Effy's tattered copy is all that's keeping her afloat through her stifling first term at her prestigious architecture college. So when the late author's family announces a contest to design his house, Effy feels certain this is her destiny.

Literal and metaphorical drowning is, of course, the main theme of A Study in Drowning , and the notion of a sunken land was always central to the story I wanted to tell. There are the socio-political and economic connotations that harken to real-world climate change: the idea that the most deprived people suffer the most when nature takes an unnatural course. There is the deep sense of grief, of loss, of disconnect and severance: the feeling that Effy is trapped in an unreal reality, unmoored from her fellow humans, akin to living in this ruined city beneath the waves. this is YA and as someone who has read many thrillers in her life, YA mysteries are predictable 9 times out of 10; now, the plot is what initially made me realise i wasn’t enjoying the book. i gave Effy and Preston the benefit of the doubt for the majority of the book. but the plot, world-building and storytelling aspect? hmmm. The prose is expertly crafted, giving a murky feeling to the story, and easily showing what I imagine to be the feeling of drowning. My senses were overwhelmed with the descriptions from the start until the end. There’s a bit where Angharad says this: “I wanted one girl, only one, to read my book and feel that she was understood, and I would be understood in return.” It’s a beautiful line and a beautiful message - it’s one that fully resonates for me, and I would be surprised if Angaharad wasn’t speaking a bit for Reid in this moment too. A Study in Drowning is definitely a “love letter to books” book and I can feel the author’s passion in showing how stories can help us survive reality and how important it is for us to be able to truly own our stories and voices.But musty, decrepit Hiraeth Manor is an impossible task, and its residents are far from welcoming. Including Preston Héloury, a stodgy young literature scholar determined to expose Myrddin as a fraud. As the two rivals piece together clues about Myrddin’s legacy, dark forces, both mortal and magical, conspire against them—and the truth may bring them both to ruin.

There is also plenty of the Gothic about your story, I particularly liked your take on the framed narrative through Angharad , Effy’s favourite book. With the numerous epitaphs, how much of that story did you also have written up? I love you.” Effy pressed her forehead against his. “I love you,” Preston said, voice wavering. “I’m so sorry it’s ruined us both.” Why is this pitched as Gothic? Because that’s what’s popular right now too. The Crimson Peak is gothic (deliciously so), this is just a sad imitation of the aesthetic. I’m convinced no one truly wants to write the actual trope, they really just wanna ride the coattails of its popularity. Effy’s breath caught, and when she tried to speak, she found that no words would come. She wanted to say I don’t believe you. She wanted to say thank you. She wanted to say tell me more about who I am because I don’t know anymore.”

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Thus, Myrddin became a fictional amalgam of several real-life authors, all of whom had complex relationships with the women in their lives. The comparison to the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas is perhaps the most apparent, but there are shades of Scott Fitzgerald and Percy Shelley in him as well. 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. she understood Angharad on a level that was almost inarticulable: it was as primal and unconscious as her lungs pumping and her heart beating." I actually didn’t have very much more of it written than what appears in A Study in Drowning . I tried not to be overly indulgent with my in-world lore, because I wasn’t sure how much patience people would have for reading academic discourse about books and authors that don’t exist. But writing the excerpts and epitaphs were some of my favorite parts of the book. I loved building a canon from scratch and imagining what sort of literary traditions this fictional world would have.

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. Part scholarly mystery, part dark fairytale, Ava Reid’s first young adult novel is, at its heart, a coming-of-age story about survival, about believing women—about giving them the place they rightfully deserve, against men who take and take and take. I’m not sure the dark academia label really fits, but I know these things are muddy, and my personal experience with dark academia makes it harder for me to recognize it when the story doesn’t involve queer characters and messed-up relationships’ dynamics, so this opinion may vary. Who cares, really, though, when the book is wonderful? 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. However, there is also another theme of bigotry and prejudice that runs throughout the book that was not handled well at all and left me feeling very uncomfortable and unable to rate this book higher. Effie the fmc references the conflict between her country of Llyr and the neighboring country of Argant early in the book in and it's repeatedly emphasized that she feels extreme animosity for this other race of people.A Study in Drowning is set in a world inspired by mid-century England and Wales, and Effy belongs to a class of women who would have been among the first non-aristocrats to be able to attend university. While she has the privilege of being upper class, as a woman she is still subjected to horrifically dehumanising institutional sexism. I’ve been waiting for this book for so long. Every-time i saw TikTok video or a review of someone who got an arc my envy level was ↗️↗️↗️ Effy squeezed her eyes shut, willing the image to vanish. When she opened them again, the chalkboard in front of her looked glassy, like a window at night. She could picture a thousand blurry, half-seen things behind it.

Drawing from Welsh folklore, ASID follows the story of Effy, a young student of architecture, though her true passion lies in literature even if the school doesn’t permit women. When she gets the chance to design a home for her favourite author Myrddin‘s son at their ancestral home, she jumps at the chance despite her fear of what she might uncover while she’s there. At Hiraeth, Effy encounters a smug and mercurial fellow academic, a boy called Preston, and Myrddin’s son. Soon, Effy and Preston join forces to investigate the mysterious author’s legacy, especially around Effy’s favourite story Angharad, or the story of a young woman and the fabled Fairy King. As Effy and Preston draw closer to the truth and myth comes to life, they realise the origin to the story might be far closer than they ever could’ve imagined.Our main character, Effy, loves the book 'Angharad' more than anything, it connects with her on a level deeper than the male scholars could ever possibly understand. It's a story that sings to her truth, it provides her shelter and comfort from the storm of her reality, and it gives her courage to rewrite her own history. I think every book lover can relate to the feeling of having that one book that speaks to you, that one story that feels like it was written just for you (mine is He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan). this was the downfall of this book. The romance didn’t gave what it was supposed to gave. Their rivalry banter was so bland or i’m just so stupid to understand it idk. But I didn’t feel the chemistry. Or the romance between them until i was like 84% into the book 🤡 i was very disappointed.