bea_reads_books's reviews
318 reviews

I was a bit apprehensive when I originally picked this up just because it’s so long, and lately the longer books I’ve been reading could all have been at least a third shorter if not half. They get drawn out by redundancies, needless miscommunication, or random side plots that go nowhere. 

Thankfully, this book actually uses its page count. Each chapter moves the plot along, did character work, and/or revealed more lore or worldbuilding. I did not feel that there was much, if anything, in here that could be removed and leave the story the same or improved.

I very much enjoyed the lore of the Tides and magic, the writing style, and the mystery element around the Institute. I enjoyed less the love triangle (a surprise to no one who knows my great disdain for non-poly love triangles). However in this book it did actually serve a purpose. So, while certain of those scenes annoyed me somewhat, I am allowing it a pass because the author used the trope for a reason outside of itself.

There are just a few reasons this book got a 4 star rating instead of a 5 from me:

1 - The author teased us several times with this deep bond between Bas and Kai, which for some reason didn’t really come to anything. I was really rooting for them, so this made me sad.
2 - This book is set in a magic college, and yet, for some reason we never see their classes or homework. There is a few chapters in which we hear about Emory reading a textbook about the different tidal alignments and their magics, but we don’t actually see what’s in the book, and this doesn’t come up again once she finishes it. I do not understand why we set books in magical colleges if we’re not going to see any classes or homework. This would have been a great way to facilitate the reader learning about Emory’s new magic with her, instead of her seeming to come into it with very little effort.
3 - As this is set in a college, and most characters we see are second or third year students, I don’t quite understand why they all feel like 16 year olds. I recognize this is completely subjective, but I really did expect them to feel closer to my own age.

Every single person in this book annoyed me. Also Darcy deserves compensation. 

(Please for the love of god can authors stop referencing Harry Potter in their books. I am literally begging.)