Audio Review: Curious Tides by Pascale Lacelle

Curious Tides by Pascale Lacelle
Narrator: Gary Furlong, Shakira Shute, Toni Frutin
Series: The Drowned Gods Trilogy #1
Published by Simon & Schuster Audio, Margaret K. McElderry Books on 2023-10-03
Age Range: 14+
Length: 542 pages
Length: 16 hours and 41 minutes
Listening Speed: 2x
Reviewing Audiobook, Hardcover from My Book Shelf
Rating:
Reading Challenges: 2024 Audiobook Challenge

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.

I devoured this book! Curious Tides by Pascale Lacelle is the first in a fantasy trilogy about a young woman finding the truth about what happened to her and her friends last school year. Emory is studying as a healer at the prestigious Aldryn College when a night in the Dovermere sea caves leaves a group of fellow students dead with Emory the only survivor. Now she has abilities that she shouldn’t have, Eclipse magic. In a race to discover the truth and master her abilities, Emory finds herself at the center of a conspiracy dating back hundreds of years.

Emory is a fun character to follow. Her naivety works in the reader’s favor as she learns about her new magic and how it can be used. Her depression and grief are the center of the story. When one of the students who supposedly drowned washes up on the beach alive, Emory’s depression turns into a desperate search for her missing best friend, Romie, who could also still be alive.

Then there’s Baz, Romie’s older brother. Baz is an Eclipse born and recognizes Emory’s new abilities for what they are. At first, he wants nothing to do with his former friend and crush, distancing himself from her in case she is caught. He’s already suffered so much loss, his father’s collapsing and Romie’s death. But now, he wants answers. What happened to Romie? Why was she out at the caves that night? And the only person that can answer those questions is Emory. So he agrees to train her in secret.

The plot of this book is a book within a book which is one of my favorite things. In the story, there is a book about a Scholar who travels to the heart of the worlds going through doorways and gathering other travelers. Everything that happened last spring seems to revolve around this book and its missing epilogue. The deeper Emory digs into Romie’s life, the more she finds: secret lovers, a secret society, and more. The mystery of it all adds to the tension of the story, driving the plot at a fast pace.

The world-building is one of my favorites that I’ve read this year. It’s reminiscent of Harry Potter and The Ninth House. I’ve also heard comparisons to Atlas Six, which I haven’t read so can’t confirm. But in truth, The Magicians by Lev Grossman is the closest in similarity. Academic, magical system, and a story within a story. So much fun!

Overall, I loved Curious Tides. I could not read it fast enough. Told in dual POV between Baz and Emory, the story unfolds at a breakneck pace. If you are a fan of fantasy set in an academic setting, I highly recommend.

Audiobook Note: I listened to this one at my normal 2x speed. There are three narrators: one each for Baz and Emory, and a third who reads the story. I loved this. Each narrator brought something to the story and drew me in. Fantastic listen and highly recommend it for audio lovers.

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