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kaky0523's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism
Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Emotional abuse
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
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
blackcat_mala's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I instantly fell in love with this book, and it reached in and touched something within me I did expect. Much of the story is found in the emotion hidden between the lines and between the words, which only adds to effect of the emotions and themes.
It made me cry. Like ugly cry at the end, mostly as a release of emotions.
I especially lovedthe ambiguity of whether or not the not the magic is real and the metaphor it poses as, with clear commentary on the experience of, sadly, many, women especially.
I will highly recommend this book both for the immersive writing, exciting story and the wonderful characters.
It made me cry. Like ugly cry at the end, mostly as a release of emotions.
I especially loved
I will highly recommend this book both for the immersive writing, exciting story and the wonderful characters.
Content Warnings
Minor: Emotional abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment
bookiesncreme's review against another edition
slow-paced
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Panic attacks/disorders
thehannahclaire's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Sexual content
vaguelyredhead's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Mental illness, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Sexual content, Abandonment, and War
thatcrazyknitter's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-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
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
mkdila's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
3.5
From the start, I really enjoyed this book! I love the academic setting, the rivalry between our main characters that turns to yearning, and the rotting mysterious cliffside manor is a favorite trope of mine.
The men in this book are infuriating (except sweet Preston), and really paint a picture of the culture in Llyr and Argent. The political intrigue and religious beliefs in these cultures were also a very fun aspect of this story for me! The world building had high fantasy vibes for me, while not being truly high fantasy.
I do wish I could give it a higher rating, but it really let me down with the climax of the book. I am not normally someone who guesses twists/endings of books, but i saw this one coming a mile away, and the stakes seemed so high but we vanquished so easily that it didn't feel rewarding.
With all of that being said, despite my gripes with the ending of this book, I will still be looking forward to the sequel next year, and keeping it to read on a cozy day.
The men in this book are infuriating (except sweet Preston), and really paint a picture of the culture in Llyr and Argent. The political intrigue and religious beliefs in these cultures were also a very fun aspect of this story for me! The world building had high fantasy vibes for me, while not being truly high fantasy.
I do wish I could give it a higher rating, but it really let me down with the climax of the book. I am not normally someone who guesses twists/endings of books, but i saw this one coming a mile away, and the stakes seemed so high but we vanquished so easily that it didn't feel rewarding.
With all of that being said, despite my gripes with the ending of this book, I will still be looking forward to the sequel next year, and keeping it to read on a cozy day.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Misogyny, and Sexism
Moderate: Sexual assault
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.
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.
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
vic_to_ria's review against another edition
medium-paced
3.0
Read the content warnings before reading
This wasn’t bad- just not for me.
I was expecting more folklore based storytelling but it was more allegory based.
I wasn’t getting the folklore- cozy dark academia vibes everyone was talking about and felt like that could have been played into more. It just felt too real to me, like it could have all been chalked up to mental illness rather than magic, and the unreliableness of the main character while interesting at times felt like it needed more focus on the reactions from other characters to balance it all out. Idk
The book did have a strong female empowerment theme all throughout and showed the truly darkest sides of being a girl in any age, not only a one where girls can’t enrol in literary higher education. I think that there should have been a content warning before the book explaining the themes- I read the ebook so maybe the physical did I’m not sure but I feel like I would have liked to know going in it was not going to be a decently fun time like I thought. It just made me sad reading it because everything that was happening could happen in real like in terms of the harassment and sexism- terrible men do terrible things with it hard being able to trust one after they consistently one by one prove you can’t in fact trust them. This book maybe unknowingly depicted abusive relationships in a clever way with how the plot paralleled the literature they were studying and comparing it to possession.
I think my main problems was that it wasn’t escapist enough for my likings- more fiction with sprinkled folk lore than a true fantasy.
Again maybe I wasn’t in the right headspace or prepared to read it when I did so give it a go after reading some warnings from others to see if it’s a good fit for you.
This wasn’t bad- just not for me.
I was expecting more folklore based storytelling but it was more allegory based.
I wasn’t getting the folklore- cozy dark academia vibes everyone was talking about and felt like that could have been played into more. It just felt too real to me, like it could have all been chalked up to mental illness rather than magic, and the unreliableness of the main character while interesting at times felt like it needed more focus on the reactions from other characters to balance it all out. Idk
The book did have a strong female empowerment theme all throughout and showed the truly darkest sides of being a girl in any age, not only a one where girls can’t enrol in literary higher education. I think that there should have been a content warning before the book explaining the themes- I read the ebook so maybe the physical did I’m not sure but I feel like I would have liked to know going in it was not going to be a decently fun time like I thought. It just made me sad reading it because everything that was happening could happen in real like in terms of the harassment and sexism-
I think my main problems was that it wasn’t escapist enough for my likings- more fiction with sprinkled folk lore than a true fantasy.
Again maybe I wasn’t in the right headspace or prepared to read it when I did so give it a go after reading some warnings from others to see if it’s a good fit for you.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship