I went into this read completely blind, I just knew the cover was beautiful and that it was quite anticipated – and I’m really glad that it didn’t disappoint. A Dark and Drowning Tide is a Sapphic academic-rivals-to-lovers with a murder mystery that explores folklore. This was a very magical, sweet, and enjoyable read and the author had a really nice writing style.

The set-up of this being an adventurous murder mystery/fantasy drew me in quickly and engaged in the story. I’ve found that I quite enjoy books with a premise of a mystery to solve/quest/expedition but in a fantasy setting. In that sense, this book gave me Emily Wilde (by Heather Fawcett) vibes. The setting was also very whimsical and magical and certainly tied in well with the entire premise.

Lorelei and Sylvie were great characters, and overall, I thought their romance/chemistry was fun. I will say that I found the beginning of this book a little bit slow and perhaps that is due to the rivals-to-lovers trope which I am personally a bit burnt out on currently (I do enjoy it but need a break from it right now!). It definitely picked-up for me as their relationship developed, alongside my interest in the murder mystery plotline. Looking forward to reading more Allison Saft and exploring her already published works.

Thank you to the publisher l, author & netgalley for the review copy.

Unfortunately this was just not for me and I am more than certain this will be quite alot of people's cup of tea, it's just unfortunate it wasn't mine as I was looking forward to it.

I did DNF as I found the characters quite annoying and unlikeable and found it was hard for me to get into the story. But I really do think this is because of my personal preferences.

The world building and writing was absolutely beautiful. The cover is also stunning

Book review 📚
A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft
⭐⭐⭐⭐

I went into this book completely blind, after judging whether to read based entirely on the cover. Well, it did not disappoint. I devoured this book and will be in a book hangover for a while! I’m praying and hoping for more writing from Saft.

To say I was captivated from the start, doesn’t even come close to saying how captivated I was. The fantasy, emotion and atmospheric tension is just phenomenal. The world Saft has created is so deeply imagined with an otherworldly and eerie feeling. I found myself so completely emerged within the world of this story thanks to the descriptions Saft had given us. The imagery is beyond perfect.

The sense of urgency that comes from the story itself, is so masterfully created. Saft has balanced the moments of intensity with the quieter scenes which allowed me to catch my breath from time to time. I’m telling you, chokehold!

I didn’t really gel with this book and I’m not sure how much of that is the book’s fault or mine. So I’ll break it down.

This is an academic-rivals-to-lovers fantasy romance. I don’t really read a lot of fantasy romance, but I am open to it (I love fantasy and romance separately!) which is why I gave this a whirl. The setting is essentially fantasy historical Germany, and the main character, Lorelei, is fantasy Jewish and deals with a lot of the sort of discrimination and ostracisation that Jews in Europe have historically faced. I found the setting interesting, but unfortunately I just didn’t find the world to be developed well enough. I know that’s often the case where the focus is squarely on the romance… but I just didn’t feel that was well developed enough either. The secondary characters felt flat to me too. When I read in the acknowledgements that this is the author’s first venture into adult, having previously written YA, that kind of clarified things a little bit for me — I don’t think this feels like adult, really. It lacks the depth you would expect of an adult fantasy, and it also didn’t really have sex or violence to justify an adult label. Maybe it would have been better as YA, I don’t know.

Some people will love this book, I’m sure, but alas, I’m not one of them. I’d be interested in checking out the author’s YA work though.

Thank you to Daphne Press and Netgalley for gifting me this e-arc, all thoughts are my own!

"Back in the days when wishes still held power..."

What to Expect:
- Unique magic system tied to water
- Gothic setting
- Slow burn
- Murder mystery
- Sapphic romance
- Folklore and whimsy writing style

Plot:
Lorelai's mentor is murdered by one of her team members on a voyage to find the legendary Urpsprung for their king. The suspects are Sylvia, her infuriating yet enchanting rival; Johann, a selfish brute; Adelheid, a prim and proper socialite; Heike, Adelheid's lover and ambitious young woman; and Ludwig, botany enthusiast and Lorelai's only friend. As they continue their journey to the Ursprung they encounter several wildeleute, magical creatures that try to ensorcell you, and growing tension between the group as they try to navigate the situation. I found the pace of this story to be a little slow, though intriguing with its premise. As always, Allison Saft has an incredible writing style and she nailed the gothic setting with dark and mysterious descriptors. I found the magic system very unique however did not feel like we got enough detail around how it worked, where it came from etc. and I'd love to know more. Definitely found the twists and turns to be fun and surprising, with the tension and slow burn romance building between Lorelai and Sylvia done really well! I did find Lorelai just a little bit infuriating, but I think you're supposed to!

Characters:
Lorelai is closed off for many a reason, and to read her slowly open up to Sylvia is really sweet. I adored Sylvia's wild and carefree personality, and found as we continued getting to know her much more depth than anticipated. While I did find Lorelai a little annoying, I think ultimately the pair work well together. I didn't really enjoy how the ending played out and felt it was too rushed and such a change in their personalities. The rest of the group didn't have much of an impact on me and I think the final reveal was a little anticlimactic. Still enjoyed this though!

I'm giving this a 4.5 purely because it took me a little bit to get into the story but once I was in it was such a fun time and I found the beginning world-building to be a little choppy.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for a review. This book was everything I was looking for in a dark academia, gothic, fantasy with sapphic characters and a plethora of folklore interwoven within the story. I knew very little about the folklore aspect of the novel but quickly picked up on the Germanic influences and loved the interwoven conflict of racism that our main character faces throughout the story. The atmosphere of this book was so lovely and all of the fantastical elements and creatures explored were so well done in my opinion. I'm very happy I read this and recommend it to everyone when it is released. Overall I loved the plot and atmosphere but most of all our main characters. I love Sylvia to bits and want her POV asap.

*Actual rating is 3.5. stars*

A Dark and Drowning Tide is a sapphic academic rivals to lovers, where a folklore inspired expedition mixes with a murder mystery. I have been meaning to read Allison Saft for a while now, and the sound of the expedition sounded like this book would be right up my alley. After all, one of my favourite parts of books is when the world of the book is being explored. But sadly the murder mystery took the front row, and my hopes for an explorative adventure were thwarted. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of adventure across both land and sea but the murder and romance are the main focus.

I liked the writing, and will read more of the author's books in the future because the atmosphere was there. The folklore aspects, with the mythical creatures, were brilliant and I wish we could have gotten more of that. Also there’s some great banter and dynamic between the main character and her love interest. It’s a shame that most of the characters were either frustrating (although understandable) or awful. There's nothing wrong with dislikable or grey characters, but when most of them are awful it’s a bit hard to care for them and in turn the story. The ending felt a bit rushed, but the very last pages had a sweet wrap-up for the romance so it’s not all bad.

If you enjoy cozy murder mystery, sapphic romance, an atmospheric fantasy world filled with mythical creatures and/or the Emily Wilde books then I can see you liking this book.

Sapphic academia rivals lets all scream together!

The cover of this book sold it to me before I even read the plot. The tension and yearning was A+ and I was hooked from the start.

Oh, man, there's a whole story linked to this book and how I came into its possession but essentially, I was roaming through Netgalley and decided to request this title. Long story short, I got approved as a reviewer (thank you for the ARC!) But unfortunately, my experience with this story wasn't quite positive. 😔 I ended up DNFing it at 50%.

🌊 The plot is cool and all but can you please stop dragging it on? I was honestly intrigued by the premise, especially since it promised adventure and fantastical beasts weaved together with a murder mystery, however, I ended up swimming among a sea of words which went through one ear and left through the other. The storytelling was all over the place and I sadly could not connect with any of the characters although they had potential... In any case, I ended up closing the book halfway in.

🌊 Who are you? The dialogue and inner monologuing were rather confusing. The main characters somehow also got interlaced in my head (probably because I also got the complete reverse image of each of them...), and worst of all, although they seemed interesting at first, I lost interest the moment they started speaking or interacting with one other. The secondary characters were also rather similar, so they didn't manage to make me care for them either...

🌊 Nazis everywhere. There is, of course, a king who wants more and more power and dominion over all other nations. Then there is a population called the Yeva (Lorelei, one of the MCs, is one of them) who are known for their cunning, avarice, and coldness. Evidently, the Yeva are guilty of all kinds of crimes and thus isolated from the rest of society and even persecuted.

🌊 Let's go with the local legends. Whether we're talking about creatures or fairy tales, Lorelei always manages to integrate them in the strangest way possible into the narrative (written in third person) and lead our attention in other directions. Thus, the initially created atmosphere simply dissipates and we end up on a different plane.

🌊 The cover art is amazing and the title is great. I was instantly drawn in by the beautifully illustration by Erica Williams. I loved the colors and delicate lines that outline the characters and the environment, as well as the way Jane Tibbetts designed the cover, carefully choosing fonts and placing the text elements over the illustration.

This book is unreadable. I am seriously doubting this author has ever been to Germany. While I am not a fluent speaker German is very close to Dutch and the weird names and places are completely throwing me off. If you want to write about a fantastical Germany/ Europe please go there. Now all the world building feels off and pulls you out of the story. I did not get too far in the book because it was so hard for me to follow the story but the academic banter and character personalities also did not feel real to me. I loved A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid and was really hoping this would be a similar reading experience. Unfortunately this is not living up to that expectation.

Another arc review where I honestly agonised over what to write because I LOVE this book! If I could give it 6 stars I would, I might be a little biased because I've always loved a good women in STEM book (Science, Technology, Engineering and Magic) but this really is the 2024 must read! Some of the most comforting parts of this fantasy were the lack of sexism, homophobia and sexual threat (which I hadn't even noticed at first) which made the story that much more enjoyable. An immersive fantasy reminiscent of the adventures we read of as children, written for us now in a graduate setting, is exactly what I needed.

I had been SO excited for this book. Sapphic dark academia rivals to lovers?!? With magic?! And folklore?! It sounds perfect.

Unfortunately I just…didn’t care about any of it. I found the world building very lazy, the magic system is barely explained, and the characters are all one dimensional.

Our main character hates everyone around her and they mostly seem to dislike her in turn which makes it very hard to grow attached to any of them. As a character-driven reader, this makes things difficult for me. I understood the main characters bitterness but her attitude was just exhausting to read.

The intended romance held NOTHING for me. There wasn’t a hint of anything between these characters.

I gave up on this one halfway through.

A Dark and Drowning Tide delivers a stunning atmosphere, intrigue, and tension; yet, for lack of a better word, it felt ‘off’.

The way Saft writes is enchanting - the landscape they created was so vivid, I felt transplanted into the world. The water-based magic system they crafted was alluring, well written, and very easy to visualise. Yet, by the end of the story I still felt like I didn’t know that much about the characters. Although we were given nuggets of information throughout, I felt quite disconnected from the story, its characters, and even the interwoven folkloric elements.

It’s also important to note that this book is roughly 400 pages long, but felt so much longer! This took me over a month to complete (unusual for me) and I think that was truly a result of the odd pacing, especially in the first third of the book which felt disjointed and oddly slow. The folkloric excerpts were inserted into the story in a way that felt jarring to read, often mentioned in the middle of a scene and then promptly forgotten. It also felt like the side characters blended together and didn’t develop their own personalities until two thirds of the way through the book. On the plus side, the mystery and romance elements, although predictable, were enjoyable to read. I was unfortunately very disappointed with my reading experience. Despite this, I will definitely be checking out some of Saft’s other works to give them another chance!

Don’t let my review dissuade you - if you’re a fan of folklore fantasy stories and lyrical writing, this might be your next 5⭐️ read. I unfortunately think a mix of high expectations and the novels pacing issues impacted my reading experience. Overall, this was cute but undeniably forgettable.

♡ Academic Rivals
♡ Sapphic
♡ Murder Mystery
♡ Slow burn
♡ Water magic
♡ Adult Debut

Final rating: 3⭐️

♡ Releases September 17, 2024

Thank you Netgalley and Daphne Press for the complimentary e-arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions in this review are my own.

Firstly, huge thanks to Netgalley and Daphne Press for an arc of this book to review. I am genuinely sorry to say that I unfortunately DNF around a quarter of the way through. It is rare for me to dnf a book, and if it's a review arc I usually power through regardless but I am afraid I just couldn't with this one.

I really wanted to love it and fully expected to - I love folktales and have quite a large folklore library and usually adore fantasy novels with folkloric aspects such as the Emily Wilde series etc.

However, despite finding the idea of the Ursprung to be a good one and the water based magic system unique and interesting, I did not immediately take to any of the characters and this showed no sign of improving. The side characters all seemed pretty similar to the point it was difficult to keep track of who was who and I unfortunately found that I just didn't care.

The chapters are over-long, I struggled with the writing style which seemed somewhat dense (the main character cannot even get through a short conversation without reflecting on the past part way through) and the early chapters are full of names of people and places that unfortunately all blur into a somewhat confusing whole. A map would have been an incredibly useful addition to help make sense of some of this - although perhaps there will be one in the final version of the book - a map is actually described textually towards the end of chapter 3 but a visual image would be so much easier for readers to grasp.

The politics of the unified lands seems to be a bigger topic than the folklore and the likely reasoning behind the expedition to locate the Ursprung. Once I got to the murder mystery and the king's response I realised that I just wasn't invested enough to continue, even with the promise of more folklore to come, because I just wasn't rooting for Lorelei or Sylvia in any way.

It may well be that the book significantly improves in the second half with more magic and folklore as well as the murder investigation and I am sure that there will be many people who love it. But unfortunately the writing is not for me.

I wish the book well and hope it is successful for the author and publisher and apologise again for not finishing it. I dislike rating books I have not finished and as such will not be reviewing elsewhere.

This was one of my most anticipated reads and i was overjoyed when i got the email of approval i screamed a little. And thank you Allison Saft for delivering.

First a round of applause for the incredible cover!

This was almost everything i wanted it to be. I mean this is SAPPHIC ACADEMIC RIVALS ON AN EXPEDITION THAT TURNS INTO A MURDER MYSTERY IN A FOLKLORE SETTING!!! Does that not sound awesome?! Almost everything because Allison did not give us not nearly enough time with Lor and Sylvia happy and in love. Hellouuu?!?!?!!? After all that yearning WHY DIDN'T WE SEE THE LETTERS!!!!??!? I mean ow dare you woman!

I liked almost everything about this book, characters, story, setting, writing, romance...only negative thing i have to say is that i wish it was longer, so much happened and it's really not a long book. So yeah i only wish there was more.
I really liked how the author weaved themes of colonization and different effect it had on each character especially Lorelei. She was painted as a monster, a villain by others just for existing and it was gut wrenching that she was told that so much that she started to believe it.
Aside from her we also got to see how other characters dealt with colonization of their homes, none of them, aside from maybe Johann that dude is crazy, was inherently a bad or crazy person they were victims of circumstance and each had a different way of dealing with it.

Such a good blend of fantasy, folklore/fairytales, dark academia and yearning romance and everyone needs to pick it up! Unless you don't like mysterious dark forests and all the creepy and interesting creatures that dwell within them.

A Dark and Drowning Tide is an academic rivals to lovers, folklore filled story with a bit of a whodunnit twist.
Lorelai and Sylvia are academic rivals under the mentorship of Ziegler, both of them vying for the same position. They set out on an expedition searching for the Unsprung, a source of magical water that can grant immense power. What unfolds, is an interesting and very character driven story.
I enjoyed Lorelai trusting other people and learning that she doesn't have to do everything on her own. I also enjoyed the progression of Lorelai and Sylvia's interactions with one another.
I think Ludwig has to be my favourite supporting character and I would love to see more of him.
All in all, I enjoyed this one and recommend it.

A Dark and Drowning Tide is such an atmospheric read. Its features so many elements I love, such as academic rivals, a murder mystery and a dangerous quest for power. I loved the world and the magic within it. The way the lore was used and the malicious creatures cause chaos on the expedition is so entertaining. The sapphic romance is sweet and a lovely addition, this lightens up the darkness. The best part of this book is the language used to describe the settings. It’s absolutely beautiful, we get bruised purple skies amongst the fog that I could vividly picture in my imagination. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Daphne Press for this e-arc of A Dark and Drowning Tide.

A quest for a magical spring turns into a murder mystery, when their leader is found murdered. This story is set in a complex world - with magic, mythical creatures and strong ties to folk tales drawing from Jewish and Germanic origins. It was definitely very unique and complicated.

I was really looking forward to sapphic fantasy-adventure vibes, with academic rivals. While that's definitely there, I didn't really connect it.

I found most of the characters pretty unlikeable, including our FMC Lorelei. The chemistry between the two love interests was a bit wooden for my taste.

Decent story, but just not my jam.
*** 3.25 stars ***

4.5 rounded down to a 4.

I really enjoyed this book; it's very magical and sweet.

I was a really big fan of Allison's other book (or at least, her only other book that I've read) A Fragile Enchantment. It was very cute, magical and whimsical. So I was VERY excited when it was announced that she would be publishing another magical fantasy book but this time, featured magical creatures and academic rivals. It sounded nigh on perfect.

And largely, it was. I really enjoyed this sapphic and adventurous murder mystery/fantasy book. First of all, the plot is wonderful. I'm starting to understand that I really enjoy fantasy books that involve a quest or academic adventure. The book features two folklore academics who set out on an expedition to find a magical spring for the king. But all goes awry when the leader (and academic hero) of the expedition is found murdered on the ship heading to their destination. It's now up to Lorelei and Sylvie to uncover the murder and find the culprit, while also battling their burgeoning feelings for each other. How great does this sound? The fusing of fantasy and murder mystery worked really well; both genres worked in tandem to set up a really great plot.

I also really enjoyed the setting; it was very whimsical and adventurous. The setting of the book is split between the ship and the island where they're looking for the spring. This may sound odd, but I enjoyed that there weren't lots of scene changes. I liked that the setting was restricted to only a few. Sometimes I can find it a struggle to keep up with the story (especially in fantasy adventure books) when the setting constantly changes. The settings in the book, especially the island, were very magical and whimsical.

While I liked the romance between the two protagonists, I did find it a little stilted. I didn't find that they had tremendous amounts of chemistry. It was sort of just hate that all of a sudden was love that they apparently felt the entire time? I don't know, I just didn't find it massively believable.

I will say, however, that I did find it very similar to the Emily Wilde series. This certainly isn't a negative as I adore that series, but I just wanted to note that.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Daphne Press for the ARC

I really liked this! A Dark and Drowning Tide has luscious writing and a dark atmosphere. It's a dark academia fantasy murder-mystery with a sapphic pairing. The folk-lore is delicately woven into the story. I was captured by the book and had a great time reading it.