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justdandy_'s review against another edition
dark
mysterious
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
4.0
I really enjoyed this read! I devoured it in one day, completely hooked by the atmosphere. I went into the story knowing almost nothing about it, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much it pulled me in. As someone who’s a sucker for anything Fae, I was instantly intrigued, easy points for that alone.
Effy was a bit standoffish at first. She had an issue with Preston for what seemed like no reason, and honestly, she came off with some mean girl vibes. But as the story progressed, I started to understand her more, and by the end, I was rooting for her (and Preston). One of my favorite quotes was from Preston: “Challenging me isn’t pestering. I’m not always right. Sometimes I deserve to be challenged. And changing your mind isn’t foolish. It just means you’ve learned something new. Everyone changes their mind sometimes, as they should, or else they’re just, I don’t know, stubborn and ignorant. Moving water is healthy; stagnant water is sickly. Tainted.” That really helped me forgive Effy’s early prejudices. She is proven wrong, learns and grows from it, proving that people can change, and I like that development.
That said, while I loved the book, it didn’t quite hit 5 stars for me. There were some plot elements that felt a little off or predictable.
Despite the little hiccups, I had a fantastic time being immersed in this world. The writing is gorgeous, and I loved the atmosphere set up. It’s a story I’ll remember, and I’d still recommend it for anyone looking for a captivating read!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Racism, Sexual assault, and Medical trauma
Minor: Car accident, Death of parent, and War
rubydeano_25's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Grief, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Alcoholism, Car accident, and Abandonment
mothie's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Confinement, Racism, Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism
Minor: Child abuse, Car accident, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Colonisation
sirkeili's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
4.0
I found myself enjoying this look into the power of folklore, and how even if some aspects of the story are unbelievable, there is always that underlying current of truth.
Effy, as a character, isn't usually my usual heroine — she's a lot more withdrawn and resigned to begin with. But as the story progresses, it becomes more apparent it is in response to a heavy amount of trauma she's gone through. Only thing I would've liked to see was her fighting back against her mother, because damn that woman deserved to be stood up to and told off.
Despite figuring out the plot twist early due to context clues, I had fun seeing what else could be thrown at me. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I hadn't figured out everything, and I still have more to explore!
Effy, as a character, isn't usually my usual heroine — she's a lot more withdrawn and resigned to begin with. But as the story progresses, it becomes more apparent it is in response to a heavy amount of trauma she's gone through. Only thing I would've liked to see was her fighting back against her mother, because damn that woman deserved to be stood up to and told off.
Despite figuring out the plot twist early due to context clues, I had fun seeing what else could be thrown at me. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I hadn't figured out everything, and I still have more to explore!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Classism
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child abuse and Car accident
sammiebauer's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
this book was very disappointing to me. i have read part of juniper and thorn by this author, and i finished the wolf and the woodsman, which i have moderate affection for simply because of the magic system and mythology. when i was looking for something new to read, i gave this a try. i did end up finishing it but it was a very close dnf. this was marketed as "dark acacdemia", which was completely incorrect, and it should have been marketed as a romance with academic and fantasy undertones.
the thing that bothers me a lot about reid's writing is that she has a very distinct style and interest that comes through in every book i have read by her: she has a huge interest in exploring misogyny and the way that women are exploited and oppressed, and a huge interest in discussing the way different hostile cultures interact with each other during some kind of wartime or industrial development between countries. now, i can see the merit of these topics. i myself have been on the receiving end of discrimination based on gender in the past as a transgender man. but...every single man in these stories except for the very best of them - the love interest - are predatory and terrifying to the very juvenile and immature young female protagonist. i found the protagonist of this story to be very uninteresting. her experiences deal mainly with being exploited by the men in her life, with no meaningful friendships outside of that, and when she does begin a friendship with someone, it's a man! and this young man she is friends with is now portrayed as the only good man. he respects her and thinks all other men are disgusting for what they've done, he is seen as this absolute paragon of goodness, and she automatically, immediately, has feelings for him, despite her past experiences. she seems to be fixed by her relationship with this young man despite everything else that has been done to her. and despite the fact that she has been sexually abused and harassed in the past by older men, she is extremely sexually attracted to this young man, and the story barely addresses the intricacies of her experience with that. it completely undermines the message of this story, which is about how women are mistreated in academic fields that are dominated by men!
now, to address the other part of my problem with this story -- this book is not the greatest offender of this crime that reid has written. i would say that the wolf and the woodsman is worse about this. this romance takes place between this young woman and this young man during a time of war between their two countries. there are interesting ways to handle this, certainly, but instead, the author chooses to use xenophobia as a bargaining chip in the banter between these characters. the young woman frequently insults the young man's heritage and call him borderline slurs based on his country of origin, and while he rarely rises to the bait and insults her back, he forgives her every time. his offense is to insult the magical religion of her country by being an academic skeptic, which is, in my opinion, really not the same. magic in this book is an extremely nebulous concept.
the fact that i gave it a whole three stars is me making a concession for this story. i thought the atmosphere and general plot of the book was very interesting and engaging. the worldbuilding was well done. the writing was not bad, it was just stylized and overly flowery and repetitive in places that i found to be very annoying. the emotional core of this story was affecting to be sure, i teared up slightly at the end, but i also saw the different twists coming from a mile away - literally from 20% into the book i knew how it was going to end. i also do not want this to be taken as me insulting the themes of misogyny and xenophobia. those are topics that can be explored extremely well in other places, but the nuance given to those topics here was incredibly poor and lacking in many ways. i do not recommend this book but i wanted to write down my thoughts on it anyway.
the thing that bothers me a lot about reid's writing is that she has a very distinct style and interest that comes through in every book i have read by her: she has a huge interest in exploring misogyny and the way that women are exploited and oppressed, and a huge interest in discussing the way different hostile cultures interact with each other during some kind of wartime or industrial development between countries. now, i can see the merit of these topics. i myself have been on the receiving end of discrimination based on gender in the past as a transgender man. but...every single man in these stories except for the very best of them - the love interest - are predatory and terrifying to the very juvenile and immature young female protagonist. i found the protagonist of this story to be very uninteresting. her experiences deal mainly with being exploited by the men in her life, with no meaningful friendships outside of that, and when she does begin a friendship with someone, it's a man! and this young man she is friends with is now portrayed as the only good man. he respects her and thinks all other men are disgusting for what they've done, he is seen as this absolute paragon of goodness, and she automatically, immediately, has feelings for him, despite her past experiences. she seems to be fixed by her relationship with this young man despite everything else that has been done to her. and despite the fact that she has been sexually abused and harassed in the past by older men, she is extremely sexually attracted to this young man, and the story barely addresses the intricacies of her experience with that. it completely undermines the message of this story, which is about how women are mistreated in academic fields that are dominated by men!
now, to address the other part of my problem with this story -- this book is not the greatest offender of this crime that reid has written. i would say that the wolf and the woodsman is worse about this. this romance takes place between this young woman and this young man during a time of war between their two countries. there are interesting ways to handle this, certainly, but instead, the author chooses to use xenophobia as a bargaining chip in the banter between these characters. the young woman frequently insults the young man's heritage and call him borderline slurs based on his country of origin, and while he rarely rises to the bait and insults her back, he forgives her every time. his offense is to insult the magical religion of her country by being an academic skeptic, which is, in my opinion, really not the same. magic in this book is an extremely nebulous concept.
the fact that i gave it a whole three stars is me making a concession for this story. i thought the atmosphere and general plot of the book was very interesting and engaging. the worldbuilding was well done. the writing was not bad, it was just stylized and overly flowery and repetitive in places that i found to be very annoying. the emotional core of this story was affecting to be sure, i teared up slightly at the end, but i also saw the different twists coming from a mile away - literally from 20% into the book i knew how it was going to end. i also do not want this to be taken as me insulting the themes of misogyny and xenophobia. those are topics that can be explored extremely well in other places, but the nuance given to those topics here was incredibly poor and lacking in many ways. i do not recommend this book but i wanted to write down my thoughts on it anyway.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Abandonment, and War
Minor: Child abuse, Car accident, Death of parent, and Colonisation
anna_xiety's review against another edition
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)!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Misogyny, and Sexism
Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Alcoholism, Car accident, and War
rileydobereading's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual content
Moderate: Drug use, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, Alcohol, and War
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...
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Death, Drug use, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Car accident
sherylkay's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, Blood, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
michelethestick's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
A Study in Drowning was a lengthy look into how superstition is just the ugly side of magic. This is a dark and icky world where female characters have no agency. It felt like a cross between Rebecca and the Magicians. A devotee of a book discovers what it's like to understand her hero. It's a little soggy.
Well written though, this novel was filled with beautiful descriptions. The characters were multi-faceted. The world building was rich and filled with minute details.
I don't love the way Reid handles SA and its been present in all of her novels I've read so far. Which I also don't enjoy.
There were a few times when the characters' decisions seemed too convenient and not fully in character. But for the most part, it's a good book.
Well written though, this novel was filled with beautiful descriptions. The characters were multi-faceted. The world building was rich and filled with minute details.
I don't love the way Reid handles SA and its been present in all of her novels I've read so far. Which I also don't enjoy.
There were a few times when the characters' decisions seemed too convenient and not fully in character. But for the most part, it's a good book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Abandonment