The Inky Phoenix | A Dark and Drowning Tide

A Dark and Drowning Tide

Allison Saft

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A sharp-tongued folklorist must pair up with her academic rival to solve their mentor’s murder in this lush and enthralling sapphic fantasy romance from the New York Times bestselling author of A Far Wilder Magic.

“Clever, emotional, and gorgeous—at its core, this is a story about the healing capacity of love”—Ava Reid, author of Juniper & Thorn.

Lorelei Kaskel, a folklorist with a quick temper and an even quicker wit, is on an expedition with six eccentric nobles in search of a fabled spring. The magical spring promises untold power, which the king wants to harness in order to secure his reign over the embattled country of Brunnestaad. Lorelei is determined to use this opportunity to prove herself and make her wildest, most impossible dream come true: to become a naturalist, able to travel freely to lands she’s only read about.

The expedition gets off to a harrowing start when its leader—Lorelei’s beloved mentor—is murdered in her quarters aboard their ship. The suspects are the five remaining expedition mates, each with their own motive. The only person Lorelei knows must be innocent is her longtime academic rival, the insufferably gallant and maddeningly beautiful Sylvia von Wolff.

Now in charge of the expedition, Lorelei must find the spring before the murderer strikes again—and a coup begins in earnest. But there are other dangers lurking in the dark: forests that rearrange themselves at night, rivers with slumbering dragons hiding beneath the water, and shapeshifting beasts out for blood.

As Lorelei and Sylvia grudgingly work together to uncover the truth—and resist their growing feelings for each other—they discover that their leader had secrets of her own. Secrets that make Lorelei question whether justice is worth pursuing, and if this kingdom is worth saving at all.

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Posts about this title from The Inky Phoenix

The Inky Phoenix\ \ Kathryn Budig\ \ • Jan 14 2025

Kate + Kathryn on the Gays Reading podcast.

Had an absolute blast talking with @jasonblitman on the @gaysreading podcast. Tune in to hear my lovely wife talk about her debut as well as what I’m reading, love for STRANGE BEASTS and LOCAL HEAVENS, plus bonding over our musical theatre background!

6 books

The Inky Phoenix\ \ Kathryn Budig\ \ • Dec 30 2024

Susan J. Morris' Top Books of 2024

They're dark and delightful!

3 books

The Inky Phoenix\ \ Kathryn Budig\ \ • Dec 17 2024

Ava Reid Recommends …

I’ve reached out to our 2024 Inky Phoenix authors for their favorite books of the year and we’re kicking it off with the magnificent @avasreid author of LADY MACBETH.

Ava recommends:

“My top reads of 2024 are Allison Saft’s A Dark and Drowning Tide, a gorgeously evocative, dark academia sapphic rivals-to-lovers romantic fantasy, steeped in lush folklore; and Courtney Gould’s What the Woods Took, a visceral, emotionally powerful YA horror novel with another heartfelt and beautifully rendered sapphic romance at its core.”

3 books

Posts about this book from across Bindery

Bee's Books\ \ Bailee Russo\ \ • Jun 26

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Wronggggggg.\ \ Now, we can have a conversation about how publishing house conglomerates and the trend-led mass-market led by an overwhelming white, straight, etc, majority creates a homogeneity of stories...sure. We can talk about that all day long.\ \ But if we do, we also need to talk about how consumers drive that market, and how our choices -- on social media feeds, on review platforms, at the bookstore -- make an impact on those publishing trends. That, I think, is a more interesting conversation.\ \ Because if we put in the effort to follow book reviewers from a diversity of perspectives, to support indie and underrepresented authors, to review the books we read with critical self-reflection, to support our local book vendors, libraries, etc...then we will find a huge, wide world of weird and wonderful literature just waiting for its audience. And in doing so, we can make an impact on publishing as a whole, too.\ \ So, here are a few unique books that I think you might love, featuring cannibalistic nuns, Faustian bargains, shape-shifting mermaids, talking animals, alternate futures, parasitic aliens, swampcore haunted cabins, cryptids, and more.\ \ Herculine by Grace Byron: an all Trans girls commune haunted by demons.\ \ The Reformatory by Tanarive Due: a segregated reform school and the evil inside.\ \ Wife Shaped Bodies by Laura Cranehill: the trad wives are sprouting mushrooms.\ \ A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft: a dark academia quest for a magic spring.\ \ Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell: a new world where all the white people have disappeared.\ \ The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones: A Blackfeet vampire seeking vengeance.\ \ The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling: a medieval castle under siege and the cannibalistic fever dream that unfolds inside.\ \ What We Feed to the Manticore by Talia Lakshmi Kolluri: a collection of compelling short stories all told from the perspectives of animals.\ \ After Love by Tanya Byrne: a fantastical lesbian love story that literally transcends death itself.\ \ Green Fuse Burning by Tiffany Morris: a grief-stricken Indigenous artist who arrives at a cabin in a remote, swampy forest, before strange things start to happen.\ \ Fate's Bane by CL Clark: sword-wielding, star-crossed lovers from rival clans, inspired by Celtic folklore.\ \ As Many Souls as Stars by Natasha Siegel: a Faustian Bargain between a witch and a demon, and their game of cat-and-mouse that spans multiple lifetimes.\ \ A Feast for the Eyes by Alex Crespo: four teenagers hunting the local cryptic that feeds on secrets.\ \ They Bloom at Night by Trang Thanh Tran: a red algae bloom causes strange mutations in a small Louisiana town.\ \ The Seep by Chana Porter: a parasitic alien invasion that creates a strange utopia, and one woman's quest to stop its spread.\ \ The Gloaming by Kirsty Logan: a hungry sea, a family beset by grief, and a strange woman who climbs up from the water.\ \ Happy reading!\ \ -B

"Books are all the same now."

15 books

Bee's Books\ \ Bailee Russo\ \ • Jun 1

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Some unique books for your TBR stack #weirdlit #weirdbooks #uniquebooks #bookrecs #lgbtbooks

7 books

chronicallybookish\ \ Kaley\ \ • Mar 8

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massive TBR unhaul!

Now I just need to actually get rid of the books…. #booktok #bookunhaul #fantasybooktok #romancebooktok #pangobooks

24 books

Skies Press\ \ Emma\ \ • Nov 25 2025

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Guess what I've got for you today...\ \ ...\ \ ...\ \ I think that's enough to keep it out of the image preview, so....\ \ \ \ Ta-daaaaa! Subscribers actually got this a couple weeks ago so shout out to you guys for keeping it a secret in the discord.\ \ For those of you who don't know the lore here, let me give you a little background. Yes, you are reading that correct, that says this is announcing the 2024 Best of Books winners. In November. of 2025.\ \ I wish I had a reasonable excuse for this, I really do...but I don't. I genuinely can't even tell you why I didn't release this in January like I was supposed to or why I haven't released it in the many months that these images have been sitting in my Canva projects, but from the bottom of my heart I have no idea. Anyway, it has now been almost a full year since we first started the process of nominating books for our Best of Books 2024 and for the love of god I need this to not be hanging over my head anymore. I say that as though there was literally anything or anyone but my own damn self keeping me from getting this out, BUT THERE WASN'T.\ \ You ever get a text or an email from someone that you don't reply to right away and then you kind of forget about it until it's a few days later and you go "oh my god I need to reply to that" but you've remembered at 1am and that's not a reasonable hour to text someone so you'll do it in the morning, and then you wake up in the morning and for many more mornings until the next time you remember it's suddenly been weeks and now it's awkward but you really should reply to it but you put it off because now you're embarrassed and then the longer you wait the worse it gets so you just never reply and suddenly you've ignored someone you really meant to get back to?\ \ That's normal...right? Anyway that's basically what has happened here and I refuse to have this sitting on my dusty, unseen to-do list any longer so HERE are the winners of our 2024 Best of Books:\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ And there we have it! I AM FREE. Free to get started all over again on our 2025 nominations...

A SURPRISE ALMOST A YEAR IN THE MAKING (or, ya know, a year late...if you want to be technically correct about it I guess)

13 books

Skies Press\ \ Emma\ \ • Nov 12 2025

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Guess what I've got for you today...\ \ ...\ \ ...\ \ I think that's enough to keep it out of the image preview, so....\ \ \ \ Okay, so if you don't know the lore here, let me give you a little background. Yes, you are reading that correct, that says this is announcing the 2024 Best of Books winners. In November. of 2025.\ \ I wish I had a reasonable excuse for this, I really do...but I don't. I genuinely can't even tell you why I didn't release this in January like I was supposed to or why I haven't released it in the many months that these images have been sitting in my Canva projects, but from the bottom of my heart I have no idea. Anyway, it has now been almost a full year since we first started the process of nominating books for our Best of Books 2024 and for the love of god I need this to not be hanging over my head anymore. I say that as though there was literally anything or anyone but my own damn self keeping me from getting this out, BUT THERE WASN'T. \ \ You ever get a text or an email from someone that you don't reply to right away and then you kind of forget about it until it's a few days later and you go "oh my god I need to reply to that" but you've remembered at 1am and that's not a reasonable hour to text someone so you'll do it in the morning, and then you wake up in the morning and for many more mornings until the next time you remember it's suddenly been weeks and now it's awkward but you really should reply to it but you put it off because now you're embarrassed and then the longer you wait the worse it gets so you just never reply and suddenly you've ignored someone you really meant to get back to?\ \ That's normal...right? Anyway that's basically what has happened here and I refuse to have this sitting on my dusty, unseen to-do list any longer so HERE:\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ I AM FREE. Free to get started all over again on our 2025 nominations...\ \ Upgrade for $12 or login

Hey, uh...surpriiiiiise!

you'll never guess what's in here

13 books

Discotopia | Diverse Books\ \ Disco (he/they)\ \ • Sep 21 2025

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Hi Party People and Disco Dancers,\ \ Tis the season! it's both Sapphic September and it's dark adademia autumn, so here are 3 books that do both:\ \ An Education in Malice by S.T. Gibson\ \ \ \ This is a Carmilla retelling, set in a US Ivy League university. Two rival students become close as they come under the mentorship of an alluring professor, until a series of murders makes them suspect something dark is at work... I love vampires, and this is a brilliant, atmospheric, sensual story.\ \ A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft\ \ \ \ Two rival magic scholars are sent on an expedition to find the fountain of youth, but when members of the group are murdered, the two of them suspect each other, while fighting a very tense attraction. This is an eerie, dark take on fantasy, with deep water spirits and creepy critters, with biting, snappy banter between the two leads. Loved it. \ \ Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir\ \ \ \ OK, hear me out... I think this counts as dark academia. Yes, technically it's lesbian necromancers in space, but they spend most of the time trapped with a bunch of scholars in a mystrious mansion trying to solve a series of academic puzzles. It's dark, moody and it's got a lot of books, what more could you want? Oh yeah, and swords.\ \ Enjoy!\ \ Disco x\ \ Join for free or login

Diverse Discoveries: Sapphic Dark Academia

2 books

chronicallybookish\ \ Kaley\ \ • Jun 20 2025

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Sprayed Edge Pride Stack

🌈🫶🏻

❤️ Little Thieves - demi/ace 🧡 The Phoenix Keeper - sapphic 💛 The Honey Witch - sapphic 💚 Sorcery and Small Magics - achillean 🩵 The Drowned Woods - bisexual 💙 A Dark and Drowning Tide - sapphic 💜 Sunbringer - bisexual

#booktok #specialeditions #sprayededges #stencilededges #illumicrate #fairyloot #owlcrate #prettybooks #pridestack #pridebookstack #lgbtqbooks #fantasybooks #fantasybookstagram #bookcollector

7 books

Daph's Reads 📚✨\ \ Daphne\ \ • Mar 25 2025

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My entire fantasy physical TBR!

My entire fantasy physical TBR! 📚🔮⚔️

#booktok #fantasybooks #tbr #toberead #bookhaul #bookrecommendations #bookrecs #fantasy

17 books

Andromeda's Fragments\ \ Raquel\ \ • Mar 13 2025

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2025 PHYSICAL TBR

2025 PHYSICAL TBR >>>> I suck at reading physical books and every plan I make to read more of them flops but I still try again and again 🙂‍↕️😭 #buffyreads #booktok #bookish #physicalbooks #tbr #bookshelf #bookshelforganization #physicaltbr

11 books

The Inky Phoenix\ \ Kathryn Budig\ \ • Jan 14 2025

Kate + Kathryn on the Gays Reading podcast.

6 books

The Inky Phoenix\ \ Kathryn Budig\ \ • Dec 30 2024

Susan J. Morris' Top Books of 2024

They're dark and delightful!

3 books

The Inky Phoenix\ \ Kathryn Budig\ \ • Dec 17 2024

Ava Reid Recommends …

Ava recommends:

3 books

Paws, Pages and Brews\ \ Sammie\ \ • Oct 23 2024

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November Fable book club choices

Vote in the club lobby for the next 3 days!

4 books

Not So Well Read\ \ Courtney\ \ • Sep 30 2024

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September Reading Wrap Up

Here's what I read in September... Spoiler it was an incredible month!

7 books

Not So Well Read\ \ Courtney\ \ • Sep 27 2024

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A Dark and Drowning Tide Review

When I tell you I squealed when @illumicrate announced this as their September pick earlier this spring. I have loved Allison Saft since Down Comes the Night and am so happy to finally have a special edition of one of her books on my shelf. I adored every second of this novel and am hoping this means we get to see more adult fantasy from Saft in the coming years.

If you read one fantasy this year, let it be this one. It’s just impeccable.

#darkacademiaaesthetic #darkacademiabooks #darkacademiabookstagram #adarkanddrowningtide #allisonsaft

1 book

Skies Press\ \ Emma\ \ • Sep 10 2024

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\ \ Upgrade for $5 or login](https://skiesreads.binderybooks.com/item/AtWDiSCgUL6M9M1KsTtE/)

Newsletter #7: September 10, 2024

Well hello there. Welcome to the Newsletter I meant to put out many, many days ago. It’s been a minute.

9 books

Skies Press\ \ Emma\ \ • Sep 6 2024

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Post-vacation reading update