Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

104 reviews

bibliomania_express's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

anna_xiety's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I loved this book so much- I was hesitant to start it because I had high hopes for it, but it definitely lived up to them. I think the start was a little slow but the pacing builds up and I love how Reid handles the issues in the book.
  and how the characters stories connect with each other ( put as a spoiler just in case)!

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

fairyreader75's review

Go to review page

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

4.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

the_rabble's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

2.0

Fantasyland pre-80s Berlin's xenophobia smashed together with FantasyOxford's academic gender segregation BUT NONE OF THAT'S IMPORTANT- TIME TO GO TO A DAMP, ISOLATED, LEAKY BEACH HOUSE. 

Sexual assault and misogyny allergory that really, really loves aggressive and inconsistent water imagery. Buckle up for feeling sticky and coping with trauma via dissociation.

Single POV, 3rd person past tense, main characters are teen book nerds (college freshmen.) 1 semi-spicy scene.

Very strong world building. Would support this setting being used again. Likeable main characters. Plot, themes, and story structure are a bit of a mess. Action drags and we get a lot of heavy handed imagery and navel gazing. 

In a piece that excels at world building, the villian [bad guy lore]
isn't really explained as an entity. Which is fine, but things are overexplained through the whole book, except for the driving force of the book.


If this is on your TBR list bc the cover looks dope or it's been on lists, I suspect you'll get as much out of this book if you read the first two and last two chapters as reading the whole thing.

[Ending] Vibewise, Reid
does a good job on the ending. The pacing is well done and you feel like this chapter of the story is done and the characters are ready to move on. Things resolve.
I expect that's part of why this book gets good marks.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

booksmoviesandstories's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

moonchild_cos's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

4.25


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

saurahsaurus's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

mollieweitzman's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was everything!!! Am I Ava Reid’s biggest fan now?!?? Yall were right!! Absolutely the best book to finish while in the dark and with no power for 3 days after a hurricane the vibes could not be more perfect I fear. Literally in the second drowning as we speak!!
 
As an aside I didn’t really like Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross and I know the plot doesn’t match up at all but this was kind of exactly the vibe I was wanting and missing from that!

 This book like it literally has EVERYTHING that I have ever wanted in a book please read this my moody dark academia girls who love the cruel prince and women destroying shithead men in power!! DO IT DO IT 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

feignedfennix's review against another edition

Go to review page

  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

shamaramill's review

Go to review page

dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings