ARC Review: Lore of the Tides by Analeigh Sbrana

Title: Lore of the Tides
Author: Analeigh Sbrana
Series: Lore of the Wilds duology #2
Genre: Fantasy Romance/Adventure
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Publication Date: July 08th, 2025
Edition: eBook
Source: NetGalley
Pre-Order: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | BAM | Bookshop | Kobo | Powell's | 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Synopsis:

   Lore Alemeyu wakes up to discover she’s on a ship in the middle of the ocean. Held prisoner and with no way to escape, she’s faced with a dire set of circumstances…
   A crew that’s distrustful of Lore’s magic capabilities…
Her betrayal by a Fae she thought she could trust…
A dangerous quest for the sun book, which, if placed in the wrong hands, will make the Alytherian Fae even more powerful.
   Lore must navigate threats on the ship and beyond, into the ocean’s magical and mysterious depths, in order to find the sun book herself and help free the humans. All the while, Lore can’t help but feel the intense pull of one Fae male who has been helping her all along. But is she willing to risk her human heart for creatures that have burned her in the past, and jeopardize her people’s future?

From the author of Lore of the Wilds comes the exciting and passionate conclusion, as Lore navigates Fae magic amid looming dangers that threaten to destroy her world. 

 

I read the first book as an arc as well, and I recall really enjoying it. I think I gave it a high-4 star rating on the review sites. And even though as time went on my feelings for the first book dwindled a little, with more reflection I felt that perhaps the world building was underwhelming even though I still liked that atmosphere of the first book. 

 

Going into this book, I had middling expectations. I did hope that the world-building would be expanded on a bit, since the first one took place in a very small location for much of the book. The wider politics of the world weren't discussed, and I wanted to learn more about this world they are on. Perhaps learn more where the humans came from. Alas, as the book went on that was not what happened. Sure we meet more beings on the world, but that didn't make it feel bigger or help me understand anything, it just left more questions.

 

We go this underwater realm, and meet the Fae that live there. Something that took me out of the story was that Lore knew what a Jellyfish was. She called it a Jellyfish, and this is stand out as unusual because before she was kidnapped and brought aboard the ship, she had never seen the ocean before. She should have no idea what they are. The underwater part should've been exciting, but they get a magical "kiss" from the aforementioned jellyfish, and then can move around under water like the local Fae, but they are actually walking around like they would on dry land. Which, for me, makes them being at the bottom of the ocean less exciting. 

 

I, admittedly, started skim-reading around the half-way point. I know this is a romance, but I feel like Lore and Finn, were far too interested in finding time/ways to have sex than they were with trying to accomplish any of these dire goals. That's another thing, there is no reason that Finn had to be captured too, other than a plot convenience. Even the excuse of him being used as a bargaining chip for Lore didn't make sense, they didn't know each other long enough for Syrelle to think he'd matter enough for that to work. He just needed to be there with the underwater Fae rescued her.

 

By the end, I really felt that this series should've either been three books and taken more time to flesh things out, or one longer book that trimmed some of the repetitiveness. This book is set in and Epic Fantasy world, that hints at larger things that don't get the time they need to make the world feel real. A fantasy book, romance or not, being under 400/500 pages is very short. The world needed more attention, and the focus couple needed more attention for their romance to be believable beyond a trauma bond. This book/series just had a very underwhelming and convenient ending.