I thought this was a duology, only to find out that it’s now a trilogy. And here I thought waiting a year from this book’s publication meant that I could binge the full series. Oh, well.

In Curious Tides by Pascale Lacelle, Emory is a student in lunar magic at Aldryn College, but she’s struggling. At the end of the previous term, her best friend Romie, along with several other students, died in a terrible accident at the sea caves of nearby Dovermere. Emory was there too, the sole survivor, though she can’t make sense of what happened that night. The only person who can perhaps understand her grief, though, is Baz, Romie’s brother and outcast of Aldryn College. Emory turns to him for support, even more so when she begins to manifest new, impossible powers. But at the same time as she gets closer to Baz, Emory also becomes obsessed with discovering the truth of what happened to Romie, even if it means infiltrating the possibly dangerous secret society her friend had joined. Meanwhile, Baz is uncovering his sister’s secrets, too, ones that could have world-bending consequences.

I love a debut that makes you really eager for this author’s career to grow, and this is one of those debuts. What an impressive story!

Firstly, the settings and world-building are both excellent. Aldryn College feels like a classic old university, full of cobwebs and history, the stone walls holding back a chilly breeze from the nearby sea. And Dovermere itself is a stark, bleak place, though compelling due to the mystery surrounding it. I also loved the magic system, based on the phase of the moon during a person’s birth. The idea that this leads to different powers manifesting is so cool, and I thought it was clever to have the students form cliques based on their powers; that seems like exactly what would happen.

Regarding the characters, Emory and Baz are good leads. Emory is filled with grief and pain and confusion, and her quest for answers—even when it leads her down a path she probably shouldn’t traverse—is understandable. And Baz is mysterious without it being obnoxious, his own internal struggles due to the stigmatization of his magic making him sympathetic. His own journey is moving as well.

The other characters were fine. I liked the glimpses we got of Romie in Emory’s memories and dreams; it makes her grief a little more palpable to the reader, as we get an idea of their bond. I personally didn’t like Kieran at all, even if Emory did, so scenes with him were a bit of a struggle for me because I kept begging her to get away from him. That said, Baz’s family friend Jay is a total icon and I would love to see more of them in the second book!

The plot itself is one of my favorite kinds: a mystery set in a magical world, accompanied by lots of books. The idea of a secret society existing in a magic school is a great one, and executed well. The scenes involving this group highlight ideas of privilege and power being extremely dangerous if given to the bad people, and as we know, I like a story that questions authority. And as the story unfolds, there are several solid twists: one I saw coming admittedly from miles away but still served to push the story forward, and another I didn’t see coming at all and thus was thrilled by.

In the end, Curious Tides surpassed my (decently high) expectations. The audiobook (narrated by Gary Furlong, Shakira Shute, and Toni Frutin) was a wonderful production with excellent performances. I liked Emory and Baz as characters, even if lots of the story involves them not telling each other important things. Normally I don’t like that contrivance, but it made sense for their characters here, and the way the different plot threads converge toward the end was pretty clever. And the setting and magic system are both fantastic. I am going to pick up the sequel in the next few days, and I’m very excited!