Reviews with content warning for War - A Study in Drowning

Reviews tagging 'War'

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

53 reviews

maregred's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

themorrigan43's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

This book is marketed as YA but there are a lot of adult, dark topics mentioned and referenced. It's more new adult in my opinion.

I was reading part of this in the middle of the night and I actually had to stop reading because I was so freaked out. This is a surprisingly tense and freaky book. It's a little bit of a thriller and a fantasy with a healthy dash of romance.

If you ever read The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova, this book is very reminiscent of that, with more fantasy.

Content Warnings

cryosphinx's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.5

This type of book isn't my usual cup of tea since I like my fantasy to NOT have cars and I don't tend to read dark academia type genres but the atmosphere and mystery really hooked me in. The writing is also very beautiful and I found myself highlighting so many sentences that were just lovely.

The mystery is the main driver of the story, and is carried by the FMC and MMC, and one main side character, with little focus on any other side characters until near the end which was fine, there's just not a huge "supporting cast." The ending fell sor tof flat for me, leaving me wondering about some parts I thought would be resolved but weren't which is what keeps me from giving it a full 5. But I will sing it's praises and recommend it to anyone who will listen. It's a standalone but I hope for another book maybe set in the same world. Effy and Orestons story wraps up nicely don't it doesn't necessarily need to be them, but the world is so dark and beautiful that I want to go back.

Content Warnings

theresahasread's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional hopeful medium-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

5.0

Content Warnings

sappix's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.75

I’ve been waiting for a proper modern Gothic ever since I first read my all-time favourite novel Wuthering Heights (my own Angharad). It had everything I was looking for and more - and in a YA novel, no less! This was definitely dark enough to be a full adult book; it did not hold back.

However, there are a couple of things holding back .25% of a full five star rating got me:

Firstly, there’s this personal, nagging quote I didn’t like. One of Preston’s last lines: “I don’t believe in objective truth anymore”. Like, I understand this is also a fantasy novel in which myths and dark Fairy Kings are real (or is he?) and truth in fantasy is different. HOWEVER, in this age of rampant misinformation, anti-intellectualism, and diminishing of what “truth” means, it rubbed me the wrong way. Because there is such a thing as objective truth in real life, at least in most regards. I understand not everything is objective and for individual human lives and feelings things can be subjective. This quote just rubbed me the wrong way.

Second: I think Effy and Preston could have had more character development. I love that Effy is more quiet, introverted, and not externally / physically strong, but I did feel she wasn’t given much agency by Reid. Effy seemed to develop rapidly at the end and in the final moments at Hiraeth Manor she framed her developing sense of worth on Preston and his view of her instead of her own self. And to some degree it’s fine; we all need to be rescued and externally validated to grab a foothold in our lives and struggles sometimes. I just think there is a way to be naturally more meek and quiet, yet strong, without derivation of self worth coming from a man.

Content Warnings

kenyoncannotread's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.75

Content Warnings

othersideoftherain's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

a lot of potential here with fairy lore, Welsh mythology and dark academia coming together in an interesting, dark and twisting premise.

here’s what’s good: the confrontation of academic misogyny is excellent. it’s a central theme of the plot from the beginning, which builds up to the twist and the conflict resolution. Reid even confronts the reader in a way I really enjoyed. Basically every man Effy interacts with makes some comment on her appearance or a pass at her. It’s so easy for the reader to fall into questioning Effy’s behavior or personality instead of holding the men accountable. The atmosphere is rich and convincing, and the visuals are compelling.

here’s what’s not so good: nearly everything else Reid puts on the table falls flat. There’s no reason for a war or the nationalist sentiments Effy holds, nor her prejudice. There’s no reason for the Sleepers. There’s no reason Effy and the love interest, whose name I literally already forget, end up together. Too many of these elements feel as though they’ll hold significance at some point in the book. They don’t. Reid makes no actual comment on war, no actual comment on prejudice nor colonialism. I finished the book feeling as though these elements were simply because she’d pulled so much from Welsh folklore and language. But that conversation of Welsh identity, English colonization and theft of folklore and language is better left, I think, to a Welsh person born and raised in Cymru.

Content Warnings

tiff_taff's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

tired_cicada's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

There is something to say about a world and a magic system that feel lived in. And if there's one thing that I can appreciate it's an author who trusts her readers to be smart enough to figure things out. Reid doesn't waste unnecessary time on flowery exhibition about how her world works, you just get thrown into it and you sink or swim. Personally, I like that a lot. I don't need an author to hold my hand the entire time and so would an author just says "here you go, figure it out" I just know I'm going to have a great time. Particularly if it's a standalone that needs to be good on its own merit.

I think that this is magical realism at its finest. The world in "A Study in Drowning" is very similar to our own from the 50s and 60s. Many of us have a working knowledge of that time period so it's easy to fill in the blanks for what's going on. Furthermore, the magic system is so well entrenched into the culture that it feels like a natural part of the world. So often magic systems are slapped onto a world but don't seem to affect it down to a day-to-day.

Reid's writing is very poetic, almost to the point of being lyrical in some cases. In previous experience my main criticism with this writing style is that it seems the authors will get so attached to certain phrases that they're dialogue suffers. As in out of nowhere a character who was previously flamboyant and ridiculous is all the sudden preaching at a pulpit over tea. I do not have this criticism here. Each of Reid's characters have a distinct voice that they keep throughout the story. It's easy to know who's speaking as none of them sound the same.

anyway I'm glad that Mr Benett(I listen to the audio books I don't know how it's spelled) got fired or whatever but he deserved to go to jail at least and I'm so mad that he didn't

Content Warnings

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

Content Warnings

More...