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A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft
384 pages | Published by Del Rey
The Set Up: Folklorist Lorelei begins an expedition to find a magical spring so the king can harness its power. When her mentor is murdered, Lorelei is suddenly in charge and finds herself allied with her academic rival, Sylvia. As they continue their search for the spring, the now must figure out who in their group is a killer.
There was a lot to love about this one! It was a unique mix of fantasy and dark academia. It’s Saft’s first adult book, and I think she’ll continue to grow as a writer - I enjoyed it but it still felt fairly YA to me.
The extended cast of characters was great. I was suspicious of every single one of them at some point which made reading really fun. Plus I could really feel the tension between Lorelei and Sylvia.
My biggest struggle with the story was that the world, I thought, was a little too complex for the books length. There was a LOT to keep track of between all of the backstories and political machinations. BUT overall this one really pulled me in and I’m excited to read more from Allison Saft!
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