Tidespeaker

Featured
91-rrh+VDlL
Author(s)
Age Range
12+
Release Date
January 06, 2026
ISBN
979-8217024223
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A girl with the power to command the tides has her life changed when she secures a job serving a wealthy noble family--only to learn upon arrival that the last person to fill her post mysteriously died, and her new employers are hiding dark secrets--in this haunting and lush debut fantasy.

Corith Fraine is a Floodmouth – her words can control water. Yet for those born with her rare elemental ability, paths forward are few, and Corith is one of the lucky ones. She has spent most of her life in a prestigious magic institution, training to one day achieve the highest possible honor for a member of her kind: the chance to serve one of the hundred noble houses.

When Corith learns she’s secured a post working for House Shearwater, a reclusive noble family living on a wave-battered island, she thinks her hard work has paid off. Until she discovers that their previous Floodmouth – Corith’s closest friend – mysteriously died in their service. And Corith is her replacement.

To learn the truth of her best friend’s accident, Corith must unravel the dark conspiracies at the heart of Bower Island. Yet doing so will require contending with the island’s deadly tides and her enigmatic new employers – including the family’s brooding youngest son, Llir, who she finds herself equally drawn to and repelled by. With her loyalties pushed to the breaking point, these treacherous waters may well pull Corith under…

Editor review

1 review
Grim Secrets and Spooky Shores
(Updated: June 04, 2026)
Overall rating
 
4.7
Plot
 
4.0
Characters
 
5.0
Writing Style
 
5.0
Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)
 
N/A
I see dramatic ocean cover, I read.

Blanketed in brooding skies and electoral politics, Corith’s need to discover the truth of her friend’s sudden death drives nearly two-thirds of the novel. While I was entranced by the gothic gloom, it’s a slow burn up to the finale, which blew me away.

Throughout, Corith is an endearing and relatable heroine, a young Orha (one born with magical affinity for an element) sent to serve a family of the Hundred, armed with sudden doubts, news of recent tragedy, no allies to share it with, and training in freshwater pools that leaves her utterly unprepared for the proud, crashing sea waves at her new home. Thrust into a tangle of secrets, she makes all the mistakes one would expect of an inexperienced sleuth, yet tries her best, and she’s willing to stifle immediate temper or impulse to choose the better option.

This story takes a refreshingly candid view of aristocratic society and the nuances at play between the privileged few and those beneath them (in this case, mainly the repressed Orha). The Shearwater siblings are proud and wealthy, delighting in keeping up with fashion or hosting parties, expecting their Orha to be grateful for the favors tossed their way. Corith experiences their full condescension and charity, yet also witnesses how each of the Shearwaters were formed and the secrets which make her hesitate to act against them. Everyone has done good and ill, in different measures, which presents flaws to be illustrated and discussed more than it condemns.

Despite the literal and figurative gloom, there’s also plenty of warmth in the sibling squabbles, leisurely afternoons (the in-home theatrical production, for example, seems a clear nod to the author’s love for Austen), and barely-there romance. Corith is saved from her inexperience many a time when her colleagues choose to believe the best of her, and her connection with water, when free from duty and stress, is a joyous thing. (As Corith develops her abilities as a Floodmouth, there’s a strong theme of submission vs resistance that I’m not sure quite comes full circle - but maybe I just thought a different result was being clearly signposted).

Pick this up for gothic fantasy shaped like a regency murder mystery, with an ending that leaves Corith and the reader completely unmoored. I have no idea what shape the sequel will take, and I can’t wait.

**Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC**
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