Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

37 reviews

chi__'s review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Death of parent

bibliomania_express's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid intertwines magic and folklore with a quest to discover the true identity of an author. This is a book with an interesting premise that tackles hard topics like sexual assault, misogyny, and the erasure of women, but suffers from awkward worldbuilding, a bit too much on-page sexual harrassment, and a lacklustre romance. 

I've been avoiding reviews of this book and the little I haven't been able to avoid has been vehemently negative. I'm more on the ambivalent side. I think the book is doing some interesting things with its drowning motif and exploring mental health and the repression of women. It's depicting the casual sexual harrassment women are faced with that society expects them not to react to. 

But. The literal only good male character is the main love interest. Who, while a fine character, seems to be the love interest only because he's the only person not sexually harrassing Effy and because this is a "romantasy" when it didn't need to be. The sexism is so pervasive that the triumphant ending seems a bit too good to be true.

My real gripe beyond the ever-present misogyny that made this hard to read is that the magic system and worldbuilding is all over the place. I had a hard time understanding what was accepted existing magic and what was just "local supersition", especially when the supersitions were maybe (?) having an effect on a literal real war. But also there was nothing about the book that felt like it was taking place in a country currently at war, even when the main setting was a university town on the border with the enemy country.

I think I've ended with a 2.5 stars mainly because it was fast-paced and interesting enough to keep me engaging and blasting through it, but the list of gripes is too long to warrant a 3.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Child abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, and War

Minor: Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

trippalli's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Gothic style mystery of suspense as students investigate the origins of fairy stories. Epic poetry and historic accounts that may have been credited to the wrong person looking to uncover the true author. They find themselves in danger and must deal at the threats of both the house that's falling apart. The family that is obscuring information and the question of if they're hallucinating or really seeing fairies and other things at the gothic mansion...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Death, Drug use, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Car accident

witcheep's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I can see why so many people have enjoyed this book, but to me, it is a miss.

This is very dark story due to the worldbuilding! The world the characters live in is very misogynistic, and the main characters find it hard to fight against, which made the reading experience very uncomfortable – as it should. However, the plot didn't offer enough either mystery or romance, so besides uncomfortable, the book was also boring. The hints towards the mystery made the ending too predictable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Classism

amy_reading_23's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

This book is so good!! I really enjoyed it and read it in a few days. It was beautifully written snd I loved the academic background as well as all the fae elements. This is a book that masterfully talks about misogyny, SA and mental health in a sensitive way. I also liked how the protagonist was very aware of herself when the romance bits were cliche. Definitely check trigger warnings, as SA and PTSD is a topic that features throughout the book. As someone who lives in Wales, the use of some of the Welsh words seemed a bit random to me, especially as the book is set in some unnamed world. 

I thought it was kind of onvious that his wife had written Angharad from early on in the novel so it frystrated me a little that it took them so long to come to that conclusion.

But overall a good fantasy dark-academia read! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Car accident, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

wooblatoober's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

this review is littered with spoilers so do not read it if you haven’t read the book yet. i’m spoiler tagging the most major spoilers but i am leaving things unspoilered that might or might not be considered spoilers depending on the reader

i really loved some aspects of this book but was really bothered by others—i loved the imagery & the metaphors really made me feel the way i believe the author wanted me to feel. parts were very cozy in ways i haven’t felt since i was probably 14. i LOVED the love interest & i had a huge crush on him because he’s so perfect. whenever there was a scene without him, i wanted him to come back, & i believe reid did a good job of making him incredibly caring while still empowering the female lead. the book covered serious topics regarding misogyny & sexual assault very well,

& the way effy was able to bond with angharad & angharad was able to get some sort of justice was really touching to me, not to mention how the symbolism of angharad (who lived much of her life under an entity that seems to represent, as a whole, misogyny, patriarchy, & predation) being able to help effy break out of that cycle for herself. i also liked that even though angharad is old, it’s not treated like she lost her entire life under the repression of a man twice her age who was also sometimes the fairy king. very empowering that it was treated like, despite what was taken from her, she still had life in front of her to live, & be strong, & be free.

lastly, i could identify with effy’s sexual trauma in poignant ways. i really enjoyed reading this book for most of my time reading it & i liked it enough that i’ll likely reread it, which i don’t often do.
my complaint is this: effy’s fucking racist. & i love a problematic character who grows & learns lessons & changes, BUT SHE FUCKING DOESN’T!!! it’s just not dealt with well & leaves a bad taste in my mouth. she even calls him slurs at one point and i don’t think she ever took accountability for that at all??? like it seems like she got an argantian boyfriend so she’s absolved of all racism against argantians. it really just gives, “i can’t be racist because my boyfriend’s argantian (or insert any race/ethnicity/nationality in place of that).” book is also hypnotically caucasian, which, like, i know it’s set in a fictional place based on wales & england, but it’s a FICTIONAL PLACE so do all these characters really gotta be beans and toast ass motherfuckers?? last complaint, she throws her long blonde hair into a messy bun 👎 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Sexual content, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Confinement, Racial slurs, Rape, Violence, Kidnapping, and War

librarymouse's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A Study in Drowning is an alternate world folkloric story about misogyny in academia and the systemic penchant for not believing women and girls. It's beautifully written and hard to put down, blending fantastical elements into Effy not trusting her own mind, and dark academic suspicion and intrigue. 
Effy's anti-Argantian sentiments early on in the book are very off putting, but she's reformed her opinions by the end of the novel. Massive content warning for sexually abusive men in positions of power, and locker room mentalities as normalized behavior in the world in which the novel is set.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Misogyny, Sexual content, Grief, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Alcohol and Injury/Injury detail

edilyaaang's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Reading this book felt like a rollercoaster ride. 

Got really confused about everything at first especially because there were lots of gaps in the beginning. There were times that that I rolled my eyes hard at some parts but in the end I felt like those things married the story together in a way that gave it more depth.

 But whew, I did not expect the story to turn that way. Though I have already guessed some parts of the story, the plots twists blew my mind off.

Especially how the Fairy King was real. I did not see that one coming. And that bed scene came out of nowhere LMFAO.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, and Grief

Minor: Animal death, Confinement, and Violence

tuhkasirius's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Bullying, Confinement, Gun violence, and Forced institutionalization

manaledi's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

This successfully hit the line of being dark without being too dark or too creepy (for me). The foreshadowing was fairly heavy in figuring out most of the mini mysteries (but not all). Closer to magical realism than true fantasy in interesting ways. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment