters aboard their ship. The suspects are the five remaining expedition mates, each with their own motive. The only person Lorelei knows must be innocent is her longtime academic rival, the insufferably gallant and maddeningly beautiful Sylvia von Wolff. Now in charge of the expedition, Lorelei must find the spring before the murderer strikes again—and a coup begins in earnest.

But there are other dangers lurking in the dark: forests that rearrange themselves at night, rivers with slumbering dragons hiding beneath the water, and shapeshifting beasts out for blood.

As Lorelei and Sylvia grudgingly work together to uncover the truth—and resist their growing feelings for each other—they discover that their leader had secrets of her own. Secrets that make Lorelei question whether justice is worth pursuing, and if this kingdom is worth saving at all.

** I received an ARC through NetGalley with the expectation of a review afterwards**


The plot and storytelling was phenomenal throughout. The world building at the begging took a lot of getting into, and is definitely for someone who is into super in depth world building and the small details of what’s going on. The “relationship” in the story was good but would not even consider as a romantasy read. I give it four starts because of how hard it was to get into and the book didn’t really speed up until about 60% of the way into it for me to keep myself engaged.

An academics rivals to lovers tale, with both a murder mystery to solve and a magical quest to complete, and it has a historical Victorian-era feel (but make it German rather than English). Oh, and did I mention that it's a sapphic gothic romance? Seriously, A Dark and Drowning Tide has EVERYTHING. And it. Pull. It. Off. This book could have very easily felt like too much, but all the elements slotted together perfectly. I really can't recommend it enough.

My favorite part (and it was hard to pick because there were so many things to love) was who Allison Saft wove folklore effortlessly into the plot. Each story began: "Back in the days when wishes still held power" and whenever I came across that line, I could feel my excitement begin to grow. They were the perfect blend of magic with something familiar to create something new.

As a bit of a history nerd, I really liked how it felt like I was reading about pre-WWI Germany, particularly how Lorelei read as Jewish. And setting all the other characters as childhood friends added an almost 'Murder on the Orient Express' element to the murder mystery that I loved.

Really, I could go on and on about this book. But I think the best thing you could do is read it for yourself.

Thank you Netgalley and the author for the ARC to review!
Academic sapphic rivals drew me in from the start and I loved every minute of it. Especially the magic, jewish folklore, and creatures throughout that had me turning the pages. The beautiful cover was as enchanting as the story within.
The two characters, Loreali and Sylvia, were hypnotizing and I loved reading their backstory and especially how their relationship changed from rivals to lovers.
Finally, the writing of allison saft has to be my new favorite and I cannot wait for this book to hit the shelves!!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an eARC of this copy in exchange for my honest review.

Holy shit, oh my god, Saft blew this out of the water, pun fully intended. The story follows Lorelei and Sylvia, academic rivals going on an expedition to find the Ursprung, the source of all magic. Their journey gets on its way and is almost immediately upended by the murder of their professor. Lorelei and Sylvia have similar and independent reasons for wanting to solve the mystery of who committed the crime, and the audience gets the absolute pleasure of seeing their relationship evolve through the stress of solving a murder and hunting for the most elusive source of power in the world.

Lorelei is a folklorist filled with so much self-loathing it's almost too much sometimes. She's a Yevani woman living in Brunnestaad, essentially a Jewish woman in Germany pre-WWII (but probably pretty close to it), and the prejudice she suffers has such a huge impact on her personality, mentality, worldview, etc. It's so interesting to see how she interacts with the world and the people around her. I saw things affect her that I've never considered would affect someone dealing with such extreme prejudice; it was really eye opening and made me consider the privilege I have as someone who hasn't dealt with hatred as intense as Lorelei has.

One of the only people who doesn't treat Lorelei differently for who she is, is Sylvia, her academic rival. Sylvia is clever, kind, adventurous, brave to a fault, and doesn't give a damn what anyone else thinks of her. She's from a less stable part of Brunnestaad, and the others in the expedition refuse to let her forget it. She works just as hard as Lorelei to solve the murder mystery, and as they get closer, she refuses to let Lorelei pull away from her. Sylvia knows what she wants and will go straight for it, diving in head first. It's so fun to see Lorelei be angry with her, and it's even more fun when Lorelei starts to realize why it makes her so mad.

Their relationship just draws you in, and watching them explore it was 10/10. The murder mystery wasn't really full of twists and turns, but I was 95% there for the sapphic love story, so no biggie - it was still very fun. The side characters were really interesting, although I felt like the two women besides Lorelei and Sylvia were pretty similar, to the point where sometimes I forgot who was who. My only other character gripe was that Lorelei was so self-destructive that sometimes it felt like it was too much, like just to add conflict and not strictly because it was a legitimate character choice. I'm more or less willing to let it slide though because of all the hatred and trauma she's grown up with; I can't imagine it would be productive towards a healthy self-esteem.

I also felt like the ending came on a little too quickly so it would end with a neat bow. I wouldn't have minded reading more of the resolution of the problems brought to light at the beginning, and I feel like the book could've been another 50 pages longer and I would have been happy to see more things explained. Instead we get what felt like, "And it pretty much settled down after that," and leave it there for the most part. The ending is still great, don't get me wrong, but I would've liked it better if it had taken a bit longer to get there.

Aside from those minor complaints, let me sing the praises now: Saft's talent is on full display here. The craft, the prose, the storytelling, all of it was wonderful. I finished this and immediately added the rest of her works to my TBR. I can't get over the sheer poetry I found throughout this entire book. The main characters are fully fleshed out, realized people, and you get to know them so intimately, including through the eyes of the other person. The tentative politics of multiple nations being forcibly brought together to make a larger one played a huge part in the story and I enjoyed all of it. The sapphic romance had me kicking my feet and giggling the entire time, and seeing them finally come together was perfect. The magic system is well thought out and it was very fun to see people use it in different ways throughout the story based on their origins, history with it, and environment as the story progressed.

Overall, this is absolutely worth all of the hype you've seen about it, and I will be recommending these stunning water magic lesbians to anyone that will listen to me. Do yourself a favor and read this gorgeous book with this gorgeous cover, it's everything I've described here and so much more. Rounded up to five stars but gave it 4.75 on storygraph!

Wonderfully atmospheric. I felt that the world building could have been deeper to fully immerse the reader in the world, but this was beautifully written and I loved the murder mystery element in a fantasy novel.

Allison Saft has done it again. I read her historical romance as an ARC and fell in love. I was on the fence with this one because it brought a different vibe but I fell in love. The gothic feel to the story sucked me in right away and I struggled to put the book down. It was beautifully written and so full of life.

the slow-burn had me in shambles. this book is the best sapphic romantasy i have ever read, and i was truly moved by the characters' relationship.

Thankful for the ARC of this book from the publishers!!

So many gems in this book…River mermaids, fairy folklore, cultural commentary, a world where it’s the ethnic differences that keep two women in love apart rather than the fact that it’s two women in love. In fact I ADORE sapphic writing where that is part of the world building and marriages are even arranged between women of certain families—so powerful.

So many lovable characters and creatures throughout. I swear if Anna Taylor Joy isn’t Sylvia in your mind, who could be?!

My sole critique is that often times scenes would cut so quickly to a new scene without any separation or segue way that it was a tad disorienting but not detrimental to the overall plot.

I do also think the descriptions started out slightly steampunk esque but then that effect seemed to be lost or just blurred into a traditional medieval times, sort of typical fantasy world halfway through—which is fine but it was less interesting.

Some magic systems did also seem slightly less fleshed out or were just quickly explained in one sentence after being introduced as an almost afterthought? But then again this wasn’t high fantasy so maybe that’s fine, but you had to stay on your toes and move your brain along quickly with the new information as it came.

Eager to read this again after official publication!

If you are a fan of Stardust by Neil Gaiman or All the Murmuring Bones by AG Slatter, you will adore this book as much as I did!

What can I even say about this book? This book is a peak inside a mind ruled by stories and folklore. This is a story of how society at large measures one people against another, one religion or way of being against another. This is a story of childhood and its loss, a story of social divide, of a country struggling to heal after war and conquest.

This is Pride and Prejudice, A Study in Drowning, and The Isle of the Gods with an adult sapphic flair and just gorgeous writing. Our heroines are relatable, infuriating, and lovely. Their relationship is a raft towards a better and brighter future for them both.

I loved the constant weaving of folklore and stories into the book and how Lorelei had a story for almost every situation, which completely fits her inner brooding personality and her occupation.

This story contains:
F/F Romance
Grumpy x Sunshine
Murder on a Boat mystery
Shared room at inn (two beds)
One shared tent
Pride and Prejudice-esque romance
Group Quest/Expedition
Mythological/Magical beings
Magic tied to the water
Quest to find the source of all magic
Jewish Folklore Inspired

Content Warning: f/f makeout and s*x, violence, murder, political intrigue, strong language

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced reader copy of this book. This review is voluntarily written and the thoughts and opinions contained in this review are my own.

DNFed around 35% of the way through. i like the tropes present in the book, but the execution feels flat. the pacing is a little too slow for me. i plan to pick it up in the future again, but right now this is putting me into a reading slump.

An engaging and alluring story with fascinating world building. Mixing magic and politics, mystery/academia and romance. The characters were interesting, particularly the two leads. It was a quick and interesting read. I would have liked more background on the side characters, as they were fascinating—the book gives quite good information on them but I would have read even more!
I enjoy the author’s writing style. It’s lyrical, informative without being an info dump, and the characters felt distinct.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. This is my honest review.

A beautifully dark atmospheric tale that I devoured. And a slow burn sapphic romance!
This book follows Lorelei and Sylvia who go on an expedition to find the fabled source of magic but the murder of lorelei's mentor has every one of edge and everyone a suspect. Expect Sylvia....the two have to trust one another before the murderer strikes again.
This book is filled with folklore and mystery and angst! The best kind of angst. Vague review but y'all need to experience it for yourselves!
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Thank you for the digital ARC!

ADADT has been on my want-list since it was announced, and it more than lived up to my hopes. Saft's style is so poetic and entrancing, and as someone interested in folklore, Lorelei being a folklorist and naturalist (and the intersection of the fields) was so up my ally. I love how the concept of storytelling was integrated through the plot, and the romance was perfectly paced.

some highlights:
queer, magical creepy creatures, a expedition out on the sea, whodunit, a group of easily hated side characters, dark fairytales? tension? FEMALE YEARNING? SIGN ME UP

if that isn't enough: this is for the political fantasy girlies, dark academia girlies, and the gothic fantasy girlies.... which on a diagram is usually just a circle. so, enjoy!

this book forced me stay up way too late multiple nights in a row... on WORK NIGHTS! at first, i'll be honest, i was a bit unsure. it was slow to catch me but once it did, it DID. also, as someone who doesn't love spice/smut, the scenes in this book actually did not have me cringing and skipping them. they were mild!

thank you to netgalley & random house publishing group for this beautiful ARC.

As someone who loves dark and intricate books this has taken the cake for me. The slow burn, rivalry and humor in A Dark and Drowning Tide is SO good. The only complaint I have is that I had to read a tad slower to grasp certain texts. Which Is NOT the Author's fault but it's my own operator error.(haha) I recommend this to anyone l=who loves a good world building and detailed story!

I was immediately captured by the haunting cover art to this book. It's a fascinating story about Lorelei's experience on an expedition with her mentor, her rival, and a cast of characters who all get swept up into this fantasy murder mystery and treasure hunt.

I was entranced with the folklore stories sprinkled throughout, though later in the book it became a little too much for me.

Lorelei's and Sylvia's unfolding rivalry and relationship was wonderful to behold. This sapphic romance was well done. For once no one was trying to change anyone else to become more palatable,

A few of the characters fell a little flat for me at times, but I still enjoyed the story as a whole. After the rather slow pacing of most of the book, the ending wrapped up a bit quickly for me as well.

CW for antisemitism.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What an amazing book. This is the first book I read by this author
However as I started to read I became enthralled, excited, everything a book like this has! I applaud the well-written, fluid prose so much that I read it in two sittings reluctantly (I didn't want to stop at all!A very clever world build was on point. The characters portrayed so vividly. I highly recommend this read for a nice truly entertaining endeavor. I enjoyed reading it. #ADarkandDrowningTide #NetGalley

Here is my review of this beautiful book called A dark and Drowning tide that I received as an arc. I honestly had a really hard time getting into this book. It completely drew me in from the cover to the gothic description of the book.
I don’t do well with trying to figure out 3rd person POVs and who’s actually speaking at that moment. It also took me way too long to actually figure out what was going on. The beginning seemed very confusing. Other than that, I really enjoyed the book. We have here a gothic academic rivals, with a good sapphic pining. Let’s not forget a good murder mystery when Lorelei’s mentor gets murdered when her team was on a mission to find a mysterious body of water for their king. Thank You NetGalley and Allison Saft for the Arc!