3 1/2 stars

This is a very complex and detailed book with parallel story lines. It’s packed with details, backstories, relationships, and more. It’s a mystery, a story of friendship, a romance, a tale of a magical school, magic out of control, a murderous cave, and it all ends on a cliffhanger or two. Primarily, it’s a book about a group of misfits who become heroes, hoping the save the day, and about learning to accept things you can’t control, but still not stepping away from your goal.

For me, this was an extremely slow book to read. It seemed to take me forever to get through it, and I really needed to spend time thinking about it before I could write this review. I’m not sure what the problem is, but my guess is the writing style. The first eighty percent of this book dragged. The last twenty percent moved quite a bit faster. But then, nothing is resolved at the end, so if I want to know more, I need to wait for the next book in the series.

As I said there’s a massive cliffhanger at the end of this book. There’s also violence. Know that a lot of students die during their adventures. The book covers discrimination of various sorts, including those born during an eclipse and LBGTQ characters. There’s repression and fear, lies and deception.

I liked the premise of the book, and the main characters are decent but predictable in their actions. The world created was engaging and believable enough, and, yet, the book moved along so slowly. I’ll really need to think about whether I want to read the next book in the series. I’d really like to know what happens to Emory, Romie, and Baz, but I’m not sure I can deal with another long, drawn out read. This is labeled as a book for teens and young adults, but I know few in that age category who would have the patience to plow through these pages. As much as I appreciated the situations and setting, I don’t recommend this book.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley, but I had to go out and find a print copy to finish it. I thank all involved for their generosity, but it had no effect on this review. All opinions in this review reflect my true and honest reactions to reading this book.

Beautiful story. Fantastic world building and magic society set up. Loved the dual POV and main characters—they were engaging and had distinct voices. Kept my interest throughout. Dark academia with magical school in a young adult genre,

Quite a good read.

My thanks to NetGalley for this digital ARC. This is my honest review.

This book had a lot of things going for it. The magic was unique. The mystery kept me on my toes. The mc was compelling. But it also fell a little short for me. While the magic was enticing this book was trying to do too much. Between the magic and the different timelines at times it was hard to keep up and keep everything straight. If you enjoy dark academia mixed with magic you should give this book a shot.

I received an earc of this book from Netgalley, the publisher, and author. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Beautiful and haunting with incredible worldbuilding, Pascale Lacelle has created something really magical with CURIOUS TIDES! I can't wait to read more!

I’m not gonna lie, I kept waffling on whether to give this 3 or 3.5 stars. This was good, but if not for the second half, I probably wouldn’t like it very much. I was around 40% and debated DNFing, but I’m glad I stuck it out.

Emory and Baz are great characters, but I did find Emory a bit silly at times (and I didn’t really get Baz’s feelings for her). However, both their journeys are well depicted.

There is sort of a love triangle but it was painfully obvious that Kieran was not endgame. He was not totally predictable though, which I liked.

I loved the magic, even if I got a bit confused at times, and the magic school and secret society aren’t original concepts but were done well.

Overall, I am optimistic that Lacelle’s writing will improve for the sequel and I look forward to reading it.

A delightful dark academia themed read! The gorgeous cover will draw readers into a world filled with magic, mischief, and a whole lot of plot twists.

moons and tides and gorgeous magic! this was a really solid opener for what I'm sure will be a gorgeous series. loved the characters and the overall vibes. the magic of it all was stunning and I am obsessed with the world building!

Gosh, what a lovely debut! And the magic system - lunar magic! Chef's kiss! Very clever concept. Mixed with the dark academia vibes, and I'm all in, baby! While I think the characters needed a bit more rounding out (I'm a very character-driven reader), the world-building was stellar enough to overcome that. Definitely check out this debut author if you love lyrical writing, unique world-building, and dark fantasy mysteries.

I do enjoy when a book alternates between different perspectives. It makes you feel a bit more present than a book written in 3rd person.

As a fan of The Magicians by Lev Grossman, it does scratch that itch for me that I didn’t know I needed scratched.

I saw ninth house and a deadly education compared to this and was immediately intrigued. This offered a new and unique fantasy story about Emory and Baz, involved in some dark magic. This is exactly what i enjoy in a fantasy and the little bits of romance we get really kept me invested fully. I cannot wait for the next book in the series and will be eagerly awaiting it until then.

As another rendition of the 'magic school' genre, Curious Tides was captivating. I liked the way the story was interspersed with the legend that was the basis for many of the decisions made by the characters. I also really liked the characters, though the heroine annoyed me quite a lot at times. The semi-resolved nature of the end was frustrating in a good way because I am very excited for the next installment of the series to get here!

This is a story about a deadly education.

I enjoyed this but felt that it could’ve been a solid 200 pages shorter. I struggled with connecting to the characters, and understanding the magic system- but It got super interesting right at the end! Looking forward to book 2.

Thank you so much @netgalley Margaret K. McElderry Books!

Emory, a student at the Aldryn College for Lunar Magics, stumbled upon a ritual being performed in the Dovermere Sea Caves. The ritual leaves all the students missing or drown except for Emory. Why did she survive and why does she keep hearing the voice of one of the missing students calling for help?

Beautifully descriptive writing!

19yo Emory heads back to Aldryn College for her sophomore year. She’s still reeling from watching her classmates drown last spring,in the Dovermere Cave, as the tide rushed in. Baz likes his solitude; he is the older brother of Romey, who is Emory’s deceased best friend and one of the eight drowned classmates. She ventures to the cove and sees several classmates around a bonfire. All of them see the body of one of the drowned classmates float onto the beach but he isn’t dead; he’s breathing and starts to seize. Emory tries to save him and does more than her magic should allow. Baz is watching and realizes she’s a tidecaller; a person who can perform all types of magic and he realizes Emory has no idea what power she holds.

Likes/dislikes: The alternating points of view brought more to the story since we learned Emory’s perspective and Baz’ too. Beautiful descriptions of the settings throughout the story. The character development is done well.
Language: R for 68 swears and 33 f-words.
Mature Content: PG-13 for underage drinking and implied sex.
Violence: PG-13 for bloody death.
Ethnicity: Ethnicity is predominantly white with side characters who have umber skin and tawny brown skin.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Net Galley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really like Curious Tides. I thought the magic system was interesting and fresh. This book checked all the boxes,: dark academia, secret societies, love triangle, mystery and magic. If you are a fantasy reader, give this one a try. We will be purchasing it for our high school library.

Ahoy there mateys! I picked this one up because of its focus of tide based magic and dark academia.  Sadly I abandoned ship at 23%.  Frankly, a quarter of the way through a book, I expect to be rapidly moving through the pages to find out what happens next.  I was bored and confused.  The pacing was slow and I did not care about the main character, Emory, at all. I didn't really like the other POV, Baz, either.  He seemed like a caricature.  There was a mystery and a secret society but a lot of the story was told in flashbacks that bogged down the writing.  Ye were supposed to sympathize with Emory's grief but she just came across as self-absorbed and silly. The academia setting was basically irrelevant to the plot.  The magic made no sense.  If ye have magic from childhood, then why do the students not seem to understand how it works. Also the world building was light despite so much descriptive narrative.  I stopped where I could feel the love triangle forming.  I cannot recommend this one at all.  Arrr!

This has definitely sparked my dark academia era.
The world building in the beginning was a lot but so very worth it. The magic system is phenomenal. The characters are driven and lovable. The romance is super YA, which is so very refreshing. Dual POVs made this so hard to put down, constantly wanted to get back to reading.
Wonderful debut. Can’t wait for the sequel.

Curious Tides was breathtaking with a unique magic system and all the dark academia vibes you could hope for. I struggled through the first part of the book as there was a lot of world-building, but pacing picked up later on and was all worth it in the end. 4.5/5⭐.

4*

I am a sucker for dark academia and forbidden magic, so I knew I had to get my hands on Curious Tides. Lacelle brings enigmatic prose that drives a rich, dark story with compelling characters and a world that you can all but feel.

I don't always love a dual POV novel, but this one worked for me, particularly Baz, who's suffering and endurance made him easiest to connect with.

Perfect for fans of Ninth House, If We Were Villains (if it had magic), I highly recommend this mysterious and enticing debut

Thank you @SimonTeen for the ebook & @Simon.audio for the audiobook. Curious Tides is a dark academia fantasy book. It took me a while to get into it because I was slightly overwhelmed by the world building and understanding all the lunar phases and their related magic. This book is full of mystery, forbidden magic, disappeared gods, and even a secret society. Once we got deeper into the mystery of what caused the students' deaths and what's happening to certain people, I couldn't put it down. I feel like the pace of the story quickened as the characters rushed to figure things out before it was too late. In the beginning, I focused on the ebook because I wanted to take my time and understand everything developing. For the last half of the book, I did more audiobook and enjoyed hearing all the character's voices. There is a super short (38 pages) prequel, Uncharted Dreams, from one character's POV that helped me understand a little about the lunar magic and the Tides. Curious Tides was much different than my usual reads, but I will definitely pick up the sequel because I need to know what happens next.