Review #460

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid got a 4.25/5 stars for me. It disappointed me compared to the rating I thought I’d be giving. Written in one point of view, third person narrative, it follows the story of two young scholars away from university who are looking for the truth about a famous author.

I was pretty confused during the first chapter with the world building and knowing what to focus on. There was a lot of information thrown at me too a quickly. 

The times also went back and forth too often between current and backstory past that it felt choppy. 

There were too many scene breaks. Chapter one is supposed to be in one main location.

There were too many characters introduced. 

But it had a great line: “How come all the spiders are men?” ‘Because then it feels more satisfying to squish them.’

I can’t tell if the prior relationship with Corbenic was mutual or consensual by I immediately despise him. His statement feels a bit overkill but I guess it makes sense for YA level to be straightforward: “If you weren’t so pretty, you would have failed out already.”

I’m exhausted of these emotionally abusive and discriminatory scenes being so repetitive and frequent to YA heroines.

Is she talking about a literal or metaphorical drowning?

What is the creature she saw?

The setting is described really well and gives an excellent vibe. 

Are her pills for anxiety or a personality disorder like schizophrenia?

The hag stones are interesting. 

I like that she took matters in her own hands and was assertive about going into town but overall she’s not likeable to me yet. It seems like this project was conveniently “handed” to her since we haven’t seen her skills yet. She wanted to give up twice. She’s not pleasant to anyone. It’s fine if she’s rude towards Preston but I want to see her personality while talking with other people. Also, she seems prejudiced when she keeps bringing up the fat that he shouldn’t study their culture because he’s from elsewhere. 

“Thank you for giving me the chance to die of something interesting, then.” Lol

There’s minimal dialogue overall compared to the exposition yet it’s often witty and clever. 

At the halfway mark the hidden box with the journal definitely makes things more intriguing. There is so much ick vibe with the misogyny concepts, belittling women and the nude pictures of the girl. 

Who is the ghost? 

Who is Ianto talking to? 

Oh and I wish there was more chemistry tension between Preston and Effy.

Chapter 10 confused me because of this unexpected information that she was a changeling? It’s not fully described what that means to this author because in other books I’ve read in this genre a changeling is considered to be a child that died young and came back as a half-demon creature. But it doesn’t sound like she had died. 

“Perhaps romance is a story with no end at all; where the end is but a wardrobe with a false back, leading to stranger and more merciful worlds.”

“Anything can be taken from you, at any moment. Even the past isn’t guaranteed. You can lose that, too, like water eating away at stone.” (Page265)

I still have no idea what these ‘Sleepers’ have to do with anything?

She seemed to defeat him pretty easily/quickly but I’m hoping the main event is the flood and not the king. 

Chapter 16 finally gave a lot of answers but the ghost thing is hard for me to grab onto. 

Wait, Angharad is NOT a ghost? I’m so confused. 

“The architecture of her new life was taking shape, and there were windows and doors. She did not need to slip through cracks in order to escape.”

Effy could’ve mentioned Rhia once when at Hiraeth since I didn’t remember her at all.

Why did he hear the bells and she didn’t?

This is a “Me Too” book in fantasy/ a magical world to bring the reader out of realism. It was written with pretty fluid prose, had great settings, the decaying vibe was excellent but it wasn’t my favorite type of read in this genre. Overall I’m sooooo exhausted of all us female authors needing to tell our story of abuse. Obviously it’s therapeutic for us to tell our story, but SA seems to be in 75% of books recently. my preference would be for authors to sculpt the ideal situation for women and portray in on the page. That way, instead of rehashing the same pain we are shown examples of a healthier, possible future

If there is a sequel I probably won’t read it.