"A Dark and Drowning Tide" by Allison Saft weaves a haunting tale of love, magic, and mystery in a world rich with German folklore. The novel follows the evolving relationship between Lorelei and Sylvia, whose slow-burn romance is set against the backdrop of dark academia and an enthralling murder mystery.

Saft’s storytelling shines with lush descriptions and a unique magic system that enhances the story’s atmospheric setting. Lorelei and Sylvia’s dynamic—marked by tension, tenderness, and profound emotional growth—anchors the narrative, making their journey from rivals to lovers both captivating and deeply moving.

Themes of self-discovery and the burdens of the past add depth to the characters, particularly Lorelei, whose personal struggles are woven seamlessly into the larger plot.
With its unforgettable characters, intriguing magic system, and beautifully crafted plot, "A Dark and Drowning Tide" is a mesmerizing read that will leave you craving more.

Rating is more 3,5 stars for me.

This was my third book of Saft that I've read after A Fragile Enchantment and a Far Wilder Magic. The latter stands as her favorite book of mine from Saft and the reason why I was so interested in this one in particular with all the folklore things in it. I got the ARC fairly early and I honestly felt bad about leaving it on the shelf for so long but I've been struggling with a reading slump for months and I didn't want it to impact this book. However...

While I did enjoy all the gothicness of it and folklore elements... parts of it felt kind of disjointed? I can't really find the right words to describe it but the world building could have used a bit more tweaking to make it feel more together and more alive. Found myself putting the book down a couple of times, wondering is it engaging enough, is it lived in enough?

I did like Lorelai and Sylvia and their relationship, I mean when do I not like enemies to lovers if it's done well? Saft shines in the way she writes about her characters and their backstories and the way they connect with each other, and specially I've always loved how she can make things really atmospheric in writing. However I go back to being let down by the world building and then the reveals and the ending being kind of anticlimactic and thus we end up at 3.5 stars.

Edit to say that both cover versions I saw are absolutely stunningly gorgeous!

This one had a lot of excellent components that I enjoyed, but something about it's composition was not for me. It felt a little messy in execution, especially in regards to the world building, which felt clunky. I think I will come back to this book at a later time!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of this e-arc.

I really enjoyed this book, I would say it’s very cosy fantasy and that the mystery element really added to the story. There wasn’t a big build up to the romance part of this book but you could tell it’s was a love/hate and that Lorelai I had to envisioned herself at evil for so long that she truly started to believe it.

This book was extremely well written and really reminded me of Emily Wilde’s encyclopaedia of faeries!

A solid 4 dtars

3,25⭐️

This book was one of my most anticipated releases of the year mainly for two reasons
- SAPPHIC ACADEMIC RIVALS TO LOVERS
- the cover.

First of all, thank you NetGalley and Daphne Press for the ARC.

A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft is a fantasy book with folklore and mystery elements.

I liked Lorelei and Sylvia, as well as their story, but at the same time, I wanted to see more of their relationship and its evolution.
I also wanted to see more interactions between the characters, particularly with Ludwig.

In addition, I found the world-building to be quite confusing on multiple occasions.

I also found the stories about the folklore and how they were told a bit random.
It just didn’t feel very smooth in my opinion.

However, it’s the first book that I read by this author and, although I wasn't completely captivated by it, I’ll surely read one of her other works in the future.




POTENTIAL SPOILERS IN THE TW

TW: antisemitism, death of a sibling, war, violence, murder, colonialism, PTSD

I loved the characterisation, the mystery and the central romance of this book. It enveloped me in a sweeping mystery that had some fantastically imagined fantasy elements and underlying commentary about power and discrimination.

A Dark and Drowning tide is a delight of sapphic fantasy with an exciting mystery set in an amazing world.

I really enjoyed reading this book, the story felt unique with its interwoven folklore and world building (I’ll come back to these later).

Given the book is set across the expedition, there is a fairly limited cast of characters. This causes a focus on the the few characters there are, particularly on Lorelei and Sylvia. What I ended up finding was that Sylvia was a slightly more interesting and compelling character than Lorelei. Both characters had such detailed back stories and these were unveiled throughout the novel. The romance of this book is an enemies to lovers trope. I loved its development over the story – the characters had great chemistry.

I absolutely loved the inclusion of the folktales on the various regions of the kingdom. The integration of them built up a picture of the world and its people. The stories were beautifully written and had that slight darkness many fairytales have. It was a great way to develop the world building of the kingdom, and fleshed out the world.

The story was broken into two main parts, one more explorative and one more action based. The contrast between the two different parts was really clever and kept the interest in the story going across the whole story. This also allowed for a greater development of the world and the characters by placing them in new (and perilous) scenarios.

A Dark and Drowning Tide is an exciting new fantasy book, with a fantastic romance, and a beautiful world. I highly recommend to lovers of fantasy stories, and slow-burn romances!

This was my first book by Allison Saft, but it definitely won't be my last! Such enriching and compelling storytelling, lush writing style and folklore woven in, consider me obsessed. SAPHIC academic rivals to lovers!!! This is severely lacking in the market, but it was done so well. The murder mystery plot was so fun to follow along to as well — this is the perfect book to read cosied up in your baskets with a hot chocolate in 'ber months! Thank you so much to Netgalley and Daphne Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

2.5

Thank you to Daphne Press and NetGalley for providing me an eARC to review!

Sadly I did not enjoy this as much as I was hoping :( After being pretty pleasantly surprised by Down Comes the Night and A Far Wilder Magic, and disappointed by A Fragile Enchantment, I was hoping this book would get us back on track. It had a lot of promise, but it unfortunately it was a bit of a slog to get through (which for a pretty short book is a shame).

I think this review sums up my thoughts better than I can, but mainly it came down to Lorelai's perspective felt pretty limited and frustrating to be in, which made the murder mystery element and the group dynamics difficult to be invested in.

Lorelai has spent her life as an outsider and has had terrible experiences with anti-Semitism and violence. Understandably she has some baggage, and isn't thrilled about joining this group of privileged heirs who represent everything she hates. But it kind of meant that all the other characters were just stereotypes (himbo, rich girl, bigot) that were occasionally dumping some backstory on you when Lorelai unsubtly starts questioning people, but otherwise weren't really fleshed out at all. Even Sylvia felt pretty underdeveloped, despite them being in each other's orbit for years supposedly as rivals - again something we don't really see and are just told about. It made it difficult to care about who the murderer was because it wouldn't really matter to Lorelai since she hated all of them unless there was some form of twist (sadly, no).

I think maybe Sylvia's perspective or a multi-POV story could have helped to give us that development Lorelai couldn't because she was on the outer, and would have also maybe established Lorelai better as a bit of an unreliable narrator because of her lack of knowledge about these people. There was a moment towards the end where Lorelai got really interesting and it felt like we had built up to something, but even that was resolved fairly quickly and I feel didn't fully explore a lot of the themes that had been brought up around the King's motivations. It felt like we had mentioned a few times issues with the King's ambition and the way he would treat outsiders, but we didn't really get more than those mentions and I feel it wasn't really challenged as much as it should have by our protagonists.

Overall it also just felt like a lot of telling rather than showing - the inclusion of the folktales was interesting but in almost every case they were used as a "oh weird this scenario is playing out exactly like this folktale" which made it a bit repetitive. I like the way that Saft weaves in stories about the historical (and current) treatment of Jewish people, but I think it could have gone further into exploring Lorelai as a character because of that rather than just telling us how it impacted her.

TLDR I was hoping to like this a lot more than I did, but I do think there is an audience for this out there. It reminded me a bit of An Education in Malice, in terms of the dark academia vibe and the rivals-to-lovers situation.

** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Copy received through Netgalley

~

A Dark and Drowning Tide, by Allison Saft
★★★★★
384 Pages
3rd person, single character POV
Content Warning: mild violence, references to anti-Semitic behaviour, murder and assault
Themes: rich v poor, rivals, murder mystery, fade to black, grumpy x sunshine, pining, betrayal, politics



A Dark and Drowning Tide is one of my favourite novels of the year.

The novel is an incredible standalone novel where folktales come to life. Told in 4 parts, it follows Lorelai – a young, brash academic who strives to prove herself in a world that looks down on her. The novel has a constant theme of the Yeva people being persecuted and mistreated, segregated and treated like criminals by most people of the kingdom, Brunnestaad.
The Yeva people have a strong – though not blatantly stated, although Lorelai is mentioned as being of Jewish faith – resemblance to Jewish people and how they were mistreated in the past. The Yeva live in a segregated community together, afraid to leave for fear of violence, sew identifying symbols onto their cloaks etc. This may be triggering for some readers, as it's a running theme of the novel.

Due to this, Lorelai is the underdog – a Yeva amongst enemies and people who might hurt her – but also haunted by her past. Ziegler is her mention, an academic at the university and the only person who has ever seen potential in Lorelai.
When King Wilhelm asks his most trusted friends – Johann, Heike, Adelheid, Ludwig and Sylvia – to find a magical pool, the Ursprung, he places Ziegler in charge. And she chooses Lorelai to be her second in command, much to the chagrin of the others in the expedition. The five friends have known and worked with each other for years, leaving Lorelai the outsider, so when the first leg of their journey begins with Ziegler being murdered aboard a ship, it's up to Lorelai to investigate the friends.
The only one she can trust is Sylvia – the beautiful, flighty, fairylike princess who has been her academic arch-nemesis for years!

The novel is a blend of familiar folklore traditions and a unique, complex world, built from the ground up. Most – though sadly not all – terms are well explained, at the right time, making it easier to understand and follow the world that was unfolding page by page.

The plot, strength of characters and style of writing – NOT the same, just giving me the same vibe – remind me of Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy and Ellen Kushner's Tremontaine series. All three are eloquently written, with a vast, unique, well explored world and a hint of whimsical magic, with an added mystery to solve.

There are limited suspects to the murder, but there's a constant undercurrent of malevolence, danger and a simmering heat of romance and rivalry between Lorelai and Sylvia. The romance is a definite slow burn – the first kiss is at 70% – and surprised me by going from sizzling attraction and chemistry to fade-to-black quite suddenly.

In terms of the mystery, there was a constant tension and suspicion between all the characters. All of the suspects felt plausible at some point, which made it interesting to see how they navigated each other.

I loved how Lorelai and Sylvia worked together to solve the murder. Even though Sylvia had grown up with the others, she knew Lorelai would never hurt her beloved mentor and helped support her. Despite being Yeva – who the others all looked down on and hated taking orders from, making the perfect scapegoat for them – Sylvia stands by Lorelai the entire way.
I loved their chemistry and how the tension between them slowly morphed from frustration and annoyance to romance and attraction.

The novel had the perfect ending, though it came suddenly, within a short space of time. I would definitely read the author again.

~

Favourite Quotes

“I'll keep you safe.”
Lorelai's heart thudded too fast in her chest. For the first time in five years, Sylvia had said something that shocked her beyond words, beyond derision. She didn't think she'd ever heard those words before in all her life.”

“All of them were haunted women. Violence had broken and reforged them, and the sharp edges it left behind made them dangerous.”

Many many thanks to NetGalley and Daphne Press for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’ll be completely honest here, I was so pumped when I got approved for this ARC. Academic rivals, a sapphic love story, a mystery, all intertwined into one story? I was hooked from the moment I first heard about this book.

And let me tell you, this book delivers with all of the above and everything more.

The world of Brunnestaad is a rich tapestry of cultures, magic, creatures and wonder. It’s got everything you need from a fantasy story. The main characters are compelling and intriguing, each with a uniquely complex personality and background. You love them, you hate them, but at the end of it all, you can believe in them.

There were times sure that I thought the book was trying to be a bit too ambitious. Don’t get me wrong, it was hard to get into. There were A LOT of names, places, countries, towns, magical creatures to wrap your head around and it felt like a lot within the first few chapters of them story but when it got going? It was captivating.

I do think the murder mystery plot line added intrigue, but at the same time it muddied the waters of the plot. There felt like there was a lot going on, but if you can read past that, and enjoy the time you spend with the characters on this fantastical journey I do think you’ll enjoy this.

Lorelei and Sylvia are just the best. Their confused and complicated emotions had me in a chokehold, I kept screaming in my head JUST KISS ALREADY YOU IDIOTS. I enjoyed that it wasn’t a romance where they immediately fell in love. I need that angst, that slow burn, that’s the good stuff right there!!!!

I adored the atmosphere of this book, from the setting to the sapphic romance it really makes for the perfect fall read.

I loved the element of folklore woven throughout the book and the dark academia vibes. The writing style was beautiful it really fit in with the story the author was trying to tell.

I loved reading about Lorelei and Sylvia’s adventures and I would love to dive into this world again in the future

Our FMC, Lorelei Kaskel, is a folklorist who sets out on an expedition with six other scientists in search of a magical spring, the Ursprung. Soon after, the expedition's leader is murdered and the obvious suspects are the five remaining expedition mates, each with their own motive. Lorelei must now find the secret spring and the murderer before returning home to face the king.

This was my first book by the author and I quite enjoyed the writing, I think Saft is really skilled at crafting beautiful yet simple, but not too simple, sentences that flow easily and allow you to devour the book in a couple of sittings. The magic system was nicely done and I liked how Saft included folklore stories and magical creatures although I wished for a little more. I also found the slow burning sapphic romance quite sweet, although I have to say, every single character in this book was terribly annoying and didn't care much for what was happening to them.

Where I was left a little annoyed was how Lorelai’s heritage was handled. The story is set in an imaginary kingdom of a Germanic origin and Lorelai, being Yeveni (Jewish), has to deal with hatred everywhere she goes because of who she is. There is also mention of pogroms, of Yeveni people wearing golden circles on their chests... While I understand that it's important to discuss antisemitism or racism or xenophobia of any sort towards any race or nation and I'm pleased to see this being addressed by authors in their work, on this occasion I really didn't appreciate how the ending was handled and the characters, instead of fighting for their freedoms (and they could have done!), accepting the rule of one... weirdly pro-dictatorship...especially with what's happening across the world today...

A Dark and Drowning Tide will be published on 17th September. A big thank you to Daphne Press and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC.

This was a bit of a fun, folklore heavy, sapphic fantasy. Also, surprise! locked room murder mystery! Except it's not a room but rather a scientific expedition through whimsical forests in search for the source of magic.

First of all, thank you to NetGalley and Daphne Press for this advanced readers copy 🥹🥹 I’ve had this book on my radar since I first heard about it — dark academia, fantasy, murder mystery, sapphic romance, I’m so here for it. Overall i gave it 4.5 stars — rounded up!

The world was beautifully crafted, the magic system was interesting and unique. Saft’s writing was stunning throughout, and I was captivated by each character at some point or other. Especially liked that Lorelei associated a folklore tale with each of the members of their expedition group. Lots of other features to the writing style which I noticed and really liked.

I did struggle slightly just with getting used to all of the characters in maybe the first 1/3 of the book and the whole lore of the world was a lot to get used to as well but that’s just fantasy I guess?? I was also quite intrigued by the politics of the world and would’ve liked to delve a bit deeper into that!

I now need all the special editions and specifically need to see all the reworked covers, and front and end papers to bring these characters to life!

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

Academic rivals, a murder mystery, and adventure to find a magical spring and magical creatures; I thought this book would have an absolute choke hold on me. Alas, it just didn't hit the spot.

Few of the characters felt likeable, including our protagonist from whom the entire book was in their perspective. The magic system didn't feel cohesive or even very well explained. The world building mostly felt lacking and the plot itself was just, well, slow. I truly think this book had potential to be a mesmerising tale of love, mystery and magic but it read more like a draft that drastically needed fleshing out and polishing up.

The only good things were the prose and the atmosphere, everything else was bad or questionnable. The MC is insufferable and there's no chemistry with the LI, but the worst thing was the pro colonialism vibes. DNF at 50%

I was so so excited to read this book as the premise sounded like it could become my new obsession, but this fell flat in some aspects.

I really wish this was twice the length or even two books, because the idea of the magic system and the character relationships felt really interesting, but i felt like I wasn’t fully let in on the secrets. The academic rivalry between the lovers and the complex histories between other characters would’ve been essential for understanding motivations, and I just did not get that.

The atmosphere though was amazing and I was still invested in the story, but I could not get fully hooked because of those shortcomings, so I struggled to keep reading.

I admit, my expectations might have been set unrealistically high simply because of this book being perfectly up my alley, but I could not get over the gaps in the world-building.

“Death happens. There’s nothing you have done to invite it & nothing you can do to banish it.”

I was so excited to read this book, a dark academia book with a murder mystery? Yes please!
I went in with high hopes but I was so disappointed. The world building was messy, the characters fell flat and I was just so bored reading it.
It starts off so slow that I almost gave up before even getting to the murder mystery part of the book.

The MC, Lorelei, is absolutely insufferable. Throughout the whole book she hates everyone and everything and only she has suffered. No one else has had any hardship compared to her, even though the other characters have also had their lands colonised. She is horrible to the love interest, Sylvia, throughout the whole book.
I truly could not understand why Sylvia would even like her. There was no chemistry, no angst, no tension, even though this was supposed to be academic rivals to lovers.

The only thing I enjoyed was the stories of the folklore that was woven into the story but the overall world building was messy and I couldn’t really imagine how the magic system worked in the world. The world is based on Europe and the politics involved with different countries and religious beliefs. But it wasn’t explained very well and there was a lot of unnecessary info dumping.

The characters also felt really flat and I didn’t care for any of them. It made it hard for me to care about what is happening to them or want to continue reading. None of them were really likeable or interesting. None of them get any character development either, including Lorelei & Sylvia. Also they’re at university but are distinguished in their fields of study and been to war?

There was also a pro coloniser narrative that made me really uncomfortable reading. And we don’t really get a lot of nuance or discussions on colonisation.

The ending felt rushed and really unsatisfying and I truly don’t believe that the ending would have worked long term for any of the characters involved.

a sapphic academic rivals to lovers with an intriguing murder mystery plot, heavy folklore, and an epic quest by way of a scientific expedition through a sentient forest. to say i adored this book would be an understatement; it’s not often that i finish a book and feel that even a five star rating is too weak, but this was definitely one of those moments.

loreli and sylvia have a well flushed out background as rivals; pitted against each other from the start by their mentor, loreli is prickly and headstrong whilst sylvia is whimsical and idealistic. though i’m a big fan of the enemies to lovers trope, rivals to lovers is a trope i haven’t read much of and after this, i’m yearning for more. the built up angst, yearning and unrequited love between this duo had me locked in. i really appreciated that the romance subplot between these two had a slow progression, and that once in play, it didn’t distract away from the main plot of the book. the side characters too were strong and intriguing.
the ‘whodunit’ murder mystery kept me engrossed; there were twists and there were turns and at no point did i expect the conclusion.

the writing itself was hauntingly beautiful; this was my first time reading anything by this author, though her other works are on my tbr, and i have quite simply fallen in love with her writing style. the world building and uses of magic were exquisite, and the underlying discussions of antisemitism throughout by way of loreli’s experiences and the ongoing treatment of both herself and her people was very well handled. this was most definitely a world i was sad to leave but would love to see more of, if there was ever a chance for a sequel in this story.