Curious Tides

By: Pascale Lacelle

Narrated by: Gary Furlong, Shakira Shute, Toni Frutin

Two starred reviews!
“A marvel in atmosphere.” —Chloe Gong, #1 New York Times bestselling author of These Violent Delights

Ninth House meets A Deadly Education in this gorgeous dark academia fantasy “that will capture readers like a rip current” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) following a teen mage who must unravel the truth behind the secret society that may have been involved in her classmates’ deaths.

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.

©2023 Pascale Lacelle (P)2023 Simon & Schuster Audio

first book of 2024, best book ever.

Curious Tides transported me to a world I never wanted to leave, and introduced me to characters I will never forget. Follow Emory, Baz & all of the other students at Aldryn College, as they journey through grief, love, self discovery, mystery & of course, Magic! but this isn't just any dark Academia book, it's one written in a way that that will have you quoting Lacelle's Imagery & dreaming of the world's she's created. I can not speak highly enough. This may be the first book of 2024 but it currently holds my #1 spot of all time... & that says a lot. I can't wait to see what adventures book two will bring 😍 🤗

Wonderful book!

I honestly loved this book so much. I cannot wait for the rest in the trilogy!! I’ve been telling all my friends to read it!!

incredible

This book is incredible!! I loved the story so much. and I cannot wait for book 2!

the honest of the characters with themselves

I honestly really loved this book. I'm excited for the second to come out. once I picked it up I couldn't put it down

Brilliant!

A spectacular story. Dark and edgy and original. I love that the magic system is bigger than the magic wielders, Something greater than the world itself. Reminded me a bit of the magic in the Golden Compass. Other worldly. The characters are rich and distinct, and they learn and change and grow through the book. Shakira and Gary did a masterful job of bringing the characters to life and maintaining a connection to each characters emotional journey. I was entranced from beginning to end. I cannot wait for the next book!

Give it a minute to get going

Trust the process. This is a great story; it just takes a minute to really hook you.

Unsure about this book

The beginning was too gloomy. Also the author writing how Emory and Baz are childhood friends and some respect for each other but avoid the other on purpose. I can understand some reservations at star but when thing start getting dangerous most people would be more worried about the other then themselves inadequacies.

The last few chapter made the trudge through all the prior chapters worth it.

It might just be me but Emory and Baz don't act like real people until the latter part of the book. Before then the author seems to over do it with their self loathing, self pity and I shouldn't bother my friend garbage. I personally think the author over did the misery of the two to make it unrealistic.

Magical, Dark Academia, Young Adult book

Overall, the voice actors did amazing. I particularly enjoy Baz and his character. The other main character I find can be taken as annoying and is written a way that can frustrate the reader. The frustration is from two major things. The first is that there’s a lot of foreshadowing about the intent of certain characters and given that her decision-making skills can be thought as mature. The second is her interactions with one of my favorite characters in the book. I find it hard to believe that the character that I’m referring to is not majority of people’s favorite.

Overall, I did enjoy the book and approaching it with a mindset that this is a young adult novel improves the experience. I can see young adult readers really getting into this book while for me it was a casual read. So what I find to be a slightly immature main character, may relate to the audience that this book is going towards more than me.

One of my favorite things about this book is the magic system, I find that to be very unique and intriguing and very fantastical and whimsical. I highly recommend this book for people who want a casual read with a fun magical element. Also, I personally love any book that has to do with the galaxy the moon, the stars. I am looking forward to the second book to see where the author is going to take it from the ending of this book.

Slow start, but worth it.

For the first dozen chapters or so, I wasn't particularly interested. I trudged on because I had already used a credit and didn't want it to go to waste. I ended up taking a break for a couple of months before giving it another shot and wow. I was so enthralled that I finished the book in a couple of days.
The whole time I was thinking to myself that this would make an awesome movie. If you're hesitant to buy or have already started and are in the same boat I was, persevere. This is easily one of my new top favorites of all time.

Interesting concept

This book overall was good…I felt the world building was a lot. I struggled to keep myself interested in the beginning, but after you get through the world building, the story really picks up. I loved the performers of the audiobook! Definitely recommend the audio over the physical book.

There is drama, love triangle, betrayal…all things that make a book good!