I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Curious Tides (Drowned Gods, #1) by Pascale Lacelle Series: Drowned Gods #1
Published by Margaret K. McElderry Books on October 3, 2023
Genres: Dark Academia, Fantasy, Young Adult
Pages: 544 •Format: E-ARC •Source: NetGalley
Goodreads
Emory might be a student at the prestigious Aldryn College for Lunar Magics, but her healing abilities have always been mediocre at best—until a treacherous night in the Dovermere sea caves leaves a group of her classmates dead and her as the only survivor. Now Emory is plagued by strange, impossible powers that no healer should possess.
Powers that would ruin her life if the wrong person were to discover them.
To gain control of these new abilities, Emory enlists the help of the school’s most reclusive student, Baz—a boy already well-versed in the deadly nature of darker magic, whose sister happened to be one of the drowned students and Emory’s best friend. Determined to find the truth behind the drownings and the cult-like secret society she’s convinced her classmates were involved in, Emory is faced with even more questions when the supposedly drowned students start washing ashore—alive—only for them each immediately to die horrible, magical deaths.And Emory is not the only one seeking answers. When her new magic captures the society’s attention, she finds herself drawn into their world of privilege and power, all while wondering if the truth she’s searching for might lead her right back to Dovermere…to face the fate she was never meant to escape.
In a world over-saturated with YA fantasy novels, it’s hard to stand out from the crowd these days. However, Curious Tides brings a really unique spin to the genre, with a magic system dictated by the phases of the moon and a seaside, college setting. This dark academia novel perfectly fit the vibe I was looking for in an October read.
Told in alternating POV chapters the story follows Emory and Baz, who attend Aldryn College for Lunar Magics and are in two separate houses, with Baz being in the highly controversial Eclipse house. Each house has certain powers that manifest under it, and placement is dictated by the date and time of your birth and what phase the moon was in. I thought the magic system was SO interesting and honestly pretty unique compared to anything I’ve read. It was hard to keep them all straight at times (the different houses, the sub-types of powers that manifest within them, etc…though unique, if I had to compare I would say it reminded me a little of the power categorization in the Grishaverse trilogy).
The story has a big mystery element to it, opening up after a tragic drowning that led to the death of several of the school’s brightest students. One of the drowned students was Romie, Emory’s BFF and Baz’s sister, which leads them to teaming up together to try to uncover why all of those students snuck off to knowingly dangerous caves one night, and leads them down a path of secret societies, government corruption, and family secrets.
While trying to secretly investigate what caused the students’ drowning, Emory and Baz are learning more about their own powers, pushing them to their limits but also risking burning out, which leads to expulsion and a life of imprisonment. Emory particularly is struggling with her magic, which has been acting up ever since she secretly witnessed the drowning of her fellow students, and she is continually drawn back to the caves that for some reason spared her. Emory’s survivor’s guilt is prevalent throughout the story and drives her relentless pursuit of the truth of what happened to Romie and the other students.
Overall: I think this world has a LOT of potential. While the book was a touch too long and dragged a bit (especially in the first half) there are still so many questions I have and so many additional characters that I feel could be explored. The magic system feels really well thought out and the dreamy tone of the writing has a unique charm, reminiscent of authors like Laini Taylor. I think Curious Tides fits into a nice niche in the college-YA space.
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