I really enjoyed Curious Tides from start to finish. It is a polished YA fantasy tale with an intriguing plot, excellent world building and relatable, well-drawn characters. The story moved at a good pace and I raced through it in just three nights, always wanting to turn the page and keep reading. I would definitely read more books by this author in the future and I recommend Curious Tides to any fans of dark academia fantasy and/or fantasy with a mythology bent as it is a well executed work with a fresh and fascinating premise. I am giving it 5 stars.

Curious Tides was brilliant. Tidal and moon magic is a great concept, which was very exciting to explore.

Some things I loved:
- The length. It's a big, juicy fantasy, that bookworms will adore sinking their teeth into. - The character growth. Emory and Baz are different people by the end of the book. Sometimes protagonists (especially "heroes" like we kind of have here) can be completely immune to their own shortcomings, but Emory and Baz both self reflect and grow.
- The way the magic was described. It was otherworldly and beautiful and sometimes terrifying.
- It had everything a good fantasy needs: a map, a chosen one/s, and a few names I can't pronounce.

Who I'd sell this to:
- People who love fantasy but haven't read it in ages, and want to get back into it. A duology isn't as big a commitment as a trilogy or longer.
- Grandmas who know their grandkid likes "that Maas woman" but would be mortified to gift a book with sexy bits.

Thank you Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the opportunity to receive this ARC.

Reading this book felt like a breath of fresh air.

The beautiful world building is one of a kind, creating a different plane of existence and playing around with the concept of liminal spaces, while teasing the possibility of other realms.

The magical lore was a highlight of this book. The intricate rules and various abilities, all unique to each other, while balancing the complex topic of prejudice.

Let’s not forget about the beautiful chapter heading art.

I can’t wait for the second instalment.

This was a great debut, with an awful lot to like. It struck a great balance between hitting a lot of the tried and true YA fantasy tropes, while injecting them--and the book itself--with fresh spins. The characters were interesting and well rounded, and I particularly appreciated seeing both a love triangle done well, and a male lead who bucked the typical YA fantasy stereotypes. In fact, for me the male characters were the ones whose character writing stood out: Emory was a decent lead though not an extraordinary one, while Baz, Keiran and Kai were all particularly complex and interesting. The magic system was well developed and really cool (Moon and water magic!! Yes please!), the mysteries compelling, and I particularly loved the atmosphere of 'creepy caves and ocean'-based dark academia. The aesthetics of the book itself are also gorgeous.

There were a few rough edges, however. The prose was unremarkable and relied too much on sentence fragments. The first half of the book in particular was also far too heavy in exposition and navel gazing; it's a very long book for a YA fantasy debut and definitely could have been tightened. I also felt that many of the most significant character moments came through telly-y inner monologue rather than being shown in a way that made their significance hit home. And while this is really a matter of taste, for me the story felt too much *about* the magic system and its (often a bit convoluted) worldbuilding. That's very much a preference thing though; I'm sure many readers will love exactly that. It's also worth nothing that the book doesn't stand alone, reading very much like the first in a series. Hopefully the recent S&S acquisition won't hurt the publication of the next volume.

Overall, this was a really enjoyable upper YA read from a promising new author whose career I'm excited to follow. Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!