Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

221 reviews

bookiesncreme's review against another edition

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slow-paced

2.5


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vaguelyredhead's review against another edition

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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


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bibliomania_express's review against another edition

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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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jessversteeg's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

“Haunting and tender” one author said of this book on the back jacket cover. I agree. 

It’s a weird, gothic book that crosses over university life and fairy folklore (or is it folklore?). It could easily be made into a thriller movie released at Halloween. It’s creepy and tender, but also quite sad.

A huge theme in the book is both the treatment of women and the ways women are perceived. There are a few pretty awful quotes about how women are either seductresses or submissive, how they’re unable to produce any real intellectual work etc. It also becomes clear early on in the book that the main character was taken advantage of by her academic advisor, and she basically has severe anxiety/ptsd over it. Her anxiety about her life experiences makes her wonder if she’s crazy or not, many people tell her she’s crazy and making stuff up.  The story juxtaposes folk monsters with real life sketchy men. It’s about fighting back against abusers. 

I doubt I’ll read it again, but I’m sure I’ll think about it a lot in the future. I kinda think it should be high school required reading so teens can learn about power dynamics and consent, believing women, etc. 

Here’s a quote from the end that gutted me: 

“I know I beat him in the end, but for so many years all I could do was run and hide. I just sat there and let the water pour in around me. I didn’t know that I could fight back. I didn’t know how to do anything but wait to drown.” 

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dom_brlw's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

3.5

A surprising read, with a strange yet very well built world. It had me always expecting the worse, trying to figure what would come next but being gradually more surprised after each chapter. It was a very enjoyable read!

The negative part of the book will have to be the writing though, that  sometimes felt too cliché, or too « Wattpad »-like. 

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fairyko's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-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


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allthingsnerdy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

I can't put my finger on why I liked this book so much. Maybe because even though its YA it didn't shy away from some hard topics? And the ambiance was great, so spooky and gothic. I think the writing had a lot of problems, but they were overshadowed by how compelling the plot was. 

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bookishplantmom's review against another edition

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mysterious 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

3.5

I really enjoyed this. At first I felt like the social commentary was a bit on the nose but it grew on me as the story went along. I found the ending a smidge predictable but satisfying nevertheless. Some aspects of the story were a bit confusing towards the end. Generally a solid book. 

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cordeliant's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0


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booksmoviesandstories's review against another edition

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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


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