Book Review: A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft

December 16, 2024

I am going to be honest, my reading of this book is a little spotty due to the fact that I listened to it while at work, and missed some things. I feel like I would want to listen to, and/or, read this book again, because I really did enjoy it.

I am a big fan of Allison Saft. Each book that I read or listen to of hers is so magical and yet still so relatable. Her characters are flawed and real and not always very likable. The worlds that she builds don’t seem so far from what our world is like, which allows the reader to feel the magic in a way that I feel like other fantasy authors miss.

We follow the story of a scholar named Lorelei as she is going on a research exhibition for the king, along with her long time mentor, Ziegler. She is going to be accompanied by a full team including a medic, a warrior, a botanist, and much to her dismay, her academic rival, Sylvia. They have long been at each others throats and been competing, head to head, for the spot next to Zeigler’s right hand, and when Lorelei wins it, their battle is far from over. There is a war at stake, as well as the impossibility of a group of people following along with what someone like Lorelei has to say. When her mentor is murdered early on in their travels, she is faced with leading the team and trying to figure out who would possibly have wanted her mentor dead.

This book was filled with political upheaval, relational drama, grief, coming to terms with not knowing people you once were close with, and the beauty, and terror, of a seemingly impossible romance. I loved this book and would really like to read it again, when I can focus my full attention on it. I highly suggest it.