A Study in Drowning is a haunting gothic tale of strength and perseverance that blurs the lines between fairytale and reality. I enjoyed many3.5 stars
A Study in Drowning is a haunting gothic tale of strength and perseverance that blurs the lines between fairytale and reality. I enjoyed many aspects of this book and I respect what it contributes to the genre, but, unfortunately, I was left wanting more from the story.
The gothic atmosphere is easily the strongest element of the book. Hiraeth Manor is a fascinating setting and I was obsessed with the idea of a house that is, quite literally, falling into the sea.
“Everything ancient must decay”
The crumbling estate and its many dark mysteries create a pervasive sense of wrongness and unease. This feeling is heightened by Effy’s self-reported status as an unreliable narrator. Ava Reid’s writing and repeated references to the metaphor of drowning further enhanced the gothic atmosphere making A Study in Drowning a quick and intriguing read.
Ava Reid specializes in crafting powerful stories of female trauma and rage. A Study in Drowning captures the many conflicting ways that women are treated by society and the tendency for their voices to be lost. Effy proves that there is strength in softness and perseverance. Her experience was so raw and emotional and I know that it will resonate with many readers. I was really impressed by how Ava Reid presented these complex topics for a YA audience.
“You don't have to take up a sword. Survival is bravery, too.”
The gothic atmosphere and Effy’s trauma are both the book's main focus and its strengths. However, many other parts of the story felt underdeveloped in comparison. The untapped potential of the world-building and character development left me wanting more.
Outside of Hiraeth Manor, the world-building is incredibly sparse. As this is a character-focused, gothic story I normally wouldn't have cared about the minimal world-building. However, Ava Reid presents so many intriguing concepts that go completely unexplained. The war only serves as a justification for Effy’s horrible behavior towards Preston when they first meet (side note: I was quite disappointed that Effy never had to confront her prejudice). I never understood the two countries’ history and relationship. There was some discussion of religious differences but I would have loved a bit more context. The Sleepers were criminally underexplored. The concept of authors who are believed to provide magical protection for an entire country is absolutely fascinating. Given the focus on the late author Emrys Myrddin and the importance of stories to both main characters, I expected this concept to be more fleshed out. But other than the occasional discussion of how Effy and Preston’s investigation would be viewed by the Sleeper Museum, the concept is never developed. Between the gothic atmosphere, Preston and Effy, and the mysteries of Hiraeth Manor, A Study in Drowning had plenty of interesting concepts. But these false starts in the world-building left the story feeling incomplete and drew my attention away from the main focus.
Effy is a really interesting main character and her soft strength makes her stand out from other characters in the genre. But I wanted a bit more from her character development and from the other characters. I did not expect Effy to overcome all of her trauma in such a short book. The way she slowly built trust with Preston was really beautiful. But then she had a very sudden character shift at the very, very end of the story that felt really random. Preston is a cardboard cutout of a character whose only personality trait was being the one not shitty man in this entire story. I love his type of character so the fact that I thought he was boring says a lot.
The dedication to this book reads: “This is a love story” and, respectfully, no it's not. I am not one to complain about a fantasy book having too little romance, but this dedication really sets the wrong expectations for the book. Effy and Preston’s romance is incredibly underdeveloped and is certainly not “rivals to lovers.” The entire conflict between them is Effy’s one-sided anger over something kind of stupid. Then she gets over it, they have a few scenes that were probably supposed to have romantic tension, and suddenly they're together.
My final critique is that the ending felt a bit awkward. The issue of the Faerie King is resolved way too easily, especially given everything he represents and what a significant figure he was in Effy’s life. The mystery was glaringly obvious from the second it was introduced. Which is fine. This is a YA novel and I can accept some level of in-world explanation for Effy and Preston’s ignorance. But it was really strange how the story walked the reader through each individual element of the reveal in one sit-down conversation. That amount of hand-holding for the reader was completely unnecessary as the mystery was extremely simple and it made the ending feel stilted and unnatural.
Amidst an excellent gothic atmosphere, A Study in Drowning gave me glimpses of untapped potential that left me feeling a bit unsatisfied. Unfortunately, I think this is my least favorite Ava Reid so far. I will probably stay away from any of their future YA releases but I would happily read more books along the lines of Juniper and Thorn. I would highly recommend this book to fans of Divine Rivals.
Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for the eARC
A Study in Drowning is a haunting gothic tale of strength and perseverance that blurs the lines between fairytale and reality. I enjoyed many aspects of this book and I respect what it contributes to the genre, but, unfortunately, I was left wanting more from the story.
The gothic atmosphere is easily the strongest element of the book. Hiraeth Manor is a fascinating setting and I was obsessed with the idea of a house that is, quite literally, falling into the sea.
“Everything ancient must decay”
The crumbling estate and its many dark mysteries create a pervasive sense of wrongness and unease. This feeling is heightened by Effy’s self-reported status as an unreliable narrator. Ava Reid’s writing and repeated references to the metaphor of drowning further enhanced the gothic atmosphere making A Study in Drowning a quick and intriguing read.
Ava Reid specializes in crafting powerful stories of female trauma and rage. A Study in Drowning captures the many conflicting ways that women are treated by society and the tendency for their voices to be lost. Effy proves that there is strength in softness and perseverance. Her experience was so raw and emotional and I know that it will resonate with many readers. I was really impressed by how Ava Reid presented these complex topics for a YA audience.
“You don't have to take up a sword. Survival is bravery, too.”
The gothic atmosphere and Effy’s trauma are both the book's main focus and its strengths. However, many other parts of the story felt underdeveloped in comparison. The untapped potential of the world-building and character development left me wanting more.
Outside of Hiraeth Manor, the world-building is incredibly sparse. As this is a character-focused, gothic story I normally wouldn't have cared about the minimal world-building. However, Ava Reid presents so many intriguing concepts that go completely unexplained. The war only serves as a justification for Effy’s horrible behavior towards Preston when they first meet (side note: I was quite disappointed that Effy never had to confront her prejudice). I never understood the two countries’ history and relationship. There was some discussion of religious differences but I would have loved a bit more context. The Sleepers were criminally underexplored. The concept of authors who are believed to provide magical protection for an entire country is absolutely fascinating. Given the focus on the late author Emrys Myrddin and the importance of stories to both main characters, I expected this concept to be more fleshed out. But other than the occasional discussion of how Effy and Preston’s investigation would be viewed by the Sleeper Museum, the concept is never developed. Between the gothic atmosphere, Preston and Effy, and the mysteries of Hiraeth Manor, A Study in Drowning had plenty of interesting concepts. But these false starts in the world-building left the story feeling incomplete and drew my attention away from the main focus.
Effy is a really interesting main character and her soft strength makes her stand out from other characters in the genre. But I wanted a bit more from her character development and from the other characters. I did not expect Effy to overcome all of her trauma in such a short book. The way she slowly built trust with Preston was really beautiful. But then she had a very sudden character shift at the very, very end of the story that felt really random. Preston is a cardboard cutout of a character whose only personality trait was being the one not shitty man in this entire story. I love his type of character so the fact that I thought he was boring says a lot.
The dedication to this book reads: “This is a love story” and, respectfully, no it's not. I am not one to complain about a fantasy book having too little romance, but this dedication really sets the wrong expectations for the book. Effy and Preston’s romance is incredibly underdeveloped and is certainly not “rivals to lovers.” The entire conflict between them is Effy’s one-sided anger over something kind of stupid. Then she gets over it, they have a few scenes that were probably supposed to have romantic tension, and suddenly they're together.
My final critique is that the ending felt a bit awkward. The issue of the Faerie King is resolved way too easily, especially given everything he represents and what a significant figure he was in Effy’s life. The mystery was glaringly obvious from the second it was introduced. Which is fine. This is a YA novel and I can accept some level of in-world explanation for Effy and Preston’s ignorance. But it was really strange how the story walked the reader through each individual element of the reveal in one sit-down conversation. That amount of hand-holding for the reader was completely unnecessary as the mystery was extremely simple and it made the ending feel stilted and unnatural.
Amidst an excellent gothic atmosphere, A Study in Drowning gave me glimpses of untapped potential that left me feeling a bit unsatisfied. Unfortunately, I think this is my least favorite Ava Reid so far. I will probably stay away from any of their future YA releases but I would happily read more books along the lines of Juniper and Thorn. I would highly recommend this book to fans of Divine Rivals.
Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for the eARC
I’m honestly speechless. I immediately struggled with the writing. This is a YA fantasy book that reads condescendingly young with jokes that feDNF 6%
I’m honestly speechless. I immediately struggled with the writing. This is a YA fantasy book that reads condescendingly young with jokes that feel like they were written by a twelve year old boy. I was also really uncomfortable with the constant jokes about the teenage characters reading porn/smutty books. That was the majority of the plot for the first two chapters I read. What really tested my patience with this book was the phrase “The Good Looking Giggles” to describe Zhara’s reaction to meeting attractive characters.
I read some other reviews just to see if it was a rough start and ultimately decided it wasn’t worth my time. I don’t have the patience for this level of immaturity. Other reviewers have also pointed out potential problems with the disability and LGBTQ representation. I did not get far enough into the book to be an authority on these topics. But I wanted to draw attention to another reason I chose not to continue with the book. ...more
I could be convinced to start this again depending on later reviews and the reviews of my mutuals.
I need to collect my thoughts on whaSoft DNF at 33%
I could be convinced to start this again depending on later reviews and the reviews of my mutuals.
I need to collect my thoughts on what exactly didn’t work for me with this one. I will say that if the book had been marketed to me as what it actually is, I would not have picked it up. The fantasy tournament trope and the (unrecognized as toxic) enemies to lovers romance are not selling points for me.
This is not a bad book but I can already tell it would be a 3/3.5 star read. And I can’t find the motivation to finish something I’m not loving right now. Honestly I might even come back to this because I’m sick of DNFing anticipated releases this year. ...more
Hate when a book I don’t want to read the sequel to ends on a cliffhanger.
I struggled to get through this one which is shocking because it’s so shortHate when a book I don’t want to read the sequel to ends on a cliffhanger.
I struggled to get through this one which is shocking because it’s so short. Inara took a long time to grow on me and I honestly wish the book had focused more on Kissen. It definitely had moments that I enjoyed. I think there are some really interesting scenes with the gods of this world. The romance felt incredibly forced.
Highly recommend the audiobook if you’re going to read this. It helped my reading experience a lot and I really liked the narrator. It’s included in Spotify Premium! ...more
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