The Dark Tide

Maybe it's that I'm not the target audience, but I felt let down by this book. A promising premise, but the messy main character just annoyed me most of the time, and while the world was beautiful, the repetition in the writing really broke the immersion for me.

The descriptions and really anything that isn't dialogue I really didn't like. It was all so metaphorical that it was often hard to understand what was even going on. The characters were really not relatable whatsoever.  

Also, this is supposed to be a dark book, but all the elements that would make it dark or morbid or whatever are either glossed over or totally made light off by the characters reactions, actions of dialogue. They make the fact that Lina is going to be sacrificed seem like it's all just a joke. 

The magic system is extremely vague and not explained very well. It also seems to vary per person. Logistically a lot of the plot just makes no sense because of it. Among other things. Lots of cool things are left out and totally skipped and Lina keeps storing shit in her bra (even though it is also mentioned she has small ass tits so like how the fuck) which I could really do without. 

The ending was also extremely predictable from like 100-150 pages is which made the rest of the book really boring to read and hella hard to get through. 

I've read The Dark Tide a few months ago but I struggled so much to rate and review it that I decided to reread it again after a while. Finally, I've reread it and I'm still struggling to organize my thoughts about it.
I was really liking the story during the first half of the book but then I felt disconnected. I can't pinpoint the exact moment that my interest in the story started to fade but I'll try to sum up what I liked and disliked.

What I liked:

• Rep (POC; LGBT);
• Captivating premise;
• The dark setting of the palace and the island;
• Witches;
• Lina and Finley's relationship was great, really loved their banter;
• The pet sea serpent was amazing;
• Eva was the most complex character in my opinion and I really liked her POV;

What I didn't like:

• The magic system was underdeveloped;
• The pacing felt off;
• There was no build up in the romance (Lina's transition from being so in love with Thomas to having feelings for Eva came out of nowhere);
• Other than Eva and Lina, the other characters felt flat.

Overall, I liked it but I feel like the story didn't quite fulfill its potential and couldn't keep me invested until the very end. I'm still curious about the next book though.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.