this book is one of my most anticipated of the year and it did not disappoint at all. i am so deeply in love with this story and these characters… i cannot believe i got to read this!!! Allison Saft has written a beautiful sapphic fantasy novel & i cannot wait for the world to read it.


thank u to netgalley and the publishers for the arc <3

Ms. Saft’s writing is a testament to her skills as a storyteller. Her ability to fabricate entire worlds, compact them into tidy, novel-sized packages, and impress them upon her readers in descriptive, colorful accounts without bogging down the reading experience is both remarkable and inspiring.
A Dark and Drowning Tide draws heavily from jewish folklore in a delightful way while also mirroring the unique experience as a minority within a majority society. Lorelei is a delightfully grumpy, tortured cinnamon roll who needs a long hug and some f*cking. And when she does finally get both, we see she is notable less grumpy and tortured. 5/5 stars from me, in addition to the Lorelei-inspired haircut I gave to myself immediately upon finishing this book.

Loved the gorgeous cover and was excited to get an ARC of this. The story was really hard for me to get into. I couldn't connect with the characters in a meaningful way, making it a challenge to push through. It had everything it needed to be great; enemies to lovers, folklore and magic, but it just fell a little flat for me.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this title early. I enjoyed it for the most part. It is beautifully written. However, it was rather difficult to get into. I struggled probably up until the halfway point, mostly trying to figure out what was going on and where it could be going. The story is not structured the way most others are and I think it just took a while for me to find the beat of it. I am not Jewish, so perhaps a lot of the story elements were wasted on me, but I think the author did a good job portraying antisemitism and how it might affect a person trying to exist and find their way in such a hostile society. The stereotyping, the discrimination, and the violence would be impossible to overcome without hardening yourself against it somehow. I can see why a lot of people wouldn't like our main character because of her overall demeanor, but I think I can see how she became that way. Our other characters (besides Sylvia) were largely unimportant to me. I hated that I had no idea how to pronounce most of their names. Once the story found it's stride, it was an easier reading experience. While ultimately I ended up enjoying the book, it was not one of my favorites.

I would compare this book to some I've read by Naomi Novik, and a little bit of Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries. I would recommend it to customers who are looking for fairy tales and folklore, sapphic slow burn rivals to lovers, a little murder mystery, and questing adventures.

I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this book. There is a lot to love about it; however, I just kept getting pulled out of the story because of info dumps. Lorelei is a fantastic character, though, and she was written very well. I’ll most likely return to this book once it’s released for a reread to see if my opinions change.

*Review posts on 9/4/24.

A DARK AND DROWNING TIDE is a rivals-to-lovers queer romance and murder mystery, which spends a lot of time on "rivals" a satisfying amount on "lovers", and just enough on the murder mystery to hold the whole thing together.

Lorelei is Yevani, (i.e. Jewish), having grown up in a ghetto and only been admitted to the university by dint of mentorship by an influential folklorist and academic. As a Yeva, Lorelei is in a precarious position within the expedition. She's "smart enough" to get in, but not trusted once she's there. Her competence is at once needed and suspect, especially once the expedition's leader (and her mentor) is murdered in the night when their journey is barely underway. The small group proceeds, though no one person trusts everyone else now that a murderer is in their midst. Lorelei is trying to lead the investigation and figure out the identity of the killer, but she keeps getting distracted by how exasperatingly lovely Sylvia is.

The expedition is to find a magical spring (the Urspring) at the behest of Wilhelm, wants to form a united kingdom of what are currently several different provinces with their own rulers. It seems analogous to the transformation of the various Germanies into a united Germany. Much of the worldbuilding is conveyed through interactions between the members of the expedition, as they all have very different perspectives on the idea of uniting the provinces into a single kingdom. Even those who agree it would be good do so for very different reasons. The members of the group are apparently united by their loyalty to William. Furthermore, they're all from different kingdoms, and everyone except Loreli knew each other as children. This means that she's an outsider both for being Yeva and for not sharing a specific past with the rest of them.

The mystery elements are the scaffold upon which the romance rests, part of what pulls to Lorelei to Sylvia is that she's circumstantially unlikely (or even impossible) to have been the killer, leaving Lorelei to feel as if she's the only reasonable ally in dangerous circumstances. Lorelei can't trust her absolutely, at least not at first, but she can trust Sylvia to be herself, and that's good enough. I like their dynamic, it fits them and the narrative very well. Things unfold slowly between because they continue to be rivals well into the story. Lorelei also keeps thinking of folktales she has collected. Their placement within the story does a good job of conveying her frame of mind as well as building out the world.

I love the ending, the final few chapters are my favorite part. I like how the various story threads are wrapped up.

First thank you to Del Rey and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

DNFing this at 15% because this is painfully hard for me to read. I read A Fragile Enchantment in the fall of last year by Saft and absolutely fell in love with her writing. It was warm and inviting, like a great big hug. So I was so excited to read this sapphic adult debut that’s rivals to lovers.

I just couldn’t handle how info dumpy this was, 3 chapters in and I’m horribly lost on what exactly is happening and what the point of the expedition is. Which isn’t great since that’s the main plot. It also just makes everything drag. Where AFE I clearly grasped the world and what the plot was instantly, I’m straining to keep up here.

Also, I am all for a bit of drama but the way Lorelei hates everyone and everyone hates her makes it painful to read as well. I’m not entirely fond of books where everyone just appears to be miserable all the time. Perhaps that gets better as the book goes on but I don’t think I can muddle through.

Im also not a fan of this new thing where characters are clearly Jewish but they have to go by another name. It feels a bit icky? Like it’s still shameful to just let people be Jewish in a fantasy novel. (Please take this with a grain of salt I myself AM NOT Jewish. I’m just saying it doesn’t sit right with me…)

Overall, if you like overly miserable characters and a dreary setting this might be for you. But I can’t say that I recommend this sadly.

2 stars mostly because the writing IS beautiful and on par with what I love about Saft’s writing.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey for this arc!

Omg this book was absolutely stunning. This is my second Allison Saft book and I am absolutely devastated that this book is over with.

The characters had so much depth, layers, and the whole entire time I was wanting to know more and more about each character. They made me laugh, be frustrated with them, and I could connect with them.

The world building was absolutely beautiful and even though there were times I was lost with the world I kept eating it up. It was rich, fleshed out, and I was truly amazed by how developed the world was.

The romance, omggg I was eating it up at every turn. The bantering, the arguing, the hostility that the two Slyvia and Lorelei shared made me on the edge of my seat. The gradual slow burn over time to the point where they were able to be around each other without hostility. At the end I was so in love with the two that I wished there was a novella for these two.

This is was an amazing gritty, captivating, Sapphic novel. Allison Saft is amazing with words and I can't wait for this book to be published.

What is it about
The King of Brunnestaad is trying to secure his reign of a tenuous country by finding the source of all magic. Lorelei and Sylvia are academic rivals competing for 2nd in command to their mentor on this expedition. When Lorelei is chosen and her mentor ends up dead, she’s put in charge of not only the expedition but finding the true murderer. If she doesn’t, she’ll be the scapegoat. The only problem? The 5 of them who are on the expedition and are suspects are close friends with the King with complicated history and ties to different regions of the country. As it turns out her academic rival might be the only person Lorelei can trust.

Review:
I enjoyed this book! The atmosphere and brooding were amazing. Lorelei was so refreshing because I've never read a character be broody the way she does. She is quite frankly a bitch and she knows it. Under that exterior though? She’s scared and doing her best. Oblivious sometimes and not overly powered in her skills like a lot of main characters can be in other books. She doubts herself and others. She struggles with her role in this world and wants more. Lorelei has gone through so much and just wants to be free of the shackles she’s placed under.

Sylvia? The exact opposite. A ray of sunshine, bold, not afraid to do what needs to be done. Smart and experienced. Lorelei and Sylvia bicker and fight but are secretly totally obsessed with each other.

There was a lot of world building, magic systems, politics, etc that needed to be taken in. And for the most part it didn’t matter if you didn’t understand some aspects because it wasn’t too important to the story line. I will say a big part of Lorelei’s character is that she’s Yevanish. It wasn’t quite clear to me if this was solely a religion or a race etc. What was clear is that she and other Yevani’s were discriminated against by everyone. Most likely why Lorelei has such a tough exterior.

Read Time: 6-7 hours
The Promise?: Sapphic Romance Murder Mystery with magic.
Did it Deliver?: Mostly! The romance was on the back burner for a lot of the book because Lorelei is oblivious BUT you do see her notice Sylvia A LOT. Not sure if I’d classify this as a slow burn because of this. The murder plot? Also put slightly on the back burner as Lorelei is trying not to die herself. I didn’t mind these aspects but beware if you do. The Romance picks up in the end and so does finding out whodunit!


Read if you like: Murder Mystery, Cool complex Magic systems, Sapphic Romance, Expeditions, Sunshine and Grump, Rivals to Lovers.

Would I read again?: Most likely! Especially if there are any special editions that are coming out. With a cover this pretty I might just have to collect them all.

Other notes: I did feel sad that I didn’t get to see or understand really who the Yevanish people were. Also if Lorelei helped better the Yevanish people’s role in society since the Yevani can’t even leave their designated community during certain hours. I do realize that this was not the point of the book but the author created such a complex environment and society that I just really wanted to know more than I was given. Lorelei is selfish as it is stated in the beginning and she DID Achieve her goal in the end. So can’t really be too sad as it was clear from the beginning bettering society for Yevanish people wasn’t really on her todo list. It’s more Sylvia’s style if anything.

A Dark and Drowning Tide is a sapphic enemies to lovers with some added magic and mystery.

The whole premise had me so excited to start this pulse the whole folk story touch. If I was not reading as a ARC I would have stopped at the 50% mark.
Nothing was holding my attention and it didn’t make me want to pick up to continue the story.
This feels very much like trying to be Six of crows but with German influences.

Once it got the 55% mark I started to get into it more. The utterly snail pace slow burn of Sylvia and Lorelei turned out to be very sweet but man could we have gotten there a little sooner.

The mystery part was good and left wondering and the magical creatures they come along on their quest was fun.

Overall it is fine but it could have been so much better.

Thank you to Net Galley and Allison Saft for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I first want to thank Netgally for the absolute pleasure of being able to access a free digital advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

The warning for this book as listed on the authors website are as follows, Violence, gore, and body horror, Antisemitism and scientific racism, Nationalism.

This is one of the most gorgeous books I have had the pleasure of reading! I love the way that the romance was actually fleshed out, and how it really was an academic rivals/enemies to lovers. Told primarily from Lorelei's perspective, an outsider who has been made to feel lesser and hide who she is her entire life, there is such depth to her pain and I am so happy with how her story ends.

The tension between Sylvia and Lorelei had me hooked from the first few chapters, and I literally could not put the book down once the plot began to unravel. I do not typically read murder mystery books, so I was pleasantly surprised at the reveal of who the killer was. I loved the ending of the book, and I am genuinely pleased on how the story wrapped up. It felt like there were well thought out reasons for the actions that take place within the novel, by (almost) every character.

The addition of folklore blended beautifully with the rich atmosphere of the world, I felt that it added a lot to the story overall. Overall I cannot wait to buy a physical edition once it is released!

4.75 stars, rounded up to 5!

[Please mind the author's content warnings as found on her website, including but not limited to: antisemitism, nationalism, and violence.]

Pros:
Atmosphere is perfect, not surprising considering the author's other works (especially A Far Wilder Magic), and the prose is beautiful! For whatever reason, I had trouble getting past the first few pages until my third go-around despite the prose, though I'm so glad I pushed through! At first glance, the blending of murder mystery, "jungle" adventure, and Grimm's fairytales shouldn't mesh, but here it manages to work well enough. While I wouldn't rate it for its strength as a whodunnit (I called the murderer early on), there were still small surprises along the way.

The strength in this story, for me, rests squarely on main character Lorelei, who actively works to repress her feelings over her rational mind. The author perfectly executes the pain of being an outsider, and how that touches on every aspect of life, including how Lorelei interacts with and treats others. My heart hurt so much for Lorelei throughout the story because she's so used to being treated horribly, yet it still stings every time, despite how she tries to ignore it.

I think that undercurrent of Lorelei's self-loathing really lends to the yearning and sensuality towards love interest Sylvia. All the small instances of touches (that are so often brushed off by Lorelei) and looks between them built up for me to the point where *taking off gloves to suture a wound* became sexy. And when there's finally, FINALLY, something happening between them, I was trying so hard not to scream out loud!

I also loved how queernormative this world is! I can't overstate how refreshing it was that the angst between Lorelei and Sylvia has nothing to do with both of them being women. It was also just really amazing to me that noble/political marriages are easily between people of the same gender and it doesn't matter in the slightest!

Cons:
Everyone in the main cast of characters (aside from Lorelei and Sylvia) are characteristically distinct enough to tell apart, and feel fleshed out well enough... but I wouldn't say I liked any of the secondary characters enough that I cared what happened to any of them. Though the story is only told through Lorelei's point of view, and everyone is a suspect in her mentor's murder, I didn't feel connected with anyone (save Sylvia). At one point towards the end, I had to question if I skipped something; Lorelei referred to someone as her friend and I had felt zero kinship with any of the others up to that point. Also, I know that this is heavily inspired by German folklore/history, but I really wish there had been more POC, especially in the main cast. The world is already changed by being queernormative, so it wouldn't have been a stretch.

On a much smaller note, I'm not normally one to complain about spice level or smut in a book, but damn do I wish there hadn't been a fade to black! I think it stems from wanting more of that raw yearning between Lorelei and Sylvia, which translated so well during the lead up to sex.

Overall:
If you enjoy beautiful atmospheric prose, magical world building, and pining academic-idiots-to-lovers, I definitely recommend A Dark and Drowning Tide! I've already begun hassling everyone I know to add this to their TBR because I'm obsessed!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing a free digital ARC for my honest review!

Many thanks to Netgalley, Edelweiss+, and Random House Publishing Group for allowing me a chance to review this!
To start off this review, I did want to mention that for an adult book, A Dark and Drowning Tide really reads more like a Young Adult novel, so please keep that in mind.
This book was listed as fairy tale inspired, sapphic romance, and murder mystery, and often I find those are some of my favorites. Unfortunately, it really felt like those were three separate stories forced together rather than combining into one harmonious tale. Now even with all that there are some major aspects I did enjoy. The prose and overall story was festooned in a dark, gothic atmosphere and draped with tension and longing so thick you can almost feel it, as though it is a mist curling around your heart.
Where Saft fails in nailing the emotional maturity of her characters (for me), Saft doesn’t pull punches when it comes to incorporating her heritage into her books. A lot of it feels well throughout and researched, and it really adds to the layer of magic to her books. Both A Far Wilder Magic and A Dark and Drowning Tide both deal with protagonists navigating their Jewish-inspired religions, as well as the mystical elements that creep into their lives and Saft handles it beautifully.
However, it is not long after the first few chapters that things truly started to feel fractured and disjointed. It quickly becomes murder mystery on one side, and fantasy on the other, and it just never felt like it meshed together cohesively to me. The conversations and plotting felt like a book taking place at a safe warm castle, yet the setting was dangerous, fantastic and it went mostly unmentioned. Even with conversations happening, somehow most of the characters ended up feeling very flat and one note, perhaps because they have zero history with Lorelei. It seems as if they never even shared a room prior to this expedition, even though the story says they've worked together for years. There was so much time spent plotting and politicking, and later romancing, in the midst of the fantasy action that the fantasy aspects seemed like almost an afterthought at times. It was more like a blurry background, not a forefront of the story, which as a fantasy lover, left me feeling bored.
For this book, Saft chooses her adult debut to showcase her first foray into sapphic romance. By far this book has the best romance out of Saft’s four published couples so far. Loralei and Sylvia quarrel in a wildly fun and heated rivalry-to-lover’s romance that keeps them entertaining to read. As for Lorelei herself, she’s one of Saft’s best protagonists by far, with such a sharp wit and attitude that felt righteous. Some aspects were just frustrating to read, for example; a lot of Lorelei's internal thoughts. She talks about how awful Sylvia is to her and how much she's hated her over the years. Yet, there are zero examples of a single time she was ever awful to her or how their mentor "pitted them against each other."
In the end, I think this is a good start into Safts adult publishing endeavors. It read super fast and it was ultimately a good gothic fairy tale that 'll scratch the itch most people will have come next spooky season.
CW: death, murder, antisemitism, eugenics, colonization, grief, loss of sibling, blood & gore, violence, dead body, injury detail, drowning, drugging, fire, emesis, alcohol consumption

I really enjoyed this book. It's the story of Lorelei, a member of an abused and exploited people (lots of clear antisemitism), who is lifted out of the slums and put to work in the laboratory of the king's magical expert. This woman is like a second mother to Lorelei and when she invites Lorelei to join her on an expedition to secure a magical spring for the king, Lorelei is excited about the opportunity to prove herself. As a folklorist, Lorelei has spent her career studying people's fair tales and trying to uncover the truth hidden at the stories' cores. She thinks she knows how to find the spring, but is less certain how to coexist and cooperate with the other five experts who are also accompanying her on this mission.

Very quickly into the expedition, Lorelei's mentor is killed and Lorelei finds herself pairing with her academic rival, Sylvia, to discover the murderer and ensure the trip is still successful. She interviews the other five colleagues, faces down fae and other mythological creatures, saves people's lives, and generally does all kinds of 'adventurer' stuff. She also falls in love with Sylvia, which is somewhat inconvenient.

This book was somewhat slower at the beginning and I had a bit of trouble remembering bits of information about the different characters. This background info would have come in handy later in the book. Once I got into it, however, I read this book pretty quickly. I would absolutely recommend it.

Thank you to Netgalley for the free review copy.

Allison Saft adds another enchanting ethereal book about a complex character to her repertoire with A Dark and Drowning Tide!

This book follows Lorelei, a folklorist and leader of an expedition to find the Ursprung, the source of all magic. But Lorelei's Yevanvert ethnicity (Jewish coded) casts her as an foreigner in this group of childhood friends and nobles. Her security lies with their professor, who has championed Lorelei's scholarship and place at the University. So when, her professor winds up dead shortly after the voyage embarks, with only the help of her academic rival, Sylvia Von Wolff, Lorelei will have to fend off the biased malice against her, find the murder, and find the Ursprung; and more than Lorelei knows may be on the line.

Allison Saft continually writes beautifully intriguing atmospheric historical fictions with their own fantasy twists. In this book, she weaves deep connections of the history of antisemitism (Lorelei's ethnicity as a Yeva) and grief and self preservation into Central European inspire lore (especially though Lorelei's status as a folklorist). The characters embark on an atmospheric adventure filled with ghosts, sentient forests, folk and creatures galore. The one thing that fell short for me in this book unfortunately was the romance. I was so excited for Saft's adult debut and a sapphic romance. However, the tension of the romance didn't start to build until over halfway through the book and the characters status as rivals felt more one-sided on the half of our narrator, than I'd typically expect.

With that said, if you're a fan of Saft's writing like I am, I'm sure this will be another hit for you.

ALLISON SAFT SHOULD BE A HOUSEHOLD NAME!

Sapphic, Jewish MC, gothic and GAY!
This book has everything! A budding romance between two academic rivals, it's very heavy with folklore and the world buidling is very organic and flows very well within the pacing of the story. So many components of this story fit so perfectly. The soft yearning. The hard yearning. The FOREST. It was so nice reading a believable MC, watching as some of the things she dealt with in her youth affect her worldview as an adult. Dissecting where parts of our own fairytales come from. It was truly an enchanting read.

EASY five stars!

This was not my favorite of Saft’s. I thought for sure I would love this book - sapphic romance, extensive mythology and folklore, cool magic system and dark academia are usually a slam dunk, but somehow this one fell flat for me. None of the characters were likeable except Sylvia and even she was a little insufferable. I usually don’t mind if the author is intentionally making the characters awful for a purpose, but I just did not find Lorelai’s narrative voice or choices enjoyable to read.
The pacing on this felt off to me too. It took a long time for the murder (in the summary) to occur and their journey felt really long. There was not a lot of chemistry or dialogue to sustain the plot, thank goodness for the folktales though, which did a lot of heavy lifting in this book. At times the relationship felt borderline unhealthy too, both with uneven power dynamics and flat-out cruelty.
On the bright side, I loved the lore, loved the world - which was somewhat queer-normative, and the magic system was so cool. I like that she explored some darker themes too, including colonialism, systemic oppression and discrimination, and what seemed to be a pretty poignant view of life in the 1800s-early 1900s for European Jews. I would for sure read another book in this world by this author (who usually does romance well) and would have even read and loved another 200 pages of this one if she chose to develop the characters more and have more of a redemption arc for Lorelai. Based on the what she included in this book, the atmosphere, her storytelling and writing style, I would still pick up the next Saft book based on this one alone. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC (uncorrected proof) of this book.

SAPPHIC!!! YEARNING!!!!! God I love a mean woman who loves another woman so much she gets so MAD ABOUT IT I’m obsessed actually. And the struggle Lorelei had about whether to save Sylvia or her people was so valid, and while on the surface it comes off as another “third act conflict”, it’s so understandable and accurate to her character it doesn’t feel bothersome at all. I loved this- especially the part where Lorelei wondered if a cow-like creature who ate humans can still be kosher. A highlight of the book for sure.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

A Dark and Drowning Tide is filled with magical world-building, intriguing characters, and a beautiful romance that enchanted me fully. The world was filled with stunning folklore and creatures full of whimsy. It was such a dreamy background for this story to take place in, and I couldn’t help but be drawn in with the poetic imagery Saft created.

This book expertly sets this fairy tale setting against a gothic murder mystery that is absolutely captivating, and the characters truly brought this all together. They were well thought out and everyone seemed to have a motive, which was perfect to keep me guessing. The main character, Lorelei, has unlikeable characteristics and towards the beginning seemed cold and a bit ruthless but by the end I found myself endeared to her strength and forwardness. She goes through a lot and you see her trying to force her way into belonging in a world that is constantly unkind to her. I loved getting to know Lorelei and she made me realize I was maybe too quick to judge.

I loved A Dark and Drowning Tide and think it is perfect for anyone looking to be swept away into a spellbinding adventure. I would definitely recommend this book!

I am new to Dark academia as a subgenre but this one might be one of the favorites that I have read .
The writing and pacing was perfect and I cannot wait to read more from the Author .
Thank you netgalley for the eArc.