Review of Upon A Starlit Tide by Kell Woods

Lovely cover of Upon a Starlit Tide by Kell Woods

I enjoyed Kell Woods’ debut novel After the Forest immensely. Woods’ ability to describe lush beauty in the worlds she creates is unmatched. I do consider it to be more of an adult novel (despite having a young adult female main character and being marketed as young adult) because the themes are mature and there are some open door bedroom scenes.

Upon a Starlit Tide hit the same notes for me - dark themes (disability cruelness, abuse, colonialism, violence, torture) and too much open door spice for this to be a young adult novel. And while I could simply consider this adult as I did with After the Forest…I just couldn’t get past the pacing lags in Upon a Starlit Tide. I also probably overlooked the use of swear words in After the Forest that just felt so jarring in Upon a Starlit Tide.

The lush descriptions of the world are lovely - they are Woods’ best attributes as a writer - but even that could not carry me through the slower-paced first half of the book. The love triangle never fully materializes and the convenience of the main characters’ safety seems too contrived. The magic in this world is also a bit murky in that we have common fae and sea creatures who are disappearing along with the magic of the world but the explanation of how our main female character discovers her identity is difficult to believe (even for a fantasy-lover reader such as myself).

Ultimately, as a reader who is also a book collector, I read every book with a thought of whether it deserves precious real estate on my shelves and sadly, Upon a Starlit Tide does not meet that criteria.

If you’re interested in a Little Mermaid and Cinderella mash up set in a vibrantly described fantasy world of true historical relevance, and you are looking for a bit of heat between two characters, then definitely give this a go.

Thank you to Kell Woods, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for the Advanced ALC.