#lacelle

[the-book-wyrm-reviews]

Curious Tides

By Pascale Lacelle Book Wyrm's Review is under the cut

Page Count: 560 Estimated Word Count: 152,300 Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance, Mystery, Dark Acadamia Year of Publication: 2023

Overview

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.

✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: :･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: :･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: :･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧

★★★★★ = 5/5 Stars

This was an amazing story that sucks you into its world from the very beginning! With twists and turns that keep you on your toes you cant wait for whats around the corner. Love triangles, mysterious secret cults, magic beyond your comprehension, and the battle of the tides between light and dark will keep you wanting more!! I honestly cant think of anything negative to say about this book, other than complain that I have not been able to find its prequel short story, Uncharted Dreams, in a physical copy and that I have to wait till November 5th of 2024 in order to get hold of a copy of its sequel, Stranger Skies.

I cant insist more that you try to find a copy of Curious Tides to read for yourself and be swept away with the tides of Dovermere!

✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: :･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: :･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: :･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧

Would you like your own copy? Grab one at the link below! I am not Sponsored or Affiliated with Amazon

[tkshoelace]

My OC Lacelle made for my character wall

[eyelightlens]

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[larry-chu]

i love you forever

[decoralaura]

Looks like I forgot to post this

I can’t wait to see more of these two in Stranger Skies!

[displayheartcode]

There is a scholar on these shores who breathes stories. He inhales all manner of them, holds each one in his soul, and when his lungs are too full of words, he exhales at last, daring to breathe his own stories to life. Thus he breathes in words and breathes more out, in and out and in again like the measured rhythm of the sea, until one day he finds a peculiar book that sets even the tides off their fated course.

curious tides by pascale lacelle.

[mercerislandbooks]

Book Notes: Fantasy Roundup

Or, some ideas for what to read when you have a book hangover from Iron Flame:

Curious Tides by Pascale Lacelle

When Emory is the sole survivor of a secret ritual in the caves below Aldryn College, her healer powers, given to those born during the new moon on a rising tide, begin to shift into something strange and uncontrollable. Will her estranged friend Baz, brother to one of the students who died, help Emory figure out her new powers and what really happened that night? This debut fantasy has it all — dark academia, an upper YA that crosses over beautifully into adult, a murder mystery, secret societies, forbidden magic, a pining romance and the most gorgeous book design I’ve seen in a while. The magic system is built around the moon phases and the tides. Curious Tides is book one of a planned duology.

The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon

What happens when Talasyn and Alaric, two soldiers from opposite sides of an entrenched war meet on the battlefield and discover their opposing powers combine to create something entirely new and unexpected? They continue to absolutely hate each other while having to work together to save their people from an even worse fate. Of course. And we all know what happens when two attractive people hate each other. Drawing inspiration from Southeast Asia, debut Filipino author Thea Guanzon has penned a fun, fresh fantasy that balances an authentic depiction of the toll of conflict on a population with a strong cast of characters and all the political machinations of Machiavelli. The Hurricane Wars is book one of a planned trilogy.

Godkiller by Hannah Kane

In a world where gods, fed by the attention, prayers, and offerings of humans, can also be destroyed by them, three disparate people come together to travel to the ruined city that was the last stand in the wars between gods and people. Kissen, a godkiller for hire. Elo, a former knight turned baker. And Inara, a young girl whose life has become intertwined with a god of white lies, Skedi. The four travel together to Blenraden, hopeful that they will find a way to untangle Skedi from Inara. All the feels of quest fantasy with characters that are delightfully flawed and human. The world building was immersive and queer normative with a host of diverse characters. The religious and magic system was at once familiar but with enough twists to make it unexpected. Godkiller is book one of a planned trilogy.

The Fragile Threads of Power by V.E. Schwab

From page one of The Fragile Threads of Power, I was invested all over again in the world of the four Londons, seven years after the events from The Shades of Magic trilogy (also excellent, if you want to start there). The plot works together like interchanging gears, or a chess game, the movement of each character affecting the others, often unknowingly. There are characters from the original trilogy, new additions, and Tes, the one who, unconsciously, holds the key to everything. Schwab investigates power in this novel -- who has it and who controls it, and by whose standards its morality is judged. Schwab puts a lot of things in motion in this book, and only a few are resolved by the end. The Fragile Threads of Power is book one of planned trilogy. You can always go back and read The Shades of Magic series in the meantime!

What the River Knows by Isabel Ibañez

I can’t think of a more fun combination than 1880’s Egyptian archeological digs, a feisty heroine determined to find out what happened to her explorer parents, and a current of magic running through it all. When Inez Olivera hears that her parents, on a dig in Egypt, are presumed dead, she takes matters into her own hands. Inez books passage from Bolivia to Egypt, intent on discovering the truth. What she finds in Egypt is an infuriatingly handsome young man, assisting her guardian in carrying on her parents discoveries, and men thwarting her inquiries at every turn. Add to this a mysterious ring that connects Inez to the magic of the past and the questions continue to pile up. It will take a trip up the Nile and many near escapes just to get Inez closer to any answers. Packed with action, a slow burn romance, and a huge twist kept me enthralled to the very last page. What the River Knows is book one of a planned YA duology.

Hopefully you find one, or many, of these titles to be a satisfying read!

— Lori

[fancylala7]

[night-bluesky]

Curious Tides by Pascale Lacelle is getting some hate for being slow and drawn out but y’all… some books are just like that and are part of the style (the Hobbit anyone?). Same with criticisms toward timeline confusion (except I don’t think it was hard to follow at all and liked how the backstory was intertwined with the present). It’s like Ninth House meets Gideon the Ninth meets Shadow and Bone.

I LOVED this book. I loved the premise and the world building and I loved that it being long drew out the sense of suspense and confusion as if we were experiencing the world with Emory and Baz. I liked learning more about the magic system and the Order and the characters.

I think my biggest complaints from this book are the lack of expansion on esclipses. Hear me out: there’s solar and lunar eclipses but what are the specific variations that lead to some being Tidecallers? What’s the difference between being born on a solar eclipse and being born on a specific variation of it; what’s the variation?? Also college was talked about early on but whatever happened to Emory taking her classes, especially the emphasis on her needing a makeup exam. College helps set the tone for prestige which is great for world building, but there’s aside from the beginning, there’s not really any mention of classes or homework.

Yes these complaints override the positives for some people but for me, these are easily justified. I really liked this book and I loved the ending and epilogue and I can’t wait to learn more in Stranger Skies. Like. I really need someone to talk to about how much I loved this book.

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[scrollsfromarebornrealm]

wip--nail in the coffin

(VIOLENCE UNDER THE CUT)

-----------

One minute he'd been investigating the abandoned house. The next he'd seen a shadow out of the corner of an eye. Too late Sebastian reached for his gunblade--as the shadow resolved itself into a body. Before he could strike he was suddenly trapped against a tall form, choking as a staff and a pair of arms locked him into place, trying to lift him off the ground.

At the last minute Sebastian just barely got his right arm free-but he couldn't do much, wheezing as he grabbed at the metal bar with his left hand. Brucemont's voice was a tinny sound over the linkpearl before it went dead.

"Miss me, darling?" A sickeningly familiar voice hissed. Sebastian froze. His eyes widened, and fear flooded his muscles for several moments. That resulted in the staff being pulled tighter against his throat, and for a moment Sebastian couldn't breathe. Stars swam before his eyes, and he choked.

No! Sheer adrenaline kicked in--hedidn'twanttodie--likehellwashegoingtodie- and Sebastian kicked out, managing to push the staff back as best as he could with his free hand. Precious air filled his lungs as he gasped, struggling to regain his footing.

"Lacelle!" He rasped out.

"Why is that you always have the gods damned tendency to show up in places you're not wanted?!" The mage snarled. He pulled back harder on the staff, but Sebastian's fingers were locked in a deathgrip, just barely keeping the metal from crushing his throat. His right arm flailed again--if only he could get more of an angle--but Lacelle was blocking him, his arm locked around Sebastian's shoulder.

"What the fuck are you doing here?!" Desperately Sebastian thrashed again-if only he could get his feet on the ground, if only he could get more wriggle room--if only he'd waited for Brucemont or the Landsguard before coming up here by himself-- Then he gagged as the bar was back against his throat, his body being lifted higher into the air. Again he shoved at the bar, but it was no good, his lungs were beginning to burn--

"LACELLE!!!" The front doors exploded open.

Sebastian gasped as the elezen's attention was momentarily diverted--sucking in precious lungfuls of air. At the entrance, Brucemont loomed in the doorway, ice cold rage radiating off him.

"Let him go." He snarled, his voice distorted as Bastion bled through. "Or else your next breath will be in the hells!" Sebastian felt Lacelle's grip slacken and suddenly he had a foot on the floor--Gritting his teeth, the gunbreaker twisted his right arm, stabbing backwards as hard as he could. His reward was a scream of pain--and the feel of the Bozjan blade biting through armor and flesh. The staff fell away as Sebastian ripped the blade free, staggering forward. Air filled his lungs again--and a black-blue blur filled his vision as Brucemont charged forward and past him.

-----

(shoutout to @saesama for making this absolutely lit set of poses!!! 💕😘😙😚)

[book-lover85]

when the fandom's so small you have to make the fandom wiki yourself

[bookaddict24-7]

(New Young Adult Releases Coming Out Today! (November 5th, 2024)

___

Have I missed any new Young Adult releases? Have you added any of these books to your TBR? Let me know!

___

New Releases:

Shadowed by Carl Deuker

It's Not Me, It's You by Alex Light

All the Truth I Can't Stand by Mason Stokes

Snow Drowned by Jennifer D. Lyle

The Donut Prince of New York by Allen Zadoff

Streetlight People by Charlene Thomas

Here Goes Nothing by Emma K. Ohland

A Diamond Bright & Broken by Holly Davis

Getting Away with Murder by Kathryn Foxfield

Batgirl: Possession by Jade Adia

The Art of Us by Julie Wright

New Sequels:

Stranger Skies (Drowned Gods #2) by Pascale Lacelle

Where the Library Hides (Secrets of the Nile #2) by Isabel Ibañez

___

Happy reading!

[eyelightlens]

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[thetypedwriter]

Curious Tides Book Review

Curious Tides by Pascale Lacelle Book Review 

This book has so many things to love. 

Too bad I disliked almost all of them because of other glaring issues in the book. 

I still give Lacelle so much credit. Her book had so many dreams (literally) and tried to tackle so much for a debut YA novel. However, I really think she could have benefited from a more succinct editor, by changing up her timeline, and by shearing off a good 200 pages or so. 

This book’s plot is ambitious. It switches POV’s between two main characters: Emory and Baz. Emory, a student at Aldryn College, specializes in healing powers. Used to being mediocre and constantly standing in the shadows of her best friend, Romie, Emory is suddenly the recipient of every power after a near death experience that leaves several dead, including Romie.

However, in the aftermath of the event, Emory learns that she’s a mythical tidecaller. Baz meanwhile, is an eclipse-born, a person who receives his powers from being born on a lunar eclipse.

Known for their horrific and “evil” powers that combust in an event called “collapsing”, Baz is ostracized and alienated by the other students at Aldryn, but also the world at large for his incredible, but frightening ability to control time (another big issue that I won’t even get into). 

The setting of this book is a world based on the idea that people receive abilities depending on the moon they were born under. There’s lore galore, colleges dedicated to honing special abilities, rituals, language, and mythology–all based on the tides and the moon. 

The details that Lacelle includes in this is really interesting, as is the concept of magic based on the moon phases itself. A dark academia setting based on the tides and lunar alignments? I love it.

However, the magic system was needlessly complicated and Lacelle spent way too much time describing events, world-building facets, and societal elements that had nothing to do with the plot and only succeeded in making the book longer instead of pulling me into the story more deeply. 

In addition, a lot of Lacelle’s writing was incredibly repetitive. She hit the same points over and over and over again: eclipse-born are evil and everyone hates them, everyone loves the moon, Kieran is hot, Romie is great, Baz’s memory of his father’s printing press blowing up, Emory feeling inadequate compared to Romie, and Baz thinking or describing the children’s book Sorrow of the Drowned Gods. 

No joke, the items I listed up above were about 75% of the book. The remaining 25% was action, too-in depth details about the college that didn’t matter—like what all the different halls were called and what they looked like in each dormitory, more flashbacks of Emory and Baz’s past, and interactions between the characters. 

Even though Emory and Baz are at a college, their classes don’t matter whatsoever. Honestly, I have no idea why they’re even at a college other than to have them all in one place. Emory’s classes are described once, briefly, and we see her go to about two classes. Otherwise, it’s not mentioned at all. 

The characters themselves were okay. Not great. Just…okay. Lacelle tried way, way too hard to give her characters depth, but only succeeded in telling instead of showing.

Instead of me figuring something out about Emory, Lacelle would have a huge, descriptive paragraph of Emory realizing that she compared herself to Romie too much and that she had her own self-worth. Moments like this aren’t bad per se, but they were way too frequent for my liking. 

Let me, the reader, figure things out about the characters and come to my own conclusions. Don’t spell out every single detail for me and hold my hand. It’s tedious and it’s boring. Lacelle did this constantly. 

In addition, for a nearly 600-paged book, about four characters mattered: Emory, Baz, Kieran, and Kai. Emory and Baz are the main characters so it’s hard to discount them, even though they’re not that interesting due to having every single personality trait of theirs spelled out and analyzed by the author itself. 

Kieran and Kai, although important characters, were very one-dimensional. Kieran’s power-obsessed manipulative personality was not a secret whatsoever.

Lacelle reveals his “true” nature at the climactic end, even though the signs showing his megalomania were painfully clear to a ten-year-old. 

I liked Kai the most, but he’s in very little of the book. We see him mainly in flashbacks and then at the very end. Lacelle, why lock up your most interesting characters and hide them away for most of the novel?? She does this with Romie too, a more egregious error. 

Romie dying is the catalyst for this whole story. It’s what changes Emory and makes her a tidecaller, it’s what invigorates Kieran and sets him on his master plan, it’s what influences Kai to collapse—the whole story starts with Romie dying at Doveremere Cave. 

Yet…Lacelle starts the story after this event. Why would an author do this??? It’s excruciating. Your most important part of the whole novel isn’t even included in the novel. She inserts it later as a flashback, but I don’t want a flashback. I want the real thing. 

The book should have started with Romie and Emory going to Dovermere and then 

progress from there. It easily could have been the first chapter and it would have introduced us to Romie’s character more, set up Romie and Emory’s friendship, and acted as the catalyst for the whole story. 

Even better, it could have even started with Baz’s memory of his father’s printing press blowing up, then the three of them starting at Aldryn, them going to Dovermere, Romie dying, and thennnnn continuing.

That already would have been a better book. It wouldn’t even have to be longer. By cutting out all the repetitive and useless bits that I already mentioned, Lacelle would have had plenty of room to include these essential moments. 

I truly don’t understand the choices she (or her editor) made about the plot timeline and pacing because they were all terrible.

This is a true injustice when you take into account how original and fascinating the initial concept is and how much time and effort she put into the world and its lore. 

Recommendation: This book had all the right ingredients for something truly great, but fell short due to verbose, albeit beautiful writing, a slow plot, choppy pacing, predictable characters, and too dense world-building that added nothing to the story.

If you want dark academia, look elsewhere like If We Were Villains or the Atlas Paradox. These stories have much better plots with much more interesting characters and it doesn’t take 600 pages to get to the end. 

Score: 4/10

[decoralaura]

“The master of nightmares and the boy plagued by too many fears.” -Curious Tides, page 358.

I decided not to add any color to this for now, but I might go back and add in some color later.