Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

132 reviews

bevlovesbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

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sirkeili's review against another edition

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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Effy, as a character, isn't usually my usual heroine — she's a lot more withdrawn and resigned to begin with.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!

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reader_000100's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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cassimiranda's review against another edition

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This is a dark and moody secondary world YA fantasy mystery. The protagonist comes from abusive family and is now in an abusive educational environment that is actually her second choice. She seeks out an opportunity to connect with her true interest, the family of her favorite national author. Mysterious gothic plot ensues. Unfortunately, i couldn't connect with the characters and the world wasn't strong enough to keep me engaged. I just didn't care at all about the plot, the characters, or the romance... so it's a DNF for me.

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brynn_books's review against another edition

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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

5.0

It's been a while since I've submerged myself in the world of dark academia and oh boy was I missing out. This book was so intricate and provocative in the best way possible. This book deals with topics regarding fact vs fiction and truth vs deceit. I love the sea as a metaphor for death; death as a metaphor for eternity. Why fear death when eternity (the sea) is the real villain?

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meldellima's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Menuda salvajada de libro. He tenido que parar más de una vez por lo intenso que es, pero a la vez no quería soltarlo.
La asfixia, el ahogarse de verdad... Qué montón de sensaciones agobiantes y qué bien descrito y narrado. Qué guay, por favor.

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kghunter'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? It's complicated

4.0

“[…]the truth was very costly at times. How terrible, to navigate the world without a story to comfort you.”

If you were to remove all of the sentences in this book that described one of the characters blushing, it would probably be about half its current length. I don’t know if this is just a more common experience of fair skinned people or what but I think a group-read of this in which everyone took a shot every time someone blushes would be a pretty fun way to get absolutely shittered with your friends if they also happen to be into horny fantasy mystery novels that involve a lot of quivering and clenched fists.

Blushing and quivering aside this was a truly enjoyable read. Reid is brilliant at capturing the “dark academia” imagery and I loved how she used such a beautifully painted, fantastical storyline to examine themes of misogyny, victim-shaming, childhood trauma, and isolation, as well as gender-based violence, bigotry, and oppression. As a reader who originally chose to read this book to scratch my annually occurring wintertime dark academia itch, its depth and sincerity came as a pleasant surprise.

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