A Study in Drowning

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it just confused me and ruined any potential attachment to the characters, but specifically Effy that i craved.

We ask that the designs reflect the character of Myrddin and the spirit of his enormous and influential body of work. 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. Argant was always claiming that Lyrian treasures and traditions were really their own. Llyr was forever accusing Argant of stealing their heroes and histories." 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. Her studio professor, Master Parri, was running through his usual introduction, only in Argantian. It was a new policy at the university, instituted only at the start of her first term, six weeks ago. Officially, it was out of respect for the university’s few Argantian students, but unofficially, it was out of a sort of preemptive fear. If Argant won the war, would they impress their language upon all of Llyr? Would children grow up shaping its vowel sounds and verbs instead of memorizing Llyrian poetry?I adored the themes throughout the story. I could tell where the story was heading and was correct in my theories, and I loved how these darker themes were explored both delicately and deeply. The exploration of misogyny of all kinds—of the commodification of women, of women's roles within stories and the roles women have played within mythologies and folklore—was fascinating. I loved how intrinsically this exploration was paired with the folklore of the world, I loved how connected they were to the various stories within stories. JadePhoenix13 on Reading The Wheel of Time: Taim Tells Lies and Rand Shares His Plan in Winter’s Heart (Part 3) 3 hours ago This gripping, smart gothic fantasy explores the magic of mythology and story and makes readers think about the many facets of sexual harassment and assault and how deeply it affects the victims. This ambitious tale takes some getting into -- way too much needs explaining while Effy is at university -- but when she lands at the moldy manor there's no putting the book down. The setting is fantastically creepy and brings out all the worst of Effy's night terrors about the fairy king even during the day. 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 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.

And all of it works so beautifully. A seamless blend of narrative, characters I absolutely loved, mysteries to unravel, and an ambiguously fantastical setting that you will question again and again. I loved this book so very much. I wanted to tell the story of a woman who is gaslit, abused, chafing beneath the confines of a patriarchal and ableist society, who is both vulnerable and brave, and who still manages to find her own voice. I'm incredibly excited to read Ava Reid's other works (I've been wanting to read Juniper and Thorn for so long)! I'm interested to see how much this book differs from their usual writing and storytelling as A Study in Drowning is YA whereas their other works are adult. I can see how a lot of the themes within this book could be taken and explored in darker and more gory ways. I absolutely cannot wait to read more! We ask that the proposed structure—HIRAETH MANOR—be large enough to house the surviving Myrddin family, as well as the extensive collection of books, manuscripts, and letters that Myrddin leaves behind. 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.

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the two main characters, Effy and Preston were so severely bland to me that i really don’t have anything of value to say about them. Preston literally could have been anyone— anyone. he was so distant and anonymous, almost mechanical in nature. there was zero depth, charisma or really anything truly unique about him, so rooting for him and Effy was impossible. i truly had no desire to see them as a romantic pairing because he’d have to have a personality for that. and calling this an academic rivals to lovers is honestly an insult to the entire trope— sincerely where was the academic rivalry? they meet and Effy doesn’t like him for the dumbest read possible, and then soon enough they decide to team up together to investigate Preston’s thesis.