The ambiance, the unique magic system, the mystery, the queerness! I’m obsessed! I adored every second of this book.
Vibes:
-The 1999 Cinematic Masterpiece “The Mummy” Starring Academy Award Winners Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz
-Death on the Nile
-Glass Onion

This was superbly entertaining. Lorelei and Sybil have been friends for most of their lives, and now they're trying to solve a murder while searching for a seemingly unobtainable power.

This was such a fun one, lots of great banter and relatable characters, and a slow burn romance with quiet nuances for those readers that aren't loving out loud like some of us!

Thank you for the opportunity to read an early copy of A Dark and Drowning Tide! I was really excited to read a fantasy story with a mystery element but unfortunately this one fell flat for me. The info dumping was overwhelming and I think it would have worked much better for it to be spaced out strategically. Character wise, this was well done! The yearning and angst is everything I could have wanted.

“𝕀𝕥 𝕨𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕕 𝕓𝕖 𝕤𝕨𝕖𝕖𝕥, 𝕒𝕗𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕒𝕝𝕝 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕤𝕖 𝕪𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕗𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘, 𝕥𝕠 𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕥.”

This book had me at sapphic enemies to lovers, but kept me with absolutely stunning prose. A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft is a novel steeped in Jewish folklore, rich with yearning, filled with pining, and dripping with hatred. The emotions are palpable as you ride the rollercoaster plot through murder, mystery, mythical creatures, and unwanted desire.

The atmosphere is the biggest selling point for me as Saft creates vivid and dark imagery throughout all of Brunnestaad. Lorelei, Slyvia, and their team have been tasked to find the source of all magic but come across creatures of legend (who want them dead), cities of rebels (who want some of them dead), and sentient forests (you guessed it- that wants them dead.

I have always been obsessed with dark academia and for me A Dark and Drowning Tide fully delivers. Thank you @delreybooks for gifting me a copy of this book.

4⭐️

This book had political scheming, fantastical elements, and a bit of romance. It was not as romance driven as I thought it would be. It was hard to get into because the different countries and details made it hard to get a handle on what was going on. Once I oriented myself, I wasn’t sure of the point of it all. If part 1 hadn’t ended the way it did, I’m not positive I would have continued reading.Lorelai and Sylvia didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me at first. The rivals part of their relationship lasted a good while, which I enjoyed. Towards the end, their romance was so beautiful and tender. I loved them together. Overall, I liked this book. I recommend it to readers who enjoy fantasy books.

⌞ 3/5 stars. ⌝

a dark and drowning tide is a lesbian fantasy romance where the leads are constantly bickering and have to find a magical spring of power. there's folklore left and right, strange creatures, and what? murder mystery? what a hook 🤭

but, unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this as much as I hoped I would. there were things I liked, like say the romance aspect of it. the very ending? made me smile lots. without that, I might have given this 2 stars instead. I liked the action, so all of the crazy magical fighting scenes where they're up against dangerous creatures and whatnot.

so what are my pros besides that?
▸ I enjoyed the writing style and prose, especially liked the dialogue some of it was so poetic like okayy shakespeare
▸ both of the leads are strong. they had their flaws and fears, but throughout the book, they were capable of grounding themselves and staying level-headed.
▸ slowburn! if you like that.

my cons, now. this is why I took so long to finish reading this
▸ massive info dumping at the beginning of the book made it nearly impossible for me to get through the first chapter. I was on that chapter for a full month before I finally broke through.
▸ on top of the info dump, the beginning is sooooo slow. it drags.
▸ there IS NO MAP. I think I might have said "WHERE IS THE MAP" out loud like ten times for the first 50% of the book. the author gives us several locations and names, and better yet, WRITES DOWN A DESCRIPTION OF A MAP, but we don't have a VISUAL. so, I had no idea where we were.
▸ nobody seems to react to anything at all. their expedition leader literally dies from murder and everyone is just idk sucking their thumbs like oh! that sucks. let's move on though! this reaction later makes more sense for some characters, but for others, I don't get it. why were they so calm???
▸ finding the murderer was unbelievably anticlimactic, I wasn't shocked at all. so was finding the ursprung. the description of this story makes it seem like the murder investigation will be a focal point, but I think that this was just really hard to accomplish when they are also traveling and the expedition is important.
▸ while I liked and recognized some of the tales told to us by lorelai, I would have preferred it if they appeared at the beginning of a chapter, like a prelude into what we are about to read, rather than appearing in the middle of dialogue/action. like we're in the middle of something important and lorelai is like "this reminds me of this tale..." ok...
▸ I honestly didn't care about any of the characters.
▸ we have some sort of magic system in this story, though it is never explained. magic kind of just exists.

that's everything in my notes app. the fact that it's standalone is a little shocking because I don't know it feels a little incomplete? I'm just so disappointed because I feel like if this were approached a little differently it would have been so fun. the murder mystery wasn't exciting, in fact, it was kind of boring. most of what happened in this story was. final verdict? I half recommend this and half don't. a certain type of audience will enjoy this.

First I have to comment on the cover, the cover is gorgeous. I have mixed feelings about the book though. On one hand it's two idiots who are clearly into each other trying to find a magic river while solving a murder. On the other hand, there are so many red herrings for the story to end up EXACTLY where you think it would. I hated that part. I would have preferred more background on the characters rather than the middling murder plot.

Lorelei is a folklorist and throughout the book, there are folktales scattered. Each tale relates to that point in the story which I really enjoyed. Again, the murder plot wasn't really necessary. There was already so much tension on the expedition. Aside from Sylvia, there were four other people who were side characters that didn't really trust Lorelei. Also, there is magic in this world. People who can channel magic basically have water-bending skills. There are also a lot of magical creatures that seem sinister but are mostly misunderstood. Most things will hate you if you just try to kill it instead of understanding it.

I wouldn't really say this is enemies to lovers, more like dark academic vibes. Rivals to lovers is a better description. I would also say this is still pretty young adult to me, there is one kind of steamy scene, but it isn't too graphic. The themes of the book (us vs. them) are also portrayed in a way that might resonate more with younger readers. I also didn't like the ambiguous ending. I wanted to know more about the Yevani and how that storyline could be resolved. It was very clear to me that Yevani people were scapegoated, but I wanted more history and a concrete conclusion.

I liked this book, but I just felt like more interesting story choices could have been made.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Del Rey for the advanced copy, all opinions are my own.

Things this book has that I absolutely adored:
-sapphic
-gothic vibes
-dark academia
-horror vibes

I love Saft as a writer, and honestly, I know her other books are YA, but they always read mature to me. In writing style and plot — and this new adult debut is just as stunning as her YA books. This one is definitely darker than the previous books she’s written, but the gothic and horror vibes are immaculate.

The pacing of the entire book was amazing, I was sucked in and at no point did I know where the book was going.

I know it’s fantasy and touted as such, but really, this book was a fantasy murder mystery on a quest. I loved it. It was such a unique take on concepts that I love in different forms.

So sort of The Secret History but fantasy? I don’t know how else to explain it other than: amazing.

Stunning writing, beautiful atmosphere, prose, everything culminates in an amazing book. People always complain that there aren’t enough sapphic books — DO NOT SLEEP ON THIS.

I will mention it does touch on some potentially triggering subjects, especially if you know the history of anti-Semitic rhetoric. I would say it is similar to how Ava Reid did it in The Wolf and the Woodsman. It isn’t overt, but you DEFINITELY know what it is supposed to represent.

Anyways, highest of recommendations for this book, please go read it when it comes out!

I really enjoyed it! I would recommend. It’s a fun read that gave me dark academia vibes. This is character driven as the plot is not moving forward often. So if you’re into books where you get a deep dive into characters and their motivations (mainly the MCs), you’ll enjoy this.

I feel like the flaws in this book start with how little we knew about the side characters who are important to the story or the professor-like person who is the catalyst of everything else that occurs. I thought the world building was unique but could have taken it further. I also thought that the romance between the MCs took TOO long to happen and at one point I was so annoyed by them being into each other and doing nothing about it.

The “battle” scenes were lacking. I couldn’t even really imagine what was going on there.

You might be wondering at this point why I rated this 4 stars even though there were many flaws. I still enjoyed it a lot. I liked the banter. I liked the relationship between the MCs. I liked the political consequences of everything. I liked knowing who the murderer was until the end. The mystery of it kept me going quickly.

Could it be better? Yes. Can you still have a great time? Also yes.

Ps. I still don’t know what the deadly magical sea creatures are. Mermaids? Sirens? Is there a difference?

PSs. There are other magical creatures whose weakness is coffee. lol. Same. Same.

In this thrilling read, a witty folklorist must set aside her differences and join forces with her academic rival to unravel their mentor's murder in a richly enchanting and thrilling sapphic fantasy romance!

I love a good sapphic romance and I think the academic rival trope just added to the love I have for this read! This is my first read by Allison Saft and the way she wrote this is so breathtakingly beautiful! The plot and the writing style alone were enough to make this a one-day read! I’m never a huge lover of worldbuilding, but I think Saft did hers in such an elegant way that I didn’t mind it as much as I typically do!

Now, let's get into our main characters Lorelei and Sylvia! I think these two were written in such a magical way that you don’t get a whole lot of in sapphic books. The way these two were constantly teetering on the edge of being so desperately in love with each other while also denying feelings for one another had me wanting to cry.

Much like Lucy Undying and Fang Fiction (both previously read on NetGalley), I fear this is a read I will be thinking about for a very long time!

Bleeding with folklore, adorned in the atmosphere of a sentient forest, and hung with tension and yearning so thick you can feel it like a mist curling around your heart, A DARK AND DROWNING TIDE is the Jewish, sapphic romantasy of ones dreams.

A Dark and Drowning Tide was full of folklore and gothic vibes. I love an adventure on the seas, search for a magical object (or water source?), and sapphic romance and this had all 3. Sylvia and Lorelai are the grumpy/sunshine I didn't know I needed.

I SO BADLY wanted to love this. And I really thought I would.

I had so much hope for this, especially after loving A Fragile Enchantment so much. A sapphic academic rivals to lovers book is right up my alley, but I just didn't get as into it as I was hoping. I'm not really sure what it was that didn't mesh so much with me, but I just ended up being bored for a majority of the book.

This is totally a me thing, because I know that some books are more character driven than plot driven. And I am okay with a slow moving plot, but I have to totally love the characters to make up for it, and I just didn't feel much connection towards them. A lot of the characters are really just insufferable rude people and again, I can have unlikable characters as long as we also have some good ones to balance it out. And while the 2 main characters are okay, I didn't grow attached or really deeply care for their relationship.
The relationship seemed kind of forced, like it didn't get enough build up. We went from such strong hatred and despise straight to them being in love in a way that just felt disjointed to me. I wanted to see more pining and angst, more will they won't they. I think this book could have benefited from a second POV from Sylvia, so we could see more of what she was feeling and what was going on inside her head. I believe this would have helped with the pacing of the relationship.
One part of the book I really enjoyed and would have liked to see explored more was the mystery and investigating of the murder that takes place on the ship. Part of what kept me reading was to find out what happened and who killed the person.

Take solace in the fact that I seem to be the only one so far who didn't absolutely love this. I definitely see why people are raving about this in the early buzz, it just sadly wasn't my favorite. I will definitely read more from the author though!

Beautiful. Gorgeous. Perfect. No notes.

Honestly though, this is hands down, going to be one of my favorite reads from this year. I intend for it to be my entire personality during Autumn.

This is a beautifully atmospheric fantasy romance. The world and the folklore are vivid, dark, and lovely. A romance, a murder mystery, and an epic quest set in a politically charged backdrop- this has everything I want in a standalone fantasy.

The slow-burn sapphic academic rivals to lovers plot is so deliciously paced and is enhanced by the single POV from Lorelei. Being inside her head, feeling her animosity, her stubbornness, her yearning- it was ALL to die for. I could ramble for days about how much I love Lorelei as a character. She has so much self-loathing and locks her emotions up so tightly. It's just so delectable watching her spiral and lose control over Sylvia von Wolff. And Sylvia is such an effervescent and wonderful balance to all of Lorelei's brooding. UGH. I adore them.

Anyways, yes. You should read this.

Allison’s adult debut captivated me from start to finish. This sapphic academic rivals-to-lovers tale masterfully blends dark whimsy, evocative prose, and an intoxicating dose of yearning. Both Lorelei and Sylvia are formidable women (but also precious beans) that I love deeply. I was constantly screaming “just kiss already!!!” at my book. This story is a perfect balance of tension and tenderness, and I loved every second of it.

Thank you NetGalley, Del Rey, and Allison Saft for an ARC of this book.

**Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for the eARC of this title!!**

While I loved the rivals to lovers aspects of this title and enjoyed exploring the relationship between Lorelei and Sylvia - the world-building didn't do as much for me as I would have hoped.

I went into this book expecting dark academia vibes with vibrant explorations of the natural world. Saft delivered some of that, but I didn't find the world to be as enchanting as those built in similar title likes Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia series. I do think I might have enjoyed this a bit more if I went in with a different mindset, but unfortunately I was left wanting with this one.

This book clearly has found its audience and I'm bummed that I didn't enjoy it quite as much as a lot of people did. I think anyone that enjoys sapphic fantasy with a focus on characters and relationships will really love this one. If you are looking for more plot and adventure - I would recommend going in with sightly lowered expectations.

This was a first novel for me by this author and I know I will read more. In general,  I enjoyed the overall aesthetic of dark academia with folklore, and her writing style always easily flowed off the page for the most part.

I felt connected to Lorelei immediately and loved the banter between her and Sylvia. The combination of grumpy x sunshine with the slow burn led to some beautiful tension and gorgeous passionate moments as the story progressed. The added element of political intrigue with the murder mystery added some depth to their story. It actually feels as if these characters might have more to tell in the future. 

Since Lorelei is a folklorist, the story is heavy with fairy tales that are interspersed at moments where Lorelei feels a connection to what is currently happening. I like how Saft used that device to provide more insight to the other characters and their motivations or to even provide some foreshadowing. I also enjoyed the sharp wit with conversations among the characters. I definitely questioned motives and felt the complications in their relationships while also chuckling at the humorous commentary that was often sarcastic.

Based on this first experience, I look forward to reading more from this author!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for letting me read an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!
A Dark and Drowning Tide was the dark sapphic fairytale of my dreams… Equal parts intriguing and romantic, this book blends romance, adventure and murder mystery into something really incredible.
Allison Saft truly excels at creating lush and atmospheric fantasy worlds, and her writing is so lovely. All the different countries and cultures felt fully realized, each with their own unique folklore, political motivations, environment, etc. The same goes for the characters - despite being a larger ensemble cast of six, each one was distinct and complex. The way folklore and fairy tales were interspersed throughout was so interesting and immersive. The magic system was one of the only things that didn’t feel fully concrete, especially the ‘cost’ of doing magic, but water as a medium for magic was a really cool and creative concept.

Lorelei was an especially interesting main character; I loved her viper’s tongue & wit, and her determination & strength. She just felt so grounded, I could really feel and empathize with her loneliness and anger with the world, and how her worldview shifts as she develops feelings for Sylvia. Sylvia was so full of wonder and whimsy - I loved reading about her as a naturalist and her interactions with the magical creatures. Their romance was perfectly slow-burn and I absolutely love academic rivals-to-lovers - the tension, the chemistry, the bickering… all of it was just so perfect.

The only part that didn’t land for me was the ending. It felt a little unsatisfying, kind of like the characters went in a big circle and didn’t change or accomplish anything, or that their expedition was kind of pointless, even though the blending of science and magic was so interesting to read about. Overall, Allison Saft remains one of my faves for fantasy romance - she’s just too good at creating complex, fully rendered characters that belong together… and, of course, the yearning!! I would highly recommend A Dark and Drowning Tide!

This has so many of my favorite things wrapped into one book: dark academia, folklore-inspired fantasy, sapphic romance, and slow(ish) burn.
The beginning was slow. I was worried it was going to cause me to DNF, but once I got about 10-15% in, I was devouring the book. It is heavy on the action and lighter on the romance, but the build up was so satisfying. Overall, this was right between a 3.5 and 3.75 for me, so I'm rounding up because the atmosphere Saft created kept me hooked.

Thank you to Del Rey and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

Allison Saft is more than talented at creating vivid atmospheres and settings within her books (the setting for this one reminded me slightly of her debut, Down Comes The Night). While this started off slow, I found the tone of the book to be the most interesting aspect.

At the onset of quest to find the Ursprung, Lorelai's mentor and professor is murdered and throws the entire expedition into chaos. We follow an eclectic mix of characters as they try to find the source of all magic -- but for what purpose?

As a big fan of the rest of this author's work, this one took slightly longer to get into. I wanted more time with the worldbuilding in the beginning because it was a lot upfront, but that wasn't the main focus of this story, per se.

Earlier reviews have been a bit divisive, especially over Lorelai being unlikable and difficult, etc. I liked how Lorelai's edges were rough. Her life hasn't been easy and she carries around a lot of unresolved trauma and cultural expectations, all of which are reasonable in the context of our real world and the book's setting. Her pushing others away and being antagonistic is a defense mechanism that I and many others can relate to.

Sylvia, the love interest, is the exact opposite of Lorelai and her characterization was so interesting to read from Lorelai's perspective. The romance in this is not as well developed as her other books, but I think it's due to story focusing more on the expedition and journey. Sylvia's pining for Lorelai is quite obvious even though Lorelai is oblivious to it (which was endearing, honestly). The mystery and murder aspect of this was also good as a backdrop for the tricky relationships with the rest of the crew members. However, most of the expedition members are not really likable or terribly redeemable.

Overall, it is not my favorite by this author but still think it's a strong adult fantasy debut. If you want a sapphic, atmospheric read I think you'll enjoy this one! This is out on September 17th of this year!

Thank you to the publisher Del Rey and Netgalley for the advanced reader's copy. This did not affect my review in any way.