A Dark and Drowning Tide

maldita colonización

This book had everything that I look for in a fantasy novel: character driven plot, sopping wet sad little meow meow protagonist, villains that you hate but can also kind of understand and even feel sorry for (while also hoping for their demise), a reverence for the magic of storytelling itself, and lesbians.

The only reason I don’t give it a full 5 stars is because I wanted the ending to give a little more of what happens long-term to the characters. 

not bad for a fun little fantasy, but it could have benefitted from another book to let things breathe more, along with the room to address things more...maturely? it felt like the book wanted to occupy a darker, more adult and intense space, but it tried to bring up more adult problems and feelings in only to wrap every issue up in very simplistic and sometimes almost childish ways

Sapphic yearning and sentient forests you will always be famous.

I love how Saft constructed atmosphere in A Dark and Drowning Tide. Maybe controversially, I'm a fan of ornate, flowery prose and this book is dripping with it. Lorelei's narrative voice is strong and assertively cold, which offers an interesting perspective on the novel's secondary characters. I do think some characters are more interesting and developed than others and the magic system is a little bit barren for my tastes, but Saft is clearly confident in how she's portraying every element that surrounds the narrative at play here.

But most of all, A Dark and Drowning Tide was at it's peak every time Lorelei and Sylvia spat venom at one another. I will never be disappointed by sapphic tension, even if I was screaming at them to get over themselves and just kiss barely thirty pages in. In reality, pacing-wise I thought the romance of this novel was timed splendidly, and interwove with the narrative very well.

I have a couple of issues with the ending that I ponder could even be fixed by a sequel. Not that I think this book necessarily needs one, but <spoiler>I'm apprehensive at how this book ends without much criticism of the colonial structure the characters inevitably end up participating in.</spoiler>

Nevertheless, I liked the atmosphere and writing style of A Dark and Drowning Tide very much, and would be interested to read some of Saft's other work, now.

#sapphicsdeservebetterbooks

The atmospheric world of A Dark and Drowning Tide draws you right in, and I have to say this is one of the first times a book's cover has stayed with me for the entire book as I think it so perfectly captures its dreamy darkness and romanticism. The book has everything from a murder mystery, to sapphic rivals to lovers, to a cast of intriguing morally grey characters. It's dripped in German inspired folklore, which is woven in to reflect the best and worst of humanity.

I loved the writing and the setting, the atmosphere was really well done! the two main characters were cute, the story was engaging, and I did guess the mystery but I don’t think that took away from it. the pacing was really good too, like when I was nearing the halfway point I thought the reveal was going to happen and I wasn’t sure where the story was going to go and then boom plot was twisted and I was like yesss excellent foreshadowing. I really, really liked this!

gorgeous & enchanting & so romantic. truly the dark sapphic fairytale of my dreams!! loved the complexity of the characters, the slow burn of the romance, the worldbuilding through folklore, and the locked-room murder mystery element. allison saft's prose is compulsively readable but still richly descriptive and beautiful. loved this one :D

a dark and drowning tide is one of the loveliest books i have ever read. the gothic, folkloric atmosphere combined with lorelei's witty inner monologue was everything to me. each character was susprisingly vibrant, something i have not noticed even with many books that have multiple perspectives, but in this, each character's personality was able to shine through from just lorelei's pov. even the villains were well developed. lorelai and sylvia, obviously, remained the most compelling, but i enjoyed reading about everyone else as well. there was never a moment i wanted to skip. i adore this writing style. one of the most poignant explorations of discrimination i've read recently. my heart broke for lorelei on every page. tragic, captivating, fairytale-like. when i said i wanted a lesbian a study in drowning, i absolutely meant this. this is exactly what i wanted and expected, and i can't say that for a lot of hyped books. this contained just the right balance of plot and romance. i loved the focus on the mystery and the political landscape. the twist in the middle completely caught me off, in a good way. it is neither one of those twists which is predictable from the first page, nor one of those where you can tell the author picked it out of a hat because of its absurdity. this might be bare minimum, but i loved that the plot and the character motivations made sense and you could see how everything interconnected. i adore a continuous plot, i really do. can you tell this is the best thing i've read in a month and a half? as for the romance? i was kicking my feet and giggling every time lorelei and sylvia interacted. their rivalry and banter was everything to me. watching sylvia drop hints and lorelei slowly realize that every time she fought with sylvia, she fell slightly more in love? i need more. the dynamic between character A who considers themselves unlovable and too imperfect for character B's love, and the character B who makes it their entire mission to prove to A how deserving of the world they are. the first confession. the first kiss. their history and lorelei's memories of sylvia throughout the years recolored by their new love. everything. they are my everything. thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an early copy.